I thought I would re-post a great interview that Gary Robbins (MOMAR Burnaby Course Director) featured on his blog last month.  www.gary-robbins.com.

Todd Nowack is a Victoria based, Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing sponsored athlete. On July 23rd he’ll be captaining a co-ed team of four racers against the most challenging endurance event in North America in 2011, Raid The North Extreme.

GARY: Tell us a bit about your racing history. For those who don’t know, where did you get started with it all?
TODD: Like many other adventure athletes on the west coast, I got into adventure racing with the MOMAR and have kept going ever since.  I was an avid mountain biker and was just getting into trail running and various other outdoor pursuits when I was asked to team up with the infamous ‘Snot Sisters’ to be a ‘Booger Brother’ in the Cumberland 2005 event.  We ended up winning the team-of-4 co-ed category and that race got me hooked.

GARY:  How many MOMAR races have you done to date and how many of those have you won?
TODD: I have done all the races since the Cumberland 2005 MOMAR with the exception of 2009 when I was living in Norway. This makes it 12 total races with 7 overall wins: 2 solo, 4 with teammate extraordinaire Gary Robbins (Editors Note: I DID NOT add that but I will leave it in since it has a nice ring to it) and 1 with Natasha Dilay (only team-of-2 co-ed to ever take an overall title).

GARY: What was your favorite MOMAR experience and/or course to date?
TODD: ‘Three-peating’ in 2007 at the Cumberland MOMAR with yourself. We had won the previous two races of the year and had lots of pressure to win as no racers had ever won all MOMARs in one year. Winning that race was definitely a highlight but the feeling of being completely dialed in during that race still hangs with me.  I think that was the first time where we both really knew exactly how hard we could push, when to back off, and how to flow from control to control while being efficient. I still have memories of us ‘running’ through the town of Cumberland like scarecrows with cramps everywhere, our legs stiff like pencils, and our arms and back stuck like the Tin-Man from Wizard of Oz while Brian is yelling at us that we could sit down and have a coffee and still win.  Memorable times.  Favourite course would have to be one of the incarnations in Cumberland. The single-track riding is phenomenal, the area is beautiful and the community is fantastic! (Another Note: I swear I did not know that would be his answer, and I did not add it after the fact myself! PS Couldn’t agree more Todd)

GARY: Will we be seeing you lining up for our first ever Burnaby MOMAR race?
TODD: Yep. I will be there racing solo and looking to have yet another great time and experience.

GARY: Have you ever raced an expedition race like RTNX before?
TODD: I’ve done two other expedition races (RTNX 2007, and the Baja Travesia 2007).  I’ve also done some 24 hour and 36 hour races, and some orienteering ‘Rogaine’ events.  I have yet to have success in expeditions with brutal 20+ foot swell kayak conditions in Baja that wiped out several teams including leaving us unranked due to abandoning one of our kayaks and gear.  In RTNX 2007, we had some really bad luck with tearing our inflatable kayak open (even though we were being extremely careful and watched other teams literally drag their boats over sharp rocks) this situation delayed our paddle by many hours pushing it into the night where I ended up suffering from hypothermia after my body temperature had dropped by 3 degrees due to being exposed in our open cockpit kayaks.

GARY: What did you learn from these previous experiences that you feel you can apply towards your next shot at this format of race?
TODD: Eat lots of pizza and drink lots of beer to make sure that you have a good spare tire to keep you warm in times of need.  Seriously though, I think these races come down to fitness, experience and a bit of luck.  Had we been able to make it out of the swell and get to the checkpoint in Baja (which was literally right there) we would have continued ranked and placed close to the top.  RTNX would have been the same had it not been for a piece of rusted rebar that was sticking up out of the beach and virtually invisible.  Either way, luck would not have it.  For this coming race, I’m going to bring all the fitness and experience I have, stay out of trouble and race smart.  I’m done with this bad luck stuff

