Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 116: Bill Bradford - It All Started on a Plane ✈️

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Guest: Bill Bradford @bill.bradford2

Show Notes:

Bill Bradford ⁠and I literally met on a plane coming home to Indianapolis from Las Vegas. And then - I ran into him while running the Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas half marathon.

During this episode, sponsored by ⁠Relay Active,⁠ we talk about:

• How we met

• His six year weight loss journey and how he found CrossFit

• Starting his running journey with the Colts 5K

• Finding his running coach, Tracie Hunter ⁠@indianarunnergirl⁠ and getting more serious about improving his speed

• Surfing in the lake and his friend who holds the Guinness Book of World Records for endurance surfing

• ⁠Spartan Races⁠ and Team Carrie 

• The Indy Mini event at Bottleworks with Lindsey Hein in May

• ⁠HYROX⁠ - what it is and why we’re seeing it everywhere 

• Cross training and running form - how Bill surrounds himself with people who can show him new tips and tricks

• The goals he’s chasing

  Sponsor Details:

  - ⁠Relay Active ⁠- Use code ALLYB for 15% off

  This is a ⁠SandyBoy Productions⁠ podcast.

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast.

 

Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast to celebrate the everyday runner. I'm your host, Ali Brett Knocker, and if you run, you are a runner and every runner has a story. Join me every Friday as I share these stories and we cross finish lines and celebrate milestones together as I record this.

It is my 39th birthday. I got to celebrate. With a race, it was so kind of run 3 1 7 to have their broad ripple race on July 10th. It was such a blast. It was very warm, very hot, but I use it as an excuse to get my husband, Zach to run a race with me, and he did. And I also ran with my coach Rachel, my friend Ashley Haynes.

My brother-in-law, Mike, who [00:01:00] said, I told him he could run with us. He's like, no, I'm too slow. I'm like, hang out. And he was definitely not too slow. And then Lana, who's also, part of Team RMR, Rachel Michelle running, and we had Lisa from Rachel, Michelle running with us for a while at the start.

And then my sister Morgan was also running and we got to see her kind of the course loops and you can see people who are running. And so we got to see her during the race and then of course cheer her on after. And yeah, I saw so many people I know, .

It was just so much fun. Getting to see the whole community. So congrats to Mark Geier for winning the race. It was the best. After the race, Zach and I went up to Mark and we're like, Hey, how, how was it? And he's like, well, yeah, it was, it was good. Uh, I won and I had fun and I'm like, wait, wait, wait.

You won. So congrats Mark. And then his wife Michelle is three months postpartum and she was out there As was Rachel e Byer, who is 38 and a half weeks pregnant. She walked and it was just incredible to see her do that out there. We had Vince from Fisher's Run Club as well, [00:02:00] volunteering.

There was Larry at Athletic Annex, Jay and Katie Duba They own the Carmel Marathon. They were actually out on the date night and realized they were like, oh shoot, 3 1 7 in is happening right now. So they came through and I got to say hi to them. We had Johanna, Gabby. Maury who sits on the board of Beyond Monumental with Ashley and I.

So just such a fun event. I loved it. I could have stayed there forever afterwards, although it was really warm, but it was a blast, and I want it to be on my birthday every year. I joked with Ashley as we were walking away. I was like, Hey. Maybe I should just start a race that's on my birthday every year.

Wouldn't that be fun? And I could just have a birthday party, but my husband might kill me. He was such a good sport and I'm so glad that he, he ran and I think he might've liked it. I think he might've even had some fun. so thank you to everybody who made the run three one seven special, but just my birthday in general, all the birthday wishes.

I kind of love my [00:03:00] birthday. And it's my 39th. So it's like this last hurrah of my thirties starts now, and I'm kind of excited to be 40, frankly. I think I'm ready. We'll see what happens. So also, if you're watching, I actually, I'm showered and my hair is all wet, but I chopped my hair off, uh, yesterday actually.

So the Wednesday of this week, and I've done this before. I donated to an organization called Hair We Share, and you actually, if you make a donation to them, they'll track your ponytail. It's called Ponytail Tracking Program. And they sent me a picture of a wig that was made with my hair and two other women's hair.

So the last I did that, and it was about 18 months ago, my hair grows so freaking fast. So I just did it again, cut off like nine inches and I, it feels like I lost 10 pounds, but I did it, in honor of. Ally feller, she's Ally on the run. And if you don't listen to her podcast or if you've never heard of her podcast, it's like the number one running podcast.

