Trevor Walmsley

Hello all (or the few that will wind up reading this),

                I know I haven’t updated my blog in a LONG time. Some of you are likely thinking “I didn’t know that Trevor had a blog”, well as it turns out I do. Since I ran my first marathon yesterday (Ottawa, finishing 27^th in 2:41) and I have to email Steve (my coach) with a race update anyways, I figured I would post how the race went and let everyone in on what I want to tell the old coach anyway. If nobody reads this, it will serve as some self reflection. Before I go further and since I am on the topic, I gotta give a big shout to Steve, he has spent six months helping me get ready for a race that took only a few hours and he really was the brains of the operation. If he hadn’t given me that guidance, I might of well have just run with a blindfold on. So while we are on the topic I will also say thanks to everyone who put up with me while I was training. I was super self- centered the whole build and wasn’t much fun and more than likely I was rude and grumpy with many who were in around me. Sorry about all that. Likely it is best to hang out with me over the next few weeks while I plan to be sore and beat up and not able to train that much. After a couple weeks I will likely get it through my head to run some other race that I have to train for and I will be my “old lovable” self. So before I get into an Oscar speech (or go over my allotted 2 minutes for thank yous) I am going to get to the race. Wait… the last and most important thank you in goes to my sponsor. Ma and Pa Walmsley have been fantastic. I can always get shoes when I need them and they have provided me with enough money to allow me to comfortably train in lots of nice gear and not starve at the same time. Really without the support of my parents I would be a starving physio aide.

                As far as the race goes, I am finding it hard to run have not gotten the result I wanted. People have told me it was humid and that I ran “smart” and in reality I was aware of my fate at half way (13.1miles when the clock read ~1:19) I am finding it difficult to be pleased with the performance. I am pleased that I finished, and that I wasn’t fading like some of my competitors in the last 10k (I passed 5 guys in the last 10k and some were not doing so hot, poor guys, It is really difficult to be passed by a guy who is running 4mins/km) but I really wanted to run “fast”. I guess that will have to come later in my career. In training, I didn’t think it unrealistic that I would run 2:35 but maybe I had too high of expectations. I had no idea what I would experience it the last 10k and all those who have run the 26.2 must know and be laughing at my rookie naivety. So what I am trying to communicate is there were some serious positives, I have an idea of what it is like and I have taken away things that will help me for next time but overall I wanted more and I am disappointed with my time. I am still hungry though. I have caught marathon fever and I really want to run another. Have to see what the coach says and weigh a lot of options (like the approaching CIS XC season which I will be eligible for) but a marathon in the season of pumpkin spice lattes seems really appealing. I want another crack and I have since the moment I finished (which I found very strange to be thinking about, because I was really tired from the one I had just run.)

So what went on you ask. Well after what seemed like forever of waiting. Literally 3 days of sitting doing nothing and a couple early hours in the morning trying to keep myself occupied by watching sports center Matt and I headed out of the hotel for a quick 6minute warm up jog and some drills. We got on the line and surprisingly I was calm. When the race started I was buried in the field. It only took a couple k to get out of the traffic and find my pace (my first K was a slow 3:58 followed by a stream of 3:40’s-3:50’s). To be honest the first 10k were boring and taking forever to go by. I found it so tempting to start rolling when I was passing lots of the guys and gals that went out hard and let my chase of the 2:32 pacer (Desy) begin. I really worked to temper myself and remind myself I had a long way to go. It was nice to be passing a slew of runners (including Queen’s alum Chris Hartman, who had a good race, we chatted for about 300m at around 7k) because it kept me honest and in the racing mindset. By 15k it was a lot more sparse on the course and I had to focus for several km’s at a time to pass a runner or two. Around this time a hooked up with a dude in adidas kit rocking a pony tail and earrings, right when I caught him he handed his shades to a his little girl and I was pumped, this dude was my hero for a bit. Has was like 35 and still living the marathon dream and was all round awesome. We ran together until half way and he made a good crack about a couple runners (I assume pacers) who were walking back on the course. At half way I dropped pulled ahead because I had just seem my half marathon time and I still had dreams of running around 2:35 (which wasn’t going to happen at my current pace). Luckly to jump start my move there was a good downhill and I saw Charlotte and Slambert as I headed down (on route to my fastest km all day). Seeing those to really got me excited and I really started working to catch a fella in yella just ahead of me. I caught him at about 23k and then I hit trouble. Over the next 4k I really struggled. I wasn’t sure what was happening but I was tired and felt out of fuel (which was strange because I took a gel at 22K). I ran into one of the top Canadian females during this time (she was also having a rough go) and we worked together and got it back on pace and feeling a lot better. She said she had been “flaundering” the last few k and that she was glad I caught up to her I tried to do the honourable thing and break the wind for a bit, but there was no wind and she was really good, so we kinda just ran together for about 5k before I pulled ahead. It was lucky she didn’t pass me in the last 5k but she must have been the toughest person in the field. I dropped her and she ended up not far behind me at all not to mention the flaudering she was doing. Congrats my friend. My dad says you work at Harvard and are a Kin grad. That is two hero’s I met on course.

