Unadulterated Excellence

It might seem odd to have "unadulterated" in the title of a post that shows a mile race that took place three years before a test for EPO existed.  A race where no one has run faster than the top two runners since and that was 13 years ago next month.  A race where 16 men ran under 3:56.
First of all - I was there.  Don't believe me?  Here is a link to an interview with Kevin Sullivan from runmichigan.com where he gave an account of the race.  "As the officials walked us from the call room onto the track at the 200m mark, and down the backstretch, I saw a familiar face. My teammate from Michigan Don McLaughlin, his girlfriend and Michigan runner Michelle Slater, and former Pioneer standout and current Loyola athlete Ben Ingrham."
Ok - they spelled my name wrong - but it's exciting anytime that a man who was once 5th in the Olympics and Canadian record holder (3:50.26) calls you a "former standout" - especially when Don and Michelle were much more impressive runners than me.  Don was on at least two Penn Relays DMR championship teams with Kevin - as well as being Big Ten indoor mile champ.  His then girlfriend - now wife - Michelle was an All-American at Michigan. 
Don and I were teammates in high school.  He is a year older than me - his senior year we won the cross country title for the state of Michigan and were ranked 3rd in the country ahead of the famous team from York, IL.  We also were on a state champion 4X800 (7:48) team that also had the 3rd best time in the country that year. 
Don, Michelle and I were on a seven week eurorail trip.  We traveled to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Cologne, Interlaken, Rome, Barcelona, Pamplona, London - and probably a few more that I'm forgetting.  I'm not sure which one of us suffered most from our obviously bad idea of traveling for seven weeks as a couple and a single dude (who could be a little bit of a smart ass at the age of 22) but we have somehow remained friends.  I'm looking forward to running with Don next month at the Great Lakes Relay in Michigan. 
The first time I saw Kevin run was probably my junior year of high school.  It was an early year indoor invitational.  I can't remember if it was a DMR or a mile - but I do remember that it was the first time I saw someone run sub-4:00 up close.  He ran ~3:57.  What struck me as a high school athlete was how relaxed he was.  I remember the first time he came around - I thought there was something wrong with his jaw.  He almost looked like he had been given a muscle relaxer in his cheeks.  They shook with each step.  It was the first time I realized that you cannot run fast without running relaxed. 
I did get invited to walk-on to the Michigan team.  I even had a meeting with Ron Warhurst who brought in myself and my high school teammate and multiple-time state champion Todd Snyder.  Ron had probably heard that Todd and I were good friends because he mentioned that we could room together.  What Ron probably didn't know at the time was that Todd had been dating my sister for the last nine months - and the thought of waking up with the two of them on the bottom bunk wasn't exactly a draw.
In the end I decided to go to Loyola Chicago. 1) I loved Chicago - still do. 2) I got a little money which made the private school cost the same as in-state tuition for UM.  3) I knew that I wouldn't get any attention from the coaches at Michigan.  They had an insane amount of talent already - and Todd wasn't even the top recruit in his class - his roommate ended up being John Mortimer who was second at the 1994 Footlocker National Championship.
Even though I left Ann Arbor for college I was back most breaks and ran and hung out with my friends from high school - which meant I ran and hung out with the Michigan team.  I don't say this to name drop - but merely to say that I had as close of a view into a team as someone can have without being on the team.  My friend Don trained with Kevin 300+ days a year for at least four years.  If Kevin had been into enhancing his performance through illegal drugs - I would know.
Kevin is a freak of nature.  He still has world age-group record for 800m for 14 year olds - 1:53.03.  He also happens to be incredibly nice and giving person.  In my mind Kevin was and is what I true champion should be.  Given the time period he competed it's hard not to think about how he was most likely cheated out of a couple of Olympic & world championship medals. 
I haven't talked to Kevin directly about how he feels - but my sense talking to his teammates is that he tried to not let it bother him.  That rather than let it consume him he just did his thing and hoped that the dopers got caught.  That's why I cannot forgive or condone doping in any sport.  The people who get robbed are people like Kevin - and that really pisses me off.
I'm a believer that the only way to change the culture of doping is shaming people.  Maybe that seems somewhat unforgiving or cruel - but I think the current situation is cruel - that our most talented athletes have to either give in to cheating and taking unnecessary health risks or live the rest of their lives wondering "what if?"

