Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2018 i Runner's World South Africa

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT RUNNING that turns even the classiest among us into shameless beasts who’ll do whatever it takes to be comfortable and competitive. While blowing snot rockets and relieving yourself outdoors may seem unthinkable in street clothes, doing so in a singlet and split shorts seems to give us all permission. Be prepared for the next time your run takes a turn for the uncivilised with these tips from Runner’s World How to Make Yourself Poop + 999 Other Tips All Runners Should Know. Make Yourself Poop If there’s one thing all runners can relate to, it’s the need to do your business before you get down to business on the road. First, try drinking a warm liquid, such as coffee, tea, or hot water, to get things moving.…

Video yourself: Record 60 seconds, then watch your posture, arm swing, kick, and where your foot hits the ground to identify weaknesses. Check your race photos: Compare pics from the beginning, the middle, and near the end of the race to see when the fatigue hits and how it affects your stride. Run downhill: Gravity forces you to lean naturally, so logging extra downhill kays will remind your body how running at a slight angle should feel.…

A RUNNING INJURY can happen in an instant; such is the downright injustice of it. Mine happened when I was running along the Promenade, and a toddler riding a tricycle came zig-zagging towards me. Using only her tiny feet, she pushed that thing along the ground like her young life depended on it. And she looked at me with unblinking eyes. Of course, I tripped over her tricycle and landed awkwardly on my ankle. She survived the collision unscathed. After my physiotherapist had declared me injured, he uttered the worst phrase known to running-kind: “You. Can’t. Run.” But this isn’t your average injury story; rather, it’s a tale with a twist that starts with a twisted ankle. The problem with not being able to run is that you have so…

New Balance’s 1400 v3 was different from the v1 because of the last it was built on: The sleek racing last has lower sidewall heights to the midsole, a streamlined topline to the upper, and a shape that looks ‘fast’, but is also generous through the forefoot to allow for a grippy toe splay. An ample toebox – i.e. the area of a shoe that encases your, well, toes – is something people don’t think about unless they find that their foot slips around (too wide) or they feel constricted (too tight). At 156 grams, the v3s didn’t just look light: they weighed in at 70g less than the average trainer. The ultra-light feel comes largely from the proprietary New Balance RevLite foam, the lightest and most responsive in the…

AT FIRST, I DIDN’T REALISE WHAT I WAS looking at, or what was looking at me. It was just after sunrise on a Saturday morning in Prospect Park, New York and I had been away from home for two weeks in Europe. Thanks to jet lag, I woke up early. Hoping to loosen up my plane-constricted legs, I threw on a tank top, pants, and running shoes for what felt like the first true spring day after a long winter. The birds chirped, the sun shone, and as I made my way through the tree-lined paths, I felt bathed in a sense of joy at being back home and alive. About three kays into my run, I rounded a clearing and thought I saw a tree of some sort, a…

“The most beautiful thing is the bivouac: listening to different languages; spending moments with people who share your passion, suffer like you and understand you. This communion with other people rejoiced me.” Rocio Carrión (Peru) “I liked the idea of being a pioneer, of entering history.” Naho Fukunaga (Japan) “It’s more of an adventure and an inner exploration than a race.” Gediminas Grinius (Lithuania) “You return home with great stories of friendship, but what I learned about myself, this force deep inside, is the most amazing thing!” Beatriz Camiade (Mexico)…

I’m always a little loath to suggest that you can change the way you run TODAY… like we have, on the cover of this very magazine! But this month we have not one but two stories that show how a simple change can immediately help you become a fitter, healthier runner (turn to pages 18 and 20 to try them). Sometimes small tweaks can make all the difference to your running; having tried out these two myself, I can confirm that they work. This year’s Comrades Marathon turned up some new names, and established a new Comrades legend. Local KZN star and former bricklayer Bongmusa Mthembu won the race for the third time, and also defended his title from last year. There is no better example of hard work, humble…

LAST YEAR, TOP-RANKED marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge ran 42.2 kilometres in just two hours and 25 seconds in Monza, Italy, as part of Nike’s Breaking2 project. His time, although not record-eligible, is the fastest marathon time ever recorded, and the effort required to clock it was undoubtedly gruelling. Yet Kipchoge never let it show on his face. In fact, it appeared as if he was actually grinning at times. No, he was not trying to mock his competitors. Kipchoge was smiling – he later told reporters – in order to relax and work through the pain, employing a strategy some runners have long believed to be true: that smiling while running can help you run more efficiently. Considering the time and effort we dedicate to training and focusing on form,…