The next runner I caught was Matt Tiampo. I latched on to him after rushing my gel at 29k because I didn’t realise that water station was coming up and was afraid to wait until the next water station to take my second gel (really I should have though). It was good timing on catching him because we ran into the lover of all things college Tyson Lonely just around the corner. He gave us a good cheer followd by Slambert and then Daun and Travis and finally Kev (who was the last person I saw that I knew until the finish). It was great to have the support of friends as we ran down sussex. I was really focused on getting to 30k at this point because that is when friend and marathon advisor D. Wykes had told me I could “make a move”. So 30k came around and I think I was still running with Tiampo.  I was trying to really relax and slow down to avoid “the wall” which I was told would be at 32k. Turns out the Ottawa race organizers had put the wall just were they said they would and I went from feeling not too bad and running slow and relaxed to running just plain slow. I thought 10k wouldn’t take that long but I ran a series of sluggish 4 minute k’s home. I took my last cup of water at 33k and went into survival mode being motivated only a few times by passing some guys and when a spectator on a bike said I was the third “non-elite” to go past. I apologize to volunteers at the water stations in the last 10k. Your help is greatly appreciated it and I hope it didn’t seem rude that I just slogged through your stations without so much as a thank you. The last 2k I was in a vortex and 8mins took about 30. As I watched to signs in the last kilometre tell me how many meters I had left I swear time stood still. Finally  the finish did come and it was all over. Sore legged I was greeted by teammates Steph and Laurar and the space blanket they gave filled me with the warmth my glycogen levels could not. All the volunteers at the end were super nice and wanted to help me with everything. All I wanted was to sit down! I settled on a good lamp post and drank some Gatorade (a picture was taken by some guy in a gatorage shirt and I am hoping it is going to end up in a G commercial). Eventually I was able to painfully stand up and that is where my Ottawa marathon experience ended (I left the athletes village)

                So that’s it, that is all folks. Sorry for the long post but the ‘thon is a long race. I have hope of returning to training soon, but currently my legs 2 cinder blocks. I think it is time to drink coffee and beer and recover from the build and the race.

Best always

So it has been about two months since I last updated this blog. I don’t have much to blame that on, but seeing as the Tour de France is winding down and my travels to Ireland begin rather soon, I am going to begin to make an effort to update weekly. I wish I could promise to follow in the footsteps of Matt Hulse and update seemingly every day, sometimes twice a day but post such as “I ate a veggie sandwich for lunch” or “Well hydrated today”, probably do not excite the casual blog reader. However, since I have probably whetted your appetite I had a veggie sandwich on some grainy bread for lunch and have been drinking water regularly. For the super interested breakfast was a smoothie made in accordance to the Thrive Diet (lifestyle?) principals.

So what have I been up to you ask? Well the answer is not much. Have I been running? Well yes, of course I have been running, but not as much as I would say I usually do. That brings me to what I want to write about. Something that in my own mind I have always had trouble understanding and to be honest I still don’t quite get it, I’m torn as to whether it is a sign of weakness, lack of motivation, nostalgia or simply my body telling me I need a break. I am writing of course, about downtime!

I guess downtime is somewhat hard to describe. In my mind I am not training very hard…hence downtime. I call it downtime, despite continuing to run, although have been taking advantage of the mountains in my current station in Canmore. I think I have taken the mountain bike out every day this week. I’ve done a couple crazy climbs (including a bumpy dirt trail that I rode for 6k at an average of 8%) and I have been working on the descending as well. I am yet to have an Anders Klaus style fall but there have defiantly been a couple close calls. Basketball has also been high on my priority list. I have played for at least an hour with the neighbourhood kids each night after dinner for the last four or five days. Last night I dominated the free throw line and sunk 11 straight baskets to win at 21 on a day that also included a rousing tennis match (which I lost).

