Comrades Marathon Training Archives

I’M A CHEF

29 April 202329 April 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.

I can report that his language is also a trifle rich towards the end of a marathon.

But he is a wonderfully entertaining running companion. Standing on the starting line of the London Marathon he courted the attention of the television cameras and teased an absent fellow well-known celebrity chef. “

“Where’s that porky little chef this morning? “He joked.

“I’ve been watching his television show recently and I’ve noticed he’s getting porkier and porkier with each passing week. He should be running today”

“By the way Bruce you’re so light and small I could carry you in my pocket”

While running we obviously discussed running and cooking “I ventured that I did much of the cooking at home and he asked me which family meals I most enjoyed preparing. And then he put me firmly in my place.

“It sounds like you’re a good family cook Bruce, but I’m a chef.

Indeed, and a chef sparkling with Michelin stars.

That set me thinking about ingredients and how when correctly and lovingly blended they create the perfect result. The parallels between running and cooking became glaringly obvious. Somewhere on our London Marathon journey from Blackheath Park to Buckingham Palace, Gordon revealed that one of the most difficult puddings to prepare is a’ lemon meringue pie’. He occasionally tortures his trainee chefs by insisting they prepare one. Apparently great skill and artistry are required to get the layers of sweet and tart lemon perfectly set and then to delicately top the pudding with fluffy meringue.

It could be argued that the same skill and artistry are required to deliver a runner perfectly prepared to the starting line of the Comrades marathon. The old, outdated approach used to be for runners to run as much distance as they could, to churn out the kilometres and hope for the best. We now understand that training should not be a boring and monotonous pile of leftover goulash (hundreds of tedious kilometres laboriously ground out without variety, from January to June) It should consist of several essential ingredients meticulously calculated and designed to get the best possible result from a runner.

The first ingredients are those long slow runs which most Comrades runners are busy completing this weekend and next. These runs develop the necessary strength, endurance and mental fortitude to better cope with Comrade’s 90 tortuous kilometres.

Next there are the bulk training miles, the day-to-day consistent,” up-early-in -the-morning “running that is the heart and soul of every training programme.

Speedwork adds the vital spice to the blend. It creates a faster runner and increases the runners’ ability to cruise at a faster speed.

Hill work blends in strength, body and anaerobic capacity to the mix. It makes climbing mighty Inchanga and Cowie’s Hill that much easier on race day.

Occasional time trials and short distance races allow runners to dip into their running schedule and have a quick taste test to see how things are progressing.

And then finally there is the often forgotten and neglected vital ingredient called “rest”. Like a great dish resting before being served the runner rests and allows the body to recover and to gather strength and prepare itself for the looming battle.

Understanding the importance and role of each these ingredients will always produce a great result.

I think Gordon Ramsay would agree.

This blog is published by kind permission of The Citizen Newspaper.

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Comrades Marathon 2023

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” →