Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2018 i Runner's World South Africa

ONE OF MY SOCKS is inside out. No, this is not a mistake. I always slip my socks on last when I dress in the morning. And not because they’re the least important part of my ensemble; it’s actually quite the opposite. I grab a fresh pair, pull the first one on inside out, then put the other sock on right-side out. It’s a quirk I picked up as a kid while playing soccer. Just before a match, I noticed one of my socks was on inside out, but it was too late to fix it. So I hit the pitch anyway, and sure enough, I scored, and we won the game. I’m not a very superstitious person, but in the back of my mind, that inside-out sock was the…

Zone 1: 60% to 70% This is a very comfortable effort, used for warm-up and cool-down. Zone 2: 70% to 80% Used for the bulk of training, this relaxed effort allows you to hold a conversation. Zone 3: 81% to 93% This is a comfortably hard effort, during which you can only say short, broken sentences. Zone 4: 94% to 100% Often a 5K pace, this is a very hard effort that’s sustainable, but only lets you speak a few words at a time.…

AS SOON AS YOU START running, the desire to get dressed up to go out unexpectedly dies. That’s because hill repeats and tempo runs do to you what the cruel stepsisters did to Cinderella: they prevent you from going to the party. Tonight, I’ve made an exception. An invitation to a film premiere – starring a famous Olympian runner, who will be attending – has given me hope: if I’m in the presence of greatness, some next-level running kiffness might rub off on me. Dress code: black tie. No problem. WEDNESDAY, 6:45PM I’ve been standing in front of this mirror for ages. It’s been so long since I last got myself dolled up that I’ve forgotten how. This is my fourth failed attempt at applying eye liner. How has it…

“ONE OF THE GREATEST JOYS IS THE FEELING OF RUNNING IN YOUR SHORTS AND A T-SHIRT ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY. MEB KEFLEZIGHI, RETIRED PROFESSIONAL RUNNER “IF YOU CATCH THE SUNRISE, IT'S MAGIC.” LISETTE OROPESA, RUNNER’S WORLD READER “I ALWAYS LOVE BEING ABLE TO DO THAT FIRST WORKOUT WITHOUT A SHIRT.” DATHAN RITZENHEIN, PROFESSIONAL LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER “It feels like the first cup of coffee in morning the – bliss.” LAUREN SESERKO, RUNNER’S WORLD READER “You can smell spring. Flowers are blooming. You can hear the birds chirping more. Everyone is wearing shorts, ditching their shirts, super-excited.” JOHN HONERKAMP, RUNNING COACH “I feel like the sun is literally feeding me during my run – feeding my legs and my soul!” ALEXI PAPPAS, PROFESSIONAL LONG-DISTANCE RUNNER “I love when it’s spring or early…

1 On training runs, always take a baguette with you in your hydration pack. 2 Wear Salomon S-lab Sense from head to toe, all the time. Even when going to buy the baguette. 3 Do at least 5 000m vertical gain per week, every week, from the moment you learn how to walk. 4 Save your smiles for the finish line. 5 Talk about how you don’t actually train; you ‘just spend time in the mountains’. 6 Then, don’t just spend time in the mountains; do hill repeats, speed sessions and VKs (vertical kays) every other day. 7 Take an afternoon siesta. Every afternoon!…

Lisa Abdellah, Gear Editor at Runner’s World South Africa, is a running-gear enthusiast who has wear-tested hundreds of pairs of running shoes, on distances from the 5-K to the Comrades. Molly Ritterbeck, Fitness and Gear Director, is a certified personal trainer, uncertified shoe addict, and professional product tester for a decade. Warren Greene, Shoe Expert Emeritus, brings more than 10 years of shoe-review-writing experience – yes, that’s a thing – to this guide. Dr Martyn Shorten, Director of the RW Shoe Lab, has 35-plus years of experience in the footwear industry, and is reverently called ‘The Big Man’ in sneaker circles.…

