Athletics coaches can become obsessed with fast times, but then again, for them less is always better. After all, no one has ever won a medal trying to be slow.

That is why in the build-up to the Olympic Games or World Championships you will find many a coach hectically trying to ensure their protégés get to be that hundredth of a second or so faster.

Lucinda Pienaar (Tuks), who at 33 years is one of the youngest coaches for elite South African athletes seems to be assisting Sokwakhana Zazini – a former youth and junior 400m-hurdles world champion – to win his continuous battle against the stopwatch.

When she started to coach him at the start of the season, his personal best time was 49.32s. During the World Student Games in Napoli he won a silver medal running 48.73s. It meant that in a mere seven months he has improved by 0.50s. At the end of August, his time was still the fastest time by an athlete from Africa.

“What truly amazes me about “Soks” is how he can get totally in the ‘zone’ when he races. His most significant attribute as an athlete is his speed, but because of it, his running style is ‘choppy’. He is wasting unnecessary energy. I need to get his stride pattern to be more fluent,” explained Liebenberg.

The Tuks coach and sport science lecturer used to be a talented 400m-hurdler herself, but unwittingly, she ended up masterminding a premature end to her athletics career, simply because she failed to heed her body’s warning signs. The first time she realized she was in trouble was when she collapsed during a race in Potchefstroom.

She was diagnosed as having inflamed her heart’s muscles because she kept on training and racing while sick. The net result was that she was not allowed to do any sport for a year. Pienaar tried making a comeback, but somehow she never really got to regain her best form.

Athletics, however, remained her passion, so she started coaching seriously. Being a qualified biokineticist as well as doing her master’s degree in sport science, means Pienaar is serious about preventing athletes from repeating her mistake.

“I keep on emphasising to my athletes that they won’t get unfit or slower if they take a few days break from training. The reality is that it might stand them in good stead as there are times one’s body needs to recover.”

Pienaar is also not a coach who expects to be simply obeyed at all times.

“Communication is of cardinal importance to me. My athletes should know that they can talk to me, even query me at any time. The biggest mistake athletes can make is to follow a training program they don’t believe in. If they do, they are bound to fail. I don't want that to happen."

Perhaps Zazini should have the last word on why, so far this season, he has been able to continuously run faster times.

“It might have to do with the fact that she is a woman, which means she’s more caring. One can say [a] sort of a mother figure. But it will be a big mistake to think you can take advantage of her. She can be tough when she needs to,” explained Zazini.