Gerda Steyn, inspired by the Cape Town Marathon, is in France tackling challenging elevation workouts and a unique training strategy as she prepares for the Comrades Marathon. Picture: Gerda Steyn/Facebook
Image: Gerda Steyn/Facebook
After watching the Cape Town Marathon on Sunday, Gerda Steyn decided to tackle her own unique workout as she puts the finishing touches on her preparation for the Comrades Marathon.
Steyn is currently in France in a mountainous region of the country in mostly freezing temperatures, where she ensures she gets in some serious elevation during her final stage of training for Comrades.
After watching the Cape Town Marathon, Steyn set off for her own workout, a 18.39km workout with 658m of elevation.
Along with the workout on Strava, Steyn posted the caption: “To Nant Cruet and back after watching CT Marathon!”
As if that morning run was not enough, Steyn capped off her day with another 5.53km run in the evening with 160m of elevation.
Steyn has often faced criticism for her training or schedule - but she seldom fails to achieve her goals.While for many novices, a 50km training run in the lead-up to Comrades is plenty, elite runners are generally expected to be closer to a 60km run in preparation between five and six weeks before the race.
Again, Steyn has other ideas ahead of the race on June 14.
“Longest run before Comrades in the bag,” said Steyn on Facebook two weeks ago after her training run in France.
“Not many people believe me when I say that my longest run is “only” 50km, but that is my recipe, and why would I fix something that is not broken? I love a long run and would happily do more of them, but long runs are not the only ones that count.”