Essentially, I have just been enjoying myself. Physical activity is what I enjoy and it’s something that I haven’t done much of since really starting to focus on running. This doesn’t mean I am giving up on running, not by a long shot. I still have big dreams in running that hopefully I can achieve through hard work. I think though that before I can take the steps to get to where I want to be I need to relax a bit and give myself a break. I have always been told this by various coaches and training partners but I never really believed it. With the exception of being injured, since starting University there has been very little time that I have take off (a few days here and there really). I always wanted to work towards being the best I could be and most of my summers I had running on my mind constantly and how I could squeeze out a few more points for the gold Q in the fall, always worrying that cross season was only twelve weeks away. I never really took an opportunity to recharge and I didn’t think I needed to. I thought I could just hammer out my runs and workouts and I would be running huge in no time. I was always confused when I never really had the breakouts I expected. I ran well and got a lot better as the years went by but no big breakout.  

Things changed this summer. After recovering from mono I tried to force things a little too quickly because I had already missed one spring race and didn’t want to miss anymore. Well it didn’t seem to work out and I ended up not running a serious race yet. Looking back had I been more patient everything would have been fine. I became fried mentally and decided the best thing I could do was get back to loving the sport. This wasn’t hard to do and I soon began training again under the guidance of marathoning icon and a legend among hipsters everywhere Dylan Wykes. The stuff he gave me was great and I did it like I used to, but I just wasn’t as motivated to do the extra stuff, like double runs and core and things. I enjoyed the workouts but everything else just fell away as the weeks passed. I plan to still attempt some workouts but for the next little bit (certainly not to long). I feel that I finally need to just let my mind and body recover before I start getting back into the good habits that will make me a better runner. I think I finally accepted this watching Flotrack yesterday (always good lessons to be learned on that site) when I watched a video where Trey Hardee (World Champion Decathlete and a hero of mine) and Chelsea Johnson (World Silver Medal Pole Vaulter) explain how they both were resting their minds and bodies after a couple years of steady training and progression in performance. I finally realized that maybe I am not being soft (well I am but it might be necessary) and that if the best athletes in the world need a break maybe I could use one as well. Seeing as I have had a bit of a cold the last two days and was feeling run down last week, I thought this could be just the thing for me. So on hold for now (as they have been most of the summer) are the 90mile weeks, although very shortly I hope we meet again and I am going to enjoy the mountains; running when I feel like it and biking when I feel like it and  even walking (or as I prefer “hiking“). I think this may be the first step towards a breakthrough over the upcoming year.

So maybe if you are feeling sluggish or just not “feeling it“ a little downtime is all you need. So buy a moutian bike, find some kids who are half your age and like sports and find a good local coffee shop (of which there are many in Canmore, I recommend one that puts ferns patterns in the foam of espresso drinks). Works for me (though I still have a sore throat and runny nose and I still go to bed thinking about running).

Best Always

Alright, it’s time for blog post number two! This weekend was very exciting, being the May long weekend was grand enough, but I also went down to St. Catherines to visit my girlfriend Emily and enjoy the lovely weather and go adventuring with her. We had a great time and her parents feed me like a king. It was really nice just to be able to spend time with Emily (who I haven’t seen in a while) and her family (who I rarely see, but are oh so nice to me, despite my yelling, over-eating and overall sloppiness). Although I did have a great time this fantastic trip is not the basis of today’s update, however, a long VIA train ride and delay allowed me the time to research my blog topic: I forgot, to what it feels like to feel normal, but now I’m thrivin’, th-th-thrivin!.  Why am I using Rooney lyrics you ask? Well, the answer is; I am not sure, but after reading a wonderful book written by professional triathlete and Beki Roth swooner Brendan Brazier “thrivin” is something I am going to get into!

