Introducing your Club Coach … Dave Coetzee
Do you have a dream to run a 10km? Or a 21km?
How about your first Marathon or the Ultimate Human Race……the Comrades marathon?
If so, then you’ve come to the right place.
Dave Coetzee is now entering his 10th year as official coach to Randburg Harriers and during this time has helped both novice and experienced runners to achieve their goals.
All his novice Comrades runners have won their finishers medal. Others have been helped to Comrades silvers while several of the athletes Dave has coached have achieved Gauteng colours in Cross Country and Track. At the annual 2009 Harriers Club Awards event, 90% of the awards were taken by Dave’s athletes:
2009 Randburg Harriers Club Awards:
Cross
Country |
Club
Championships |
8 km |
10km |
15km |
21km |
Comrades Marathon |
Senior
Male |
Collurs
Seabela |
Club Champ
overall Male |
|
Collurs
Seabela |
Collurs
Seabela |
Warren
Manson |
|
Vet
Female |
Elizabeth
Mahamo |
Club Champ
overall Female |
Cian
Oldknow |
|
|
Paula
Quinsee |
Paula
Quinsee |
Junior
u/19 Male |
Joshua
Nhaca |
Senior
Male |
Collurs
Seabela |
Collurs
Seabela |
Collurs
Seabela |
Warren
Manson |
|
Junior
u/15
Male |
Darren
Vermeulen |
Senior
Female |
|
|
Elizabeth
Mahamo |
Paula
Quinsee |
Paula
Quinsee |
Junior
u/13
Female |
Cian
Oldknow |
Vet
Male |
|
John
Neale |
John
Neale |
|
|
|
|
Vet
Female |
Beth Libby
Neale |
Beth Libby
Neale |
Beth Libby
Neale |
|
|
|
|
Junior
Male |
Joshua
Nhaca |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior
Female |
Cian
Oldknow |
|
|
|
|
OTHER AWARDS |
Outstanding Achievement other than Comrades |
Paula Quinsee |
Most improved Female |
Paula Quinsee |
Most consistent Junior Male Time Trial |
Joshua Nhaca |
TRACK TRAINING SCHEDULE:
More about Dave:
Dave is a Libra born in the same year that Neil Armstrong took his giant step for mankind.
As a youngster Dave proved his running talent on the school circuit, where he achieved Transvaal colours for Cross Country in 1985 and full school colours for Athletics and Cross Country. Dave also won two inter-school titles in the 1500m, with 3 second places in the 1500m and two in the 800m. Three of Dave's records are still standing, including the fastest times for juniors and seniors over the schools' Cross Country route. He completed his student career with a fourth place in the steeplechase at the SA Technicon Champs.
Dave has competed in Cross Country, Veterans Athletics and Duathlon, 2001 being a particularly good year where he achieved Gauteng Team colours in both Duathlon and Track and had good results at the SA Champs in both disciplines.
A big thanks and congratulations to Dave for his commitment to coaching. As Dave would say, every runner needs a plan to work to, so experienced or novice, speedy or slow, make a date with Dave on Mondays at 17h30 and start on the road to achieving your goal.
TRAINING TIPS: (Courtesy of Gisela Brettschneider, also a qualified coach).
Most runners at some stage or another had to temporarily stop running due to family commitments, injuries, illness, pregnancy, work commitments etc. And to start running again after being off training for a while could spell disaster should you be unrealistic about your abilities and fitness level when reentering into the sport arena.
GETTING STARTED…..
1. Have a goal
A goal does not have to be something that is so much, or so high that it seems unreachable and leaves one despondent. Your goal could be to lose 2 kg’s over 2 months, or to be able to finish a 5km time trial without walking in a month’s time, to reach a total of 20km a week by the end of the next month.
Whatever it is, a goal will give you something real to work towards and will keep you focused and motivated. Without working towards something you can easily start questioning yourself as to WHY you are doing this (especially when the going gets tough) and having a goal will keep you focused on the answer.
WRITE YOUR GOAL IN YOUR LOG BOOK and work towards it.