The War Before the War

May 22, 1856 - John Brown looks out at the aftermath of a raid of Lawrence, Kansas.  The Kansas-Nebraska act in 1854 stated that each state could decide whether it would be free or slave.  The result was that both slave supporters and abolitionists moved into Kansas in order to decide it's fate.  The town of Lawrence was the heart of the abolitionists - a few days earlier slave supporters came into the town and destroyed two newspapers and one hotel.  The next day a U.S. congressman beat abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner with a cane. 

News of both events made Brown's blood boil.  Not only was he angry about these attacks - he was angry that the abolitionists didn't seem to have the stomach to fight back.  He set out with his men - including four of his sons to exact vengeance.

June 10, 2012: The Swim - The sea was angry.  The sea in this case being Clinton Lake, just west of Lawrence.  I am not an experienced triathlete - but one thing I know is that if there's a current in a lake it's probably not a good thing.  I lined up near the front, but on the outside.  After several open water swims this spring I decided that part of my anxiety is when people are directly in front of me.  I don't like the idea of having to navigate around people or running into them.

Oddly enough the 2-3 foot waves didn't seem to faze me - at least emotionally.  My head was down and I was even able to bilaterally breath at least some of the time.  However the current meant that I was constantly turning left - even though the course went straight.  At the turn around I looked at my watch - 20 minutes.  Crap - not what I had hoped for.  With a wetsuit I thought I could swim a little over 30 minutes for the swim.  Since wetsuits weren't allowed because of the water temp (it was only about .5 degrees above the max temp allowed for wetsuits) I knew I wouldn't swim that fast - but I still hoped to swim ~35 minutes.

When I finally came out of the water I looked at my watch and saw 42 minutes.  Very disappointing.  But, this is my experience as a triathlete.  A very emotionally/physically challenging and yet slow swim followed by trying to get myself mentally into the bike and the run.  Don't get me wrong - this was my best swim ever in some ways.  There were 2-3 foot waves with no wetsuit and I didn't freak out at all.  But I was still slow.  I need to get better before Madison.

May 23, 1856 - John Brown and his men went to the houses of known slavery supporters and killed five men with broad swords.

June 10, 2012: The Bike - Big swells on the water were signals of even more difficult times on the bike.  The race started out heading south, directly into the wind.  However I had some broad swords of my own.  My neighbor and Omaha triathlon winner Gerald let me borrow his aero wheels.  The wind and hills were still tough - but when I had a downhill or the wind was at my back I was flying.  I used all three aid stations - drinking down all of my perform  drink between each stop including some water (more to cool me off) and a gel every 30 minutes.

The bike is difficult for age groupers.  My age group was pretty far back for our swim wave, meaning that I was going to have to bike through a bunch of people who may or may not understand that they need to stay to the right.  I probably yelled "on the left!" about 40-50 times.  The most dangerous parts were when there was a more smooth part of the road in the middle - which meant that nobody was on the far right part of the road - and basically cut the amount of road that was used by half.  That's not good when you're trying to pass a somewhat slow person who's trying to pass a really slow person.

Near the end of the bike someone came up from behind me and yelled - "Hey Ben - do you think we're near the front of our age group?"  Just then a wind gust came up (it was a crosswind at this point) and we almost ran into each other.  He saw the number on my back - which is why he knew my name.  We pledged to help each other on the run - but I never saw him again (I think he passed me on the last aid station and I passed him on the run).

1856 and beyond: John Brown had a few more clashes in Kansas before returning to the east.  Of course he is most famous for his attempted slave revolt in Harper's Ferry, Virginia in 1859.  His revolt was a failure in that it was put down almost before it started by future confederate general Robert E. Lee.  Brown was put to death relatively quickly, but he became a martyr in the north.  A song called "John Brown's Body" (a tune that became eventually became the "Battle Hymn of the Republic") was the song of the North of the Civil War.  The south saw John Brown's attempted slave revolt as a major reason for seceding from the north.  Which may have made sense if there was an army of John Brown's - but for better or worse there were no other John Brown's in the north.  He may have been a crazy terrorist - but he did help to end slavery in the US.  And in many ways it all started out in the wind swept praries of Kansas.

