Making A Runner

Dave Watkeys is an online transformation coach who has helped 100’s of clients navigate one of the most frustrating and common human challenges - weight loss.

As we’ve come to understand from our experience, many people start running to lose weight - it’s an excellent way to burn calories!

Unfortunately though, many people face similar problems in this pursuit, which can mostly be attributed to the complex balance of consuming enough food to fuel for the work required while still trying to maintain a calorie deficit - the result? Over-training and injuries. Sound familiar?

In this conversation with Dave, we unpack the complex relationship of running and weight loss. He helps us understand why people bounce between fad diets, how under-fuelling and overtraining form a negative feed back loop which becomes an impossible cycle to break and how looking after your mental health and healing your relationship with food is key for long lasting results.

You can find more on Dave’s work on IG @dw_academy

Enjoy!

In this finale of the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon, well-known South African Elite Athlete, Irvette van Zyl, helps you put the final steps in place for your TTOM race day.

Having run and won the 21km 3 times & having placed 2nd in the 2022 56km race (you’ll remember the crushing moment that she lost the lead to Gerda Styen 3km before the finish) Irvette is more than fit to be giving advice on racing/running Africa’s largest ultra-marathon!

Good luck to everyone participating, enjoy!

As athletes we’re often told to “just believe”, or to “be confident”, to “relax & focus” but few people ever learn the skills required to execute these seemingly simple tasks.

A massive element of running (especially marathon & ultra-distance running) is mental - in fact most people will tell you that up to 90% of it is all in your head. But how much time do we spend training our minds vs training our legs? 

Kirsten van Heerden is a Clinical Psychologist by qualification and leading Sports Psychologist by daily practice, working with some of South Africa’s most talented and upcoming athletes. 

Her career as a professional swimmer and personal battles with mental preparation, nervousness, competitiveness and identity, sparked her curiosity for psychology, or as she puts it, how we learn and teach the skills necessary to control the mind.

In this episode you will learn how to improve your mental fitness. Dr. van Heerden arms you with a “toolbox” of techniques and practises that are easy to introduce into your training and will help you develop the skills required to:

• calm your nerves
• (re)focus your mind
• broaden your perspective on success/failure 
• understand the link between identity, self-worth and achievement

Enjoy!

“Running a marathon is a physical challenge but I believe that running an ultra marathon is a mental challenge”, says Nic.

Having run 3 x Comrades Marathons and 1 x TTOM 56km between the two of them, Nic and Davey talk you through the mental preparation for race day.

From their limited personal experience with ultra distance running, they help you conceptualise and form strategies for the challenges that you are sure to encounter.

They share some of their go-to techniques for mental grit; like having a positive mantra, how to complete a body scan to asses your form and of course, they unpack past mistakes caution against what NOT to do so that you can learn from their mistakes.

This episode will help you get your head in the game!

It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight but the size of fight in the dog. 

This phrase was proven true when Annie Bothma raced her way to her first official marathon victory and SA Marathon Champion title at the Durban International Marathon. At the time of recording this episode, Annie was 3 days out from this event.

To understand what this victory means to Annie you need to understand the amount of fights she’s fought and those she keep fighting.

Annie’s running story is truly a remarkable one. In this episode you’ll hear about her time spent in the USA competing in collage athletics, the time she lived in Kenya and trained under the wings of Coach Eric Kimayo (coach to Brigid Kosgei - the reigning women’s marathon time world record holder) and about the rare health conditions that she has had to navigate and triumph over in her 27 years. 

Annie embodies the word champion! She lives, eats and breaths the sport and when she isn’t training, she is applying her hard learned lessons by working as a coach and nutritionist.

You can learn more about her story on her blog ANNIE BOTHMA | MY STORY or find her coaching business Running Coach & Sports Nutritionist | Annie's Athletes | Cape Town, South Africa

She’s also FB & Instagram as @anniebothma

Enjoy!

If there’s anyone that you should take advice from on running the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon, it’s from Barry Holland, who has run the 56km ultra-marathon a whopping 32 times. 

You may recognise the name, Barry Holland, from one of our post popular episodes to date - The Comrades Marathon Special (which he has run 48 times, consecutively!).

He is quite clearly well versed in ultra-distance running but there’s nothing complicated about his success, Barry runs/races according to one simple motto; Plan your Race and Race your Plan!

In this episode, Barry give us the run down on how to plan your race, from route breakdown to top tips for your seconding team.

This is an absolute must listen for anyone running the TTOM.

Enjoy! 

If you are a fan of our work, why not become an official MAR FAN on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MakingARunner

What do you get when you add talent + burning passion + continuous hard work, you get just a little Bester every time you show up to the start line.

South African Marathon Runner, Nick Bester, holds a personal best marathon time of 2:20 and he considers himself a social runner, crazy right?!

He ran his debut marathon 9 years ago in a finish time of 3:17 and since then has taken the running world by storm!

With an improvement like that, it is clear to see that Nick is capable of unlocking incredible potential and he hasn’t kept that secret to himself.

Having immigrated to the UK for a corporate job in finance, Nick couldn’t have predicted that he would start a successful coaching business and running club, Best Athletics, that now coaches over 200 athletes and was recently awarded the best average club finish time of 3:17 at the Seville Marathon. Coincidence? We think not!

Nick was born to run and he is changing the way we think about chasing our running dreams and defining limitations.

This is an incredibly inspiring episode with so much valuable insight.

You definitely want to connect with Nick online:

https://www.bestathletics.co.uk/

Find him on social media: @justalilbester

Enjoy!

Nutrition is an often overlooked yet essential component to your success in any run or race, so we cannot stress the importance of it enough when it comes to an ultra distance endurance event like the TTOM! 

In this episode, professional long distance runner, sports nutritionist and running coach, Annie Bothma, gives us the run down on everything you need to know about nutrition and hydration specifically for the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon. 

Her advice comes from real life experience and that’s why it’s so relatable and easy to apply! 

If you want to learn more from Annie, connect with her on her blog space: https://www.anniesathletes.org/ and follow her personal journey on her website  https://www.anniebothma.com/  you can also find her on social media @anniebothma

Enjoy!

Matt Walsh aka. @Walshingtin on Instagram, is and isn’t your every day runner. Like many of us he started running to shed a few kilograms, but what he discovered was a surprising amount of talent. 

What sets Matt apart from other runners is his mindset and eagerness to learn. As you’ll hear in this episode, he has done the time both on the road and in his research, to understand exactly what he needs to do to perform at the top of his game.

Although some of his methods may seem controversial, they are unarguably effective.

We chat about:

• the Norwegian Training Method.
• heart rate zones, pacing zones and rate of perceived exertion as measures of performance
• embracing change to sustain progress. 
• how do get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Here’s the link to the V.O2 app that Matt refers to which you can use to calculate your estimated zones : https://apps.apple.com/za/app/v-o2/id977666802

Enjoy!

Tackling the TTOM is a bucket list event for 1000’s of runners world wide. In fact 29000 participants are expected to hit the streets of Cape Town for the 2023 weekend running festival.

But how do you know if you’re ready for an ultra marathon? And surely you’ve heard of the dreaded climb up Constantianek straight after Champan’s Peak?

In this episode Nic and Davey get into the specifics of training for the TTOM, they cover:

• The different phases of a training plan.
• How to ensure your training is “specific” to the race.
• The theory of tapering.
• Common mistakes made by social and newbie runners.
• Cadence, the model of conscious/competence and how to become a mindful runner.

Don’t forget to submit your questions for the Q&A episode to: [email protected]