Introduction

In the paragraphs below, I have laid out the actual program I followed, in preparation for a marathon.  This is not a recommended training plan.  Rather, it is a historical training log.  It may only be useful and applicable to me, but I believe it provides an excellent reference.  

I do recognise that most marathon training plans are 12 weeks long; but for me that would have meant training through the festive season or eating into the Comrades training block.  While I would have preferred 12 weeks of prep, I had to do with 9.  So, in a way, this log provides some insight as to what an 9-week plan could deliver.  Basically, 9-weeks was a default amount and not an actual thing!  

Note:  These 9 weeks of training were built on a full year of solid training in 2023.  I ran just over 3400kms in 2023.  However, November and December of that year were rest months, where I averaged less than 150kms per month.  So, leading into January 2024, I was well rested, but still with a good level of fitness.  

Goal: The aim was to beat my, GPS measured, marathon personal record (PR) of 2h54m and 11s, at the Vaal Marathon on the 3^rd of March 2024.  I will get into the reasons for choosing this race later, but I want to mention why I chose to attempt it at this time of the year.  Linking to the earlier comment, running hard in the beginning of March, leaves me enough time to recover and then train for the Comrades Marathon in June 2024.  Mind you, this kind of effort is not recommended by many experts who would say it is too close to the Comrades for comfort.  I agree!  But for me, my body is still recovering well, and I want to capitalise on the gains that the Comrades’ training plan is giving me.  It would be a pity to gain all this running fitness, and then not really use it. 

The Runner:  I have already mentioned my marathon PR.  However, for you to make a true comparison, here is some important information: 

• Age: 41
• Weight: 63kg
• VO2 Max: Peaked at 63 in October 2023

Click here to access my Strava page for more details

Week 1 (01 to 07 Jan 2024):  

• Distance: 64km
• Time: 5h25m
• Elevation gain: 1284m (Corrected)

This was a tough week.  Not only was I coming off a week where I ran less than 40km, but I started with quite a heavy hangover on “Tweede Nuwe Jaars” (2^nd New Year’s Day).  To exacerbate matters, I kicked straight into hill repeats.  I was supposed to have done 10 reps, but only managed 7.  I steadily grew weaker with each rep, until the alcohol churning in my tummy forced me back home.  There were 2 lessons here…  One: Alcohol does not support intensive training; and Two: You need to ease into a training block.     

In the end, I managed to get 6 runs in for the week; all at reduced effort and distance.  I rounded off the weekend with a very easy 21, and a slightly faster 10.  I had targeted 75km for the week, so I was still well short.  

Week 2 (08 to 14 Jan 2024):  

• Distance: 51km
• Time: 4h14m
• Elevation gain: 849m (Corrected)

Remember lesson number two…  Well, this was its manifestation.  My rest day should have been on Monday only, but in this week, I took the Friday off as well.  The distance was back down to festive-season levels, and I still could not get any interval training momentum.  I somehow thought there was a potential of a fast time at the Dischem Half Marathon at the end of the week.  But when my first hill session was again curtailed at 7 reps, I realised I was nowhere near any decent level of fitness.  I therefore eased into the weekend, enjoying the Bedfordview scenery at one of South Africa’s premier half marathons.

There were some silver linings though.  While I ran the Dischem Half easy, it actually felt “easy”.  I also managed a double run, on Thursday, taking my total runs to 6.  In hindsight, this week was the perfect building block for the harder weeks that followed.   

Running Shoes

How can I give an account of my training without mentioning all runners’ favourite topic…  Shoes!  I basically have 3 active pairs: a trail shoe, a trainer, and a racer.  I am not going to talk too much about the trail shoe.  I only used it twice, for two short runs in our local game reserve.  Most of my road training was done in a Nike Invincible 3.  These shoes offer good cushioning and support, which helps protect my ankles.  I am now on the 6^th pair of these.  As you can see in the picture below, the Invincibles have a large toe-box and a wid sole, making them super comfortable and very stable.

