Run With Coach Parry

Welcome to this edition of Ask Coach Parry. Today’s question comes from Mogo Madnazeer, and I think it’s a great question. He said he is doing his first Comrades Marathon this year. He knows it’s an up-run. In 2014 he completed the Two Oceans Marathon in just under 6 hours. He’s been training since September 2014, and has completed a couple of marathons this year already. Two of those marathons he’s done in 4:15. He’s also doing Two Oceans once again this year. In training he completes on average between 80-100km a week. Firstly, do you think this will be enough training for the Comrades Marathon, and secondly, do you think aiming for a bronze medal is realistic? Thirdly, there’s a two month break between the Old Mutual Two Oceans and the Comrades Marathon, do you think this break is too long and should he be doing another 55km run closer to the Comrades Marathon, between Oceans and the big day? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

We’ve had another question submitted to Ask Coach Parry, it comes from Dale Sekonyane, and Dale is a bit of a racing snake. He has been training with a Comrades Marathon training programme. He wants to know, is it possible for him to run a 2:30 marathon by December this year. His marathon time at Soweto was a 3:04. He ran a 3:03 at Acacia. He’s 10km time is 37, he’s got a half marathon of 1:22, he used the paces of the 2015 Silver Comrades Marathon program, so he wants to reduce his time to sub 2:30 - if possible to 2:20 - by Two Oceans 2016, and wants to start preparing now. If it is possible, what does he need to do? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to the next edition of Ask Coach Parry, and the question today comes from Catherine. Catherine says her question relates to injuries and cross training in preparation for the Comrades Marathon. She’s been hampered by injuries. It started as a hamstring glute niggle and she went to a physio and it’s progressed to painful hamstring, glute and shins. She’s now had about three months of physio, she’s rested the legs for 3 weeks and then missed Comrades Marathon training runs as it would bother and then be fine and then bother. She’s had a chiro work on her, which seems to be the most effective, she’s had ultrasound and found an inflamed tibial posterior muscle and Piriformis. They ultrasounded the entire leg and found no sign of injury or scarring. She’s had her feet checked and is in orthotics for pronating and medial arch issue. This has also helped the leg slightly, though it is still niggling. She’s doing strengthening exercises as well. She’s also dusted off her bike and wants to start cycling to se

The question on Ask Coach Parry today was submitted by Greg, who will be attempting his first Comrades Marathon this year. He says he suffers from nausea on runs longer than 35km’s. He has tried all sorts of things, in his preparation for the Comrades Marathon, from gels to potatoes to biscuits, but can’t seem to get rid of that horrible sensation which often kicks off at the same time in a marathon or ultra-marathon. He is concerned that it could seriously hamper his chances of finishing his first Comrades Marathon. A friend of his suggested that he use motion sickness tablets as it worked for him. Apparently the consistent running motion – especially if there are big crowds – can bring on nausea. He has never heard of this remedy and he wants to know I there is any merit in it or if it is just an urban legend? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to another episode of Ask Coach Parry. Today we have a question from Eric Lucas as we inch ever closer to the Comrades Marathon. Eric lives in Quatar and says he has just completed his first marathon as a training run. He is following the Bill Rowan programme, even though he qualified with a 3.39. He says Quatar is fairly flat except for one hill which is about a 1% gradient over 1 kilometer. Nevertheless he completed 8 times that hill repeats, and then transitioned to a treadmill and then attempted to mimic the remainder of the first half of the Comrades Marathon route. It was very tough. He was thinking of continuing with this approach for his long runs. Is that the way to do it? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to another episode of Ask Coach Parry. The question today comes from Velappie. He says he has already qualified for the Comrades Marathon with a time of 3.33. He would like to attempt a Bill Rowan – a sub 9 hour – and he would like to know if it is advisable to use Om Die Dam which took place this weekend to pace himself according to the ideal pace he would be running at the Comrades Marathon. Kind of simulating race pace if you like. Also on this note he would like to add it is his 8th run. He has done a pb at the Comrades Marathon so close to Bill Rowan with a time of 9.03. How should it be run? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to the latest edition of Ask Coach Parry. Today's question comes from Hugo. He gives us a bit of background. He says he's 47, been running for just under 2 years and he has never been a runner before that. He Completed the Comrades Marathon last year in a time of 11.42, with a Kaapsehoop qualifier of 4.15. He also ran the Pick n Pay in 4.40 and the City to City in 5.35 and he had a good deal of injury time in March and April. He had a few injuries after the Comrades Marathon, so he started this years preparation in poor condition. For 2015 he is following your bronze programme religously. He qualified at the gift of the givers with a time of 4.31 and a better time was honestly not possible. Johnson Crane half was done in 2.02, and he also pretty much did that flat out. After listening to podcasts and the all the things that you said at the road shows, the above makes bronze unlikely because Gift of the Givers and Johnson Crane are rather flat and the Comrades Marathon not so much. So this is what h

