Chatting to a Champ about my feet

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Bo

At the Jackie Gibson race on Sunday, I was strolling around the field, waiting for KK to finish his race when I happened to bump into top marathon runner and Comrades champ, Lesley Train. (LOL, I say it so casually, as if I know her!)

Lesley happened to be talking to KK’s bestie’s mom-in-law and as I walked up to the two of them, I was introduced to Lesley. I must admit, for the initial 10 seconds, I was a tad star-struck! I have watched Lesley on TV, I’ve heard the running commentators singing her praises, and here in front of me, stood this teeny tiny, bubbly woman.

Lesley was not running Jackie Gibson on Sunday due to a stress fracture and was expressing concern about the upcoming Two Oceans. I mentioned that I had pulled out of the half marathon race due to plantar fasciitis and it’s then that she told me about her experience with the crippling pain of PF that she too had suffered with in 2011.

She said it took her 6 months to get rid of her PF. In fact, she had to stop running altogether for 3 months because of it. I have been struggling with it for just as long so it was comforting to know that treatment and recovery wasn’t a quick fix.

She went on to give me her top tips which helped her get rid of PF:

Magnesium (and lots of it). She recommended a liquid form over the tablets.
Foot splint. She borrowed one from a friend and although it was uncomfortable to sleep with at night, it did help stretch her calf muscle.
Sitting in front of TV, Lesley would slip those toe dividers you use when painting your toenails to help stretch the foot open while she watched TV (such a girl!).

The obvious one to all of this is rest. I’ve been doing that!

But I’m definitely going to give these tips a go!

What exactly do you mean by personal best?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Bo

Non-runners who read my blog often ask me what a PB is. I tell them that it’s a Personal Best – when you run your fastest time over a specified distance to gauge improvements. They look at me oddly as if, well, what does that mean?

Funny thing is that when I listen to my running buddies, it appears to me that most of them are on a sole (excuse the pun) mission to increase their running speed and get a PB. (Hey, wait a minute? So it’s not just me?)

Achieving a PB is the ultimate benchmark for most runners. It’s as if this is the signal that they are getting better as runners. But I do wonder sometimes if speed is the ultimate goal?

Is your best always measured in terms of time?

Here’s where I’m going with this …

I’ve been busy at work refreshing my Key Performance Areas (KPAs) for 2012. A new process has been implemented and apart from the normal ‘doing your job KRAs’, there’s a new section called “Stretch goals”. This is meant to be areas where I manage to perform additional tasks above and beyond the normal KRA’s. But the measurement required to see whether or not I have achieved this is the difficult part.

You see, it’s not like running where I am able to record PB’s which indicate ‘best’. I need something more concrete because I can’t just use a PB (time) to indicate greatness for everything I do. The measure has to be tangible and measureable and different for each task.

But yet, in running, it’s okay to just use time. It’s okay that getting faster and faster is the ultimate measure of improvement.

I think this is sometimes where running fails. Because runners have become obsessed with PB’s that even all their “Stretch” goals are based on time/pace/speed. Are runners also training for goals of fitness levels, endurance or overall post-race recovery…or anything else?

I do realise that all these contribute to better times and faster running. But is there an alternative measure than the PB? *just a thought*…

For runners, it’s more than just corporate stress

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Bo

For those of you who work in a corporate environment, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that 2011 and 2012 have been really tough. Since the economic downturn, it’s as if companies got a big wake-up call and since then, it’s become all about survival.

But with that, and all the many shake-ups, restructures and retrenchments it has also brought with it a change in corporate culture. It’s become a place where people are so busy pushing out work and trying to keep ahead of the competition that nothing else matters.

The sad thing for me is that people have stopped talking to one another. And I don’t mean talking… I mean really talking. Engaging with each other and finding out things about each other beyond work.

I think that sometimes we forget that work is not the be-all and end-all of most people’s lives.

Other than those that are busy planning weddings, pregnancies, sending kids off to varsity, I’m referring specifically to those that are training for the Two Oceans and Comrades marathons. It’s crunch time when qualifying times need to be in, the bulk of the training is almost at its peak and the nerves are setting in as we countdown to the biggest races on the running calendars.

I watch these colleagues at work, focussed on projects, in meetings and I sometimes wonder if their minds aren’t a million miles away. How do they possibly still make time to run, be it in the morning or evening when meetings are booked at ridiculous hours of the day? I sense their irritation when their colleagues come to work with flu, knowing that they can simply not afford to get sick now.

I take my hat off to these athletes knowing that in addition to the stress of the corporate jungle, they’re dealing with the stress of knowing that in the next couple of months, there are big races to conquer. There’s no turning back now.

It gives me *goosies* just thinking about it!

Running ‘Om die Dam’

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Bo

There’s nothing better than using the excuse of running to go away for a long weekend and that’s exactly what we did to go run the ‘Om die Dam’ race this passed weekend.

It’s one of my favourite races on the race calendar – run from the Hartebeespoort Highschool it is well-organised, with quite challenging routes and there’s a fantastic vibe at the start of the race. Yes, I’m talking about the sound of the fish eagle that gets played followed by chariots of fire.

This year, I decided to run the 10km. I started with KK and the gang of other 21.1km runners but we split at the 4km mark. What followed was a relentless 4km uphill stretch which forced many runners to walk. Ironically, I got stuck with a Walker from Irene Running Club. I gave mini bursts of running but when I stopped to walk, she would catch up to me and pass me. I’d sprint off again, passing her, but knew that at the next walk break, she’d catch me. So she did and laughed saying, “Kom meisie kind! Moenie laat ek jou stop nie!” When it got to the last 500m, I was shagged and she beat me.

Thank-goodness the weather was cool for the run but it turned into a scorcher of a weekend which was great! If we thought Winter had arrived, we were wrong and we spent the the rest of Saturday and Sunday re-charging our tired legs at the Caribbean Beach Resort near Harties.