Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i Runner's World South Africa

MY RUNNING PARTNER Audra Boyle always looks like a bleary-eyed zombie when she arrives at the starting line of a race. While sucking down a caffeinated GU energy gel, she recounts her sleepless night of tossing, turning, running to the bathroom, and finally passing out around 3am. Like many runners, Audra attributes her poor night’s rest to pre-race jitters – but it could have been something she ate. Some foods have characteristics, such as a certain macronutrient breakdown or a particular chemical compound such as saturated fat, that can mess with your sleep. Feeling more groggy than energised before a run? Avoid these 11 sleep-sappers. Coconut Oil Using this trendy oil for your stir-fry seems like a good idea, but it can have a negative impact on Z’s. A study…

LAST APRIL, Johannesburg-born endurance athlete Gaven Sinclair returned from a 4 000km trail run across South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia. The adventure took the 45-year-old seven months to complete, given minimal logistical necessities and budget and on the terrain he would cover, and he tackled it alone and unsupported. Why? To help fund an organisation that traces missing children. It wasn’t Sinclair’s first solo adventure for this cause. Before that, he had cycled from Cape Town to Cairo; and although it’s been only a matter of months since he completed his mammoth run, he’s already begun to prepare for a 300km ocean swim off the coast of Mozambique. Together, all three of his adventures will make up the longest triathlon in the world. Let’s be honest: most of us…

■ There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, because every runner is an individual. One runner could get a knee injury from a weak glute, another the same injury from a tight hamstring. Or from a combination of issues: for example, a weak core and a tight hamstring. That’s why one rehabilitation programme won’t work for a group of people with the same condition. If you have knee pain, don’t borrow your friend’s programme, because your chance of success is low. First, you need to be fully assessed to find out what’s causing your pain. Next, experts will prescribe a rehabilitation programme that addresses your injury-risk factors and performance variables.…

[A] Boone won the Spartan Race World Championships in 2013, and the World’s Toughest Mudder – a 24-hour non-stop obstacle-course race – in 2012, 2014, and 2015. [B] The world’s oldest 100-mile (160km) trail race is also one of its toughest: runners must climb more than 5 500m, descend nearly 7 000m, and ford the icy Middle Fork of the American River. [C] “The femur is the biggest, strongest bone in the body. To suffer a stress fracture here, you’re ignoring symptoms of pain, and pushing through,” says Dr Jordan Metzl, sports physician and author of Running Strong. “The bone starts to swell on the inside, then over time it starts to get a crack on the outside – then the whole thing can snap in half.” [D] A SkiErg…

With big events like The Gun Run and The Old Mutual Soweto Marathon around the corner, we know you’re clocking in those kms! Whether you’ve done your LSD for the weekend or just aced your parkrun PB, one thing we all have in common is that post-run hunger. Ditch the bad foods and fuel up with the nutrients your body needs to keep you performing at your best. It’s crucial to get in the right amount of protein after a good training session to help those muscles repair and heal and to keep you feeling full for longer. It’s also important to keep your immune system supported during high training periods with nutrients from foods like ginger, carrots and oranges. What easier way to get them all in, than with…

I’M STANDING IN the tiny kitchen of my flat, staring at the fridge. I’m not rummaging for the food that’s in it, I’m looking at what’s pinned on it: a marathon training calendar. The plan is two pages long. I couldn’t fit 16 weeks’ worth of workouts on one sheet of paper, and that alone causes anxiety to bubble up each morning when I review the day’s workout. The calendar is covered with red pen scribbles – a method I used to make changes because I’m not only training for a marathon, I’m also trying to have a life. Scanning the sea of red makes me want to go back to bed instead of lacing up my takkies. I’m not sure exactly when my relationship with running turned toxic. Instead…

Tart Cherry Juice Feeling the urge to sip on something sweet at night? Consider tart cherry juice, which has been shown to help older adults sleep more soundly. Kiwis Instead of glugging water to hydrate, add water-rich kiwi fruit to your night-time routine. These fuzzy fruits are made up of about 80 per cent water, and contain sleep-inducing serotonin. Pumpkin Seeds About 200 grams (or 1½ cups) of pumpkin seeds contains nearly 1 gram of tryptophan, an amino acid that has been shown to improve sleep quality.…

I WASN’T ALWAYS A RUNNER. When I was growing up in the north of England, there was a BBC TV show called 999 (after the emergency telephone number), in which gory ‘accidents’ were reconstructed. They were intended to deter viewers from engaging in potentially hazardous activities. Such as mowing the lawn. I’ll never forget the story of Andrew, the teenager who was impaled by a javelin – in the neck, on his school sports day. Even though the thing went right through him, by some miracle it missed a major artery by a fraction of a millimetre. Andrew lived to see his harrowing ordeal reenacted on national television by a random child actor. But every unpopular school kid who watched it agreed that it had been no accident. Andrew was…