Runners love spring (the season, that is… not some weird shoe technology!). Spring arrives just when winter feels like it won’t end. When spring springs, almost overnight the world seems a better place. In South Africa we don’t really have true winters like that crowd up north of the Equator, but a chilly Joburg morning is not for the faint-hearted. So we’ve done a few pages of spring motivation; hopefully, by the time you’ve read it, you’ll have already sprung for spring. – Page 34 The cottage of wattage. That’s how local fitness trainer Richard Woolrich once described the glute muscle. It’s pretty much the powerhouse of the body, and when properly engaged, it can mean the difference between plodding and running. I’ve often spent time trying to work on…

New Balance Impact Racer Socks R150 Left/right-foot specific. Elasticated compression tech supports the arch. Extra padding on the back for ankle blisters. Antimicrobial treatment keeps the socks fresher. newbalance.co.za Falke AR3 Stride Anklet R95 Drynamix fibre keeps your feet cool and dry. There are breathable mesh panels on the top of the sock, and a seamless toe minimises your risk of blisters. Falke 021 951 2137 Balega Ultralight Contoured Fit R150 Durable, soft-touch microfibre, enhanced elastic for superior fit, deep ergonomically formed heel pocket, high heel tab to prevent the sock slipping. shopbalega.co.za…

SUGAR IS EVERYWHERE, and not just in celebratory foods like birthday cake and Easter eggs. It’s in practically every food we eat, from sweetened yoghurts to the breakfast cereal we wash down with a flavour-of-the-month Frappuccino. Though we know it’s not good for us in excess, it’s also so hard to resist. That’s because eating sugar lights up our brains’ dopamine receptors (the same ones that trigger drug addiction), making us feel fantastic – and eager for another hit. As runners, our sugar problem is even stickier, as we rely on gels and energy drinks (and sometimes just plain sweets) to fuel and recover from workouts. Sadly, running doesn’t make you immune to the detrimental health effects of eating too much refined sugar. Figures vary, but the approximately 36kg of…

What phone do you use to take your Instagrams? I take most of my Instagram pictures with my GoPro Hero 5 (I have a tendency to destroy electronics, so a GoPro works pretty well for avoiding that). Where’s your favourite place to run? Newlands Forest (living 1km away from it for three years meant I spent a helluva lot of time there. It’s the ideal place for any type of run); the Drakensberg (don’t think I have to do much convincing about how great they are); Hex River Mountains (peaceful, wild, and super-technical); and of course the Alps (never-ending trails, peaks, views and lakes, and the novelty of snow). Tell us about your Insta name. Nothing special – just my name and year of birth. What’s the story behind your…

THE THRILL OF RUNNING CAN distract us from the reality of what is happening to you with every stride. Your heart beats harder, pumping blood throughout your body. Sweat drips down your forehead as your body temperature rises. You feel the wind on your face as you turn up the trail or down the road. These are the images running conjures up in our heads and they are real, but while your heart and lungs are driving your engine, your chassis is under a lot of stress. It’s hard to believe, but your body must deal with two-and-a-half to three times its weight with every stride. Think about what that means. If you stand on both legs, you have half your weight on each leg. If you stand on one…

When we ask runners to tell us about a shoe, they eagerly lay out exactly what they think, no holds barred. They rave (or rant) about fit, cushioning, and support – the shoe-sperience, if you will – and how it transforms their run, and sometimes even inspires them to run more. What they don’t talk about is midsole technologies, levels of pronation, or lacing systems. So for this year’s guide, we sifted through the last decade’s worth of 52 582 comments from approximately 3000 wear-testers in our database to see what experiences runners noted most. According to the report, they kept coming back to four key feels: LIGHT WEIGHT, CUSHIONING, SUPPORT AND A COMFORTABLE FIT. Not all that surprising, right? Runners know, or at least have an idea of, what…