I did 60km of racing in a Nike Vaporfly 2.  Yes, that one!  I am not going to weigh in on the super shoe argument.  Are they in the spirit of the sport?  Do they make a difference for the amateur runner?  For me, I love racing in them.  I feel they give me some benefit, but whether that is just a placebo effect, I don’t know.  

Week 3 (15 to 21 Jan 2024):  

• Distance: 63km
• Time: 4h58m
• Elevation gain: 1140m (Corrected)

Following on from the struggles of the first two weeks, I only increased my distance by 10km in week 3.  I also took a double day of rest on Monday and Tuesday.  I eased into things with two slow, sort-of-long runs, and dropped the hill repeats altogether.  I also completed the first Wingate Road Runners Time Trial (WRR TT) for the year. 

To end the week, I decided to push things up a bit.  I did my 400m intervals on Friday, and then followed it up with a fastish run at the George Claassen Half Marathon in Pretoria.  The best part was that despite all the struggles of the last 2 weeks, I managed to dip below 1h30m for that half…  Just!  Things were looking positive! 

Week 4 (22 to 28 Jan 2024):  

• Distance: 69km
• Time: 5h42m
• Elevation gain: 1224m (Corrected)

Week 4 was uneventful.  The weekend mileage was kept low due to personal commitments.  Having said that, it was the first week since the start of the year where I completed a full set of hill repeats.  Not only that, later that day I ran to the WRR TT, completed it, and ran back home.  I was now ready for what would be the first 100-plus week.  

Week 5 (29 Jan to 04 Feb 2024):  

• Distance: 107km
• Time: 9h20m
• Elevation gain: 1800m (Corrected)

Whoa!  What a week!  Given the Sunday break on the previous week, I decided to hit the road on Monday, abandoning my traditional rest day.  Again, I managed both sets of interval training, following both up with a late evening WRR TT.  I also had my first 7-day running week for the year.  The midweek long-run was longer than the previous week, but nothing compared to the Saturday that was to come.  

The plan for Saturday was to run to the approximately 5km to the start of the Intercare Magnolia Half Marathon, do a 21km and then run back home.  This should have been an easy Saturday morning run.  But; all inspired, and with plenty of company on the road, the miles just rolled by.  I ended up with a full marathon in less than 3h30m.  Admittedly, I had two lengthy breaks during that time.  Nonetheless, it was the long run I needed to get in before the Vaal Marathon.

The foundation for 2 weeks of fast testers was built!  

Week 6 (05 to 11 Feb 2024):  

• Distance: 86km
• Time: 6h53m
• Elevation gain: 1251m (Corrected)

This was more a week of racing than training, and I must admit that I got carried away.  While I purposely dropped the hill training and made a few other amendments, I should never have run for 10 days in a row.  You will notice that I ran on all 7 days in week 5, and then ran on the first 3 days of week 6.  While I did not get injured, I put myself at huge risk of injury.

However, dropping the more intense activities allowed me to give a bit more at 2 events in week 6.  The first was the monthly WRR TT champs.  Once a month, the WRR TT is run with a golf-like handicap system, where the start order is determined by each runner’s previous best WRR TT time.  So, a runner with a 40-minute TT best, would start 10 minutes after another runner with a 50-minute TT best.  I had been targeting this TT champs for a while and knew than my year-best of around 37-minutes, was much slower than my potential.  While I was severely handicapped, starting 2^nd last, I knew I could reel in significant time.  I gave it a full go…  In the blistering heat!  Running at 4 mins/km while ascending almost 190m, I overtook the entire field to win the event.  Score!!! 

Click here to see the Strava detail of the WRR TT champs!

