The Run Project

To walk a few steps in another man’s shoes, to comprehend his reality, to feel his pressure, to be grateful for the privilege 📸 @jason_a_samuels #athletesacademy

All the finish line feels with the LIV2Run team at this years @ultratraildrakensberg ⛰️🙌🏾 SDR35km Male 9th Sinovuyo Ngcobo DRJ25km Male 1st Tsielo Tsanyane 13th Khulekani Mbuyazi Female 3rd Lindi Meyer GXA14km Male 1st Mhlengi Chili 3rd Sesphelele Ntanzi Female 1st Nolwazi Dlamini 📹: @maxx_212

The sights and sounds of the @ultratraildrakensberg SDR35km with @the.bullet.1995 racing and his LIV2Run team supporting. Thank you @rmb_cib for empowering our vision to transform lives through the platform of running! 📷: @starting.tosee #unlocktalent #transforminglives #grit

Excited to be working with @athletesacademyclub to help develop trail and mountain running in the Boland. It’s not about competing with road or track for resources but instead offering multiple avenues for talented athletes to assess where their true skill sets lie. The advantage of working with a club of the stature of Athletes Academy is that we are also able to provide both life skills and employment qualifications. Succeeding at the highest level of sport takes years of training and sacrifice and the probability of success is low. By taking a holistic approach to developing athletes one can succeed in changing the lives of those in your care irrespective of whether they go on to make a career in sport. Grateful to @mia_lyons12 for capturing Tuesday evenings session 🙏 #athletesacademy #therunproject

The higher the level of athlete that I have coached, the more meaningless my own running goals have felt. It seems ridiculous to take it seriously and make any meaningful sacrifices when you have the perspective of what true running talent looks like. This doesn’t mean I don’t still train hard but it does mean I struggle to find the motivation to do races. This past weekend, however, I was reminded that the athletes you work with don’t need you to run fast but they do value and respect that you too have put in the training and put your ego on the line just like you ask them to do. There is beauty and fulfillment to be found in multiple aspects of running. As I was reminded by a friend in the week leading up to the race, this was a celebration of so much more than simply a race. It’s a celebration of health and the ability to push yourself to the best of your current ability and fitness. After a couple of years of inconsistent health this message really resonated. It provides an opportunity for those you work with to see you have true skin in the game. Putting yourself back into the arena forces you to face the insecurities and worries your athletes have to deal with. It is also a reminder that everyone gets to a race with their own setbacks and challenges along the way. Overcoming those is where fulfilment lies. Stripping this down to only a time and a place doesn’t do the sport or all the sacrifices you have made justice. It also makes comparison so difficult. The true winners might not be those with medals around their neck or the most Strava Kudos in their inbox. As the eccentric Australian middle distance coach, Percy Cerutty said to Herb Elliot just before the 1,500m final of the 1960 Olympics. ‘You may run faster than I do, but you will never put in more effort’. Not sure I would go quite as far but the lesson is there as a reminder that finding fulfillment in sport is a continually evolving puzzle. And in case you were wondering Elliot won gold and walked away from the sport at the top 🫡 #therunproject 📸 Versus Road Run Party 🎉

Post session debriefs. A simple reminder that we are custodians of the next generation 🫶 📸 @liza_du_toit #therunproject

Just received my new Aero Glide 4 shoes from @salomon_sa and excited to test them out on my run today. Let's go!

The foundational training phase allows us to put in place the fundamental building blocks for the specific training we will do later in the season. This base phase gives us the opportunity to work on endurance but also speed. Tonight we practiced 45 second hills at 3k type effort. Building short duration power before we try to extend it over the course of the general phase of our periodisation. We kept volume low (8 reps in total). We don’t need to get fancy here. Hills are speed work in disguise. We can shift some of the the load from the hamstrings and hip flexors to the lower limbs. This helps us build the neuromuscular and biomechanical base for speed with a lower injury risk (people with existing lower limb injuries might need to take a different strategy initially). We focus on the internal load of training as opposed to exact paces or splits. Easy jog down recovery between reps at the athletes own pace to allow them to self regulate recovery duration. Most importantly we will stay patient and build up both the duration and volume of these hills over the next 6 weeks to allow the body to create a stable adaptation. After that the shorter duration hills will move to more of a maintenance phase (every 10-14 days). We are not trying to reinvent the wheel here. Coaches have used hills during base training since at least the 1950’s and likely even before that. #therunproject

