The last six years I have coached myself, and run faster and farther than I had during my years of middle school, high school and college. I have enjoyed much success. Let's recap, by the numbers:
High school:
800 meters: 2:14
1600 meters: 5:03 (junior year, 2003)
3200 meters: 11:06 (junior year, 2003)
5k XC: 18:26 (state meet senior year, 2003)
I was blessed with a coach in high school that was quite a bit above average. He had had a very successful running career and some of the things he taught us I still use. One example was the story of him warming up for three hours before an indoor 800 meter state final when he was in high school, and then running a great 1:56. Point being, if you are nervous before a race, just jog to relax yourself. The secondary point being, you need to run a fair number of miles so that on race day you can do a big warmup and then race well.
On the other hand, he did push us hard, and I took my first six months of college totally off, not running a step for six months because I was burnt out. We had too many doubles in my opinion. I also never understood that summer training meant three months, not just two weeks before the season started. However, while it was difficult my senior year our women won state and the boys came in 7th, our highest placing ever as far as we knew.
College:
200 meters: 27.9 (field day after season was over 2009)
400 meters: 58 (after practice one day in 2006)
800 meters: 2:11 (graduate student, 2009)
1500 meters: 4:15 (senior year, 2008)
Mile: 4:38 (senior year, 2008)
3000 meters: 9:01.9 (senior year, 2008)
5000 meters: 16:03 (senior year, 2008)
8k XC: 27:34 (senior year, 2007)
10,000 meters: 32:58 (senior year, 2008)
I had three coaches throughout college that all taught me quite a bit. I came onto the team as the slowest guy, and in the four races I ran my freshman year of college in 2005 I came in dead last in three of them running times like a 4:50 1500 and a 19:07 5k, on the track.
However I learned that training volume makes a big difference and my sophomore and junior year I had fifteen consecutive personal records. That year, 2006 was my breakthrough year. I broke 5 minutes in the mile in December 2005, then proceeded to just get faster. We shaved our heads with mohawks before the first meet of outdoor track and then I ran a 16:47 5k and I remember standing on the starting line wondering if I would hopefully break 17. The mixture of fear, of doubt, of excitement...
My coaches all had different styles, and I am thankful that they were as diverse as they were. Recovery was emphasized, academics was prioritized, I learned what lactate threshold felt like, and how to run those workouts, I ran hard intervals, I started to run long runs with my friends. I also would say that during this time I became the runner I am. That is to say, running was no longer something I just did, it was something I became passionate about. After the 2007 and 2008 olympic marathon trials that I watched in NYC and Boston I made it a goal to go after those standards when I graduated. I knew when I left college that I had more in me.
Post-Collegiate, last six years:
800 meters: 2:08.97 (indoor season 2013)
Mile: 4:31.2 (indoor season 2013)
5000 meters: 15:44 (outdoor season 2012)
8k XC: 26:30 (fall XC 2013)
10,000 meters: 32:12 (outdoor season 2012)
Half Marathon: 1:11:48 (fall 2011)
Marathon: 2:30:20 (fall 2011)
24 Hours: 154.57 miles (fall 2014)
I've PR'd across the board in the five Olympic events (1500/mile they are basically the same thing, I just haven't run a 1500 since 2009), cross country, the half marathon, and in my debut ultra race I qualified for the world championships, which I have now run, and I became a national champion.
At this point in writing this article, I want to just stop and retire and say, 'I've had a good run. I'm done running competitively, it's a lot of work and I'm lazy.' But now that I have had a taste of ultras, I am curious to explore them more. The problem is, I have only run three races in the last eight months because I push myself too hard and don't get the recovery I need, so I end up injured.
For years I have thought about hiring a coach, but the coaches I want to work with don't work with people as slow as me. Renato Canova isn't going to start sending me workouts. Scott Simmons, the Hansons, Greg McMillian, Joe Vigil... These guys aren't going to work with me. Or on the odd chance they would, what do they know about ultra running, the real long stuff, 24 hours+ or 8000 meter mountaineering?
So I hired Howard Nippert to be my coach.
I met Howard briefly at the North Coast 24 last fall. He motivated me to run faster the last few miles, and congratulated me afterwards, although I'm a little hazy about that. He was the team coach for the 24 hour world championships and after talking with him a few times over the week we were in Italy, and then thinking about it for another six weeks, and emailing him a few times, I decided he was the guy.