GARY: Tell us a bit about your teammates?
TODD: Pete Cameron and Leanne Mueller are a very strong and experienced adventure racing couple based out of Ontario that have partaken in numerous races over the years and are always contenders in any event that they enter.  I met them at Raid the North Extreme in 2007 and had the pleasure of racing head-to-head with them during the final stage of the race.  In 2009, we had teamed up to race the biggest race of the year, Explore Sweden, but due to some technical issues, were not able to race together.  So, it seems fitting that we are teamed up again.  While I have yet to have the pleasure of meeting our fourth member, James Galipeau, I have only heard good things about him, one of which being that he is a team strongman (able to take extra gear, pull others, put his head down and never stop).  The great thing about this team is that we have three solid navigators (Pete, Leanne, and myself) who all have proven race navigation experience and all of whom we can count on for pre-race mapping work, route choices, race time decisions, etc; this is an incredible advantage .  I have never been in this situation and cannot say how incredible this will be knowing that we can trade off navigating when the mind begins to crumble after countless hours of no sleep and physical hardship.

GARY: How is the rest of the field stacking up this year? Where would you place yourselves, and what are your racing goals for RTNX?
TODD: Being that Primal Quest is no longer and there are no other large events going on in North America, RTNX has virtually sold out with a great number of strong teams signing up which is awesome to see. Compared to 2007, the field will almost be double. In terms of our placement and goals, a great thing I learned from speaking with my teammates is that we all really have a similar approach to racing; we race against ourselves and where we end up at the finish is where we end up.  As long as we all put in our best possible effort during the entire race, I don’t think any of us would care what place we came in. That being said, of course were shooting for first. J

GARY: Rumor has it you were injured throughout the winter. How has your training been going lately, and describe for us what a typical week of training might look like right now?
TODD: I have been suffering with an ‘upper body injury’ (insert NHL pun here) that I am still recovering from. While I’m still not 100%, I keep in shape on my bike commuting long distances, rolling my kayak down to the beautiful waters off Brentwood Bay to partake in long paddles, and doing lots of walking and hiking off-trail through the forest to simulate expedition racing conditions. I’ve been playing it on the safe side and not running much so I’ll have to see how I fare on my legs on the new MOMAR Burnaby course.

GARY: What’s one piece of advice that you have received or learned over the years that you would pass on to new and aspiring adventure racers?
TODD: Learn how to navigate. Join a local orienteering club and get to the point where you can run while reading a map and navigate on and off trail; this is a very rewarding experience and will enhance your outdoor pursuits. Don’t train, just get out lots, compete here and there, and have fun! I’ve never trained a day in my life J

Great stuff Todd! Thanks for your time and best of luck at the race this summer. I know I’ll personally be glued to my computer looking for live updates and cheering you guys along.

MOMAR team athlete, Gary Robbins, is gearing up for the Western States Endurance Run on June 27-28.  This is a 100 mile trail race in California all done on FOOT. It’s probably hard for even the most seasoned MOMAR racers to relate to running this far so I figured it would be a good idea to ask Gary a few questions about this masochistic event.

MOMAR: What is the Western States Endurance Run all about?  Why is this race considered the granddaddy of ultrarunning?

Gary Robbins: Western States was the pretty much ‘the birth’ of ultrarunning as we know it today. The first ever WS100 run was way back in 1977 and by 1979 it attracted 143 people! It has sold out every year since then! It is also steeped in American History and was originally a horse race that began in 1955 ‘to prove that horses could still cover 100 miles in a single day’. I learned of WS about five minutes after being told what an actual ultra run was back in 2004, ever since then I’ve known that I would attempt it one day:)  It’s got 18,000 feet of climbing and 22,000 feet of descent, which plays nicely into what I consider to be my strength as a runner

MOMAR: Training for this must be insane! Can you how describe much you ran during your biggest mileage week?
GR: If I did not come down with a cold during my final week of training my answer would have been 200km, in the end my max mileage was 165km in seven days. I eclipsed the 100mile/160km barrier five times this year and averaged 450km per month since Jan 1st…and there are plenty of guys ‘down south’ who were physically able to log way more than I could handle!