And I remember when I was thinking about [00:04:00] starting a podcast, I was like, man, you know, there's already an ally in run podcasting. Like, you know, why would I even do that? And then I just got over that because, you know, okay, no one cares. And I've just followed her journey and sadly, her cancer is back and she's going through chemo and cold capping.

And so I really. Was inspired by her. I'm like, you know what? Screw it. So I sent it away in the mail today. And probably in another year or so I'll get a picture of the wig that was made using my hair, which is so cool.

And that also really segues into this week's episode with Bill Bradford. he had a, has a friend Carrie, who has gone through breast cancer and breast cancer treatments and they had a team for a Spartan race they did for team carry. And she's part of, his community and CrossFit. So we'll get into that.

But first, I just, I love Bill. I met him on a plane, which is just wild to think about. And we just started chatting on the plane on the way back to Indy from Vegas, and you'll hear us tell that story. But we've since kept in touch [00:05:00] on social media.

He is now coached by Tracy Hunter, who is Indiana Runner girl who has been on this podcast, and so we talk about his journey to running. He also has a really inspiring weight loss journey that I. Really started with CrossFit and escalated from there. He's now a marathoner. He has big goals chasing prs, and he's so humble.

and if you follow him on the internet, he can do walking handstands like nobody's business. And He's like, I'm really new to this. I'm like, you're not really new to this anymore. You've been doing this for years. You're a marathoner. But he's so humble, so kind.

And he's also in this journey with his wife Katie, which I also love. They came to the indie mini event in May this year. We talk about that. So I know you're just gonna enjoy this conversation with my friend Bill Bradford.

Ally Brettnacher: what's up Bill?

Hey, what's up?

Let's tell the story about how we met first.

Bill Bradford: Let's do it.

okay. So, well. First of all, I just wanna say thank you for bringing me on this [00:06:00] podcast.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh,

Bill Bradford: of course. I'm really excited. Before we get into anything I wanna say, I'm still very new to running, or at least I feel like I am. So, as we're talking today, like, I know a lot of your audiences, like really good runners and have been doing it for a long time. I am still brand new, so please don't judge me on my lack of running, knowledge.

Ally Brettnacher: you know, if you run, you're a runner. Bill, come on. If you, if you are a runner, you don't have to give the disclaimer you're a badass.

Bill Bradford: Once you're a runner, you're a runner. Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Doesn't matter how long, how many races you've done or how

far. So

yeah.

Bill Bradford: I, I feel that, so much right

now. Thank

you.

I needed that energy this morning. Yeah. so yeah, I think this is actually a really good place to start is, with how we met. So, It was actually a, a long time ago. We were just talking about that. Yeah. In February of 2024, I was at a work conference, for my previous company, and I've been doing this every year, going out to Vegas.

And, uh, they always have, rock and roll, Las Vegas. And I remember the year before I was watching these runners and I was like, man, that'd be cool to do. But it never [00:07:00] dawned on me that I could actually, run that race. then the next year, I to this work conference and it turns out the conference is being held at the same place as the, as the race.

Like they were hosting all of the, um, concessions and the

packet

pickup and everything at the same place. Right.

Ally Brettnacher: Which, where was that? Was that Resorts World Resort? That was at Resorts World. Right. Resort World, whatever it's called. And

Bill Bradford: that, that's where my, work conference was in, um. As much as I was there for the work part of it, I was like seeing all these runners coming and out and I was meeting people and talking to them.

And, I actually get to stay at an extra couple days, after the work conference and actually watch the runners. And so that was like a really good way to end that work conference. And then the next day, I think it was an early flight, if I remember right, like eight 8:00 AM or something like that.

Yeah. I regretted

Ally Brettnacher: that.

Bill Bradford: I bet you did. and actually I got to feel your pain the next year.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Because

Bill Bradford: you, after I met you on the plane, you encouraged me to come out for the, following year. So, yeah, this would've been February of 2024. Yeah, we were both, I [00:08:00] think we were both pretty tired, uh, at that point, but like the last half an hour of the flight, we ended up talking and you're like, Hey, I've got this podcast.

And, I was telling you about how, I was running the miler series.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: And back then I was really, really new. Like, I literally didn't know anything about running at all. but I was just running with some friends from, from my CrossFit gym

Ally Brettnacher: and tell people what the Miler series is. if they're not local.

Bill Bradford: If you are just learning, to run or, or beginning to run, you should definitely consider doing the miler series. So, I've got this friend Stacy, who, encouraged me and, a couple other friends to do this, miler series where, uh, you do three miles in, I think it's February, six miles in March, and then, 10 miles in.

