Tormoen seeking to regain top form

August, 2002 Fit to be Tied Column

From the Pueblo Chieftain
by Gary Franchi

Tormoen seeking to regain top form

While defending her Triple Crown of Running title later this month in the last event of that three-race series is definitely important to Maddy Tormoen, she has a lot of other issues on her mind as well.

Tormoen is currently training for the Pikes Peak Ascent, the third leg of the Triple Crown that also includes the Garden of the Gods 10-Mile Run and the Summer Roundup 12K (7.4 miles). She currently leads all female participants by seven minutes after winning the Summer Roundup with a new event masters record time of 50 minutes and four seconds. Masters is a classification for those 40 years of age or older, and Maddy turned 40 late last year.

The seven-minute lead is nice and all, but Tormoen still has her worries. For one, her times in both the Garden and the Summer Roundup were about two minutes slower than she ran them in last year. For another, Maddy’s energy level on some of her longer races during the past year has unexpectedly faded, causing her to drop out of those events more than once.

“It concerns me,” admitted Tormoen, who is busy training for the 13.1-mile Aug. 17 Ascent. “Sometimes my body just shuts down.”

Tormoen, you may recall, suffered from a racing heart after winning the Garden last year, and the discovery of a heart condition caused her to have a defibrillator implanted. She recovered and went on to win the Triple Crown by a whopping 30 minutes, running a 2:48 Ascent to complete it.

Now, Maddy has started taking iron supplements and has stopped taking the beta blockers that are used to slow down a heart rate. She also is quite confident of returning to top form in the longer runs/races she is using to prepare for the Twin Cities Marathon this fall. Twin Cities is the national masters marathon championship, and Tormoen would like to do well there.

On top of this concern, she also just started a new job at a detention center in Colorado Springs and has put her Pueblo home for sale. The stresses of a new place of employ plus a future move to the Springs probably will take some toll on her, but Tormoen is confident her training will not be affected.

“I have a sister that lives there and my mother now lives there, so that should help,” she said. In fact, Maddy sometimes stays up north rather than commuting back and forth to work every day.

That’s one issue she doesn’t need to worry about. Defending her Triple Crown title in top form is enough of a goal.

Running Notes

Pike National Forest was reopened July 18, meaning those planning to run either the Pikes Peak Ascent and the PP Marathon (Aug. 18) can now train on site.

Marv Bradley is a good example of the “not getting older, getting better” cliché. The 63-year-old Cañon City runner completed his 12th marathon of the year on July 28 when he braved difficult rains to finish the Carrollton (MI) Charity Marathon in 4:51:19 to place third among 34 competitors in the 60-64 age division. Marv’s marathon times this year have ranged from 4:12 to that 4:51 as he bids to run a marathon in all 50 states. He’s now completed a marathon in 44 states and the District of Columbia, and has at least five marathons scheduled this fall, which would leave Delaware as the only state left for him. The national 50 Staters organization is trying to convince a race official in Delaware to add a marathon to the half-marathon he has scheduled since no other marathon is scheduled in that state this year.

The annual Arkansas Valley Fair in Rocky Ford will take place Aug. 21-25, with the annual Watermelon 10K road race and two-mile kids race on Saturday, Aug. 24. The fair’s organizers now have a web site – www.arkvalleyfair.com – where you can access all of the activities that are planned.

Multi-sport notes

Lauren Dorsey-Spitz is carrying on the multisport tradition of her siblings in grand style. Last month, Lauren placed first in the 11-12 age division of the IronKids Triathlon to earn a trip to the IronKids nationals to be held Sept. 8 in Sacramento, CA. Lauren is following in the footsteps of older brothers Ryan and Brendan and older sister Jenna. She skipped the IronKids last year after opting to spend the day with Ryan on a visitation day at the Air Force Academy.

The plans of Puebloan Michael Orendorff to test himself in the Off-Road Endurance Challenge Triathlon, an Ironman-distance event scheduled July 20-21 in Rifle, literally went up in flames when officials cancelled the race because of fire danger in the area, the lack of support services that it caused, and the anticipated crush of spectators who indicated they would attend.

The cancellation came less than two weeks before the race was to be held, meaning there were problems for the participants from nine countries and 32 states who were among the limited field of 200. To give entrants the option of still using their travel plans, race officials negotiated a deal for them to have free entry into the Sun Desert Half-Ironman in Grand Junction that same weekend.

Puebloan Gerald Puls is still going strong at the age of 76. Gerald won his age division in the Las Vegas (NM) Triathlon (regional championship) on July 27, logging a 5:08:20 time on the Olympic-distance course. That finish qualified Puls for the national triathlon championships that are upcoming in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The world triathlon championships this year will be held in November in Cancun, Mexico.

Upcoming Pueblo-area Races

* Aug. 3 – Tunnel Drive Run (Prediction Race Series), 5M, 7:30 a.m. Cañon City (719-784-6514).
* Aug. 24 – Watermelon Run, 10K & 2M Kids Race, 7 a.m., Rocky Ford (719-254-7723).
* Aug. 31 – Nirvana Run (Prediction Race Series), 4M, 7 p.m., Colorado City (719-676-4100).
* Sept. 22 – Hot to Trot 5K, 8 a.m., Union Avenue Historic District (542-1704).

Send comments and fitness information to Gary Franchi via e-mail at [email protected].

Return to Gary Franchi’s running and fitness writings index page.