By Physiologist Travis Schiller-Brown
Kamil Nascak of the Czech Republic was the first finisher of the 2022 Personal Peak MTU™ Showdown. He completed the 1600 MTU™ required to finish the challenge in just 35 days, besting the previous record from 2021 by 8 days! On the way to his win, he completed 1,252.4km, with 35,367m of elevation gain.
After finishing 3nd in the 2021 MTU™ Showdown, Kamil was determined to improve on his previous result, so on December 31st after spending the evening welcoming the new year with his family, they did a New Years toast, and he headed off to the mountains to get started, forgoing sleep for that night, and logging just over 100 MTU™ within the first few hours of the year. He continued pushing from there, even fighting through a fall on some ice on day #2 which resulted in quite a bit of soreness. He noted that as a result, the first two weeks “were quite tough and each MTU was a lot of pain [but] on the other hand, it brought joy that one can overcome one’s limits and that it will not be too easy”.
He said that he really enjoys going out to run knowing that others in the Personal Peak community are also out there logging MTU™s. “It’s great to see others doing well, what progress they’re making, and I always imagine we really meet on that path.”
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Kamil manages to fit all of this training in between spending time with his wife and two daughters (12 & 18) and working full time as a special education teacher in a high school. How does he fit in so much training with such a busy life? He manages this by taking afternoons, evenings, and weekends to dedicate to training, and frequently starts running at 3am on weekends to give him enough time to spend the remainder of the day with family. Kamil also walks a lot, he walks wherever he can go (if he can) including to work, for shopping trips, and also makes sure to walk every day with his wife.
Most of his runs were on his favorite mountain, Lysá Hora in the Beskydy Mountains, where you can gain over 900m of elevation in fairly short order, although in the winter, there is often a lot of snow, and many people ski in that area rather than running like he does. He frequently runs with his favorite training partner 17 year old Štěpán, also from Ostrava, who is currently sitting in 4th place overall, but 2nd on the GDT in the MTU™ Showdown. When asked why he trains in this location so often, Kamil notes that all of this training will be great for his next race coming up in March where he will be participating in the LH24, which is a 24 hour race to see who can complete the most laps up and down Lysá Hora.
Now that he has finished, he plans to continue logging MTU™s, aiming to complete the challenge a total of 4 times. This would best the 3 that he did last year, although he does plan to dial back his running a bit, and add in some cross training on the bike.
“The biggest thanks goes to my wife and children for the tolerance they have with my running and sports and for the background they create for me.”
The MTU™ Showdown is still ongoing (until June 30, 2022), currently with 139 days remaining to complete the challenge. Registration is still open for any latecomers, but they will have some catching up to do!
Travis Schiller-Brown
Travis has a Masters Degree in Exercise Physiology, and is Personal Peak’s Head Physiologist. He develops training programs and administers testing for every Personal Peak Athlete.
To learn more about Travis, click here
Email:coaching@personalpeak.ca