April all leading up to a half marathon in May. So it's designed to really help you kind of progress towards that, uh, 13.1 that you're gonna do for the, the mini. And I remember I was telling you, I was like, I literally don't know anything [00:09:00] about, running, but I'm really excited, that I'm gonna do my first half marathon.

I don't know how I'm gonna do it. And, uh, I, I ended up doing it. but on this, flight that we had back, uh, I think we covered a lot of ground.

Ally Brettnacher: I'm like trying to remember. Yeah. I was delirious and yeah. I just remember trying to Yeah. Convince you to do it. I'm like, you should totally do it.

Bill Bradford: You should totally do it. And I did.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: and so yeah, here we are now. There's a lot of things that kind of led up to that point, do you mind if I kind of get into my journey? Not at all. It's a great place

Ally Brettnacher: to start.

Bill Bradford: I think it's, I think it's called a journey now. I didn't even know I was going through it at the time.

Yeah. I think, uh, we could just back up a little bit and, and talk about, you know, at, at, at a high level. Uh, over the past six years I've been on this, weight loss journey and, uh, it's, been really great for me. I'm, I'm 42 now. Uh, I started when I was 35, but I feel so much better. my injuries that I had from football have gone away and, my running times have gone way, way down.

[00:10:00] and my speed has increased. My endurance is better. And, uh, I think overall I'm just like operating much better as a human being. And I'm, I'm better at my job. I'm better spouse, uh, I think because of all these things. So

when we, when we take a step back, I started, in 2019, uh, I, I started CrossFit, at, uh, this gym in Brownsburg, and I remember it was my 35th birthday.

And, I didn't really have any clear goals or anything. I just wanted to do it, but at the time, I was 245 pounds. And, uh, the thing that they do there is they, they measure your BMI, which is your biomass index. And at the time I was, 245 pounds and about 38% fat. And, you know, at, at the time they didn't tell me, you know, that, that's not great.

But, uh, I, I could feel it.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: You know, but I was like, well, I, I had taken this new job and I was like, well, if I could do this, uh, cons consistently, maybe I could get, uh, get somewhere.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. How did you find. Like the CrossFit gym. How did you end up walking through [00:11:00] those doors the first time?

Like, did somebody tell you about it?

Bill Bradford: Uh, that's a good question. So I had this job working for the government and I was living in Brownsburg and I drove by this gym a lot. And I was like, you know, if I could ever get a job that had a little bit more flexibility, I might be able to do that. And, so it was like a period of like year, a year or two where I was just kind of driving by this place.

But you'd, you'd see people doing cool stuff. You'd see people running with weight vests. Yeah. You know, you'd see people, uh, sometimes they'd be outside lifting weights and say, I'm like, man, I gotta get in there. So I, I took a new job on. May 6th, 2019. And I met Coach Zach, which you might know a little bit about 'cause I was on that last podcast.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: And, yeah, that's how I found it.

Ally Brettnacher: That's pretty cool. I'm impressed that you were just like, I gotta get in there. Because for me, I did CrossFit for a short time with my husband. We lived in Broader Pool and I really enjoyed it, but it was so intimidating to me, like looking at people like lifting heavy weights and doing all this stuff.

I was [00:12:00] terrified to go and I, I thought people were gonna be like, yeah, mean, I don't know why, but they weren't, it was quite the opposite where they were like so welcoming and encouraging and teach you how to do everything. And so it's just interesting to me that you at that time were like, I gotta do that.

I'm gonna go do that. That's pretty cool. Really.

Bill Bradford: It, it, it is. It can be intimidating. We talk about this a lot and uh, actually the culture I think at CrossFit has changed a lot, even in the past like three or four years. So I. when it first started, there was a lot of, really risky things that they would have you do, um, that would lead to injury.

And so it was kind of, it was kind of an extremist sport. and so now what what's happening now is, a lot of the people that stuck with it, you know, there, at least from what I know, a little bit older now, and they have families, and so now they're looking more at the health benefits. Mm. And the lo what you find out and what I found out through my journey about halfway through, I didn't even know why I was doing a lot of this stuff.

this intimidating stuff, living, lifting heavy weights over my head in a snatch movement or Yeah. [00:13:00] Cleans or like heavy back squats and stuff. but I started reading these books about longevity. Um, there's one by Peter Attia, uh, that we talk a lot, a lot about at my gym. I think it's called Outlive.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Bill Bradford: And, as I'm reading it, I, I'm finding out that, there's. A lot of benefits to the movements we're doing. So, um, having strength in certain parts of your legs and

parts of

your shoulders and stuff like that can help. Correct. some past, imbalances that you had, from sitting at an office desk mm-hmm.

