It has been a challenging year for Maximus Thiessen.
When the Barrhead Leader last talked to the Mosside teen medium-to-long distance runner in August of 2015, he was preparing to compete in the Royal Canadian Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Quebec in the 1,200 metre, and 2,000 metre and 1,500 metre steeplechase events.
An event Thiessen believed he would have a strong possibility of medaling at, but unfortunately an injury just before the national championships dashed that possibility.
“I broke my (left) foot just before nationals,” he said, adding originally medical staff was not sure it was broken. “They (trainers and doctor) told me there was a possibility it was just bruised and that it might be fine so I decided to take the chance to go to nationals hoping it would get better and I would be able to run through it.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t improve and Thiessen ended up finishing last in both the 1,500-metre steeplechase and 2,000 metre events.
After the nationals Thiessen saw a doctor specializing in sports medicine who confirmed he had a stress fracture.
“Sometimes it can be hard to see on the X-ray, but as soon as this doctor looked at my foot he knew right away it was a stress fracture,” he said, adding he believes it wasn’t necessarily the injury itself that caused him to have a subpar outing.
Because of the injury Thiessen wasn’t able to train for the week prior to the nationals and as a result he wasn’t in the shape he would have liked.
“I just had no fitness,” he said.
In retrorespect, Thiessen believes another injury he received could have been the cause of his broken foot.
In mid July, during the Western Canadian Tri-Prov Championship in Winnipeg, Thiessen tore his iliotibial band (ITB). The ITB is the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh from the hip to the shin and attaches to the knee and helps stabilize and move the joint.
“Because of that, I got an imbalance in my other leg, and I was training a lot and my foot really started hurting and the next thing I knew I could hardly walk,” he said.
After the national championships, he took two weeks off to rest and recoup before resuming training.
However, due to his broken foot, Thiessen had to revise his training.
On a normal week, Thiessen goes to Edmonton two to three times a week and trains with Harriers Track and Field Club under the supervision of his coach Phil Booth. The rest of the week he trains on his own on the roads around their family farm or, in the winter, on the walking/running track at the Barrhead Agrena — 60 and 100 kilometres a week.
During his six-week recovery, he was forced to switch to cycling in an effort to maintain his conditioning.
“It really was boring just having to cycle all the time and not run,” he said.
By late September, Thiessen resumed his normal training routine and was able to finish the cross-country season with mixed results.
Although Thiessen did his best to maintain his condition by cycling, he said it is not the same as running.
“I wasn’t really in the greatest shape and I didn’t have the results I wanted,” Thiessen said, adding he finished in third place in both the Alberta Schools Athletic Association (ASAA) and in club provincial cross-country competitions.
In December, during the indoor-running competition season, just when Thiessen was starting to feel like he was getting his legs back, he suffered another injury. This time to his knee, which prevented him from running for three weeks.
Despite the setbacks, Thiessen competed in the majority of indoor season running events, with his best result being third at the Alberta Indoor Provincial Championships.
In May, the outdoor running season began with the Calgary Spring Challenge in which he finished fourth in the 1,500 metre, with what Thiessen considers a subpar performance.
“I still wasn’t feeling very good I just wanted to get the rust out of my legs,” Thiessen said.
A few weeks later, Thiessen competed in a St. Albert track meet running in both the 1,500 and 3,000 metre events, finishing fourth and second respectively.
“There is a lot more competition this year. I compete in the youth division and most of people I race against are a year older than me, at least the ones who are competitive with me,” he said.
Currently, Thiessen, who turns 16 this summer, says he is close to being where he was at the same time last year when he was the top-ranked runner in his age category in Alberta.
Two weeks ago, at the ASAA Outdoor High School Provincial Championships in Edmonton he won the 3,000-metre event and narrowly missed winning the 1,500 metre race by fractions of a second, finishing second.
As for what is next, June 18 - 19 Thiessen will travel to Calgary in an attempt to make Team Alberta in both the 1,500 and 3,000 metre events. In order to make the team he will have to finish in the Top 2 and cross the finish line meeting a qualifying standard time. For the 1,500 the qualifying time is 3:59:00 and for the 3,000 metre it is 8:48:00.
In the 1,500 metre event, Thiessen admits this will be an uphill challenge as so far this spring his best time is 4:09.
“I really don’t think there is much of a chance that I’m going to be able to shave 10 seconds off my time for a new pb (personal best),” he said, adding he is confident he will be able to meet the 3,000 metre standard although he ran an 8:58:43. “When I ran that I basically was running by myself and this time there will be four or five others to push me.”
Note: due to the Leader’s press times how Thiessen did is not known.
