Mono 10k Trail Race (11k)

Except for the rookies who are all sick or have other excuses, the UW ski team made the hour long pilgrimage to Orangeville to run around like pigs in the mud today. Here is a short play by play:

Arrival: Found a different parking lot than everyone else... are we the first ones here? The morning cold is still in the air, so we head indoors to meet up with the team. Friends from Guelph and Toronto teams are there already and the competition looks pretty fun.

40 minutes to race start: Start warm up. The trails are covered with wood chips in most areas. Its soft and my feet are happier than kittens in a blanket. 20 minutes later we return to find out that the race starts 20 minutes after we thought it did.

40 minutes to race start: Start warm up again.

15 minutes to race start: Everyone is standing around, getting their zone H* in. I like this kind of race.

5k and 10k race start. There is a lot of confusion and the half of the field doing the shorter race clearly wants to be in front whether or not they really should be. I let them go, knowing that I have 10k left to pass anybody who lets me.

Colin takes off with the leaders. He is sick, so I am surprised at his eternal optimism.

The first flat section of the course. Its clear that my lack of running interval training has effected my leg speed. Another leg speed limiter at this point is probably the desire to finish :)

I let Nolan and Ryan go up the trail. Its too early to tell if I will see them again, but I have no desire to burn to much fuel this early on. I instead choose panting girl and lumbering giant as my running partners. They are loud and their running stride hurts my soul, so I decide to dance quickly up the first hills. They sit on my shoulders, sucking air.

The first few downhills are very steep. I let my gravity take over and pray that my legs can keep up. My strides are over 2 m in places. The field hasn't adopted my strategy, so I must yell "LEFT!!!" and "RIGHT!!!" as start my descents. Nobody around me can match my descending aggression.

My organs bounce around inside me and I question whether or not I'm pushing too hard. I tell myself that I probably feel bad at the start of every race. I buck up.

The gap to Ryan and Nolan closes on the ups and downs, but lengthens on the flats. We yo-yo for a few kilometers and drop Ryan and Colin. Nolan and I trade leading our pack for most of the rest of the first lap.

It becomes clear that the only damage I do today will be on the ups, downs and the transitions between the two. I decide that's just fine and start putting all of my eggs in those baskets. The lap ends with a series of 4 or 5 climbs and descents followed by a very long but more gradual descent to the bottom of the stadium where there is one final climb to the lap lane/finish line. I break off the front of the pack I'd been running with in this section and pass some kids doing the 5k just before the stadium.

Running through the stadium is slow, but I catch my breath and am feeling strong. Once I start the new lap, there are no climbs for a while, so I have nowhere to burn too much energy. I cruise and prepare myself for lap 2.

The flattest section of the course is at the start of the lap, so the pack starts bridging back up to me. On flats, it is much quicker to run in a pack, so combined with my distaste for flats on this day, I decide to let them close the gap. I look back and see a white jersey and assume it is Nolan. His voice rings through my head from the previous morning... something along the lines of "when somebody is closing a gap to catch you, rest until they're just out of reach of you, then take off and they'll be too tired from closing the gap to keep up".

There is some kind sick sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing how much pain people are going through to try to catch you. I take his advice and drop my chasers on the first steep climb. My quads are now jelly, so the downs start to feel reckless, but at top speed, there is nothing to be done but continue. I tighten my core as hard as I can to keep the contents of my stomach where they should be, grit my teeth and push onward.

I find a rhythm quickly in the second lap and in my solitude I eventually forget about the pain. UP lean forward, quick, short strides. FLAT stand tall, lengthen strides, push over the top. DOWN, tense core, breathe, long strides. FLAT stand tall, take in air, there's somebody behind me, don't let up.

Finally the finish and I am smiling, pushing through the line, then doubled over. I have to get a recap of who finished behind me because I am too tired to notice. Kids are serving gatorade in jello shot cups. They challenge me to drink 7. I clear the table.

I finished in 48 minutes and change for 8th place overall.






*Zone H is the hormone zone, where you just talk to women. It is key for boosting testosterone levels?

I'M BACK!

Hello Internet! I have returned to the world of blogging... specifically about the ways that I'm staying active, healthy and loving it the whole time. That last one is the most important by the way.

Over the last year, I've worked at the Charcoal Steakhouse, a four star restaurant in Kitchener. I had the opportunity to work with some amazing cooks and chefs, and while I wasn't always doing the most challenging things there, I picked up volumes of knowledge through osmosis.

While I was working (my ass off) I wasn't doing much exercise, so I'll document my return to training at a competitive level.

I return as Tim 2.0... or actually more like 22.75...

Peace and Love to you and your grandmothers

T

Here's a picture of my first day of training (by Dave Rhodes)