What phone do you use to take your Instagrams? A combination of my iPhone 8, GoPro hero 5 and Canon SLR. Where’s your favourite place to run? Anywhere in the Drakensberg. Tell us about your Insta name. My friends call me ‘Marz’... but Marz was taken, so I opted for ‘marz_merwe’. What’s the story behind your most-liked pics? Where did you take them, and why? Instagram 1: I travelled to Norway to compete in the Tromsø Extreme SkyRace. After a disappointing DNF, I still managed to fall in love with the country. My parents and I hired a camper van and travelled to various areas. This was in the Lofoten Islands, a beautiful cluster of fjords and islands in western Norway. Instagram 2: Nothing more to say – other than,…

“Substance abusers could use running as a distraction, in order to reduce the need for formerly addictive behaviours. Running increases our happy hormones, and it’s fair to say that it could be a vital tool for recovering addicts,” says Andrea Kellerman (a sports psychologist who specialises in neurofeedback and guided visualisation peak-performance training for the mind). “Addiction can be overcome by teaching the person alternative, distractive behaviours. The more we follow alternative behaviours, the more a new pathway in our brain can be created, which leads to reinforcement. But our behaviours have to become routine to occur naturally, and they can be changed within three to six weeks.”…

BEFORE I STARTED RUNNING a few years ago, the furthest I ever really ran was precisely 13 steps down a polevault runway. I was a gymnast for 17 years, and all I cared about was generating enough speed and power to flip over something, while still having enough control to stop – if necessary – within a nanosecond of ploughing into the vault. I didn’t realise how much my gymnast background affected my running form until I started training for half and full marathons. Some coaches I worked with told me I run ‘tall’, others just straight-out told me I run ‘like a gymnast’, and I took that as a compliment at the time. I do run tall: chest upright, chin tilted slightly up, spine almost perpendicular to the ground.…

WAS I CONFIDENT I WOULD WIN THE COMRADES? Yes and no. On the one hand, I had undertaken serious training in the build-up to the race – my body was as lean and strong as it could be. But on the other hand, there were factors I feared had the potential to end my Comrades dream. Three weeks beforehand, I had been diagnosed with severe anaemia; and with only two weeks left to go, I picked up a stomach bug that lasted five days. The Comrades is an integral part of South African running culture – it’s the ultimate human race. I planned to run it since I was a child, and achieving a gold medal was my ultimate dream. I’ve never been particularly fast, because I have the build…

THE WAKE-UP Being big was all I knew. I spent the first few weeks of my life in hospital, because I weighed 5kg when I was born, and doctors had to dislocate my shoulder to get me out. Over the next 30-odd years, I grew accustomed to my yo-yo’ing weight – and the fat-shaming and cruel taunts that came with it. My best friend died when I was 21, and I became depressed. I used food as an emotional crutch, and long working hours as an excuse not to exercise. Then, in my early 30s, I was retrenched, which only worsened my psychological state. The turning point came in 2014, when at the age of 35, I was rushed to hospital with stomach pains, dizziness, high blood pressure and a…

SNAKES I WOULDN’T SAY I HATE snakes like Indiana Jones hates snakes, but I would say I enjoy encountering them on the trail about as much as I like running into someone blasting music from their iPhone speaker. The snake scenario has only happened to me a handful of times, but every time is about as pleasant as remembering the existence of a song called ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ because some stranger decided to play it while hiking. I live in a dry, hilly area, so my nearby running trails are in the foothills, an arid climate that snakes love. If you’re running on a Saturday morning in any season but winter, there’s a good chance you might surprise a snake sunning itself on the trail, which is exactly what happened…

DAY 1: 37.2 km From Cahuachi, at just over 350m, to Coyungo, at just above sea level. DAY 2: 40.2km From Coyungo to Samaca, with a more challenging gradient profile than Day 1; a long climb early on, a rollercoaster of small inclines and descents, plus the canyon of Rio Ica. DAY 3: 32.7km To Ocucaje on a mixed day of lunar landscapes, stony terrain and dunes, with 550m of ascent in the first 13km. DAY 4: 68.3km A long day. The first 40km undulates, then it’s down to sea level before rising again. It’s tough, but Pacific views help. DAY 5: 42.2km Running along the coastline on possibly the most spectacular of all the stages, taking in beaches, cliffs, archaeological zones and a most welcome breeze en route to…