If that was not enough, the Eersterust Half Marathon, or the ACE race, happened a few days later.  The plan, as it often is with these odd weekend events, was to do a “practice run”.  I was aiming for somewhere around 1h35m.  However, after a measured start, I got drawn into several mini races along the route.  Each time chasing someone down that sped past me in the beginning.  When I reached the halfway mark, a marshal told me that I was the 2^nd veteran male.  That was all I needed to hear!   I decided to shift gears and go find that 1^st VM.  Leaning into it, I overtook him at the 18km mark, to go on and win the VM race.  In all honesty, it was a very small race, and a half marathon time of 1h:26m should never have been enough to win it.  Nonetheless, It does do a lot for the self-confidence.  What was really heartening though was the 10km splits.  I ran the first 10km in 41m27s, and last 10km in 39m52s.  All of this without carbon plated shoes, healthier eating, nor a rest day before the event.  Upwards and onwards!    

Click here to see the Strava detail of the ACE Race!

Week 7 (12 to 18 Feb 2024):  

• Distance: 56km
• Time: 5h39m
• Elevation gain: 684m (Corrected)

Now it may be surprising to find a 56km-week in the middle of this peak training period, but it was by design.  I had been targeting the Sasol marathon, or at least the 10km leg, for quite a while.  So, it was intentional to build in 2 rest days and reduce distance.  As it turned out, it also helped with the recovery for the week that was to come.  A 10km race is run well into the depths of the anaerobic zones, but I feel that it requires a much shorter recovery time than half and full marathons.  For the Sasol 10km race, I was targeting a sub 3:45 pace, and hopefully another VM podium.  I realized both, finishing as the 2^nd VM, with an average pace of 3:42.  In fact I overtook the 1^st VM with a mere 200m to go, but did not have enough in the tank to hold onto the lead till the end.  I will have to work on that!  

Click here to see the Strava detail of the Sasol 10km Race!

All in all, I was happy with where I found myself at the end of these last 2 weeks.  The 8km time trial and the 10km race, are good indicators of relative fitness.  I was where I wanted to be, and now needed to focus on endurance.  Onto week 8, the toughest of the 9!   

South Africa in the 1^st weekend of March  

The 2^nd and 3^rd of March 2024, saw no less than 11 open road race events; of 10km or more.  These were: 

• The Sunrise Monster – Pretoria
• Mupungubwe Marathon – Polokwane
• Elands Marathon – Waterval Boven 
• Diamond Marathon – Kimberly
• Marakele Marathon – Waterberg 
• Mimosa Mall Family Run – Bloemfontein
• John Nugent Memorial Marathon – Upington
• Knysna Heads Marathon – Knysna
• Ethekwini Marathon – Durban 
• Edenvale Marathon – Johannesburg
• Vaal Marathon – Vereeniging

These are just the officially listed ones.  There were even races in the Northern Cape, where they invited springboks to increase the number of runners on the road.  I mean real springboks, not the rugby team!  There were also 2 official 10km-only road races as well, so including these, we had 13 listed events over the weekend.  So, what is about this weekend in the South African rood-running calendar?   Most other weekends in the first half of year have about 8 events, including the 10km ones.  Here is my theory: 

South Africans are obsessed with the Comrades Marathon.  It is to a us, what the Boston Marathon is to Americans.  It is steeped in history and tradition and is the largest Ultramarathon in the world, in terms of finishers.  It is so influential on South African culture that of the 10 global ultramarathons, with more than 1000 finishers, half of them are right here in Mzanzi.  These ultramarathons have sprung up all over the country, and many runners use them as Comrades prep.  In all fairness, most of these ultras hold their own as an outright event.  The Two Oceans ultramarathon cannot even be called a Comrades preparation event.  It is every bit as prestigious.  But for us, the Comrades is just special.  If Eliud Kipchoge had to meet a South African in a bar and tell him the story of his sub-two-hour marathon; the South African would reply “Ja, that’s okay, but have you run the Comrades?”