| LATEST BLOG POST IS UP👇 | Path dependence, critical thinking and curiosity ‘Very few people stop to think about why we even follow a 7-day weekly training cycle. Outside of most people working weekdays and having weekends free to do longer runs, there is no physiological reason to do so. The entire construct of most training plans we come across is based on the simple premise of convenience and path dependence. Path dependence is just a fancy way to say that current outcomes and future development are heavily influenced by historical events, past decisions, and established institutions, even if those past choices are no longer the most efficient or rational.’ Link below and in bio https://www.therunproject.co.za/blog/path-dependence-critical-thinking-and-curiosity #therunproject

As we approach the end of the year it’s natural to reflect upon the successes and disappointments of the previous 12 months. Anyone that’s been involved with sport for long enough will appreciate the non-linearity of progress and improvement. Often it’s the mistakes and disappointments that help drive progress. 2025 was no different. There were some big highs and some challenging lows. The lows always drive the most introspection and challenge what I think of as true. The more time I have spent coaching, the less I hold on to anything as given or fact. I have a framework for helping guide my decision making but outside of that I am curious to find out what I don’t know as well as what I think I know that’s false. Coaching a wide variety of disciplines, this year included everything from the 800m on the track to 100 miles in the mountains, means a cross pollination of ideas and influences from a broad spectrum of resources. Being able to distill what is valuable and what is noise is a skill that I am always trying to refine. What’s interesting to me at least, is that when I reflect back on the year it wasn’t one of the big races or performances that stand out. Instead it was a cold and rainy day in July where 2 young men and a teammate were set a goal time for a 5km time trial on the track. The time would be challenging on a good weather day but with a howling north westerly wind and sideways rain the challenge was always going to be a stretch. The purpose of the time trial was to see if the athletes deserved a shot to travel up country to race the following week. Everything about how that morning unfolded is why I am passionate about the sport of running. There was nothing glorious about the endeavour. It required humility, determination and will power. It wasn’t for Strava, Instagram or for their egos. It was for an opportunity. An opportunity to race, earn a living and chase the mastery of their craft. At the time I wrote, ‘one day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.’ I am grateful for moments like these, it reminds me of my why and helps fuel the curiosity and determination to keep learning and growing. Deon and Awethu 🙏

The year ended with a team of 8 LIV2Run athletes attending the RMB UTCT for an incredible week of racing. UTCT 2025 was a celebration of many years of investment into our athletes lives. We witnessed them flourish not only as athletes but also as coaches. Three of our junior team matric boys coached by them, also joined us and raced for the very first time doing exceptionally well. Thank you to RMB for believing in us and investing with us long term. Thank you Salomon for the best quality gear and your continuous support and 32GI for fuelling us. Together, we look forward to growing from strength to strength in 2026. 📹: @maxx_212

I strongly believe that as coaches we should prioritise fun for young athletes. If you can keep them enjoying what they do, they are more likely to continue to do it. If you can achieve that then you are able to build consistency in their sport practice. Consistency in practice over months and years is what establishes a foundation for the rest of their lives. I also believe that one should not try be too smart and try extract too much from their bodies. Instead we look to provide the right environment and set of constraints for their bodies to work the magic for us. Keep practice simple. Work on the basics over and over. Build endurance and a biomechanical / neuromuscular foundation for speed without overly taxing them anaerobically to ensure that when they leave school they are then able to absorb and express harder training. At this age, practice and racing are helping build the toolbox for later in life. So while making improvements can undoubtedly help keep the athlete engaged, times and places should not be emphasised at the expense of the process of showing up and practicing your craft with teammates and friends. Assist athletes to develop a life long passion and love for sport and let Mother Nature take care of the rest 🙏 #therunproject