Stephen Mokoka of the Hollywood Athletics Club shares a few tips and tricks to help give you the jump on your 2025 running goals.
The festive season is here, which for many means weekly training takes a back seat as the festivities get underway. And before we know it, January arrives and we’re forced to put in a ton of work to get back in shape. Hollywood Athletics Club Purple Star and top internationally acclaimed athlete, Stephen Mokoka is here to help with some December tips, whether you are a social runner or an elite.
“December is the fun season but as an athlete whether you are elite or social, it is very important to keep a balance and not let it go too much because what you do or don’t do in December, does impact your 2025 season,” said Mokoka.
Representing South Africa at four Olympic Games and holder of a personal best marathon time of 02:06:42, Mokoka breaks December into five important phases.
The Build-up Phase
“This is a very crucial stage as your main focus is on endurance,” said Mokoka. “You can start running but, don’t focus on pace or distance, just really slow easy running. This can be done by increasing your time spent running every week, starting with 30 minutes in week one. In week two add five or 10 minutes, then in week three add 10 or 15 minutes and so on until the end of December.”
Remember not to focus on intensity, just run easy.
Strength & Mobility
“The goal is to try and build muscle and develop movement, co-ordination and flexibility. The stronger and more balanced the body is, the easier it is to improve performance and reduce the chance of injuries.”
Try to incorporate this once a week into your training program. You can find many running strength and mobility exercises on YouTube.
Hill Repeats
“These are vital and help improve running form and make running easier once the body is well composed.”
Incorporate this once a week into your programme. The aim is not to run flat out but to focus on your form and movement going up the hill.
Intervals
“It is important to start building up speed and letting the body get used to faster-paced runs. These interval sessions also prepare the body for the threshold phase on time.”
Threshold is a type of run where you run hard, but not flat out, enabling the body to run faster for longer. The fitter you get, the quicker your threshold pace will get at the same effort.
Incorporate this session once a week into your programme. Sessions could be things like 12 x 400m with two minutes rest in between. Or when training for a marathon, 1km hard (5km pace) x 8 with two minutes rest in between.
Rest
“This is the most important phase of the programme so that you can recover enough to do the quality work,” said Mokoka. “For elites, you can look at taking one rest day a week and for social runners look at two days a week for rest.”
Because we are also in the summer months, it is important to make sure you are hydrating well, just make sure it’s water you’re drinking!