June 10, 2012: The Run - My main goal was getting through the swim smoothly.  The bike was probably my secondary concern.  The run was really just about being strong while not putting myself so deep that I would have a hard time recovering this week.  It was warm, but there were aid stations almost every mile.  I took in Perform, water, and ice at every station.  The first mile was slightly uphill - I looked at my watch and saw 6:05.  I really didn't expect to be running this fast, but I felt strong and relaxed.

The only relief for the embarrassment of the swim earlier is hearing spectators say "Hey, he's looking strong!" during the run.  There were only two real hills on the run (it was a two loop course).  But there wasn't much shade and the temperature was close to 90 degrees by the end.  Through nine miles I was actually under six minute pace, but I slowed up a bit the last four miles and ended up about 6:05 per mile.

Overall I feel really good about my performance on Sunday.  The swim is something that still needs work.  I feel pretty good about my bike - especially since I'm still riding a road bike with clip-on aero bars.  The run showed that I'm fine just running mostly easy with a tempo race thrown in every once in awhile.  I would have been happy with a 1:25 - so, to run sub 1:20 and feel relatively good the entire time is great news. 

What specifically do I think I'm doing right in my training?  I've averaged 1-2 ~56 mile rides per week almost always followed by a run of 30-45 minutes.  Most of those were in the middle of the afternoon at the warmest part of the day - which is almost always windy here in Nebraska.  I always take gels every 30 minutes and a bottle per hour (sometimes less if it's cooler).  By Sunday my body was used to riding that distance in conditions that were even worse. 

Most weeks I've been including a two hour run (usually ~17 miles).  My week at elevation probably helped too.  Santa Fe is 7,000 feet - I did one ride there where I climbed up to over 10,000 feet.  I've been running quite a few races - but I always treat them as tempo runs or escalation workouts.  I never put myself into the red.  I figure that long endurance racing is mostly about keeping yourself out of the red - so, there's no reason to do it in training. In May I swam 38 miles, biked 629 miles, and ran 165 miles.

Of course there's a lot of training to go before the real war on the second Sunday in September.  The next two weeks I'm going to actually increase my volume, but decrease intensity.  In two weeks I'll experience my first century ride and in five weeks I'll be at the Great Lakes Relays (26 miles of sub-6 minute running in three days), 

5/14-5/20
Monday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike
Tuesday: 30 min swim 45 min run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour run
Friday: 1 hour swim
Saturday: 30 min swim 3 hour bike 45 min run
Sunday: 1 hour swim 2 hour run (sub 1:20 half-marathon)
Total: 19 hours - 9 hours bike 5 hours swim 5 hours run

5/21-5/27
Monday: 1 hour swim
Tuesday: 1 hour swim 30 min run
Wednesday: 40 min swim 1 hour bike 45 min run
Thursday: 1 hour swim 2 hour run
Friday: 1 hour swim 2 hour 45 min bike
Saturday: 30 min swim 45 min run
Sunday: 1 hour swim 3.5 hour bike 30 min run
Total: 18 hours - 7.5 hours bike 6 hours swim 4.5 hours run

5/28-6/3
Monday: 1 hour run Bolder Boulder ~35 minutes (5:40 pace)
Tuesday: 1 hour swim 1 hour 45 min bike
Wednesday: 1 hour swim 1.5 hour run
Thursday: 3 hour bike 20 min run
Friday: 50 min swim 30 min run
Saturday: 3 hour bike
Sunday: 1 hour 10 min run 1 hour 40 min swim
Total: 16.5 hours - 7.5 hours bike 4.5 hours swim 4.5 hours run