WEIGHT Some runners care a lot about weight, and research shows that you expend more aerobic energy with heavier shoes. To put it into context, the heaviest shoe in this guide is 340 grams (Vivobarefoot Primus Swimrun) for men, and 348 grams (Olympic Ramble Ladies) for women. The lightest is 227 grams for men and 198 grams for women (Altra Duo). DROP A fancy machine called a digital contact sensor measures the ‘stack height’, or the total thickness of the sole from your foot to the ground, in both the heel and the forefoot. The ‘drop’ is the difference between the heel and the forefoot measurements, or how much your toes drop below your heel. The least amount of drop in this guide is 0mm for both men and women…

ADIDAS AEROBOUNCE 2 R1 599 WEIGHT: M 310 grams, W 240 grams DROP: M 10mm, W 10mm CUSHIONING: 53 THE NEED-TO-KNOW Flexible Bounce midsole cushioning gives you a little spring in your step, without weighing you down on a long-distance run. The upper has a suede lining and is surprisingly durable, despite the sock-like mesh, and the lightweight, blown rubber outsole has good traction for rocky and wet surfaces. Wide-footed runners appreciated the roominess of the shoe. adidas.co.za PUMA HYBRID RUNNER R2 499 WEIGHT: M 310 grams (size 8), W 280 grams (size 4) DROP: M 10mm, W 10mm CUSHIONING: 60 THE NEED-TO-KNOW Hybrid foam combines two of Puma’s technologies: Ignite foam provides energy return on impact, and then the NRGY beads provide cushioning, which creates a rebound effect during…

BECCA COTUGNO, 31, has always been a fast runner. At high school, she scored points for her athletics and cross-country teams; and now, as an adult, she regularly wins her age group or finishes in the top five of the women’s field. But unlike many amateur runners at Cotugno’s level, her training isn’t focused on speed. She would rather lace up and go out slow and steady for hours at a time. So when Cotugno heard about heart-rate--based training just over a year ago, she was intrigued. “When I found out heart-rate training was about ‘slowing down to speed up’, I was pumped,” she says. “I love running at a leisurely pace, but I used to feel like I wasn’t putting the effort in if I just went out and…

I AM 63 YEARS OLD. I live with my wife (former TV producer and presenter Isabel Verwey) and two children (aged 19 and 17) in Stellenbosch. I serve as non-executive director of a number of companies, the honorary consul general of Slovenia, and as a professor at the University of Stellenbosch Business School. I started running 30 years ago, because I wanted to lose weight and finish a marathon. I lost 40kg within a year. Ever since, I’ve been living by these words from Bob Seger’s ‘Against the Wind’: ‘living to run, running to live’. I’m a veteran of more than 50 marathons. I’ve learned that success in long-distance running depends partly on natural talent, but also on dedication, perseverance, self-discipline and a self-starting temperament. As an older runner I’m…

1. PREPERATION If you’re going to race on stairs, train on stairs. Start small and build from there. If you attempt 40 storeys straight off, you’ll fail, and it will knock your confidence. Far better to do 10 floors, then have a rest. 2. WALK/RUN Walking two stairs at a time is faster than running one at a time, so aim for this. Running up the steps two at a time, as I do, is quite tough for the beginner; but it is possible with some practice. 3. FULL-BODY WORKOUT In races with a handrail, use it to pull yourself up. It’s allowed, and it helps take some of the load off your legs. Techniques vary; some runners use a double handhold to haul themselves up. 4. START SLOWLY Start…

SWEAT-TESTED We receive multiple pairs of various models of shoes from leading manufacturers. We distribute those shoes to more than 400 runners. Testers run about 160km in a pair of shoes during one month to evaluate the experience. LAB-APPROVED Under the direction of Dr Martyn Shorten, the Runner’s World Shoe Lab performs six mechanical tests on each shoe to measure features such as cushioning, flexibility, height, and weight. When the wear-test and lab results are in, editors pore over the reports and crunch the data down to the information you see here. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SHOES AND OTHER RUNNING GEAR, GO TO RUNNERS WORLD.CO.ZA/GEAR.…