Your Post-Comrades Comeback Plan

The Comrades Marathon owns June on the South African running calendar. Nothing else gets planned around that long haul between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. This year’s 99th edition, the Up Run, delivered one for the history booksas George Kusche and Gerda Steyn both set new course records on 14 June. Kusche stormed to victory in 5:15:56, smashing an 18-year-old record by almost nine minutes, while Steyn claimed her fifth title and fourth in a row, breaking her own Up Run record for the third time.

But whether you ran a personal best or simply survived to the finish, the question now is the same: what comes after? There are still six months left before qualifying-marathon season starts again, and unless you’re a bucket-lister done with Comrades for good, you’ll want to get back to running with fresh goals as soon as your body allows. That protects the fitness you fought hard for and puts you in a stronger position to start your next build, meaning a better shot at improving on this year’s result.

Having a post-Comrades plan ready before race day also helps mentally. Athletes who chase a huge goal for months and then achieve it often hit a wall of post-event flatness, losing the drive to train. Each week that passes without a plan compounds the problem, fitness fades, extra weight creeps on, and the form that carried you to the finish has to be rebuilt from scratch. A plan in place takes the thinking out of it and gets you moving again without the drift.

Nobody’s training the day after Comrades, even the winners can barely walk. Recovery comes first, always. But recovery isn’t just rest. The plan below is about allowing repair, rebuilding, and replenishment before any real training resumes. Push too soon and it catches up with you, if not immediately, then further down the line.

Week One: Stop and Repair

Monday and Tuesday are about staying off your feet. Elevate the legs to support circulation. A few rounds of alternating cold and heat can help blood flow to battered muscles and speed up nutrient delivery for repair.

Skip stretching, massage, or anything that risks further micro-damage. Compression garments can help circulation, but keep it gentle, nothing invasive. Focus on eating well instead, with attention to electrolytes (sodium, magnesium, potassium), vitamins C and E, and an amino acid supplement like glutamine if you’re unsure your diet covers it.

It’s tempting to let loose after months of discipline, but your body needs good nutrition now more than ever. Treat this recovery window seriously and Comrades becomes the ultimate training stimulus, pushing you to the next level. Don’t waste that with a few weeks of bad habits.

By the end of Week One, ease into light mobility and short, relaxed 30-40 minute walks. Skip static stretching — muscles may not feel sore anymore, but they’re still healing and vulnerable, like a fresh scab.

Week Two: Low-Impact Movement

Start adding proper training, though not running yet. Swimming and cycling are ideal — they reinforce the cardiovascular fitness built through your Comrades training while keeping impact low. The fixed range of motion on a bike is a great way to regain suppleness without risking overstretched fibres.

Add low-impact mobility work for hips, knees and ankles, plus some gentle static stretching to ease out tight fibres. Strength training in the gym can begin too, just skip the legs for now.

If the week goes well, test things with a short, easy run on a flat route by the weekend, walking a few minutes at the start and end. This is also a good week for a deep sports massage — general stimulation and lymph drainage with moderate pressure, not digging into knots just yet.

Week Three: Building Structure

If that test run went fine, build a varied week: a swim, a ride, a gym session lightly including the legs, and two short runs. You can lift the intensity of swimming and cycling slightly, keeping bike resistance light so the legs work snappy rather than heavy.

Keep runs on flat, soft surfaces like trails or fields, at an easy, conversational effort similar to your pre-Comrades long-run pace. Cap them at 45 minutes, with at least two days between runs. This is also when massage can start targeting tighter areas with a bit more pressure, and the gym can get more serious. Upper body, core and abs can be trained hard, even if the legs still aren’t.

Week Four: Back to Running

If you’ve stayed disciplined, Week Four is when you’re back to a full running week — every second day, with rest, stretching, or cross-training in between. Build pace progressively within each run, starting at a low heart rate and easing up to around 10bpm below threshold before cooling down. Let this happen naturally rather than forcing it.

Week Five: Five Runs a Week

Add a fifth run, typically Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday and the weekend. Keep strength work going as a secondary session on running days, ideally running first. Strength sessions can now include challenging functional leg movements with manageable weight and full range of motion.

Three of your five runs should stay easy — more than 30bpm below threshold heart rate (estimate threshold from your most recent hard half marathon effort). One midweek run can push closer to threshold, building the effort as in Week Four but touching threshold before easing off. One weekend run can stretch past the hour mark, up to 90 minutes, finishing feeling like you had more in the tank.

Week Six: The Test

The final week mirrors Week Five, but the weekend brings a short time trial — a Park Run or club time trial works well. Aim for a flat-out, well-paced 20-30 minute effort, roughly 5-8km depending on your level. This gives you a solid baseline heading into Week Seven and confirms your body is ready for structured training again.

With that time trial in hand, you can set performance goals and shorter-term race targets for the next six months — building toward the start of your 2027 Comrades campaign, the milestone 100th edition, set for 13 June 2027.