Because my sixth sense told me that the coronavirus was coming and would close the local gyms for months, I gifted myself a treadmill for Christmas last year. There was also the impending arrival of our second child and the realization that my opportunities to leave the house (in a pandemic-free world or otherwise) would be severely curtailed. Regardless if you credit my foresight or my fear of Sai, my treadmill was delivered just before Jesus’ observed birthday, and I did a few runs before relegating it to a dust collector while we prepared for Catherine’s day of birth (not as recognized by the world at large, but a lot more near and dear to our family – sorry JC).
After a few months of lazy baby prep (what was the point in training when I had no races on the calendar?) and another month of lazy baby living (which happened to coincide with the start of the coronavirus lockdowns), I was feeling plenty fat and lazy and ready to do something about it. Sai had already dropped almost eight pounds in one big push (or cut, if you want to be specific), and I’d only gained weight during that same time.
On May 1st, I started the new month with a treadmill trip. I hadn’t just invested in any old machine; I was inspired by the irunfar.com review of the NordicTrack incline trainer, and I’d bought the x22i. Not only could I run hang on for dear life to the handles at 40% inclines, I could partake in their iFit trainer catalogs to visit different locales and run behind different trainers.
The first run I ran was the opening of the Boston Marathon with Ashley Paulson. I was annoyed by her starting position in the back of the pack as we dodged and weaved through the crowds, and I competitively kept increasing the pace (watching the leaderboard on the right side of the screen before I fortunately figured out to turn off that feature). I learned the painful lesson that day that the speed of my run did not shorten the duration of the workout; that is to say that if the course was 5 miles long and 45 minutes, and I increased the pace to run five miles in 35 minutes, I would still have ten minutes left on the clock to keep running. Good to know! Those surprise extra minutes at the end were brutal.
I experimented with some other runs, visiting Germany, Dominican Republic, Scotland, Hawaii, Croatia, Alaska, China, etc., generally picking runs that looked interesting and were an appropriate length for the effort I felt up for on that given day. Some of these efforts were led by walkers, hikers, cheerleaders (the aforementioned Ashley P.), and fitness models. I confess that some sessions were inspired by the comely appearances of the ladies leading them; a welcome distraction from the spinning belt.
I’m a self-coached streaky runner, preferring to go by feel on a given day rather than following any specific training program. I know how to build up my mileage until I’m in shape to handle a marathon or longer, before I break the streak and gain back fifteen pounds before repeating the healthy / unhealthy binge and purge cycle all over again. In the past, pre-Covid world, most of my running has been outside, with a day or two a week at most at the gym to mix in speed on the treadmill (as well as some sorry simulations of weight training). But with now two young children at home and a mostly work from home job situation, it just seemed safer and less likely to piss off the wife to run at home as well. People decry the monotony of treadmill running, but with the myriad of options through the iFit program, it seems like more variety than I typically get on the same neighborhood routes anyway. Plus there was no need to know where the portapots could be found. Lately I’ve reversed the outdoor / indoor balance, with only the occasional trail run interrupting my regular treadmill trots.
One thing that started to emerge from my search for fun runs was that Tommy Rivers Puzey led the best workouts. Obviously your mileage may vary, but the big bearded guy was a wealth of knowledge about an endless array of topics – running physiology, local history, flora and fauna, geology, culture, language, religion,… Tommy would talk and talk and talk (and run along the way), and it was always interesting! Plus, no offense to the lovely fitness models or anyone else, but Tommy Rivs just looked like a real runner. I wanted to take tips and get beat up on a workout by someone who could legitimately crush me in real life.
A coworker of mine who is approaching running from a very different place than me (whereas I’ve been running off and on since middle school, he’s just getting into it in the last couple of years), has the iFit program as well. Comparing notes, he mentioned TRP as his favorite guide too.
When I’m looking for a moderate 45 minute run, Tommy has a series through Rapa Nui (Easter Island) that fit the bill. Looking for some longer efforts, Tommy offered a 92 minute Montenegro run or a similarly long Croatian excursion. Easy recovery day? Tommy’s 5k Costa Rica jaunts were perfect. Around the world, more and more of my runs were hosted by the same guy, who always had the local history down to share.
My favorite Tommy workout was a 76 minute race along Long Beach in California. It was a flat, boring out and back, out and back, out and back (three loop) course, and Tommy didn’t offer any notable Cliff Clavin facts. In fact, it was probably the most boring scenery of any run I’ve done on the machine. But what intrigued me about this particular workout was that it was the first time I felt like we were really seeing what the racehorse could do.
On every other one I’ve done, you can tell that the iFit trainer is holding back, running comfortably, even while pushing you to your limits. They’ll go at a 10 minute per mile pace and you can cover a greater distance on your own by speeding up the machine. However, this one, Tommy was covering a greater distance than almost all of us could keep up with, and the machine slowed it down for the baseline. Like Ashley at Boston, Rivs started in the back of the pack (but a much smaller field), and the guy just ate the field alive. He opened his stride and unleashed the bearded beast. He flew down the beach, passing people like they were standing still. I raced along, feeling like I was flying with him, pushing the treadmill speed up to around 10 mph (while he was really racing closer to 12 mph). It was an awesome display of power, and he made it look almost effortless, cruising to a dominant victory.
I always wondered about the cameramen chasing the runners on these routes; how do they keep up? How do they keep the camera steady without tripping on the mixed terrain? Are they as good as the leaders they chase? On this particular workout I finally had an answer, courtesy of some revealing shadows – the guy rode a bike. What a cheater! But it made sense. How else could they keep up at that blistering pace, while carrying a camera and keeping focused on the leader?
A few days ago, I stumbled on another Rivs run while trying to fit a particular mood, and reading the reviews, saw a commenter wishing him well in his recovery. During the course of the run, he made no mention of any ailment, so I was unsure what it was about. The trusty google revealed the very sad news that Tommy has been recently diagnosed with a rare and really lethal lymphoma in his lungs. Rivs’ regular advice to stay vertical and not get dead has been challenged as he’s been laid up in critical care, including time in an induced coma to treat this aggressive cancer that has struck down an amazing athlete in his prime. There has been a tremendous outpouring of support, quickly surpassing the family’s gofundme goal in less than a week, but he has a ways to go and the road to recovery is a big challenge for the big guy.
By my count, Tommy has recorded over two hundred different runs to enjoy on the otherwise unpleasant machine, so I still have a lot of exploring to do (I’m only 13 weeks into the current streak). Besides being a gifted runner, he has the gift of gab and a voice that will be missed. I’m hoping he can recover and return to inspiring others because he just seems like a really cool guy to run with.
Get well soon, Rivs!
Traipse Reports - Trips and Races 