6/4-6/10
Monday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike 30 min run
Tuesday: 1 hour swim
Wednesday: 30 min swim 2 hour bike 45 min run
Thursday: 50 min swim 45 min run
Friday: 1 hour swim
Saturday: 20 min swim 30 min run
Sunday: 40 min swim 2.5 hour bike 1 hour 20 min run
Total: 17 hours - 7.5 hours bike 5.5 hours swim 4 hours run

Next two weeks:
6/11-6/17
Monday: 1 hour swim
Tuesday: 1 hour bike 30 min run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike 45 min run
Thursday: 1 hour run
Friday: 1 hour swim 2 hour bike 45 min run
Saturday: 2 hour swim 4 hour bike
Sunday: 2 hour run
Total: 20 hours - 10 hours bike 5 hours swim 5 hours run

6/18-6/24
Monday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike 30 min run
Tuesday: 1 hour swim 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim 4 hour bike 1 hour run
Thursday: 1 hour run
Friday: 1 hour swim
Saturday: 5 hour bike 30 min run
Sunday: 2 hour run
Total: 22 hours - 12 hours bike 4 hours swim 6 hours run

Turning the Extraordinary into the Mundane

According to family lore, one day my great-grandfather Henry saw a relatively new site up in the sky - an airplane.  This was 1926 in rural Nebraska - about 50 miles south of Omaha. It had been some twenty some years since the Wright brothers first flew an airplane - and it was only relatively recently that airplanes had found a practical purpose as carrying mail between major cities.  The plane he saw in the sky was following highway 50 - carrying mail north from Kansas City to Omaha.
As Henry watched, the plane seemed to be having some trouble.  The engine sputtered and seemed to lose speed and altitude.  He watched panic stricken - fearing that the pilot would have to bail out of the plane or worse.  Airplane accidents were very common at the time.  Although the plane was still losing altitude the pilot appeared to be gaining control and safely landed in a field not far from Henry's machine shop. 
The pilot didn't have a scratch and Henry was able to help him fix the engine - although it was so late by the time they were finished that Henry let the pilot stay overnight.  Six months later that young pilot became the most famous man in the world when he became the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
I don't know if my great-grandfather ever actually met Charles Lindbergh - but the story does illustrate an important point about training.  Twenty years before it had been incredible that two men could "fly" a few hundred feet and just over 40 years after Lindbergh landed in the middle of a huge crowd in Paris another pilot from the midwest would set foot on the moon.  It's very easy to only look at each major accomplishment and overlook how important it was to make the prior step seem mundane. 
Training in athletics is the same way.  The only way we can make any major breakthroughs is by turning what used to be extraordinary into the mundane.  I love the rhythm of the training cycle.  Laying out 20-24 weeks that build upon each other - pushing just beyond what I had done previously - allowing for the body to rest - and then pushing forward another few inches.
A little over a year ago a 3 hour bike ride left me exhausted - ready to curl up and sleep the rest of the day away.  Next week I'll ride 3 hours three times - plus I'll have already swam almost 2 miles - plus I'll run 45 minutes directly after each ride.  Obviously there are people who do more, but making that day into "just another training day" is as important of an accomplishment as anything I do this September.
This process is why I'll probably always keep training for something.  Not only does it keep me in shape, but I feel deeply connected to my body and to something that's very human - pushing our boundaries by making a goal and doing something everyday to try to attain that goal.  Like my favorite movie character Andy Dufresne, Lindbergh toiled in obscurity for years - not giving up even when he had many reasons to do so - and put everything together on one day to accomplish something spectacular.  It is indeed all about "pressure and time."

4/30-5/6
Monday: 1 hour swim
Tuesday: 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 2 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour swim
Friday: 1 hour swim
Saturday: 1 hour swim and 2.5 hour bike
Sunday: 1 hour swim & 1.5 hour run
Total: 13.5 hours - 4.5 hours bike 6 hours swim 3 hours run

5/7-5/13
Monday: 1 hour bike 30 min run
Tuesday: 1 hour swim
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 3  hour bike followed by 45 min run
Thursday: Day off
Friday: 1 hour swim
Saturday: 30 min open water swim 2 hour bike 45 min run (including 7k trail run at 6:15 pace)
Sunday:  2 hour run
Total: 15.5 hours - 8 hours bike 3.5 hours swim 4 hours run