Or being hunched over, you know, um, typing into a computer and stuff like that. So, I think when I first started it was very intimidating. 'cause there's a lot of, like, people kind of like, I, I played semi-pro football, so there's a lot of like semi-pro football types, you know, really heavy lifters and stuff like that.

But, as I've been there, I've seen that the culture has really changed more towards, just overall fitness, health, healthiness, and, uh, and, and wellness. Mm-hmm. Uh, we do, sometimes we'll do clinics on, on diet.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Uh,

Bill Bradford: metabolism, all of this [00:14:00] stuff. It's, it's really helpful to help. Mm-hmm. You just.

Function better as a human being. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Now, when you first started at the gym, did your wife Katie join with you right away?

Bill Bradford: Uh, so, uh, so, uh, first of all, shout out to my wife, who's been on this journey with, with me. She, she's been incredible. she was doing Orangetheory at the time. Okay. And so there, there's some crossover there too.

We get a lot of people from Orange Theory coming to CrossFit, probably because of the intensity. They want something, very intense. Orange Theory's a really good program too. But, um, it took her about two, three years. and, I think we had a coach, that came over from Orange Theory and brought a bunch of people to CrossFit.

And so she's like, okay, my friend's doing it, so now I'll be a part of it. So we were going to separate classes, but, here recently, I guess what I'm so much so proud, of my wife about is, that she started showing progress and she ended up like surpassing me even though I had been there for like five years.

By year two or three, she's doing some [00:15:00] things that I couldn't do. she's doing these, uh, double unders.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh God, I suck at those. Tell people what those are, if they dunno. Yeah. So,

Bill Bradford: oh man,

Ally Brettnacher: I

Bill Bradford: I'm with ya. I, it's

Ally Brettnacher: so bad

Bill Bradford: if, uh, if anybody from my gym is listening, they'll know how much time I've put into these double ends.

and basically what it is, it's, You get a, you get a rope and you're, you're doing jump rope, but you're letting, as you're jumping, you're letting the rope pass through twice. And most people can get like one or two, just like once. But getting the rhythm down is, uh, it requires, it's like a whole body workout.

And, um, you know, like I was saying, I got some personal coaching on this in, in January and, I was getting ready for this Festivus competition that I was doing, in April. And I worked and worked and worked at it, and all I had to do was like, 60 of these things. And, uh, that's,

Ally Brettnacher: oh my gosh, I can't even imagine doing that though.

So anyway.

Bill Bradford: Well, it, it really is. And it's, it's a, it's a cardio workout. Yes. Um, your mind is going, like when you're, and when you're in front of a lot of people at a competition and you're doing these [00:16:00] things, your mind's just kinda like at a race. Right. You know, you're like, oh man, am I doing it? Am I doing it?

but uh, yeah, before my, my competition, I was able to get 60 in the competition. I got 20 and then I just hit a wall. So then you have to do this like little skip in between. so you could still do the double editors. And then I had like all these other things I had to do. Like, so you

Ally Brettnacher: don't have to do them like all in a row.

You just have to do 60.

Bill Bradford: You have to do 60. No, no. You don't have

do

an unbroken un. You do. Uh, you well, well, you, I did 20 unbroken. Okay. And then I did

the other

40, like with a little skip in between. So I did Okay, so you two, then one, then two, then one. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Okay.

Bill Bradford: But

Ally Brettnacher: still,

Bill Bradford: still, it's very intense.

Um, yeah.

And

So that's been part of my, my journey too, is, when I started CrossFit in 2019, I didn't want to compete. I just wanted to go, kind of like what you said. Yeah. You had been saying, I just wanna do it. Let's jump in. Uh, around 2022 in the spring, I had a friend, his name's Brock. he, he [00:17:00] encouraged me to go out and go out for this competition.

And, it, it was the, it was the fest of his competition. And I, I went out there and

everything

I could. I left it all out there, but I, I realized, I was like, I'm probably 37 at the time, I was like, man, I'm kind of old compared to all these people.

Ally Brettnacher: I can only imagine. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: yeah. I mean, everybody's like in their twenties.

Yeah. And they're just leaving me in their dust. Right?