It is possible for me to get to the next level. By next level I mean more world championships teams, more national championship wins, quite likely at a variety of distances, personal records at a variety of distances, getting on the podium at a world championships, and then there are national records, and even world records, all of which I know I am capable of, but these aren't the kind of thing I can just bang one out every six weeks. The training plan needs to be deliberate, consistent, and most of all, keep me from getting injured.
In a coach I was looking for someone with ultra running coaching experience, of which there are only a handful. I was also looking for someone with competitive running experience. Personal competitive running experience does not make a coach good, but for some reason it helps me respect the coach more because I know he or she has been there when the training is lonely and difficult. A coach doesn't necessarily understand like an athlete Saturday night after a hard workout when all we want to do is sleep instead of go out that we are sacrificing part of a social life to pursue this challenge.
I booked him for a full year, and the focus is going to be make the 100km world championship team, probably for 2016. The tentative plan is to take a crack at qualifying in the fall and again in the spring. The funny thing is, my biggest worry is giving up control. I hate the word control, I think influence is a much better word, but feeling that I was giving up control was important for me to realize. Of course I will still influence my running. However, it is a mistake to think that I had control over my own running. If I controlled it, then why did I get injured or have bad races?
This new chapter excites me. What is possible? "...with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Monday, June 8, 2015
I Live in Iowa: Week 207
I spent the week in Canada, doing what felt like maybe ten hours of work all week. But then again Friday was a 17 hour day from 4 AM Eastern to 8 PM Central traveling with all of the driving and flights and eating. I didn't even have any poutin. That being said, the power of human connections, and answering all of the questions people did have, that's worth a lot. When the engineers are there talking directly with the customers and dealers, it's powerful. We're not the marketing department. We know truth about our machines and systems.
I ran nine miles over three days including Friday and Saturday, my first two back to back days in a long time, perhaps February.
In Quebec they speak French and only have French on their signs. I was not expecting that. In Ontario there is English and French on signs. Even in Europe there is stuff in English on signs.
The week started off at my grandparents. It's funny, it was such a short trip, but it's always so nice to see them. I am getting older and they are too. I will most likely be on this earth after they are dead and I need to visit them now because inevitably when they are gone I will have a question for either one of them and there will be no person to answer it for me. That's part of the reason I blog. I journal too, not very often, but who will ever read it? If I can share something with others than this blog is a success.
I suppose the point this week, between visiting Canada and my grandparents is that time in person is worth more than phone calls and emails. Relationships are best developed in person, and the truth is relationships are business. Stronger relationships = stronger business.
I ran nine miles over three days including Friday and Saturday, my first two back to back days in a long time, perhaps February.
In Quebec they speak French and only have French on their signs. I was not expecting that. In Ontario there is English and French on signs. Even in Europe there is stuff in English on signs.
The week started off at my grandparents. It's funny, it was such a short trip, but it's always so nice to see them. I am getting older and they are too. I will most likely be on this earth after they are dead and I need to visit them now because inevitably when they are gone I will have a question for either one of them and there will be no person to answer it for me. That's part of the reason I blog. I journal too, not very often, but who will ever read it? If I can share something with others than this blog is a success.
I suppose the point this week, between visiting Canada and my grandparents is that time in person is worth more than phone calls and emails. Relationships are best developed in person, and the truth is relationships are business. Stronger relationships = stronger business.
Friday, June 5, 2015
The Similar Differences of Traveling
How do you capture the ordinary and the different? How do you capture the fear of a foreign language with the normal everyday life of the people who live there?
No idea, but I like this stop sign in Macamic, Quebec because it felt so foreign and yet so familiar. Traveling can be so terrifying when directions, schedules and a menu all happen in a foreign language. I take comfort that to the locals, it's just every day as normal. I don't like taking pictures of people I don't know, it feels like I should get consent from them first, but people are remarkably similar everywhere you go. Despite our language differences we are far more alike than we are different.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Amos, Quebec
I had actually never been to Quebec, until yesterday. You know what, they all speak French here! Not in a Germans all speak German, but have English on many signs anyway, and most speak good English, but signs only have French, and at least up where we are, there are not too many English speakers. I just wasn't expecting that.