Next Week
5/14-5/20
Monday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike 45 min run
Tuesday: Day off
Wednesday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike 45 min run
Thursday: 45 min run
Friday: 1 hour swim
Saturday: 1 hour swim 3 hour bike 45 min run
Sunday: 1 hour swim 2 hour run
Total: 19 hours - 9 hours bike 5 hours swim 5 hours run

Training update

My basic training plan for the ironman consists of five four-week cycles.  The first three cycles have three weeks of increasing hours each week with the last week being mostly rest - except for swimming.  These first three periods are more about volume than intensity.  The last two cycles have three weeks with the same number of hours, but increasing intensity.
Sunday was the last day of my third real week of training.  So far my body seems to be reacting pretty well to training.  I was a little sore on Sunday after running a controlled half-marathon Saturday -  but I was able to make it through my longest swim ever (2 hours), 90 minutes on a trainer and a four-mile run - which put me at 20 hours of total training for the week. 

4/9-4/15
Monday: 1 hour swim & 2 hour bike
Tuesday: 30 min swim followed by 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 3 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour bike

Friday: 1 hour swim

Saturday: 1.5 hour run
Sunday: 1 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Total: 14 hours - 7 hours bike 3.5 hours swim 3.5 hours run

 

4/16-4/22
Monday: 2 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Tuesday: 45 min run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 3 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour bike

Friday: 1 hour swim & 45 min run

Saturday: 1 hour swim & 3 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Sunday: 1 hour  swim & 1.5 hour run

Total: 17.5 hours - 9 hours bike 4 hours swim 4.5 hours run

 

4/23-4/29
Monday: 1 hour swim & 2 hour bike followed by 45 min run
Tuesday: 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 4 hour bike (71 miles)
Thursday: 1 hour run

Friday: 1 hour swim & 2 hour bike followed by 30 min run

Saturday: 1 hour 45 min run (Half-marathon using heart rate moniter 3 miles 140bpm 4 miles 150bpm 3 miles 160bpm 3.1 miles 170bpm - final time 1:20:40)
Sunday: 2 hours swim followed by 90 min bike trainer followed by 30 min run

Total: 20 hours - 9.5 hours bike 5 hours swim 5.5 hours run

 

4/30-5/6
Monday: 1 hour swim
Tuesday: 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 2.5 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour swim

Friday: 1 hour swim

Saturday: 1 hour swim and 2 hour bike followed by 30 min run
Sunday: 1 hour swim & 1 hour run
Total: 13.5 hours - 4.5 hours bike 6 hours swim 3 hours run

 

