Interview with Hendrik Ramaala

by Duncan Larkin

ING New York City Marathon 2004 champion Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa has had an entire year to dwell on the ING New York City Marathon 2005. It was an unforgettable race for him, from trying to shed the chase pack at mile 16 by running a 4:22 mile, to being edged out of the win by a mere fraction of a second by world record holder Paul Tergat. Since then, Ramaala has strung together an impressive series of performances in 2006, making him again a top contender in this year’s ING New York City Marathon. In April, he ran a PR at the Flora London Marathon (2:06:55) and placed third. And as recently as this October, he broke off from the pack of three other runners in the final three miles to win the BUPA Great North Run (Half-Marathon) in 1:01:03. (This was his third victory in this race). The 34-year-old Ramaala lives and trains at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a practicing lawyer.

Mensracing.com caught up with Ramaala a couple of weeks before he left for New York City. He shares with us not only specifics about his training and racing, but also, stirring insights into what it takes to win a marathon.

MensRacing.com: I’d like to take you back to last year’s ING New York City Marathon marathon. Around the 16-mile mark, you ran a 4:22 mile, thinning out the pack to just four runners. Then, in the closest finish in the ING New York City Marathon’s history, Paul Tergat edged you out for the win. In hindsight, would you have done anything differently during that race?
Hendrick Ramaala: No. If I were running the race again, I’d do the same thing.

MR: Describe that famous finish. How did you feel and what were you thinking in that last mile?
HR: At that time, I was very tired. I think Paul [Tergat] was also very tired. I did not want to lose the race with a mile to go, so I gave it everything. I don’t know how but I managed. I managed to fight back, because Paul was trying to run away [from me]. I think he was the lucky man that day. With that kind of finish you need [to have] a little bit of luck. You need to be luckier than your opponent. But when I look back on it, I don’t think I made any mistakes. I mean I was running all out. He was running all out. He out-kicked me at the line. That was it.

MR: Would you consider Paul Tergat to be your biggest rival?
HR: He is the number one guy for me. He is the number one man in the marathon. I mean, he has the world record. He is a smart runner. Whatever he does, he does it well--in training, in racing, [and] in peaking. When he goes into races, he is in shape. He knows how to race. He is the perfect runner. He knows everything. If you want to beat Paul, you have to be at your best. You have to give everything because he will give everything. He doesn’t like losing. I don’t like losing myself, but I think Paul is worse [at losing]. He doesn’t it take it well. He will take it right to the line. For him, I think winning is everything.

MR: I’d like to now move to this year. You’ve had a great racing year so far. You ran a PR at the Flora London Marathon, running a 2:06:55 taking third overall there and your recently won the Great North Run, racing against some of the same field you will run against in the ING New York City Marathon. Can I assume then that you are ready for New York?
HR: Yes. I feel that I am in better shape than in past years. My confidence is high. I’m not worried that much. I got the invitation in time and all my preparations have been focused on New York in the second half of this year. Physically, I’m ready. I’m ready for any eventuality. I still don’t know the whole field, but I know the main contenders.

MR: Let’s talk about your training. Have you done anything differently this year compared to last year?
HR: Not much. With my training, I have looked at my past performances and train the same way and my mind is more at ease because everything that I have done before has worked out for me in the races. So I just repeat everything [that] I’ve done before. I do the same thing—for New York, for London. I know I can run fast [in New York], because I ran fast in London. So my confidence is much higher than it was in the past few years.

MR: Can you tell me specifically what you are doing in your workouts?
HR: I do 1K repeats. I manage under 2:50 [per rep.]. I don’t go all out. I try not to go all out in my training to save myself for the next day. I rest enough. I eat well. The marathon is not just [about] the training, it’s everything. I am doing the long run. The long run is the most important part of the training.

MR: When you do your 1K repeats, how much rest do you take between repetitions?
HR: Three minutes.

MR: What is the most repetitions that you have done of these 1K repeats?
HR: I am up to six repetitions at the moment.

MR: You are known for your late-race surge. Are those the types of workouts that help you develop that surge?
HR: I practice [my surge] sometimes when I am training with my [training group]. Sometimes I let them go and then catch up with them, and sometimes I run away from them.

MR: Most athletes alternate their hard and easy days. It sounds like you run hard most of your days, so you don’t subscribe to the traditional approach?
HR: I run two easy days in the week. I do a long run on Sunday. On Monday I do track repeats. Tuesday is a tempo run. Wednesday, I do track repeats. Thursday is easy and then Friday [is a] tempo run. On Saturday I run easy morning and afternoon runs. I recover fast and this schedule works for me.

MR: Do you train in Johannesburg?
HR: Yes. I train there, at altitude. It’s a mile high.