This is Ask Coach Parry and today we have another Comrades Marathon related question from Sara Munnick. She says she wants to improve her seeding from H to G. Her times have been getting progressively better. She had a good Deloittes Marathon and didn't feel sore the next day. She really wants to improve her seeding and wanted some advice on if attempting the Loskop 50km or the SlowMag 42km would be a better option. She has a goal of a sub 11hour Comrades Marathon finish this year and she is worried it may be tough to get a sub 11 from an H seeding batch. Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to another Ask Coach Parry, and we are getting loads of great questions in as we get closer to the Two Oceans Marathon and the Comrades Marathon. Hannes has submitted his question today. He says he has been running for three to four years, he is training for the Comrades Marathon up run and currently is experiencing extreme fatigue. He is running between 55 and 65km's a week. He did the Kango Marathon in Oudtshoorn, he continued to train the following week. The following Friday they did a 47km long run to Hout Bay and back. This past Sunday he completed the 'half Cycle Tour' (as they're calling it, the Short Argus). He was also supposed to go out for a short run last night, but just couldn't get himself to do it. Hes asking should he be worried, should he start using recovery mix? His marathon time is 1.52, his Comrades Marathon time last year was in 11.54. He did a sub 6 hour Two Oceans Ultra Marathon last year. He is looking forward to your suggestions. Read More · Training Programs ·

Welcome to the latest episode of Ask Coach Parry. Today's question comes from Pacco. I'm not sure whether Pacco is a he or a she, but they are saying that they are experiencing pain on their middle toenail on their left foot after running. What could be causing it? Lindsey: There are a few things that could be causing the pain. If it is specifically on the toenail, there should be some blackening to, so if it is the toenail or toenail bed then there will be blackening of the toenail and that will let you know that one of the following things are happening: Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to Ask Coach Parry. Yasmine got in touch, and she was at one of your Comrades Marathon Women’s' Seminars recently. She says thank you for all the information and advice at that seminar. She wanted to know about strength training. When does she do strength training? Does she do it on the days that she runs, or on the days off? She is currently following your Vic Clapham programme. Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

This is Ask Coach Parry. Today's question comes from Sume. Sume wanted to know how often should you stretch during your training and how often should you be using a foam roller? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to the latest episode of Ask Coach Parry. Today we answer the question submitted by Lawrence. He says that he is training for the Comrades Marathon and he is following your bronze medal programme. As of yet he has not qualified. He wants to know when is the best time to qualify - does he leave it till March, is that too late, is that the right time, what should he do? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Jessica Slabbert has submitted her question for Ask Coach Parry to answer today. Her question is one that I think a lot of novices try to figure out. She wanted to know how long should she recover for after running a marathon or ultra marathon to prevent injury. She is just concerned that if she takes too long off she is going to lose out on training for a race like Two Oceans or the Comrades Marathon if she has run a marathon before that. She is also concerned that her ITB might flare up again if she runs a 10km+ in the days after a hard marathon. She is currently running between 45 and 50km's a week. Those consist of 10km+ training days. Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

On Ask Coach Parry today we answer a question submitted by Mogomad Adams. He said: "Hi Coach. How important is it to get three ultra runs in before the Comrades Marathon. I notice you don't prescribe these in your finisher or bronze programmes." Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Dorothy Graham got in touch on this episode of Ask Coach Parry. Dorothy says she was looking at your numbers for the Comrades Marathon on 2015. She did the up run in 2013, she finished the race in terms of distance, but was just outside of the 12 hour cut off. She swore, like every single one of us that she would never run it again, and she is back in 2015. She will be 60 this year. Her marathon time is 4.01 (or 4.10, not sure if there is a typo there). She says she ran 323 km's in January and she is running a marathon this week. She also cross trains with spinning and swimming. She does hills, but very little speed work. She just can't get quicker. She has also read an article which says if you didn't finish you're under trained, don't blame the heat - which in 2013 was very hot. Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to Ask Coach Parry, and we have another great question in from Dave. I think this is something that is going through the minds of a lot of runners who are preparing for the Comrades Marathon. He said unfortunately from the start of this year he has been struggling with illness, and he has just managed to fight off a lung infection that prevented him from running at all during January. Now he is behind on his training schedule and he is only just starting to run again this week. Fortunately he has qualified back in October with a 3.30 marathon in Dublin, so he doesn't have to worry about that. But given that he usually prepares for a marathon with an 8 - 10 week training programme, is 15 weeks enough to get ready for the Comrades Marathon? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Today on Ask Coach Parry we talk more Comrades Marathon. The question was submitted by Jock Ferguson and it says: " Hi coach Parry. I have achieved a qualification time of 3.24 and I am following the Bill Rowan training programme. My question is at what pace should I be running the marathons in the training programme? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

The question to be answered on Ask Coach Parry today has to do with Comrades Marathon hill training and it comes from Louis Bordodey. Louis wanted to know with regards to inclination and the degree of inclination as far as hill training goes. He wanted to know what is the appropriate inclination degree for hill training on your bronze programme for 2015? Does it vary from training programme to training programme or should it be pretty much the same across the board and what should it be? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Welcome to Ask Coach Parry once again. Today's question is related to training for the Comrades Marathon and it comes from Delont Barnard. It is another great question. Delont wanted to know what is the recovery advice - training and nutrition wise - for when you have run a marathon as a training run? And do you need to continue doing your long runs in the week or two following that marathon? He said he ran a 4.30 marathon this past weekend, does he still need to do his long runs in the upcoming couple of weeks? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com