When setting goals remember to make them measurable e.g. By the end of April I want to be able to run the 5 km time trial in 27 minutes 30 seconds”. I now know BY WHEN my goal has to be reached (end of April) and an exact measurement (i.e. 5min 30 per km = HOW/ HOW MUCH/ HOW FAST) and I am going to do this at the time trial (WHERE).
Be realistic when setting goals. Even if you have done Comrades 5 years ago, you cannot suddenly start running again with the aim of being back where you were 5yrs ago without causing damage to yourself.
Talk to other people about your goal. Not only do you commit yourself to it, but now other people will know and be following your progress too. Secondly, people are very willing to offer support when you talk to them about your goals.
2. Train with a coach
Training with a coach is NOT only for Elite athletes.
When the going gets tough motivation sometimes disappears altogether. Training with a coach allows you to training in a group - a great way to keep motivated and a commitment not to let the group down. And your Coach will support you through the good and tough times. It is a great insight when talking to fellow runners and realizing that you are not the only one suffering through a bad patch!
Your Coach will work out a training program that will align with your goals and progress through your training. Remember that different goals will need different ratios of stamina, speed, endurance and strength training. They will help you achieve your goal by working out the most effective training program for you at that particular stage of your running.
Over training is one of the biggest problems and a good coach will at all times monitor his/her athletes and adjust their training program when necessary.
There are also a ton of races all over the country that can be quite daunting for a novice and attractive training for the more experienced athlete. But this could turn out to be a very expensive exercise should you over train, burn out or fall prey to injury and your coach will be able to assist you in choosing races that will meet your specific needs and goal at that time.
In fact, most coaches will be able to supply you with necessary information on anything from training to diet to shoes etc.
3. Start slow
The one principal I cannot stress enough to novice athletes is: “You have to be able to run a hill, before you can run a hill fast.”
This principal is not only applicable to hill work, but to all running. You have to make your body used to running before you can ask it to do more strenuous training.
If you have not been running for a long time, starting off with a jog/walk regime is the kindest way to ease your body into unknown territory. Do not EVER think that walking is only for “nerds, whusses or sissies”….integrating walking into your training and being able to utilize this skill during a race could mean the difference between achieving your goal or bailing and afterwards trying to get over the physical and psychological dissapointment.
Some times when starting off on a training program one could be tempted to start off too hard, too fast as the legs are fresh and the adrenaline is pumping. Great caution should be taken here as not only are you going to hit the wall, but your risk for injury escalates from when about your 8th week of training as your body will go into a mineral an electrolyte depletion during this time until it has adapted to the new demands you have put on it. Shin splints, stress fractures etc. are the real dangers during this time, but could be prevented by ensuring you don’t over train and by eating a balanced diet and mineral supplementation.
4. What advice to use?
Right, if you are a novice runner, you are probably so confused by all the jargon used by other runners, the conflicting tips and advice you get from every one, the choices to make regarding which races, which distances to run and needless to say people mention certain times they ran for certain distances and all you can do is smile stupidly as these times actually do not mean diddly squat to you.
Firstly: RELAX!!! We have all been there and as time goes by and you get more involved in running, your understanding of the jargon, times, distances etc. will grow.
As for all the confusing advice: Your coach should be your first source of advice. Should you not feel comfortable, or if you are unsure about something he/she tells you, you should have the confidence to ask questions. Sometimes certain training methods do not seem to make sense, but after an explanation you might change your mind.
During training, races, club events and other discussions you will find yourself being inundated with conflicting advice and tips from more people than you would care to count. It is a daunting experience, but some survival techniques include listening to advice, investigate the advice by reading up/discussing with other runners. Listen to interviews with Elite runners and use the information if it came out sound and then apply it yourself.
Some very useful reading material is Prof. Tim Noakes’ “Lore of Running”, Norrie Williamson’s “Every Athlete’s Guide To Distance Running”, “Runners World” magazine and various running websites.
Okay, so now that you have been bombarded with information on how to get started. Go out there and run!
TRACK TRAINING SCHEDULE
Track training is held Monday and Wednesdays from 17h30.
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