The above image could sum up part of the psyche of the African running elite. The setting is a windy Cape Town evening, more specifically a grass field outside one of the Mother City's more exclusive hotels. The runners in picture are going through their usual pre-race preparation, jogging laps of this green patch for around half-an-hour, the circumference of which amounts to maybe a few hundred metres.
Why are these guys getting dizzy, one might ask? Surely there are more scenic places for them to run, like the V&A Waterfront or Sea Point Promenade for instance? Well, these examples are great to most but are out of the question for these guys, the reason being one of surface. Running on grass – or dirt- is the African Way. One might marvel at the Kenyan/Ugandan'Ethiopian/South African distance running work rate/mileage but it is important to realise that the majority of this work is done on soft training surfaces.
And this extends to their pre-race regimen. For these guys, travelling to a big city race means seeking out the nearest grass fields possible. Hotels are often selected by their proximity to grass fields or parks. Sure, injury prevention is obviously a big factor (softer means slower means easier on the body), but so is freshness, fresh legs that is. Running is these guys livelihood and they can't afford to be anything less than fresh, sharp and ready – their lives literally depend on it. And if that means laps of a small park, so be it.
How many laps?
"I don't know, my man. Whatever we can get in 30 minutes."
Strava?
"What's that?"
Average heart rate?
"We race with the heart."
