Comrades Marathon Training Archives

LONG AND VERY SLOW

8 May 202529 June 2025
by Bruce Fordyce

This weekend I spotted dozens of runners out on Gauteng’s roads. Clearly they were training for the Comrades Marathon. The Comrades T shirts and peak caps they were wearing were useful clues to the motivation of these runners. I was driving back from Rustenburg, from the very successful launch of the new Sun City parkrun.(It’s a “beaut” of a parkrun by the way, definitely bucket list material. Congratulations to everyone involved.)
It was late in the morning and even though it had been chilly in the morning, the sun was blazing down and it was hot. The runners I spotted were shuffling along, their torsos glistening with sweat. Many of them were grimacing. Quite a few were walking. None were having fun. Read more “LONG AND VERY SLOW” →

Comrades Marathon

I HATE SURPRISE PARTIES

1 January 202529 June 2025
by Bruce Fordyce

I hate surprise parties!

Not those spontaneous, “let’s try that new restaurant tonight“ or “Suzy is having a braai and watching the rugby on telly this afternoon” parties. Those are fine. They can even be fun. No I hate those surprise parties where you are the “surprise” the shocked victim, and everybody else is a “surpriser “Those parties when you walk through the door yawning, and scratching your bum and a phalanx of friends in funny hats shout “surprise, surprise!” Read more “I HATE SURPRISE PARTIES” →

Bruce Fordyce Comrades Route Tour

EXPLORE AS MUCH OF THE COMRADES ROUTE AS YOU…

27 April 20245 August 2024
by Bruce Fordyce

The late and greatly missed Ian Emery once asked me why I was running very wide of the kerb on a bend near Drummond (halfway) while we were racing the Comrades Marathon.

“Bruce”, he panted, “you’ve been running the tangents so well in this race and yet suddenly you’re running wide. What’s up?”

Ian, by the way was a three-time gold medallist in our great race with a best place 4^th in 1985. He was knocked off his bike one awful morning and killed by a drunk motorist. I can’t believe that that sad day was more than 20 years ago.

Bruce Fordyce Comrades After Party

I’M A CHEF

29 April 202321 November 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

Last Sunday’s epic 42nd running of the London Marathon reminded me that I once ran the London Marathon with Gordon Ramsay. Yes “Hell’s kitchens/Kitchen Nightmares/The F word” Gordon Ramsay.

For any astonished non-believing sceptics reading this article who doubt Ramsay’s ability to run a marathon, allow me to startle you further. Gordon Ramsay has completed 3 Comrades marathons between the years 2000 and 2004. His best time is 10:31 (up). For good measure he is also an Iron Man medallist. In language spiced with profanities he rated the Comrades as the toughest @#$& race he has ever run.

FIND A COACH

12 February 202315 February 2023
by Bruce Fordyce

Casting my mind back over nearly half a century of running I realise that I have very few regrets, very few moments where I think “if only”

Yes “if only I had run a little faster and been a little bolder in the 1980 Comrades marathon, I might have won the race”

But Alan Robb deserved to win that year, and I was a very young runner, and was delighted with my second-place finish that morning. And, besides, a year later I won.

DO WHAT I SAY NOT WHAT I DO

24 May 20228 July 2022
by Bruce Fordyce

The niggle in my lower left leg began to irritate me two or three days before the Two Oceans half marathon that I was hoping to run on Easter Saturday. At first, I chose to ignore it, but the pain persisted and when I attempted a gentle three kilometre jog the day before the race the pain became sharper and more intense.

At that point my sensible, wise running angel sat on my shoulder and Read more “DO WHAT I SAY NOT WHAT I DO” →

Comrades 2022 training

THE KEY INGREDIENTS OF A SUCCESFUL COMRADES TRAINING PROGRAMME…

12 May 2022
by Bruce Fordyce

Photo credit Tim Graham/Getty Images

As Comrades runners start the hard winter training grind culminating on race day on August 28th many of them are still wrestling with exactly what type of training they should be doing on a daily and weekly basis. Should they be running hills? Should they include speed sessions? How many long runs should they complete? and how many kilometres should they run each week and, each month?

At this critical time of the Comrades marathon preparation, I am asked these questions on an almost daily basis. These questions are not as simple to answer as they might appear to be. The problem is that rather like running shoes there is no “one size suits all” answer. So much depends on what each race runner’s goal is. Is he or she hoping for a top 10 finish, a silver medal or 12 hours, Vic Clapham medal? It also depends on how much time they have at their disposal to train. How much time can they steal from work and family and social commitments. Finally, and most importantly it depends on how wisely they selected their parents! In other words what type of genetic advantage or disadvantage they bring to the task. Read more “THE KEY INGREDIENTS OF A SUCCESFUL COMRADES TRAINING PROGRAMME AND HOW I MET THE QUEEN” →

Tag: Comrades Marathon Training