What we do when nobody is watching

As I sat on a cold metal bench watching some of the greatest athletes in the world I couldn't help but think - why aren't more people here?  There were about 10,000 people in the old Drake Stadium - many of them competitors or family members of competitors.  What other sport could you pay for decent seats and find yourself sitting behind the women's team from University of Cincinnati and next to some boys from a local high school team?
Lolo Jones might have scratched - but there were plenty of world class performances on the day.  We saw at least two world leading times and one world leading high jump in the 4 hours we were in the stands.  We saw the current world champion 1500m champ Jenny Simpson compete.  We also witnessed the 300 yard stares of young women as they walked single file to the start line next to the hurdles that would soon taunt them.  They looked like they might throw up as they contemplated one of the most cruel races - the 400m hurdles.  One of them clipped her trail leg on the hurdle on the last turn - the whole crowd gasped as her momentum and the sudden change in her direction had her careening violently toward the ground.  She laid - crumpled on the track for a few minutes until they helped her off.  The woman who won ran 400m over hurdles faster than I ever ran it flat out.
We also got a great view of the men's triple jump.  My wife, who had never been to a track meet before was transfixed by one of the jumpers from University of Florida named Omar Craddock.  Wearing wrap around shades on the cloud darkened day - he started his pre-jump ritual with a complex series of movements.  He licked each finger, touched each side of his face with both fingers and then pointed at the pit - shooting his finger at the spot that he wanted to land - and then shaked his head confidently.  Next he started clapping is hands slowly above his head - motioning the crowd to start clapping.  He stood at the end of the runway in total focus, but if the crowd started increasing the rate of clapping too soon he would start slowly clapping again - imploring the crowd to match his beat.
Omar ended up losing by half an inch to Troy Doris - a three-time Big Ten champion from University of Iowa.  Troy jumped 53 feet 10.5 inches.  If he were on an NBA basketball court - he would have started his jump almost seven feet from the half-court line and touched the court only twice before landing on the opposite baseline.
Unfortunately Track & Field is under threat in America.  It doesn't draw big crowds or donors who pay for the privilege of sitting in fancy sky boxes.  Omar's preening may have seemed like something worthy of an NFL receiver, but there's a major difference - he'll never get millions for his superhuman deeds.  He has a chance at maybe going to the Olympics one day - but just as much of a chance that the explosiveness that makes him a world class athlete will also damage his knees.  His performance may have been captivating - but it was also relatively silent - the tree that falls in the forest with no one around.
There is a lot of hand wringing in the United States about what passes for entertainment these days.  The reality shows that pump up people with no talent for anything except making an ass of themselves into idols of popular culture.  Track meets are a kind of antidote to this world where nothing seems to matter unless millions are watching.  That these athletes train hard every day - and then perform superhuman feats in front of a relatively scarce crowd left me feeling good for America. 
If our culture still develops young people who are willing to dedicate themselves to a sport with few rewards and little renown then there's still some hope for this country.  The only thing that gives me pause is that the administrators at our universities seem to have forgotten the value of sports like track and field over the last few decades.  They forget that all sports were at one time merely a way for students to bond - to follow interests and talents - and to compete.  Sports have been simulataneously elevated in importance to the university as a revenue generator (for most schools more from a student recruitment and alumni fundraising standpoint than ticket sales or merchandise) and devalued as a way for students to grow outside the classroom.
I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that if you find yourself with an open Saturday in the next few weeks - do your self a favor and find a local high school or college track meet.  You'll see an incredible cross-section of America coming from every economic and cultural background - all there to see what performances they can wring out of talent and a lot of hard work even if nobody is watching.

Where am I?

1) As in - why have not written a blog post in four weeks?  As many of you know I'm attempting to become a Physician Assistant.  This summer I'll be applying to programs, but right now I'm taking pre-reqs and trying to get some clinical experience.  I've done some shadowing and I currently volunteer at the ER of a local hospital.  I decided that I need to get a little more hands-on experience - so, I've been taking a Certified Nursing Assistant class that's five weeks long.  It is every Saturday and Sunday from 8am-5:30pm - given that I'm also taking Organic Chemistry and Microbiology - I don't exactly have much time or energy to write posts.  We got this weekend off for Easter - next week is our last clinical day on Saturday and our state-test on Sunday.  So, I should have a little more time after that.

2)  As in - where exactly do I live?  I've been meaning to write a post to give my east coast friends a little idea what life is like here in Omaha.

South of Omaha from a bridge crossing the Missouri - Nebraska is to the right and Iowa to the left.  If you were to float downriver you'd find your way to Kansas City, St. Louis (where the Missouri meets the Mississippi) and eventually New Orleans.

For those of you who have traveled across this great country of ours on I-80 - you might think of Nebraska as a boring flat state with no trees that went on for a painfully long time before you got to the majestic mountains of Colorado.  Although southeastern Nebraska is technically part of the great plains - it is hilly.  The Omaha area is marked by being part of the Missouri Valley.  The bluffs overlooking the big muddy might not be thousands of feet high - but they have a certain appeal. 

The constant winds from the west pushed the loose earth of the Missouri Valley towards the east side of the valley where they form the Loess Hills in Iowa.  These hills are actually the perfect place to train for my IM in Wisconsin coming up in September.

Downtown from the Bob Kerrey pedestrian bridge that spans the Missouri.

