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After dominating the race in three consecutive years from 2009 to last year, Muzhingi appeared the odds-on favourite to make it four in a row last week.
He managed sixth spot in a competition won by Ludiwick Mamabolo.
Khumalo believes there could have been a number of factors working against the athlete going into the race.
Muzhingi, after winning last year’s race, ran the Sunshine City Marathon, the New York 42km and the Two Oceans marathons. It is not clear whether he participated in other races in South Africa between June last year and this year’s competitions.
“It was too heavy to run the Two Oceans six weeks before the Comrades Marathon bearing in mind that within 12 months, he also had run two standard marathons. This was going to be too taxing for him considering that it was within two months from the last event he participated in which was the 56km Two Oceans,” said Khumalo.
Khumalo, a Nust lecturer in the department of sports science, said an athlete needed between four to six months before another big race. He acknowledged that there had been some who have managed to be at their best within three months.
“It’s all about energy. In shorter distances or periods of rest, you burn carbohydrates, if you go beyond that you move on to fat. With a shorter period of rest in between and these long distances, you eventually get to where you synthesise protein and use it as a source of energy.
“You need the body to regenerate energy. Excessive exposure to competition leads to wear and tear of the body, some effects might not be visible but in the long run you suffer from burnout. That is why a long time of inactivity and gradual return to training is necessary,” said the founding coach of Sparrows Athletics Club.
He said a marathon runner, after three months of rest, can start building up gradually with shorter distances for recovery. Khumalo said distances between 10 and 21km were ideal.
Khumalo felt the Two Oceans Marathon which Muzhingi had said was for training purposes could have sapped him of all the energy. On his way to his third title Muzhingi ran the Cape Town 56km event and finished fifth.
“At times the danger with participating in such an event is that you end up in contention and sap yourself of all your energy yet you would have started just for fun to see if you could run the course within a specific time for your intended race. He could have burnt himself out by running the Two Oceans which he won. He did not have enough race if his intention was to go for the 56km event and win,” said Khumalo. The sports science and coaching lecturer said another issue that could have affected Muzhingi was that his Bluff Meats teammates had found the pace too hot, leaving the Mr Price team to burn him out and effectively setting up Mamabolo to go all the way and win.
The Mr Price athletes appeared to pick up most of the hotspot prizes for reaching certain distances first.
He said with enough rest and preparation, Muzhingi will bounce back and win more ultra marathons.
Another Bulawayo coach Dailes Bingadadi felt that Muzhingi needed to rest after the Two Oceans win.
“I think fatigue took its toll on him. After winning a race of that magnitude, Muzhingi needed to rest,” she said.
Bingadadi is an athletics coach and a physical education resource teacher. She is also the secretary-general of the Bulawayo Athletics Board.
Online Reporter