1. Wallingford and Brown go toe to toe in Toronto
2. Planning for a year of unknowns in 2021
3. Reasons to Keep Focus and Training for 2021
4. Photos This Week
5. Upcoming Events; Jan 1 Running Room Virtual Resolution Run
6. Running Room Run Club Update: 
7. Track North Who Needs a Pace Rabbit?
   

Photo (L to R), Dylan Brown, Keon Wallingford, Nicole Rich).

And yes, all Athletics Ontario COVID protocols were followed during practices and the AO championships. Dick Moss

All is not for naught with the Track North Athletic Club cross-country crew.

That statement rings especially true for Newmarket native Dylan Brown, currently pursuing a Masters in Human Kinetics at Laurentian University.

In spite of the cancellation of post-secondary varsity competitions completely in 2020-2021, as well as any regional and provincial scale championships for local high-schoolers, many of those associated with Track North continued their training this summer and fall.

In that sense, it only stood to reason then that the local club would emerge as champions of the Open Men's team competition, securing half of the top ten placements at the Athletics Ontario Central Region Cross-Country Championships earlier this month.

Paced by 2019-2020 U Sport rookie sensation Keon Wallingford (1st - 25:15), the Track North contingent blazed through the 8 km course in very impressive fashion. Dylan Brown (2nd - 25:17), Paul Sagriff (6th - 26:40), Caleb Beland (7th - 26:52), Alexandre Fishbein-Ouimette (10th - 27:05) and Nick Lambert (12th - 27:43) all finished in the top half of the field.

For Brown, in particular, a 27 year-old two-time all-Canadian from his undergraduate days with the Lakehead Thunderwolves, the result provided plenty of affirmation to a comeback process that has understandably tested the young man's patience.

"It took a lot of self-reflection to realize that I could not get back to where I was without taking some time off," said Brown, who represented Canada while still a junior, qualifying for more or less the same squad that Wallingford cracked one year ago, and earning a trip to Trinidad and Tobago in the process.

"I've spent the past three years, slowly creeping back up, trying to do it the right way, slowly and consistently. I have to be smart and patient about it. What motivated me was knowing that I could run fast."

How fast?

In November of 2012, Brown was recognized as the top freshman at the Canadian university championships in Victoria, covering the ten kilometre course in a time of 31:22, fifth among all male runners that year.

Two years later, he would finish fourth at nationals, trimming Yves Sikubwabo of Guelph by a tenth of a second. In between was the roller-coaster that became something of a norm for Brown in Thunder Bay.

"With me, plateau isn't really a word in my vocabulary," he said. "I am either going uphill (showing progress), or downhill. I have a lot of ups and downs." Between the top five placings in his first and third year at Lakehead came a pair of injury riddled seasons.

"I had to step away from the team, at one point, because the downs and the injuries kind of got to me a bit," Brown acknowledged. "It's such a tough sport. The ups can be so good, but the downs can be so dark and twisty."

"I learned a lot through the downs. Even stepping away from the team, I learned a lot about patience and consistency. The toughest part was that I found myself questioning the love of the sport, at certain times."

Spending a few years in Sault Ste Marie before making his way to Sudbury, Dylan Brown may even have benefitted, just a touch, from a pandemic that helped keep expectations in check as he and his mates travelled to Toronto, following protocols to a "T" and living with a different type of race set-up.

"I don't think that I was 100% where I was in my first few years at Lakehead, just because we weren't expecting to compete at all this fall," he said. "I was pretty busy this fall, and we didn't know if AO's (Athletic Ontario Championships) were going to happen, so training was not the first thing on my list."

But with runners leaving in pairs at five second intervals on November 15th, Brown moved quickly from what he termed "a very strange race set-up" to the advantage that came with being partnered with Wallingford and starting one grouping ahead of Newmarket harrier Connor MacIntosh.

"We (Wallingford and Brown) started the race out together and one guy from the Huskies (MacIntosh) caught us at about two kilometres," explained Brown. "We knew that we had to make this guy work and try and break him, because we had to beat him by at least five seconds."

"At the 5 km mark, we made a move and it worked well - he fell off pretty hard. With two kilometres to go, I made a move and gapped him (Wallingford) a little bit, probably by about five seconds or so. I was trying to burn his kick before the end."

"But he's got those young legs and he caught me in the end. It didn't feel like a normal cross-country race, but we still looked at it like the hardest effort of the season."

And the most rewarding one.

Track North women also accounted for two-thirds of the Open Women's race, with Nicole Rich crossing the line first in 31:11, and Kelsey Lefebvre in third at 34:22.

This year has been a rollercoaster for everyone. It started off great, but then the pandemic hit and shut everything down. Since then, races have returned around the world, but events with tens of thousands of people are still a long way away from being held. Unfortunately, the pandemic won’t end at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, and we could be in for another year (or more) of COVID-19. Sorry to say it, but that’s the truth. Rather than hide from this fact and pretend everything will return to normal soon, it’s better to plan ahead so you’re ready for the year to come. Here are six tips for runners looking to prepare for 2021, a year that is full of unknowns.

Sign up for later races
Racing isn’t completely off the board for 2021, but any events that might happen will likely occur later in the year. Many spring races have already been cancelled or moved to the fall, and while this hardly guarantees that they will happen, it at least gives them a better shot at being run. If you’re looking to run some big races next year, follow the lead of many event organizers and hold off until the fall.

