Run With Coach Parry

We chat about how to do the hill repeats in the Comrades Marathon training programmes. Louise Routenbach submitted her question via our website. It is quite interesting too, it has to do with your Comrades Marathon training programmes and the hill repeats you’ve got in them. Louise is following your Comrades Marathon bronze medal training programme and she wants to know do you run up for 2 minutes and then down or up for 1 minute and then down for 1? The pace of 5.10 – 5.20, does that include coming down or is it just the going up? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Terry submitted a cross training question and how it relates to training for the Comrades Marathon. Terry says “I am many months into recovering from a proximal hamstring tendinopathy, which has prevented running and spoiled my Comrades Marathon in 2014. I’ve been doing recommended gym exercises and about 60km per week cycling to and from the gym. Assuming I can soon slowly start running again, is this cross training likely to be adequate for hoping to ramp up enough monthly running by January as a substitute for the early months July – December in your Comrades Marathon training programme?” He also says he has 14 Comrades Marathon medals so he knows how tough it is to run and train for Comrades. Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

This question comes in from Conrad. He said after running the Washie 100 miler this year, he had a ruptured Baker’s cyst. He was advised to take 6 weeks off and then start training again. His training started up again in late August. He wants to know Is it still possible to run a sub 3 hour marathon before the end of the year? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Today we have a Comrades Marathon qualifier related question from one of our international runners. It is from Carl Ebhrul. He said “In the training for the Comrades Marathon, the qualifying races are scheduled in the year of Comrades. For me being in Germany, it might be better to qualify in Germany’s autumn.” He did this last year for the 2014 Comrades Marathon and got a D seeding. He ran a 3.57. On Comrades race day, he paced for 11 hours but had serious cramps from 3. He ended up power walking to the finish and ended up bagging a Vic Clappen. He finished in 11.47. It was his first ultra marathon. Do you think qualifying so late in the season , late in our year, would be a good decision? He relies on his long runs and started after he got the qualifying time, maybe the pacing got slower after that? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

If you're looking for a free half marathon training programme then you are in the right place. On today’s Ask Coach Parry podcast the question comes from Charlotte who is an absolute novice runner. She has never done a race before and she is interested in doing a half marathon in 2015. Is now the right sort of time, the beginning of September, to start a beginners training programme and how should she go about it in order to build up slowly? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

We answer a pretty general Comrades Marathon question on today’s Ask Coach Parry Podcast but it is one we get asked very often. This time of the year in South Africa it is winter and a lot of people are getting sick and missing out on a bit of training. A lot of people are worried already at this stage in their Comrades Marathon build up that they are getting sick with the flu and are being forced to miss a week or a week and a half’s worth of training. What do they need to do when they come back from illness? Do they need to catch up or can they just pick up where they left off? What is the best way to pick up the training again if you’ve been forced out because of illness? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

In this next edition of the Ask Coach Parry Podcast we have a question from Debbie and deals with an overuse injury. She wants to know about a couple of things; she says she’s following the 2015 Comrades Marathon finishers training programme. She started running at the beginning of June this year. She’s been following a run/walk programme and then switched to the Comrades Marathon training programme at the end of July and has been following the programme from that date on. She also mountain bikes over weekends, she has only done 1 long run so far and that was midway through this month. She says she’s had running shoes fitted properly. Currently running in the Asics Gel Cumulus 15’s, she says this past week she’s been struggling with a sore calf muscle around the outside near the ankle and now her knee (the front area on the opposite leg) is getting sore. She says she managed 30 minutes today before feeling pain. She has been icing both since the weekend but is concerned that perhaps she needs to adjust the

Today's question for Lindsey comes in from Graham. He says he started the 2014 Comrades Marathon, but collapsed from dehydration with just under 3km’s to go. He was taken to hospital unconscious. He was there for 3 hours, he says it was unlikely that he would have finished with about 15 minutes to go when he did collapse. He says as far as training goes he did about 1050km from January to Comrades Marathon race day. He is 41years old. He says he seems to have made a full recovery; he waited just over 3 weeks after the Comrades Marathon until he ran again. He did run a 5km very slowly –which felt very strange, but it is understandable he supposes. He has also cycled twice but with no problem and not on consecutive days. He says he set out to do a 10k on the 30th June, but only managed about 7km because it felt like it was a bit too much. He says it feels like he’s not done any running, like he is starting out again and the day after the 7km his legs felt so stiff he felt like a beginner. What’s the story, wh

Today’s question comes from another one of our international Comrades Marathon runners, Abby Adekanmbi. Abby said she is interested in returning for the Comrades Marathon up run next year, she is also interested in running the Great Wall Marathon which is 2 weeks before the 2015 Comrades Marathon. She wants to know if it is possible to train to run both successfully. She has done 2 marathons 6 days apart in the past before – Boston Marathon and London Marathon in 2013, Boston Marathon and Big Sur 2014. If it is possible what does she need to do to make sure she is in the best possible shape? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