Omaha is an actual city.  At over 400,000 residents it's almost as big as Atlanta.  It has the richest man in the U.S. and five Fortune 500 companies (Union Pacific, ConAgra Foods, Kiewit Construction, Berkshire Hathaway, and Mutual of Omaha).  It hosts the College World Series every year - and this year had two rounds of the NCAA tournament and in June it will host the Olympic Swim Trials.  Omaha has a surprisingly strong Indie Rock scene.  Esquire called Omaha's Slowdown the best Indie Rock Club in the country.  Not to mention that the unemployment rate is 4% and housing prices are dirt cheap.  So hate if you must - but Omaha is good living.

Omaha might be relatively large, but it is also very residential.  We live only three miles from downtown, but it feels like we live in the suburbs.  For the first time in my life I live right next to a running trail (pictured below).

 3) Congratulations if you made it this far - so that I can tell you what you probably want to know most - where am I with my training?  Tomorrow marks my first "official" week of training for my first full Ironman in September.  Even though I've been busy I've been keeping up on my training pretty well - but from here out it starts to get intense. 

3/5-3/11
Monday: 1 hour swim & 30 min run
Tuesday: 2 hour bike
Wednesday: 1.5 hour swim & 30 min run
Thursday: 1.5 hour swim
Friday: 1 hour swim & 45 min run
Saturday: 1 hour bike
Sunday: 45 min run
Total: 10.5 hours - 3 hours bike 5 hours swim 2.5 hours run

3/12-3/18

Monday: 1 hour bike & 1 hour swim
Tuesday: 45 min run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 2 hour bike
Thursday: 30 min run
Friday: 45 min run  & 1 hour swim
Saturday: 1 hour bike
Sunday: 1 hour run
Total: 10 hours - 4 hours bike 3 hours swim 3 hours run

3/19-3/25
Monday: 1 hour bike & 1 hour swim
Tuesday: 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 2 hour bike & 30 min run
Thursday: 45 min run
Friday: 1 hour bike & 1 hour swim
Saturday: 45 min run
Sunday: Day Off
Total: 10 hours - 4 hours bike 3 hours swim 3 hours run

3/26-4/1
Monday: 2 hour bike & 30 min run
Tuesday: 1 hour swim & 45 min run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 1 hour run
Thursday: 1 hour bike
Friday: 1 hour swim & 45 min run
Saturday: 1 hour bike
Sunday: Day Off
Total: 10 hours - 4 hours bike 3 hours swim 3 hours run

4/2-4/8
Monday: 2 hour bike & 30 min run
Tuesday: 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 1 hour bike
Thursday: Day Off
Friday: 45 min run & 1 hour swim
Saturday: Day Off
Sunday: 1 hour bike & 30 min run
Total: 8 hours - 4 hours bike 2 hours swim 2 hours run

Next week - 4/9-4/15
Monday: 1 hour swim & 2 hour bike & 30 min run
Tuesday: 1 hour run
Wednesday: 1 hour swim & 3 hour bike & 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour bike & 30 min swim
Friday: 1 hour swim & 30 min run
Saturday: 1 hour bike
Sunday: 1.5 hour run
Total: 14 hours - 7 hours bike 3.5 hours swim 4 hours run

No Frills

Last week I finally made it out to a racing series sponsored by a local grocery store called "No Frills".  The cost was right at $3 for a 5 mile, mostly flat, out-and-back course about 15 miles south of Omaha.  My triathlete neighbor had been pestering me for the better part of a month to run one of these - but I was still getting back into the flow after taking off January from running.  Because I didn't quite feel like truly racing yet I decided to wear a heart monitor in order to keep things well under control.  The course went by some lakes next to the Platte River - as I was running by I realized that some of my Ingram relatives owned a place on one of those lakes and I had learned to water ski there as a child.  After the race (I got second) - 10 of us went out for breakfast.

To me the midwest can best be described in those two words - No Frills.  There aren't fancy mountains, or "come hither" beautiful weather, or bright Times Square lights.  There is an understanding that not only is all of that "look at me" stuff too egocentric - but that it distracts from the truly good things in life.  Warren Buffett isn't a billionaire in spite of being from Omaha - he's a billionaire because he's from Omaha.  He doesn't get distracted by flash - he just finds businesses that will be successful based on the numbers and his understanding of the markets.  Film director and Omaha native Alexander Payne finds success in the CGI/3D world of the movies by simply letting talented actors tell a compelling story.  Yea I know - yawn.

