Bruce Fordyce (pictured front) offers essential mental preparation advice for Comrades Marathon runners, emphasising confidence, tradition, and visualisation to help them succeed in the iconic race.. Picture: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers
Image: Tumi Pakkies/ Independent Newspapers
With less than a week to go before the Comrades Marathon, Bruce Fordyce shared some invaluable advice for the thousands of nervous runners getting ready to take on the Ultimate Human Race.
The up run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg takes place on Sunday, and with exactly seven days to go, the nine-time champion Fordyce shared his insight.
While his words of wisdom centre entirely on the mental approach, it’s probably what every athlete needed to hear.
Fordyce began with the psyche of every Comrades athlete before getting into three reasons why runners should have hope, whether it was those going for prizes or someone just aiming to finish the gruelling race.
“Thousands of comrades runners are saying to themselves, ‘ Where will I be in one week's time at this time?’ And they'll be saying things like, ‘ I better be going through Drummond, or I better be on Harrison Flats," said Fordyce.
“And the reason that is so important, it's not just done with a wry smile and a little bit of a joke and a bit of a suddenly elevated heart rate because it's a nervous thing to think about. It's done because it reinforces the fact that you're going to run Comrades, and you're going to make it. And for all those novices who are filled with doubt earlier this year, these are the reasons you're going to make it.”
Fordyce began with his three reasons, insisting to runners to have confidence in the work they’ve put in.
“First of all, you're that much fitter than you were at the beginning of the year. You are a superhuman now. You've done all the long runs.
The training, all that sort of thing. You’re ready? You’ve qualified.”
There was also a reason why the Comrades Marathon is regarded as the pinnacle of road running in South Africa, Fordyce believed.
“This is the Comrades Marathon, with a charisma and an atmosphere, a history rich with tradition, and it's the reason that you're going to make it. It's because it's one of the world's iconic, great marathon challenges.”
The mental reinforcement of the Comrades Marathon runner was behind why so many participants meet the challenge of finishing the nearly 90km route, instead of Fordyce.
“The third reason you're going to make it, and that's why you say: Where will I be at this time on Sunday? It is because you are getting this the most important part of your body into preparation.