We are in Amos, Quebec. Which you might not have heard of, and you are missing out. For a town of 12,000 people they have a sushi restaurant, Vietnamese restaurant, Chinese restaurant, and at least half a down outdoor patios on more traditional restaurants.
We are halfway to Hudson Bay. Although I don't think there are actual summer roads that far north. I think there are only winter roads up this far. There is a train, the Polar Bear Express, that goes up to Moosonee, although I hear that even though there are Polar Bears as far south as Moosonee, there aren't a whole lot.
There are Moose up here, we saw a small one on the drive from Timmins yesterday. (It's kind of hard to get the camera centered when we're driving 40 mph and the moose is jumping.)
That's all for now, I have to go practice my French.
We are in Amos, Quebec. Which you might not have heard of, and you are missing out. For a town of 12,000 people they have a sushi restaurant, Vietnamese restaurant, Chinese restaurant, and at least half a down outdoor patios on more traditional restaurants.
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| Amos, Quebec |
There are Moose up here, we saw a small one on the drive from Timmins yesterday. (It's kind of hard to get the camera centered when we're driving 40 mph and the moose is jumping.)
That's all for now, I have to go practice my French.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Expedition: Mt. Rainier May 2015
Four times have I tried to organize a trip to Mt. Rainier. Twice with summer camp friends and twice with college friends. Every time it fell through for the same reasons, no one had the experience, or the experience and the money. Finally, this past winter a few of my rock climbing co-worker friends grew a little interested in mountaineering and pushed and prodded until I agreed to take them on a climb of Mt. Rainier. I was the last one to buy plane tickets, and commit. Wow, I'm super happy I went!
For all intensive purposes, Mt. Rainier is "The" mountain in the lower 48 United States. Alaska has bigger and badder, and there are others that push past 14,000 feet in Colorado and California, but this mountain has a staggering 9000 vertical feet of elevation gain from the parking lot to the summit and it's covered in glaciers. Mt. Everest is only 12,000 from the "parking lot" to the summit. I'm using the idea of a parking lot pretty liberally there, you can tie up your yak, or park your helicopter, but I'm sure no car has ever been there, motorcycle perhaps. Point being, it's big, and it's serious.
My three engineering rock climbing partners had never set foot on a glacier. We had done some mountaineering day school practice in March when the local ski resort closed, which I thought was very helpful. However, that was about it. Apparently they tried to practice crevasse rescue in a tree one time in a Dubuque city park, but where quickly told by a ranger, "no". While their rock climbing skills are well established, and they have even done ice climbing on a silo here in Iowa, mountains are different. There are crevasses, avalanches, route finding, breaking trail, cooking, weather, altitude, and a whole lot of walking. When I learned how two of them had never climbed any mountain, two weeks before we left, I grew dubious of our upcoming performance.
They all flew out on Wednesday night and rented gear on Thursday. I met them at the lovely hotel a 30 second walk away from the entrance to the national park on Thursday night after flawless flights out to Seattle.
We woke up at the too early hour of 5 AM. Seriously, I sat around a good half hour waiting on everyone else, because I couldn't sign into the ranger station until 7 AM. However, once we got going, everything went really well. I registered to fall into a crevasse for $45, or something like that. Then we started hiking, after a quick stop at the hotel to pick up a plastic spoon because I forgot mine. There is usually something that gets forgotten.
We trekked up the Muir snowfield fairly undramatically, making good time, passing several other people. When at perhaps 8000 feet it started to drizzle. Not so bad, but we put on rain gear because it was getting cold out too. Around 9000 feet or so it started snowing, lightly, but it made our wet clothing cool our bodies down. At the time it wasn't an issue at all, we were hiking uphill, a 20% grade, with 50 or so pounds of gear so we were generating a lot of heat.
I was a little paranoid that we would not be able to get a spot in the shelter, so I kept pushing everyone to hike to get to camp Muir. Fortunately we made it just after noon for about a 4.5 or so hour hike from Paradise to Muir. Not bad at all considering the weight of our packs and the weather. There were plenty of spots Friday before Memorial Day so we quickly grabbed spots to sleep on the bunk plywood platforms. In total I think there were 15 people spending the night, our group of four, a West Point graduates group of four Luitenants, a group of three that made it pretty far Saturday, and then I think two groups of two that either weren't planning to summit or decided not to attempt based on conditions.
