I always like to see how it looks where someone grew up, or where they put in their training. I find it interesting to see the terrain, the plants and trees, and how the weather is in that area. My friend Danny, for example, from New Mexico, has always lived there, and done all his training there. Its so different from where I have grown up and done my training, but we arrive at the starting lines just the same.
So to prepare many of my Ironman races(including my first 3 and my last 5) I have trained in Monroeville, IN. The Monroeville area is realllly flat! Lots of cornfields, and soybean fields. Everything is mostly layed out in a grid system, so the roads are all straight, 1 mile long roads…the nearest public pool though, is 30 minutes of driving, so I swim in a pond that is about 100 meters long. I do all my training here alone, peaceful training. Lots of memories of stupid training, smart training, hard training I have done out here..just like everyone has from their home.
So above are a few pictures of my home roads, and the “swimming pool”…
