From a Stress Fracture to Smashing a Comrades PB

Tamryn Nicholls came so close to fulfilling her dream of running a silver medal at the Comrades Marathon.

She crossed the line with an incredibly impressive 7:47:34.

‘Impressive? I hear you say,

‘wasn’t she going for a silver medal?’

That was her second Comrades Marathon.

Her first was the 2017 up run with a time of 10:43:18 – almost 3hrs faster this year.

Working too hard…

After running her first Comrades in 2017, a club member convinced her that she has some talent and should seek out the help of a coach.

So, her husband found me, and we started working together.

After some impressive early results, we both got a little carried away and not wanting to “let me down” so she ran through some pain she shouldn’t have, and we missed 2018 with a stress fracture.

This was understandably disappointing for Tamryn but having come off a low base we realised some serious work was needed on her support structures.

Tamryn went to see Gareth Devine (@gdbiokineticists 011 640 1770), a biokineticist who was a pleasure to work with.

He assessed her, kept me in the loop and together we nursed Tamryn back.

She ran a stellar Marathon towards the end of 2018, which saw her gain a place in the Massmart amateur team, as a mentee under a professional runner.

Already a dream come true.

Back in the game!

Hers is a story of tenacity and from late February, we have battled with sore shins and calves.

However, having learnt from 2018, and with the help of Gareth and her Chiro, Kim Castelo Branco (@kimbchiro12 011 524 0991), we balanced her running with plenty of cross-training in the pool and on the elliptical, constantly juggling the running she could manage and ensuring that she toed the line in good shape.

Comrades Race Day…

Race day came and we both believed Silver was possible, however from the start, Tamryn could feel the pace was too hot and maturely for such a newbie to racing, ran well within herself.

She reasoned wisely, that if a silver was on, she would get time back later.

To finish off I am going to add her splits. Tamryn ran the perfect race.

Silver was never on, but her pace was almost perfect. For Tamryn, the sky is the limit.