running

Strictly speaking, the first race in the Trail Series® Super League at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens is a 'Sunset' run, but even in the deep shadows in the late evening a headlamp will make your life so much better as you negotiate the trails.  And besides, Petzl are running a 20% off special when you purchase one with your entry, so now is a good chance to invest in the best!   

Holiday season is definitely time for less structured training. Exploration should be your driving force for getting out on the trails, and hill repeats are best postponed until mid-January. But it’s also not ideal to throw all the hard work out with the left over glazed ham.

Here are our tips to keep it tidy during silly season.

1. Something rather than Nothing

What a year for the runner. One minute we had an overcrowded race calendar, and the next we were jogging circles around our gardens. Some used stairwells, others grabbed a skipping rope and joined global skipping challenges, and many of us found online programmes to maintain some kind of fitness and focus. The mountains were banned, the beaches too, and when we were finally allowed out between 6 and 9am, it was clear that life as a runner had changed.

How does it work? Is it for everyone? Will it make you a more efficient, faster runner?

The term “safe travels” has never been more apt. With South Africa’s Covid-19 numbers on the rise, a stay-cation is, for many, the safest option. However, the possibility of a safe and calculated escape to reunite with loved ones is the choice many of us will make, with a little bit of tinsel on our masks, perhaps.

Most of us have been there. Snap, crackle, POP and your run is done. Just a loose rock, bad foot placement or a moment of distraction, and weeks or months of rehab lie ahead. Our ankles are particularly vulnerable out on technical trail, and once you’ve rolled them once, you’ve weakened one of your most powerful trail weapons.

Ankle strength can be a make or break (literally) for trail running performance. We rounded up two fresh perspectives on ankle health.

The Lyno Guy

Name: Mark Lindenberg

Summer is coming in HOT which means a change in how we approach our training and racing. Physical activity in hotter temperatures loads the strain on your body and cardiovascular system. As your body temperature rises, your body reacts with increased sweat production, your heart rate increases and your blood vessels dilate.

Heat cramps occur when you lose too much fluid and electrolytes through sweating. This can occur during a run, or hours afterwards.

Sunday 4 October 2020 was a race day like never before. The great London Marathon, founded in 1981, staged a Covid-friendly version without the usual heaving crowds. The elite-only field raced 19.6 laps of a 2.15km loop around St James Park. Every person within the event grounds had passed a Covid-19 test. This racing format brought about new tactics and a forced rethink of standard marathon planning for each of the talented runners in both the men’s and women’s races. In addition to London’s finest wind and rain, no travelling athlete had their coach or support crew with them.

2020 was the grim reaper of dreams. But tapping out of what makes us tick is the surest way to have it all fall apart. With local tourism and event organisation having taken one of the biggest knocks through the pandemic, it’s time to turn our dreams towards the local gems around us. Running wild and free is possibly the exact opposite, and ideal antidote, to lockdown.

Running wild on the African continent is a pastime as old as time. A connection to ancient places and spaces, people and legends.

Why Running Improves Productivity

Any runner knows, that our overall sense of happiness, accomplishment and health improves when we lace up regularly. Running is one of the most natural forms of movement, and a definite life-balancer. But did you know, that running makes you more productive, and better able to achieve your work goals, too? You might want to take this article along to your next performance appraisal.