At the age of 48, I am taking my running to the next level by joining Team Arduua as one of their professional frontrunners
We asked Tomas to share his story of becoming an Arduua team professional runner. This is what he said…
When it comes to ultra trailrunning and skyrunning grit, willpower and endurance are more important than capacity and top speed. It is, of course, a great honour to be considered as a frontrunner for Arduua, but I would not have joined unless I felt that they shared the passion and the knowledge for the sport that I have. To bring the competence of the Spanish skyrunners to the rest of the world is a great idea, something that I would like to be a part of, and something that I can promote.
In 2019 I completed 12 ultra races, 5 of them in mountains with a lot of elevation gain. In 2020, all the races where cancelled, so I had to rely on FKT and virtual races. I won the Trailrunning Sweden climbing competition where I did 7182 m+ in 16 hours on my backyard hill, climbing it 101 times, and I belive that this put my name on the list of Swedish skyrunners, since I got an invitation to join Skyrunner Adventures on Facebook.
I started the coaching plan with measuring of my mobility and strength and an videocall with my coach Fernando Aramisen, an experienced skyrunning coach from Spain. He put my workouts in Trainingpeaks, and we had follow up meetings every month via e-mail.
I have followed a training plan before, but not with this much follow-up and coach interaction. I am not the most flexible person I know, and I could certainly use a lot more mobility…
The plan has been based on my personal metrics, and been made to prepare my body for the added stress of lifting weights. I have certainly done my share of lifting weights at the gym, but more for general strength, not with a specific focus for skyrunning and ultrarunning. I can see the results now.
So why did I join Team Arduua when Katinka asked me a month ago? It is, of course, a great chance and a big honour to be considered as a professional athlete.
So I’m really looking forward to 2021 as a part of the Arduua Team!
And we say – welcome Tomas,we are glad to have you in our team!
/Snezana Djuric