So, what does all of this have to do with the 1^st weekend of March.  My guess is that thousands of hopefuls, probably from all over Southern Africa, use this weekend as a final effort to qualify or improve their seeding, for the Comrades Marathon.  In fact, almost 6 300 completed a full marathon over this weekend! As I said earlier, this, and possibly the next weekend, are the last chances of putting up a qualifying time without jeopardising your actual Comrades training.  And the running clubs have capitalized on this fact.  Almost all the above-listed events, have included the phrase ‘Comrades Qualifier’ in their race flyer.  The influence of the Comrades is massive; not just with the other ultramarathons, but with the whole South African running culture!

Week 8 (19 to 26 Feb 2024):  

• Distance: 128km
• Time: 11h8m
• Elevation gain: 2074m (Corrected)

My biggest week since May 2023!  It was a complete 7-day running program, with 2 interval sessions and 3 longs runs, including 1 exceptionally lengthy one.  The 39km on the Tuesday meant that, within a space of 20 days, I got two runs in that were each more than 3 hours.  I mention that specifically, because for my previous marathon in Cape Town, I felt I had the speed, but lacked the endurance to hold on in the last 10km.  Before that race, I only managed one 3-hour run, the weekend before the event.  This time, I would be going into the Vaal Marathon with two, slightly longer runs.  

To add to that, I also managed to get a 42km weekend.  Split, obviously, between Saturday and Sunday.  And despite the tough week, the Sunday half marathon was still sub 1h45m.  However, I was exhausted at the end of the week.  Fortunately for me, the taper week was about to start.  

The Cape Gate Vaal Marathon

2024 saw the 49^th running of this marathon, first run in 1975, with every one of them starting at the same venue.  Mind you, the Berlin and New York Marathons are less than 3 years older, and the Chicago, London and Tokyo marathons are all younger.  Of the majors, only the Boston marathon is really older.  Significantly!  But, relating to history and tradition, as South Africans we know that Bostoners don’t come close to the Comrades.  

The icon, Bruce Fordyce ran the Vaal Marathon as a qualifier for his first Comrades marathon in 1977.  At one stage it was South Africa’s largest standard marathon, attracting almost 1000 runners in the late 70s.  This was at a time where marathon running was still a fringe sport and the running boom had not yet taken off.  These days, even a small half marathon in Pofadder may attract more than 1000 runners. 

Enough about the history!  I did say that I will mention why I chose this marathon specifically.  Firstly, I live on the Highveld and access to the South of Gauteng is easy.  Then, there is the flat factor!  Most races in Gauteng and Mpumalanga, are very hilly.  In fact, this is the case across the country, except for some very remote areas.  But the Midvaal area of Gauteng is one of those metros, with European-like marathon conditions.  The total cumulative elevation gain for the Vaal Marathon is just 162m.  That is approximately 50m less that the WRR 8km TT.  I love it!  

Lastly, the Midvaal area is slightly cooler than the Northern parts of Gauteng.  This is relative though.  As South Africans we are accustomed to running in temperatures upwards of 20°C.  So, when we say cooler, we mean 18°C instead of 20°C.  All in all, for us Transvaalers, this is one of the fastest standard marathons around.   

Week 9 – Race Week – (27 Feb to 01 Mar 2024):  

• Distance: 26km
• Time: 1h46m
• Elevation gain: 354m

Taper week…. My favorite!  I dramatically cut my distance down for the days preceding the race.  And yes, the 2 activities on Tuesday and Friday were done at a high intensity (the 5km run was a trail run).  But, the drastically reduced distance really helped with rest and recovery.  You will note that the list of runs excludes the weekend.  By the time I got to race day on Sunday the 3^rd of March, I was more than well rested.  In fact, by Saturday, I was itching to just get on with it.  I don’t think there is any runner that does not taper before a big race, so this next statement is rather obvious.  A proper taper before a race is of extreme importance.  In fact, more important than the big training week that precedes the taper.  Short distances, with lower intensity and plenty of rest days is absolutely the order for the week.  

