TORUNTO Distance Team – runners with a mission, part II

“I want that ‘perfect’ marathon race in the 2:3x to feel accomplished”

(Jonas Charyk, April, 2020)

Last week we introduced Brittany Moran. Today we highlight another rising star.

Jonas Charyk combines his professional work, family life, and parenting with running fast. Being a fast runner himself, TORUNTO Coach Jim Svenoy would like to add to insight on this late bloomer in terms of performance running. When you have reached 35+ years of age, lifetime PB’s do not come easy, nor by accident. They only happen because you chose to dedicate a huge part of your spare time to train, to compete, and to achieve. Jonas is one of the rising Torontonian running stars who coach Jim still foresees doing great stuff. The best is yet to come!
To train, to compete, and to achieve means different things to different people. Here is what this means to Jonas.

OBJECTIVE
My goal for 2020 would be regaining strength and running a personal best in Chicago, hopefully under 2:40, while also exploring my speed potential in shorter races.

BIO Jonas Charyk
Jonas trains with the Toronto Harriers running community. He is one of the most dedicated runner in the group. Coach Jim has various coaching roles in Toronto and is currently serving the role as head coach of the Toronto Harriers. To become more competitive Jonas sought additional guidance from Jim’s expertise beyond the weekly group training session.

Jonas about his running history

I’ve been running a long time, many years casually, including a half marathon at 16. I slowly built up my competitive interest through running varsity in university where I enjoyed the team training, even if I wasn’t the fastest. Running stayed with me as a foundation for physical and mental health as I developed my professional career. I got my first marathon bug in 2010 and trained up to a sub 3 in 2012 with Megan Brown.
After 2013 I focused more on work and kids until about 2017. Since then, I started training seriously again, forgot about marathons for a while and started building the foundations of my current strength and speed, which I want to keep improving on.

Running PBs

Working with Coach Jim
After five months of training with Coach Jim, I have become stronger than ever. I feel fit and can’t wait to see what I can do when the pandemic is over. Training with Jim is a unique experience.

Not many people get to learn and run with a 3x Olympian as a personal coach! His insight is valuable. He is the one to help me run that once in a lifetime marathon in the 2.30s.