MOMAR: As a frame of reference, what is your best time doing a 10km road run, the Grouse Grind, and shotgunning a ‘killer’ Miller.
GR: Hmmm, haven’t done a 10k in 3-4 years, hate ‘The Grind’ cause it’s full of stressed out people and they don’t allow dogs, and can chug with the best of em but have actually never even attempted a shotgun! BCMC parallels The Grind and I can bring Roxy along. I’ve made it down this trail in 17min and can do a return lap in just over 50min. I managed to knock down a 20k road run, at the very end of a 100m week and to finish off a 60k day in March in 1h24m. I was pretty happy with that one:)

MOMAR: Has there been anyone who inspires you as a runner?  Scott Juryk, Ray Zahab, Forest Gump?
GR: I don’t know that I’d say I find inspiration from any fellow runners. I love reading about them on their blogs and seeing what it is that they do for training though. I find more inspiration through good adventure books such as Colin Angus’ ‘Beyond The Horizon,’ his wife Julie’s ‘Rowboat In A Hurricane,’ Alfred Lansing’s ‘Endurance,’ Heinrich Harrer’s ‘The White Spider,’ etc, etc. I LOVE to read about insane adventures and they always put into perspective just how small what I attempt to do really is.

MOMAR: I’ve seen ultra endurance racers lose all control of their bodily functions as they cross the finish line.  Are you willing to let this happen to you if it means a spot on the podium?  (And, yes, it would be on YouTube.)
GR: Bryan, I’ve peed on myself in no fewer than five races, but that might be as far as I’d let it go…hmmm, if we’re talking podium though…yeah, I ain’t stopping for nothing!!

MOMAR: Your dad seems to be one of your biggest fans. That must be pretty cool to have him fly out to support you at the race.
GR: My Dad is truly an amazing person, and my Mother is just as great and supportive, but they’ve never been able to see me race before! I grew up in Nfld and only started running and adventure racing when I turned 27 (five years ago), so this will be the first time I’ll have my Dad along to share in the pain and joy involved in an event such as this. I consider him my ‘money in the bank.’ So much of racing is mental and I already know what a HUGE boost I am going to get as I intersect with him and my crew six times throughout the race. That adrenaline alone has to be able to kill some of the pain along the way!

MOMAR: What is your plan to prevent chafing? Please explain in great detail.
GR: HAHA, I’m going to rub down my entire body with ‘Grey Poupon’ of course! Hmm, I wonder if I left that as my answer what kinda e-mails I’d receive? ‘Sport Shield’ is a fairly new product and it trumps ‘Bodyglide’ in so many ways. One app and you’re good until you scrub it off! My pre-race chafe regime will last all of 65 seconds:)

MOMAR: Are you willing to publicly share your goals for WS100?

GR: I was worried you might ask this one, and typically I’d say no cause there are so many factors surrounding a race of this magnitude. I will say this however, this WILL go down as THE MOST COMPETITIVE 100 Miler EVER run in North America. There are top runners/champions from across the U.S., Italy, France, Japan, England, and on and on and on. Just to give you an idea of what I’m up against here, the seven time undefeated Champ is back after a few years hiatus. The two previous winners will return. There is a Japanese runner who just won a 100km trail race in China in a time of 6h52m…no, that’s not a typo. There is a Brit who also ran a sub 7hr 100k this year, there is an Italian who has won the 163km ‘Tour De Mont Blanc’ twice, etc, etc. In fact in the last 17 years of this race, there have only been seven different people who have claimed the overall victory. The ‘blogisphere’ is buzzing with people just attempting to pick the top ten for this one…all that I have to say is this, top ten gets you an auto entry back into the event again next year, and the worst I’ve finished in any running race in the last twelve months (hangover runs not included here) is second. This includes races in British Columbia, Ontario, Washington Stage, and Viriginia with distances ranging from 50km to 50m to 100m. I know what I can and cannot do. I will leave it all out there and am already certain and confident that I could not have done anything further to prepare for this event. I am healthy, I am rested, and I simply CAN NOT WAIT for it to begin!!

MOMAR: Will you be building a special iPod playlist to listen to during the race?  What is the song that will start off this playlist and what song do you want to be playing as you cross the finish line?
GR: I have tried and simply can not run with music, but I do like getting a song in my head and singing it over and over again in between the numerous other thoughts that rush through my mind out there. I’m really attached to K’Naan’s ‘Waving Flag’ right now and am pretty sure I’ll be singing it to myself during the tougher climbs, like the 36 switchback climb leading up to ‘Devil’s Thumb’ at mile 48!

MOMAR: Do you think you will cry when you cross the finish line?
GR: I will personally guarantee that I will cry when I cross the line, although we have yet to determine if they will be tears of joy or tears of pure suffering!!

Photo by: Glenn Tachiyama