As a side note, I also greatly improved my eating habits too.  I have not spoken about eating at all so far, and that is because I don’t really incorporate much of a planned nutritional regime during training.  I generally eat healthy, running or not, and I feel my body gets what it needs.  But in taper week I am just a little more cautious.  For example, I cut out alcohol completely, giving my liver a break for the race.  I reduced sugar and fatty foods, helping promote that lean feeling for race day.  And I increased my intake of protein and healthy carbs.  All I needed to do then was pitch up for the race.  

The Cape Gate Vaal Marathon – 03 March 2024

I ate a pasta dish for dinner on Saturday and was in bed by 20:30. My sleep was interrupted by a swarm of mozzies, but that did not matter.  I never really sleep well before a race! Also, I managed to get a good rest on Friday night.  I was awake by 04:30 on Saturday morning and energised my body with a Red Bull and 2 jungle oat breakfast bars.  Yes, a Red Bull!  I know how bad a reputation this drink has.  But in preparation for a marathon, I think you could drink diesel and your body would burn it.  Jokes aside, for all the “bad stuff” a Red Bull has plenty of caffeine, which I am told delays the onset of fatigue.  Secondly, it gives me a sugar rush, which helps to get me going.  I then went through my warmup routine, leg swings etc., before doing a 1km warmup run to the start line.  I lined up at the front.  If you are attempting a sub-3hr marathon, you cannot afford to have to deal with traffic at the start.  Then, after the pre-race ceremony, at 6am, the gun went off and I was off too.   

The start of the race was steady and consistent at around 4 mins/km.  In fact, I crossed the halfway mark at 1h24m and 16s.  Almost exactly on 4 mins/km!  But it was not long after that, at the 24^th km where I realized I could just not sustain that pace.  Up to that point, I felt strong.  I wanted to go fast in the beginning, with the hope that I could sustain the pace throughout.  I hate the feeling after a race, where you know you undercooked it by going out too slowly and having too much work to do at the end.  

Conversely, there is a huge risk of burnout for doing the counter.  I feel it is important to start fast enough, with the potential to improve in the latter stages, but then decide soon enough on when it is too fast, and drop the pace, if needed.  It is a delicate balance and can be costly if you get it wrong.  For me, that point came on km-24.  It was unfortunate, but with 18km to go, I could ease off, and still have a good race.  Had I waited till the 30km mark, it would have been too late, and I would have been hanging on to the end, losing precious minutes all the way.  This has happened to me before.  

My 25^th km pace was 4:10 /km, and from then on it basically ranged between 4:05 and 4:14 /km for the rest of the race.  There were a few outliers though.  I briefly got back to 4 mins/km at the descents on kilometres 33 and 34.  But then, the hill at kilometre 41 was 4:21 /km.  Nonetheless, the steady 2^nd half pace was much more than I needed to reach my target.  I breached 42.2km on my watch at 2h:51m and 23s.  A 2-minute and 48-second improvement on my previous PR!

I am more than chuffed with that.  This early in the season, with just a 9-week training block, exceeds what I could have expected.  Here are the statistics.      

• Distance: 42.2km
• Time: 2h51m and 23s
• Average pace: 4:04 /km 
• Elevation gain: 162m
• First half: 1h24 and 16s
• Second half: 1h27 and 7s
• VO2 max: 63
• Average heart rate: 155 bpm
• Calories burned: 2 270 ml/kg/min

Click here to see the Strava detail of the Sasol 10km Race!

So, what could I have done better?  Another 4 weeks of training would have certainly helped.  I have no doubt that this was a shortcut marathon attempt.  But I always knew that, and it was part of the plan.  The pace difference between my first and second halves was 8 s/km, giving me the average of 4:04 /km.  I wonder what would have happened if I dropped 2 s/km of my first half pace and ran at 4:02 /km.  Would that have been enough for me to then keep that pace for the whole race?  Maybe!  This was only my 3^rd marathon and pacing is still something I am figuring out.  The point is, I believe there is more out there with a better pacing strategy.  I have 6 months to figure it out.  Between then and now, there is one small thing called the Comrades Marathon that must be accomplished.