MR: By living in South Africa, you are very far from the European and North American racing scene. Do you find that this geographical separation helps you or hurts you?
HR: It’s an advantage for me. I have my training group here and I know the place well. I have my family here which is very important. The disadvantage is the long flights which can be hard on the body. I find [that] the United States is very far from my place. I get very homesick if I spend too much time in the other parts of the world. I like my home—staying in my house, sleeping in my own bed, eating my own kind of food, going to the shops with my people, going to see my brothers and sisters on the weekends.

MR: You have always been good at the half-marathon, but it’s taken you time to learn how to run the marathon which you now excel at. What did you do in your training to learn how to run the marathon?
HR: The half-marathon is still my best distance. When I go to race a half-marathon, I know that I am going to run well. I can tell from my training that I’m going to run well. But when I run a marathon, I hope that the training has gotten me so far and I hope for the best on race day. The thing with the marathon is the distance. It’s a long, long distance. The training is not much different; it’s the experience that’s different. I’ve learned about the marathon the hard way. I’ve experienced its pain. When the going gets hard, you still have to run hard. You have to give it everything. It took me a while to learn the pain of the marathon. I now know what it’s all about. Before, I didn’t know. I used to run through half-way feeling great and then I’d start struggling and I didn’t know how to respond to this. I tell you, the marathon is not all about the training. It’s also about what you eat, how you rest, and how you feel. The marathon is about total commitment, I’ve found out. When I get to New York [before the marathon] I am going to eat and sleep well. I will need total focus to get the body ready and the mind ready to get them prepared for the heavy job on race day—for the pain because I know it’s going to be painful. I have learned most of these lessons myself. I have talked to a lot of people but have found that you only can learn from experience. It comes by experience in this sport. You have to know what 2:06-pace pain feels like. You have to know what 60-minute half-marathon pain feels like. Once you run those times, the mind knows what to expect at that pace the next time and so you can take that kind of pain.

MR: Are you coached?
HR: No.

MR: Do you like coaching yourself?
HR: I have been coaching myself since [I started running.] One of the things I’ve learned is that I have read a lot about other runners’ experiences—not just about their training. I have read a lot about running. The book Running with the Legends by [Michael] Sandrock is one of the best books out there. It’s these kinds of books and magazines [that help me]. I read all these things and take them seriously. I think you can coach yourself in long distance running. It’s not like sprinting where you need someone to watch you closely. Long distance running is all about miles and getting used to the distance. For the marathon you have to be able to do the long run and recover quickly.

MR: What’s the hardest workout you’ve ever done?
HR: It doesn’t much matter because I don’t go all-out in my training. I don’t give training everything. I save some of myself for the next day’s training. I don’t train anymore like when I was younger by going all-out and getting tired for the whole week after that. Most of the time [in training], I am chasing the younger runners in the group. I am at a higher level than they are and so when they do the pacing I run behind them and then catch them. If in a 1K workout, someone goes out at a 2:45, then I’ll go with him. If they go out at 2:40, I’ll still go with him.

What I realize is that once the mind accepts anything, the body will respond. Take for example, the [marathon] world record which is 2:04. Once you determine that you are going to go for that kind of time and the mind accepts it, you are going to respond. Take for example in London, the guys went through the half in 62:30 and then I made a decision to go with them. My mind accepted it and my body just hung on. In any major marathon, if you don’t convince yourself that you are going to win, then you aren’t going to win it. For New York, I have to tell myself thousands of times that I am going to win this thing. I have done it before and I must do it again. Before the start, at the start, during the race and at the finish, I have to tell myself that I am going to win it and that I am better than the other guys. You have to talk to yourself, otherwise you are not going to win it. When I won New York, when the other guys surged, I told myself the night before the race that I was going to win it. So whatever the other guys did, I responded—even with 5K to go, I responded. You have to forget about the wall. You have to say, ‘Whatever happens, I am going to win.” In my opinion, the person who wins the race has already won it inside his head before the start of the race.

MR: You, one of the best marathoners in the world, were once cut from your university’s soccer team. It was after this unfortunate event that you took up running. Did you find that this experience motivated you in any way to run and train harder?
HR: The first thing is that I didn’t know that I’d ever be a world class runner. I think the thing about the [soccer team] experience is that it pushed me into running and then I was hooked. I found that every day, you wake up and have to run or else it will not go well. You have to go out for your run—rain or shine. That’s what happened to me; I [caught] the running bug. Winning big races and running as fast as I do now, it was never in my mind. I started running for the sake of running. It is an individual thing. I used to love team sports and then found this individual sport. With individual sports, you are in charge. You control your own destiny and create your own programs. By nature, I am competitive and work hard. I believe that the perseverance and hard work pay off. When I see a kid who gives 100 percent and sacrifices everything, even if he is not winning, I am happy. That’s the kind of person I am, I give 100 percent. My life revolves around running. Even if I am tired and don’t feel well, but have to go out of the house for an evening running session, I will do it. Even if I have to go run 50K at five in the morning on Sunday, then I will get up and I will do it. Even if there is a storm or whatever (except lightning), I will go out and run and I will do it well.

Interview conducted October 22, 2006, and posted October 27, 2006.