For those of you that haven’t been in Beki Roth’s room, Brendan Brazier is not only a  Canadian triathlete,  a vega, but also formulater a Vega products;  an all natural, plant based line of nutritional products designed for a healthily lifestyle and to aid in the performance of vegan and vegetarian athletes. I had heard of Vega but even after committing to vegetarianism (admittedly not too long ago, I have been completely veg. For over 2 months now after spending much of the school year as a faux vegetarian) I never thought it was something I would be into. Two things got me inspired to try it; one was reading an article by Greg McMillan that finally pounded home the importance of post-workout nutrition (eating some carbs, proteins and fats immediately upon completion of a workout or run), This was something that I had neglected in all my years as a runner and after trying it for no less than two days I noticed the benefits and I really stopped having those “off” workouts.  Second, my friend and fellow Kingston based runner Dylan Wykes is sponsored and could get me the stuff. After meeting Dylan in a dark alley he hooked my up with zip-lock bags of powder and scoops, He gave me the first time buyers deal along with the several varieties of Vega.  I sampled a range of Vega products and I really liked them. They worked great for recovery and provided the nutrition I needed without animal based protein, surprisingly it tasted not too bad. Since Dylan is a student and due to his physique, I fear that his only source of food may be products delivered to him from Vega, I went out and found a good deal on Vega whole food optimizer and Vega smoothie infusion at a local health food store. I continued to use this product as my recovery drinks and I also experimented with meal ideas online, using the smoothie infusion as a flour substitute in pancakes and for lack of a better word to infuse my morning smoothie. It was through these products I found out about Brendan Brazier’s books.

The book advertisement was on the top of my Vega jar, so I saw it ever day after my late afternoon run along with. Since it was an effective advertisement I ran to the local bookstore and thanks to the staff keeping the bookstore open late so I could find what I was looking for I purchased a copy of Thrive Fitness. It was a great read and I will take it with me in my future endeavours of grad-school and running. The book caught my intention immediately as a health promotion student, the very first chapter addressed the decline of health and well-being in our population and gave the facts that I have read many times but I am not cessed to be amazed by… our population is really unfit and worse generally unhealthy. The stats are alarming and Brendan addresses them in a fair way that takes the physical and social determinates into account. Current literature is drawn upon to outline our situation to please the student crowd. He also discusses the health and environmental impacts of eating a plant based diet. The heart of the book addresses healthful eating and resistance training especially for endurance athletes. I was really inspired by the writing and I hope to adopt many aspects of the thrive lifestyle. Brendan outlines performance enhancing foods (no ‘roids or EPO necessary) and foods for general well being all of which are plant based whole foods. It is as simple as one thrive meal a day to enhance health and performance. I was really impressed not only at the information in the book but how Brendan draws the link between his athletics and his nutrition, as a pro he really has dedicated his life right down to every bite of food consumed to his sport. Thrive fitness helped me to better understand the associate between nutrition and performance. I have always been a “anything will burn if the fire is hot enough” type guy and while running  70-100 plus miles each week, it seemed that because I remained a stable weight, this approach worked.  After reading this book I am starting to realize that quality fuel helps also. I hope to slowly incorporate many of Mr. Brazier’s ideas into my daily eating.

Thrive Fitness also explores the benefits of weight training and gives a great take on strength training for endurance athletes. I won’t ruin it for you but it really stresses the advantages, how to train effectively and shows you how quick and “easy” it can be. Needless to say, again, I was motivated and I am hoping to take on this aspect of the Thrive lifestyle…and that’s what it is, not a diet or a build muscle program, but just like running it is a lifestyle. Some may say that Canadian triathlete Simon Whitfeild takes this thrive lifestyle to seriously but I feel that he really does show that whole food nutrition and proper training go hand in hand to becoming a better athlete. He supports the Thrive Lifestyle and has 2 Olympic medals to show for it.

With this entire in mind I hope to enhance my training and start slowly incorporating some vegan whole food nutrition into my day to take help take my running to the level I know it can be at by improving in areas I previously lacked (ie. nutrition)and to help my general well-being.

In the spirit of improving our sport of running and due to recent aggravations in my life to which I feel the following strongly pertains I will leave with a quote from Brendan Brazier that I really liked and I feel gave me perspective on running and my future academic endeavours:

“To effectively help others, you must first help yourself. You need to be selfish in the true sense of the word. Taking this idea a step further, our ability to help other and bring about positive change in the world will be far greater and considerably more effective if we are in top form. To truly make a difference, our well-being is not a nicety, it’s essential.”