Keep a note of your training and your cycle and note how you actually feel on certain runs. Because if you do notice a difference, there’s a way to take advantage of your cycle. Break it up into four-week ‘periods’ [pardon the pun]: ■ WEEK ONE: Ramp things up, by doing interval workouts. ■ WEEK TWO: When you’re feeling at your best, do high-load, high-intensity, max-effort workouts. This is the week you’ll hit that personal best. ■ WEEK THREE: Switch to more aerobic-based exercise and decrease your training load. Taper according to PMS symptoms. ■ WEEK FOUR: Do lighter activities such as swimming, yoga or long, gentle runs.…

Over the last few years, the growth of running among women has been simply astounding. While the sport continues to grow overall, the percentage growth for women has been the most significant. And that growth has happened largely in the shorter distances, from the 5K to the half marathon. Nowadays, races such as the Gun Run and the Two Oceans Half have more female entries than male – a stat no one would have thought possible a decade ago. I’ve canvassed a few of my female running friends, and it seems there’s a combination of factors to explain why the sport has grown so much among women: being able to run with friends, or on your own, at your own pace, and the increasing benefit of reward vs time –…

Give running a rest – but not completely. “Try a 15-minute jog once a week,” Siik suggests. “This will make it easier to jump back in when you feel ready, and make you hungry for more.” Cross-train Aside from the physical benefits, Hays says yoga can teach you to be present. “So much of running is outcome-focused; but the essence of yoga is, ‘What is happening with me now?’ ” she says. That can help you adjust your attitude.…

IF RUNNING CONDITIONS CHANGE, DON’T PRETEND YOU’LL BE FINE; THAT’S WHAT’LL GET YOU INTO TROUBLE. SHALANE FLANAGAN CAN’T remember much about finishing the 2016 US Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles. She had led much of the race with teammate Amy Cragg, but the temperature reached 23 degrees on the unshaded course in winter, the hottest Marathon Trials on record. Flanagan, who trains in the cool and rainy Pacific North-West, wasn’t acclimated to that kind of heat. She staggered through the last few kilometres, feeling dizzy, getting chills, hearing ringing in her ears. Though she hung on to finish third and secure a spot on the US Olympic Marathon Team, she collapsed and was rushed to a medical tent, where she was hooked up to an IV. “I’d been taking…

Arlo van Heerden Insta Name: @arlo_van_heerden Age: 21 Hometown: Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, South Africa Occupation: Assistant photographer/videographer at Phonix Capture; part-time UNISA journalism student What phone do you use to take your Instagrams? It varies a lot – a Galaxy S5, but a few of the shots are also taken on a Nikon D800. Where’s your favourite place to run? This is a tough one; but there’s a section of coastal trail in a small town called Leisure Bay on the KZN South Coast that stole my heart when I was about 10 years old. Tell us about your Insta name. Simple, just my name. Nothing fancy. What’s the story behind your most-liked pics? Where did you take them, and why? Instagram 1: We were assigned to photograph the Three Cranes…

I. Tough Break I was in a weird space. From 2011 to 2016, I was the dominant force in obstacle racing: a four-time world champion, seemingly unbeatable. That sounds conceited – but I was winning, and a lot [see footnote A]. In my entire career I’d never missed a podium, and the focus was always What’s the next race that I can win? To an outsider, it must have looked like everything was perfectly in place; but internally, I was struggling. I was eager to branch out from obstacle racing, and hungry to find a new challenge. I found it in ultrarunning. In my second ultra, the 2016 Sean O’Brien 100K in Malibu, California, I secured a golden ticket to run Western States – the Holy Grail of ultramarathons [B].…

HOLD IT In an isometric contraction, a muscle is contracted without either shortening or lengthening. For example, the hamstrings and glutes contract isometrically during the bridge exercise. “Isometrics are thought to have an inhibitory effect on pain, although the research highlights a varied response in individuals,” says Goom. One recent study, in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that with tendinopathies, isometric holds reduced pain for 45 minutes. “In some, isometrics can reduce pain to allow a window of opportunity to facilitate rehab or continue sport, but they’re not a cure-all,” cautions Goom. BEST DONE Before rehab. MOVE IT To see how pain is governed by the brain, try this tip from coach and Feldenkrais practitioner Jae Gruenke (balancedrunner.com). “If you feel pain when running, imagine the pain is…