I've long thought of endurance training in the same way.  It's not anything you do on one particular day - it's the accumulation of what you do everyday.  My favorite metaphor for training is Andy's "pressure and time" from Shawshank Redemption.  I think that's even more true for a full IM than it was for even the marathon.

Having only one season of triathlon training under my belt and having never participated in a full IM it might be presumptuous for me to think I know what it's about - however, I do have some key things that I'm focusing on that I think will make me successful this September.  From my conversations with Ryan and Alyssa - along with my own observations - there seem to be three things that are most important to a successful Ironman. 1) be efficient in each discipline 2) be able to process a large number of calories during the race 3) be mentally prepared to keep running strong even when you have pain with every step.

The first part is what 95% of training is about.  Volume increases efficiency from the cellular level all the way to the stride/stroke.  I've started to swim much more in the last month (39.5 km for February) - and I can feel the difference.  An important part of being successful in running and swimming is making little microscopic changes to your stride/stroke while trying to maintain a certain pace at the end of a workout.  Eventually if you do that enough your body starts to understand what body movement is most efficient.

The second part has been somewhat difficult for me to understand.  When I ran track in high school many coaches still didn't like their athletes drinking water until after the end of practice.  They thought it toughened us up.  The problem is that water and nutritionals increase performance - and so you should practice in the way you're going to race - so that your body is used to taking in fluids and calories during exercise.  A long training day can also lead to feeling completely exhausted for the next day - with IM training there aren't many days that you can just completely blow off - so it's important to make sure you are replenishing everything your body needs as quickly as possible after the end of a workout.

The last one is most difficult to prepare for since I can't put my body into exactly the same amount of stress during training that I'll experience during the IM.  I picked up an interesting training idea from Alyssa - running a 5 miler on Sunday evening after a long ride on Saturday and a long run Sunday morning.  She said the thought of her Sunday evening training runs helped push her to the end of her Kona qualifying performance.

Over the next month I'm going to pretty much keep my training stable - 10-12 hours per month is enough to prepare me for the 16-20 hour weeks coming up in April without breaking my body down too early.
Here's what I've been up to the last few weeks:

2/13-2/19
Monday: 1 hour bike
Tuesday: 1 hour swim morning & 45 min run evening
Wednesday: 1 hour bike
Thursday: 45 min run
Friday: 1 hour swim
Saturday: 1 hour run
Sunday: 1 hour 20 min swim & 1 hour bike
Total: 8 hours 50 min - 3 hours bike 3 hours 20 min swim 2.5 hours run
 
2/20-2/26
Monday: Day off
Tuesday: 1 hour swim morning & 30 min run evening
Wednesday: 45 min run
Thursday: 1 hour swim morning & 1 hour bike evening
Friday: 45 min run
Saturday: 1 hour swim & 45 min run morning (5 mi @ 6:10 pace)
Sunday: 1 hour swim morning & 2 hour bike afternoon
Total: 9 hours 45 min - 3 hours bike 4 hours swim 2 hours 45 min run

2/27-3/4
Monday: Day off
Tuesday: 1 hour swim morning - 30 min run evening
Wednesday: 1 hour swim morning - 1 hour bike evening
Thursday: 45 min run
Friday: 1 hour swim morning & 1 hour bike evening
Saturday: 1 hour run morning (10k at 6:10 pace) & 1.5 hour swim afternoon
Sunday: 1 hour bike & 1 hour 15 min run
Total: 11 hours - 3 hours bike 4.5 hours swim 3.5 hours run

Planned this week
3/5-3/11
Monday: 1 hour swim & 30 min run
Tuesday: 2 hour bike
Wednesday: 1.5 hour swim & 30 min run
Thursday: 1 hour swim
Friday: 1.5 hour swim & 45 min run
Saturday: 45 min run
Sunday: 1 hour swim morning & 1 hour bike evening
Total: 11.5 hours - 3 hours bike 6 hours swim 2.5 hours run