TSP DIY
©Max Menning
After a just-in-time cancellation of the The Speed Project in March, a couple of hours before Donald Trump locked down the United States, I had no doubt that The Speed Project will go ahead in 2020 one way or another. In a year where everything is cancelled, the renegade spirit of The Speed Project will live on in TSP DIY.
TSP DIY is a decentralised concept of the desert classic, challenging teams and solo runners to get creative in how they choose to spend their 31 hours and 15 minutes, which is the current record time from Los Angeles‘ Santa Monica pier to the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign. The race commences for everyone on September 5th 2020 at 16:00 PDT, wherever participants are in the world, challenged to log as many miles as possible over the given time period. In relay fashion, no two runners can be running at once, and solo runners, like me, are just doing their own thing.
With DIY, everything is up to the teams. Some are mapping out a point to point course that matches the traditional TSP route, others are taking over a track or finding the most scenic loop possible. Strava are jumping in, lending their tech capabilities to collate and publish leaderboards throughout the race based on synced activities. Instead of running a specific distance in the shortest time possible, you run as far as you can in the allocated time, flipping the original concept on its head. Instead of completing the 550 kilometre-long course through the desert, as fast as you can, you are given a time frame to work in, to see how far you can go. Everyone around the world is doing the same thing, so even if the results are different, we are all putting in our best efforts for the same amount of time.
Although I am incredibly stoked for TSP DIY, I am not sure yet, whether I will actually be able to head for a run. Behind me lie pretty difficult few months. In the middle of June, I was diagnosed with a light stress fracture in my left foot, sidelining me for more than eight weeks. I struggled to accept that resting and not putting any strain on my leg, will be the best way to cure the injury and recover fastest. I cannot remember a time in my life, where I have not been running for such an extensive period of time. Only when I broke my fibula back in 2010 and damaged my knee in 2005, I was out for a few weeks, but never that long. With that being said, the distance from running, offered time to reinvent my training regime. I have focused on building up core muscle and upper body strength, as well as logged decent kilometres on the spinning bike. In fact, I have finally purchased a road bike, with the injury maybe offering the finale nudge to buy one. I am incredibly gutted, but given the injury, I will most probably have to cut my particpation short. We shall see. I will certainly not sit still, but log a few kilometres on Saturday and Sunday. I was initially planning to run circles around Englischer Garter in Munich, following the same route as during my Englischer Garten 100 (Read more: Click here), but now I opted to run along the coast in Valencia.
Like in the real deal, there is an OG team set up (4 men and 2 women), the women’s team category, there is the freestyle category (as many runners as you like), as well as the solo edition. The latter is the type of runner I fall in. There were a total of 8 solo athletes including myself, taking on the desert, but word has it there are literally dozens of entrants signed up to run solo during TSP DIY. So, stay locked to The Speed Project‘s Instagram page for more details on the challenge, live updates and leaderboard. TSP is the coolest race of the year, every year. Somehow nothing changes, even this year. If you want to take part in TSP DIY, look out for any local running crews organizing their own TSP, or register online: Click here.
Make no mistake, while many virtual races and training regimes are a bit lame, this is not another virtual race.