After an hour or so of resting at the shelter, we started the boiling snow process. It's a slow time consuming process. Snow must be melted then it must be boiled. We had two stoves and got them cranking so it didn't take much more than an hour to boil enough water to fill people up. Then we boiled water for an early supper at about 4 pm. After a nice meal of freeze dried food, the weather had calmed down, and we took a little walk around over to the rangers and guides and talked to Brent Okita about his plans for the next day. We told him we were planning to start maybe 30 minutes after him and just follow his group up. It sounded good to him.
After a couple pictures we boiled some more water and tried to go to bed at 8 PM, for a nice and early 1 AM wake up call.
We woke up at 1 AM and started getting ready to go. Getting ready is never a fast process and after boiling some water and getting our clothing on it was 2:30 by the time we started hiking. The first hour or two went beautifully, clear skies, low wind, but soon enough the wind picked up during the gusts, snow began to fall, and and the fog rolled in. We crossed a couple crevasses, and got started up the cleaver. The climbing was steep, but there were fixed ropes, and it wasn't that steep. At the top of the cleaver the wind was a little stronger and the snow picked up. The situation was deteriorating.
Below is the video from my GoPro of the minutes leading up and following our turning around on Mt. Rainier. It's hard to completely understand everything that is going on, but you get to see crevasses, hear wind, see snow, see me climb steep snow with no defined tracks. It's over 13 minutes, so if you watch it, you've been warned.
For all intensive purposes, Mt. Rainier is "The" mountain in the lower 48 United States. Alaska has bigger and badder, and there are others that push past 14,000 feet in Colorado and California, but this mountain has a staggering 9000 vertical feet of elevation gain from the parking lot to the summit and it's covered in glaciers. Mt. Everest is only 12,000 from the "parking lot" to the summit. I'm using the idea of a parking lot pretty liberally there, you can tie up your yak, or park your helicopter, but I'm sure no car has ever been there, motorcycle perhaps. Point being, it's big, and it's serious.
My three engineering rock climbing partners had never set foot on a glacier. We had done some mountaineering day school practice in March when the local ski resort closed, which I thought was very helpful. However, that was about it. Apparently they tried to practice crevasse rescue in a tree one time in a Dubuque city park, but where quickly told by a ranger, "no". While their rock climbing skills are well established, and they have even done ice climbing on a silo here in Iowa, mountains are different. There are crevasses, avalanches, route finding, breaking trail, cooking, weather, altitude, and a whole lot of walking. When I learned how two of them had never climbed any mountain, two weeks before we left, I grew dubious of our upcoming performance.
They all flew out on Wednesday night and rented gear on Thursday. I met them at the lovely hotel a 30 second walk away from the entrance to the national park on Thursday night after flawless flights out to Seattle.
We woke up at the too early hour of 5 AM. Seriously, I sat around a good half hour waiting on everyone else, because I couldn't sign into the ranger station until 7 AM. However, once we got going, everything went really well. I registered to fall into a crevasse for $45, or something like that. Then we started hiking, after a quick stop at the hotel to pick up a plastic spoon because I forgot mine. There is usually something that gets forgotten.
We trekked up the Muir snowfield fairly undramatically, making good time, passing several other people. When at perhaps 8000 feet it started to drizzle. Not so bad, but we put on rain gear because it was getting cold out too. Around 9000 feet or so it started snowing, lightly, but it made our wet clothing cool our bodies down. At the time it wasn't an issue at all, we were hiking uphill, a 20% grade, with 50 or so pounds of gear so we were generating a lot of heat.
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| The View from Muir Above the Clouds |
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| Camp Muir Shelter |
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| Kyle on Friday on the trail to the Summit (Well before the Crevasses) |
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| 1:30 AM, Sorry for the Flash |
Below is the video from my GoPro of the minutes leading up and following our turning around on Mt. Rainier. It's hard to completely understand everything that is going on, but you get to see crevasses, hear wind, see snow, see me climb steep snow with no defined tracks. It's over 13 minutes, so if you watch it, you've been warned.
Needless to say, we didn't make it to the top. You can see our GPS coordinates below.
