Cyclists with a "Running" Problem

[Mudsimus]

She came flying past us looking really strong and focused, I think it was around umlaas road.

She passed me at about 2km. And she was flying, I just shook my head, this G grouper obviously didn't listen to Parry. Who knew..

[Jaws677]

Why was she in G? That's a seriously impressive run.

Also, she's South African but not linked to a club, I didn't think that was allowed...

She is actually Malawian but couldnt afford the R1k required for a clearance letter from her home country as requested by the Comrades association

[Jaws677]

I had it real bad March/April, much better now. During change of seasons I can't run without a few puffs before setting off.

Not like my cyclist friends who all developed "asthma" overnight :-)

[Jackes]

On that topic.... 

 

https://twitter.com/runningmann100/status/1140627311324217345

[dave303e]

On that topic.... 

 

https://twitter.com/runningmann100/status/1140627311324217345

 

When is author going to become a real runner and run a 100 miler?

[Jaws677]

When is author going to become a real runner and run a 100 miler?

I'll point Stuart to your comment :-)

 

I had some dreams of doing a 100miler one day. But after running 87km I realised that I wouldn't be able to do another 10 km so another 73 km felt like it would be totally impossible.

[dave303e]

That is also just me having a poke at the comrades faithful and how you not a real runner in SA unless you have run comrades....

Especially when a 100miler even under comrades cutoff pace is not enough to qualify you.

[Stretch]

Comrades is an interesting beast..... I would say it dominates the South African running scene so much that the South African running scene is impacted because of it. Runners don't train for Marathons.. They run marathons to train for comrades. We should have much more competitive marathon runners who are training for one big city marathon only.

 

The other thing that gets lost and neglected because of the focus on the ultra is that runners focus on races with distance only. There are not nearly enough shorter distance races like 5km 8km 10km 4mi 10mi... In fact.. They are barely even existent. Even half marathons.. There should be more. All of these are critical for developing fast marathon runners. Cross Country is also barely even existent anymore.

 

We all get quite offended when someone makes a negative comment about the race because it is such a massive part of South African running.. But in reality the majority of runners around the world haven't even heard of it... And that's a fact that I've only learnt recently.

Edited June 18, 2019 by Stretch

[Iron]

Comrades is an interesting beast..... I would say it dominates the South African running scene so much that the South African running scene is impacted because of it. Runners don't train for Marathons.. They run marathons to train for comrades. We should have much more competitive marathon runners.

 

The other thing that gets lost and neglected because of the focus on the ultra is that runners focus on races with distance only. There are not nearly enough shorter distance races like 5km 8km 10km 4mi 10mi... In fact.. They are barely even existent. Even half marathons.. There should be now. All of these are critical for developing fast marathon runners. Cross Country is also barely even existent anymore.

 

We all get quite offended when someone makes a negative comment about the race because it is such a massive part of South African running.. But in reality the majority of runners around the world haven't even heard of it... And that's a fact that I've only learnt recently.

nail on head !!

 

had this same conversation a while back.

 

the rest of the world build up to marathons and its a big deal ( berlin - london ect marathons )

 

they have never heard of comrads,

in Sa the first thing you get asked as a runner is have you run comrads ,as a mountain biker , have you done epic and as a roadie have you done argus .

 

it blows my mind that if as athlete if you have a brelin or worlds cross country mountain biking thats not really important .

 

us saffers are odd 

[ScottCM]

Comrades......... Its that when three Russians race to the nearest bar for a shot of Vodka? 

[Iron]

Thanks Andrew 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Iron

[Odinson]

Thanks Andrew 

 

Ugh

[SwissVan]

Ugh

You don’t like orange?

[Jaws677]

Who wants to get up early , get dressed and drive to a venue to only suffer for 3hours when you can do it for 9 hours

 

Obviously what makes Comrades so attractive is the price money, TV coverage and the fact that it's been ran for almost a 100 years.

[Pieter-za]

Re Comrades - I was surprised to see how quickly the entries drop off after even 2 runs or so.  (And also after 50y, < 20% of finishers)

 

https://secure.onreg.com/onreg2/users/statistics_public.php?id=4315&statisticid=66&checksum=f965e391c2b0691f20c73802fbe0a671&type=html

 

Comrades Marathon 2019 : App Finishes

< Finishes > < Amount >

0 6021

1 4003     <===  0 + 1 ~46% of total starters

2 2299

3 1845

4 1241

5 949

6 825

7 688

8 610

9 514

10 412

.

.

 

(Maybe that is why CMA is targeting 7000 novices for 2020, as it might be easier to get 1000 new runners than 1000 more returning runners?  B2B etc)

https://www.comrades.com/marathoncentre/race-info  

Edited June 19, 2019 by Pieter-za

[Mudsimus]

 

Re Comrades - I was surprised to see how quickly the entries drop off after even 2 runs or so. (And also after 50y, < 20% of finishers)

 

https://secure.onreg.com/onreg2/users/statistics_public.php?id=4315&statisticid=66&checksum=f965e391c2b0691f20c73802fbe0a671&type=html

 

Comrades Marathon 2019 : App Finishes

< Finishes > < Amount >

0 6021

1 4003

2 2299

3 1845

4 1241

5 949

6 825

7 688

8 610

9 514

10 412

The back to back is a big carrot, after that it will take quite some convincing to get some runners back.