We have an awesome question today on the Ask Coach Parry podcast and it has to do with your running heart rate. The question was submitted by Pierre. He is someone who can easily run a 9km in an hour. He says that Lindsey often refers to fitness base training. He asks is it with reference specifically to the running heart rate based methods as suggested by Phil Maffetone? He says please comment on the effectiveness of going slow (easy on the heart for a few months) as a way of building towards a longer race. Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

The last couple of days we have chatted about the your Comrades Marathon training programme. First of all we chatted about how to choose the right Comrades Marathon programme for you. In the last episode of the Ask Coach Parry Podcast we chatted about the pace you should run your different Comrades Marathon training runs at within those Comrades Marathon training programmes. Today we chat a little about having time based Comrades Marathon training programmes as opposed to having distance based Comrades Marathon training programmes. For instance, on your programme you might say on a Tuesday run for 60 minutes, on a Thursday run for 70 minutes, on a weekend run for two hours. What’s the thinking behind having time based Comrades Marathon training programmes as opposed to saying to someone go out and run 10k’s or 12k’s or your long run needs to be 30k’s. Can you talk us through the thinking behind that? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Yesterday on the Ask Coach Parry Podcast we chatted about how to pick the right Comrades Marathon training programme for you for. Today we talk about the training pace and intensities that people should be running their various different Comrades Marathon training runs at within those different Comrades Marathon training programmes. Today Lindsey talks us through the thinking behind the different runs within the different training programmes. Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

There are various Comrades Marathon training programmes to choose from but the million dollar question is how do you choose the right one for you? A lot of runners tend to follow a faster Comrades Marathon training programme almost as a safety net for them, to ensure they finish within their time goal. For example, someone thinking that they will aim for a Comrades Marathon finishers or Vic Clapham medal but to really make sure that they do finish, they follow the bronze medal Comrades Marathon training programme. Similarly someone may follow the Bill Rowan Comrades Marathon training programme when they are hoping to run a sub 11 hour Comrades Marathon and should be on the bronze programme. Today’s big question on the Ask Coach Parry Podcast is how does one go about choosing the right Comrades Marathon training programme? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Marlene Anderson sent her question in to us and she says she has finished the 4th week of the Comrades Marathon finishers programme. She is just taking it day by day. So far she finds the Saturday jog the most enjoyable - probably because she is running like a tortoise (as suggested). Her question is as follows: Please can you advise me with regards to cross training for the Comrades Marathon. When do you suggest people cross train? It will probably be swimming. Does she then swim on rest days, or on run days? Or does it not matter? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Today’s question on the Ask Coach Parry Podcast relates to planning your Comrades Marathon itinerary as an international. It comes from Tom Ihlenfeldt, and he says he is coming to Botswana for a week at the end of May 2015 from the USA. He wants to make the Comrades Marathon part of the trip and wants to know what will be best from an international runners perspective, how best to plan your Comrades Marathon Itinerary. Should you plan the holiday for the week before or the week after the race? Would it be beneficial to spend some time here before the race to acclimatise or not? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

On the Ask Coach Parry Podcast today we talk about Comrades Marathon training. The question today comes from Gregg Dardagan. Gregg says he has a gym at work and he wanted to know if it is okay to do two of his Comrades Marathon training runs per week on the treadmill rather than on the road. He has read that changing surfaces could possibly cause trouble with your knees. If so, should they just be a simple Comrades Marathon training runs or could he use it for intervals? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

How old is too old when it comes to running the Comrades Marathon? It is often said that you shouldn’t run a race as tough and as long as the Comrades when you are too young, but what about the other end of the scale? Today’s question is short and sweet, coming in from Chris. Chris says he’s 56 years old, he will be attempting his first Comrades Marathon in 2015 and he wants to know is it possible at the age of 56? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

With entries for the 2015 Comrades Marathon opening soon we are starting to get more and more questions about next year’s Comrades. Today we chat about speed work and how it relates to your Comrades Marathon training, particularly if you are aiming for a Bill Rowan medal. Jaryd Weelson got in touch via our website and asked if one could try incorporating speed work into the runs for the Comrades Marathon Bill Rowan programme to increase speed? Or would it be in addition to the Bill Rowan training on the rest days? Read More · Training Programs · www.CoachParry.com

Today we are talking about the long run as part of your Comrades Marathon training. We are just a few days away from Comrades Marathon entries for 2015 opening on 1 September. Lots of people trying to wrap their head around what they need to do to finish the Comrades Marathon and how they can fit training for the Comrades Marathon into their life. Many people have extremely busy lifestyles and Andre is one of them. He got in touch with us and he said he works long hours, putting in 60 hours a week. He works from 7am to 7pm Monday through Friday. The problem comes in with the midweek long run – the 13 to 15km runs in the week – he wakes up at 4am each morning to go for a run and then gets ready for work which is 45 minutes from home. His question is as following: if you have a midweek long run of say 15km, can you split it to a 10km in the morning and a 5km at night, or should he keep his runs shorter and introduce another run in the week therefore doing 5 as opposed to 3 or 4 runs like he’s doing now? Read

Runners trots affect many runners and today we talk about what causes diarrhea while running. It could be something you're eating causing your GI distress. Read more · Join now · Download a Training Program · www.CoachParry.com