S2|E29 - Comrades Unlocked: A Roadmap to the Ultimate Human Race with Coach Parry

Making A Runner

If you've clicked on this episode, you're clearly Comrades curious, a dangerous thing to be because the likelihood of you entering after listening is very high, if not a guarantee.

In today's conversation Coach Lindsey Parry, aka. Coach Parry. aka. The Comrades Coach, lays out a road map to running the Comrades Marathon that we believe anyone can reliably follow to reach the ultimate destination, the Comrades finish line!

Boasting a running CV that spans over 40 years, Coach Parry has learnt a thing or two along the way, he goes into great detail about sharing this knowledge and has earned himself the reputation of helping athletes achieve the seemingly impossible - a 90km footrace.

Coach Parry's approach is calculated and confident, during the course of the conversation he helps us unpack some of the biggest and most daunting factors that athletes encounter during training for and running a race of this magnitude.

We cover:

11:40 How to approach training over the festive season.

18:27 Is it worth chasing a better batch seeding? Risk vs. reward.

20:42 To run or not run Two Oceans Marathon in the build up?

31:47 A breakdown of different run walk strategies from Finishers to Silver Medalists.

37:07 Is running the Comrades Route Tester a make or break?

40:30 Deciding on the right goal finish time.

46:30 How to handle sickness and/or injury during training and when it's NOT OKAY to keep running.

54:50 How to avoid the temptation of "goal inflation" ie. not overshooting the mark.

57:12 The specifics of training for the up run, zooming in on the importance of and the right approach to quality hill work.

01:01:01 STRENGTH TRAINING (it's in caps for a reason).

Find the resources mentioned in the conversation here: https://coachparry.com/comrades-strength-training/?via=nic&who=mar&utm_campaign=content_marketing&utm_medium=audio&utm_source=podcast&utm_content=Making%20a%20Runner&utm_term=Comrades%20Nov%202023

01:07:45 Understanding why it's important to learn how to run at slower paces when training for Comrades and how this will affect your race.

01:10:28 How to mentally prepare for "possibly the toughest thing you've ever put your body through"

This is an epic conversation, we are grateful to and inspired by Coach Parry, we hope you will be too.

To find out more information about Coach Parry give him a follow on socials or visit https://coachparry.com/?via=nic to enquire about coaching and access other free online Comrades resources.

Enjoy!