.: Ski XCOttawa.ca :: Skiing in Ottawa and Gatineau Park

The Toast of the Coast
By:  Tom McCarthy   (2009/05/27)

RSS

It’s been a bit of a late spring here on the Coast, but summer is definitely arriving. The skis are pretty close to put away – though they still need a couple of coats of travel wax. And now, we turn our attention to the summer months, and to different types of activities. For me, the focus is on getting back into some kind of shape. It was a tough winter for work, and I didn’t get out skiing as much as I would have liked. Didn’t really do much of anything active, really. So with the snow gone, my brother and I have pulled out the road bikes a few times, and starting think of fun long base-endurance adventures. In addition, though, we’ve started to think about running – and when we think running these days, we mostly think trail racing.

So I’ve been trying to get back into running shape, and I’ve been going to the track to do some workouts with Ed. Except for when I say ‘with’ Ed, I mostly mean that I’m only ‘with’ him for the warm-up and warm-down. Ed is running FAST right now – and I mean really fast. I’ve never seen him run as well as he’s running right now. And I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of him as he runs away from me. His gait and stride look smoother than I’ve seen before. He’s running 800’s consistently in 2:20’s, and sticking to that like glue.

We did our first trail race a couple of weeks ago – was the first Five Peaks race of the west coast series. It was a 14k course with a couple of pretty large hills. Ed ran away with it – he won by over a minute and a half. I finished a measly 9th, huffing and puffing and dragging my butt across the line, only to hear a refreshed Ed cheering for me on the way across. I thought I’d never see the day…

So my point is, look out for Ed in running races on the west coast this summer. My prediction is that he’ll be a dominant force. I’d say he’s running in the low 33’s for a 10k right now. I mentioned to him a 20k trail race with 1000m of climb that’s happening this weekend, and he jumped on it immediately (it helped that the prize is cash). We’re both gonna race it. As for me, I’ve made substantial gains in my few workouts on the track so far this summer –but I had a long way to go to catch up, and I still do. I think I can still take him in the short, sprint-type workouts, but anything longer and it’s still a lost cause. You never know what’ll happen, though – hard work is a wonderful thing.

Ed racing at High Peaks Camp Fortune in 2007


Ed and Tom, in a "McCarthy Cup" race

 
Interesting Reading. . .
Interested in supporting XC Ottawa or advertising on our site? Email: info@xcottawa.ca.
© Copyright 2001-2006, www.xcottawa.ca. All Rights Reserved. Contact us before re-publishing anything seen here.