Best always

I have decided that I am going to take a crack at updating the World Wide Web with stories of my life. I hope that some people will read this (and future notes) and be able to follow my travels and adventures as I move to Ireland and take on the land of rat-tails, beer, rolling green hills and pure guts running. I figured I would start now however, because that way I can build up a following (not) or at least talk about what’s on my mind and maybe give some of you an insight into what I am doing the few remaining days in Kingston.

Lately a lot has been going on with not only my running but running in the Queen’s community. First, As many of you know, Kevin Dunbar was replaced as cross country and middle distance (or long sprints as he called it) coach for the Gaels, after a short year and a half stay. I will not go into the details of the whole red tape wrapped situation, but, I will say this; Kevin gave so much to the sport at our school, I can’t speak for others but I learned a lot from him and benefited immensely from his teachings. If you showed up any day of the year, you could always count on Kev being there whenever I was jogging over to the PEC (as I have done thousands of times) I always knew that on that day something good was going to happen thanks to Kevin’s guidance.

Second, I found out this morning that a high school friend of mine, Doug Laballe (who I simple reffered to as “the beautiful”) passed away at age 22. Despite being only a year older that myself Doug was no doubt an idol to me during my time at Ernest Manning High School. As a member of the cross country team, Doug was the guy that really drove home to me the importance of academics and how it was possible to be a really good student (as I recall Doug won multiple awards for top of the class, honours ect.) and still go to work every day on the roads, tracks and trail of Calgary. He was the one who convinced me to take three science courses in grade 11 and 12 while we were cooling down after a low key cross meet in Canmore park. As I found out later I would need all three of the science courses in order to get into Queen’s. Doug also got me into extra-cirricular activites outside running when he asked me to help out with the Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) group. Thanks Doug. Although I lost touch with Doug, he will be missed and I do owe some of the hard work I put in during my highschool years to him, even if it meant no Grade 11 spare period.

These two things have got me thinking really deeply (one might say philosophizing) about the sport I love. After having mono and then taking a few weeks downtime to enjoy the summer and some easy miles with friends, I got back into my normal routine of morning runs and 5:30pm practice on Monday this week. Dunbar is still working with Matt and I felt that this was my chance to give back to the sport which has given me so much. I owe a lot to Matt who has been a leader on every team of which I have been a part of at Queen’s (OUA and CIS cross and OUA track) and also to Kevin for the reasons mentioned above. With this in mind I hope to try and keep Matt from going insane as he goes through his training by keeping him company and helping to pace him and push him when I can. I helped “pace” an impressive 800m repeat workout on Tuesday and I have done a have engaged in some conversation while desperately trying to keep up on a couple of days. Today we are doing a tempo run and I will push try to Push Matt through when I can (it will be run on a loop so I can keep him company until I give out from exhaustion). This isn’t much but I hope that I can do my part in furthering Matt’s training and help him compete at the level he and I both know that he can run at.If he gets any fitter though; he is on his own, because I won’t be able to keep up. I figure it’s the least I can do. I have been pretty selfish during my time as a runner (I am sure my friends will agree) and I hope that I can learn to help others in the sport and create a love for the sport similar to the one I have amongst many people close to Matt and I and across the great community of Kingston. Anders, Matt and I are meeting daily at Runner’s Choice (if you haven’t checked out their new digs, do so they are pretty swell) to train under the guidance of Kevin. It’s a good group and together I hope to take my own running, and Matt’s running to a level that will inspire. Just think of the story, a humble English footballer runs 3:36! Brings tears to my eyes. So in this way I hope to give back to the sport.

Finally, along those same lines, I will briefly mention and Idea that Matt came up with, that I would like to fully support. Similar to Guelph, we think that creating a running community in Kingston that would work as a team in a large collaborative manner would be a great addition to the rather impressive Kingston Running community. The tradition of great distance Runners that have spent time in the town along with great running routes and races, speak volumes to what could be achievable if we work together. We are not sure how yet, but my second giving back to the sport project will be related to this. I think with some SUPPORT and a few stubborn hard working individuals Speed River might lose its monopoly on Canadian distance running. If anyone has great ideas please let me know.
That’s all for now, hopefully someone will read this and I can continue to post. I would also recommend that you check tnfnorth.ca for a great read about Canadian distance running written by Leslie Sexton and supported by Robert Kitz.

Best always