Look for local runs
Everyone loves racing huge events with thousands of other runners, but it’s highly likely that fields of this size won’t be permitted for a while (maybe not even in the fall, unfortunately). Smaller races have a much better chance of being run in the coming months and year, though, so if you’re planning for 2021, consider adding local runs to your schedule. As several events across the country have already proven, races with smaller fields can be run safely with wave starts, social distancing and other COVID-19 guidelines in place. Even if you can’t enter a massive marathon next year, you might still be able to race locally.

Stick to virtual racing
Another option when nailing down your 2021 schedule is to go 100 per cent virtual for the year. You can treat it like a regular season and have your plan set before the start of the year, but instead of running in-person events, you’ll run solo or with a small group of running buddies. It won’t be exactly the same as years past, but races are meant to be tests of fitness, and that’s exactly what you’ll get with virtual events. Plus, if a lot of in-person races make a comeback, you can add a couple to your calendar as wel

Set personal goals and challenges
Going along with the fully virtual season, you can plan a year of personal challenges for 2021. Try a run streak for a month (or longer), or maybe do your very own Run Destober challenge (1K on the first of the month, 2K on the second, all the way up to 30K on the 30th). Toss some time trials into the mix and try a new distance every month. Whatever you choose, make it fun.

Chase FKTs
With races cancelled this year, so many people have shifted focus to fastest known times (FKTs) and route records. Check out fastestknowntime.com to find FKTs near you or to read the guidelines for creating your own FKT. These aren’t real races, but they still feel like a competition, because you get to see where you stack up against other runners on the same routes. This can be a really fun way to race without actually signing up for an official event.

Accept the bad
The bad news is 2021 could look a lot like this year. The good news? You’ve had months of practice living in a pandemic, so you’re way more prepared than you were in March when this all started. Rather than being upset with the fact that your 2021 season could be just as strange as this year’s, try to accept the bad and move past it. If you do this, you’ll be able to see the good in the other opportunities you have as a runner, and that will make planning for next season way more enjoyable.

Alex Hutchinson, well known writer, researcher and athlete, in a recent article, likened this pandemic to running a marathon with no finish line. As the second wave grips us and leaves many with COVID-19 fatigue, it’s easy to give up and throw in the towel in many areas of our lives.

This has left many of us to ponder why even bother to train, in the absence of races and defined goals. Earlier this year, I wrote in iRun about the challenges of running/training in an unstructured manner during this pandemic.

As we approach 2021, still with many unknowns, including when races may safely return, I’m here to make an argument that for those runners who are goal driven, it is in your best interest to adhere to a structured training cycle.

Why, you may ask? Firstly, you are in the driver’s seat. It is one aspect of your life where you do have control. Secondly, most runners are inherently goal driven individuals, who function and train best when they follow a structured, goal-oriented routine. Winter running at best of times is challenging. When you have goals to strive for, you have purpose. Goals help you answer that proverbial question “why am I out here training during those tough weather days!

With no absolute timelines for races to resume, it may be prudent to stay in the moment and focus on short term outcomes. Be grateful that you are healthy and fit enough to train. In Guelph, we recently completed a successful series of seven time trials over six months. The distances varied from 5km to half marathon. Runners had to sign up in advance and generally we limited numbers to 20. The series provided runners with focus to keep up their training and many had personal bests, even in this low-key environment. We have seen and heard of similar outcomes across the country with runners getting creative to maintain fitness and goals dreaming of better days ahead.

That’s why I’m advocating to follow a tangible training cycle. The 12-16 week winter training cycle has always been the crucible for runners to build a solid base. It’s a time when nature forces us to train a bit more conservatively. This is a good thing. Your running can be augmented by strength training at home, even if gyms are not fully accessible.

Even during normal winter times, you can easily build in progressive time trials to test your fitness in the absence of races in the first 6 months of 2021. My one recommendation is that unlike other years you may want to keep your training mode to about 80-85% of the normal workload. The time trials can mirror the distances you might usually utilize established races to test your growing fitness over the winter. Many of the runners I coach in Southern Ontario, a staple build -up for a spring marathon might look like the following: a 5km time trial in early January to set a baseline of fitness, following downtime from end of November to Christmas holidays. This would be followed by the Robbie Burns 8km at the end of January. Based on feedback from these two events, February would be a continuation of base building and working on any uncovered weaker areas. Next on the race calendar would be a half marathon in late February/early March like the Chilly half marathon. This will provide essential feedback as to your readiness for your spring marathon. You will now be adding more hill work and tempo runs and early speed into your training as you prepare for the next spring challenge, that being the Around the Bay (ATB) 30 km at the end of March. The ATB provides you with a dress rehearsal for your spring marathon and provides concrete affirmation on your readiness for your marathon goal.

For others, the ATB can also signal the end of your strength build-up. After a short recovery, you may start to increase the quality of your training and decrease mileage and descend, to run shorter races 15km, 10m km, 5km and possibly even a track event. I am still optimistic that many races will return by next summer and Fall. By following the suggested winter-early spring build-up, you will be much better poised to take on those race goals that have been delayed but not denied.

Coach Tim is an honourary SudburyRocks!! member

Sara praying for snow

Loach's path

New Anne Marie bench

Nature chalet

Laurentian lake

Laurentian Trail

Bioski ski trails

Laurentian trail view towards bypass

Rocks!! on the trail