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| Our Delorme inReach GPS Tracking Friday and Saturday |
After some deliberation when we returned to the shelter we made the decision to head back down to Paradise and Seattle, which we did so safely. I'd like to thank my teammates Steve B., Kyle E., and Shane R. without them this trip would not have been possible.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Travel: The Exciting and The Hassle
Travel is both an exciting experience, and one that is a hassle. I think the actual ground travel seems to be in general more exciting, well, helicopter rides are exciting too. You know, as I start to write this, the things that are a hassle really boil down to a few small things, going through airport security and customs, not knowing directions, although GPS has largely solve that issue, and the uncomfortableness of a strange new bed. Actually once you get those out of the way, travel is downright pleasant. When I think of road trips and mountain expeditions they really do feel more exciting to me than any particular aspect that is a hassle. Although, I'm still not a fan of goat meat.
Right now I am way up north in Ontario, the farthest north I have ever been actually. It seems to be small rolling hills, swamps, and lakes up here. Not too much unlike northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. It's nice to be here, but it seriously took all day yesterday to get here.
Right now I am way up north in Ontario, the farthest north I have ever been actually. It seems to be small rolling hills, swamps, and lakes up here. Not too much unlike northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. It's nice to be here, but it seriously took all day yesterday to get here.
Monday, June 1, 2015
I Live in Iowa: Week 206
This will be short, I have to finish laundry and make two phone calls before I leave for Canada Monday morning.
The week started off running from Paradise to Camp Muir and back in 2:21, a Strava record. Not the actual record by any means, at least 40 minutes slower than others have done it. Anyway, that was my Sunday during the day, then I met up with my three amigos in Seattle at Feathered Friends before going down to the Pike Place market and seeing all that there is to see. We ate at a nice place, Elysian, although it was not cheap. Then we all crashed in our hotel and Monday morning every woke up early and left. I had a couple extra hours so I did some Seattle sightseeing going to Discovery Park. Then a series of flights back to Iowa.
The work week was thankfully uneventful! After the last few weeks of this breaking or that being high priority, it was nice to just work through some things we have to get done. I will only be in the office two days in the next two weeks, so many of the paperwork things I wanted to get done this week I did. It may be boring, but getting the paperwork stuff done is rewarding in it's own way.
Friday I realized I had no plans for the weekend until Sunday evening, so I called up my grandparents in Minnesota who I haven't seen in person in six months or more, and make the trip up Saturday and spent the evening with them.
It was a nice week. Oh! I almost forgot, I ran 14.9 miles over three runs although one of those was the 8 mile run on Mt. Rainier that took 2:21, so not exactly all running. However I went on two three mile runs later in the week. My aerobic capability right now feels terrible, but I seem to be healthy. Shin "feelings" abound in my lower leg, but might just be from the graton technique taking time to heal.
I will be up in Timmins, Canada most of the week this coming week for work, in other words, very much out of contact.
Happy June!
The week started off running from Paradise to Camp Muir and back in 2:21, a Strava record. Not the actual record by any means, at least 40 minutes slower than others have done it. Anyway, that was my Sunday during the day, then I met up with my three amigos in Seattle at Feathered Friends before going down to the Pike Place market and seeing all that there is to see. We ate at a nice place, Elysian, although it was not cheap. Then we all crashed in our hotel and Monday morning every woke up early and left. I had a couple extra hours so I did some Seattle sightseeing going to Discovery Park. Then a series of flights back to Iowa.
The work week was thankfully uneventful! After the last few weeks of this breaking or that being high priority, it was nice to just work through some things we have to get done. I will only be in the office two days in the next two weeks, so many of the paperwork things I wanted to get done this week I did. It may be boring, but getting the paperwork stuff done is rewarding in it's own way.
Friday I realized I had no plans for the weekend until Sunday evening, so I called up my grandparents in Minnesota who I haven't seen in person in six months or more, and make the trip up Saturday and spent the evening with them.
It was a nice week. Oh! I almost forgot, I ran 14.9 miles over three runs although one of those was the 8 mile run on Mt. Rainier that took 2:21, so not exactly all running. However I went on two three mile runs later in the week. My aerobic capability right now feels terrible, but I seem to be healthy. Shin "feelings" abound in my lower leg, but might just be from the graton technique taking time to heal.
I will be up in Timmins, Canada most of the week this coming week for work, in other words, very much out of contact.
Happy June!
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