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: but, and then the next year I did it again. Still didn't do so well. but this year, in April I got third place, which I, I'm just really proud to be at this point.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: but going back to my wife, like she actually had won medals before I did, in CrossFit, so I was like, that's amazing.

Yeah. I was like, you started after me and you're ahead of me. but yeah, now we're tied up. So, I think overall, just like this journey for us together has been really supportive. Mm-hmm. so what, what happens with us is, she goes to a four 30 class, in the afternoon and I go to a 5:30 AM class.

And so we're kind of hanging around different people and getting, different coaches and stuff like that. But, at the end of the day. If we [00:18:00] have some extra free time, we'll be like, Hey, it might be like, you know, three o'clock in the afternoon or, or, uh, maybe even late, late in the evening or even on a Sunday, we'll be like, Hey, you wanna go practice double unders or, get ready for the Murph, or something like that.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Bill Bradford: Um, so I think the, the best part about having a spouse and a partner, on this journey with you is, not only do you have like someone there to help you with diet, yeah. Which is like, hey, like, we could eat out today and, get a lot of like unhealthy like oils or something like that in our food.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. or we could, we could go to Jimmy John's or Processed bread or something like that, or, you know, we could cook at home and like, you know, have some veggies and, you know, maybe, maybe some chicken or something like healthy off the grill. Yeah. So, We're, we're constantly pushing each other.

she's been a really great blessing and, coming back to what you're saying, I'm just really glad that, she came over in 2023 and, you know, we were able to kind of like join forces.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's so cool. I miss working out with my husband. We, 'cause before we had kids, we were in Broder Pool and we would go to the same [00:19:00] classes and it was fun.

It was so fun to like have that community together. We also trained for a marathon together. Oh, yeah. Before we got married and ran a marathon together, which was a whole nother adventure. And he says he's one and done, but I'm trying. Yeah. I'm slowly, I'm, I'm gonna work my way back in there and get him to do it again.

But anyway, it's just, you're right. Having somebody there who is supporting you through the same thing is pretty powerful. Especially when you're, you might not be feeling super motivated one day and, but she is and can help you and vice versa. It's pretty cool.

Bill Bradford: So I, I'm actually getting ready to train for a marathon with somebody too, here shortly.

So maybe you can gimme some tips. Oh, man. Like, so how does that work when you're both training together? do your schedules have to be in sync or?

Ally Brettnacher: Well, it was so different Bill, because back when we did that, it was what, like 2013 or like 2012, somewhere around there. And I didn't have a running coach.

I didn't know how to train. He didn't know how to train. And so we just literally had the mileage on the calendar. Yep. There was [00:20:00] no speed workout. I mean, we cross-trained with, with CrossFit, but there was no like. You know, we're, you're different paces and you have to like figure out a way to align.

We just went out and ran like 10 miles. Yeah. 20 miles, you know, together at whatever pace we could do it at. And so that's why it was easy. Then. Now I feel like training together would be, tricky because, you know, I'm obviously at a very different level than he now is when he doesn't really run that much.

So, yeah, I, I guess back in the day when it was a simpler time for me and my running Yeah. It worked. Now, you know, maybe for easy run type stuff you could sync up for some miles. Yeah. But otherwise it would be a little tough. And with kids, like you can't both be running at the same time. Yeah,

Bill Bradford: yeah, yeah.

That, that would be the difficult part is like, who's gonna watch the kids? Who's gonna, yeah, exactly.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. So, I will say my, favorite part, about training for a marathon was like these secret missions that you go on. So like, when there's like hot weather, like today, you gotta do it early in the morning.

Yeah. Right. The, the marathon that I trained for, in December, uh, I remember a, my long days were on [00:21:00] Sundays, and so, I started out, well, let me, let me back up. So, how did I get to a point where I wanted to trade for a marathon?

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Oh, okay. Yeah. Let's,

Bill Bradford: let's, let's back up.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: I also should mention, as far as like just a, a boilerplate way to explain my journey, going back to how I started off at 245 pounds and 38% body fat at this point, I have lost, about 50 pounds of fat and, gained about 15 pounds of muscle. So, by 2024. About this time last year, I was down to 185 pounds in about 12% body fat.

Damn. Yeah. It, yeah, there's a, it is a, it's a big, shift for me. uh, my pictures are looking different, but my energy levels are just off the charts, right? Oh, yeah. I, I credit a lot of that to going to CrossFit every single day, but then also,

you know, dialing in the diet, eliminating pro processed foods and, you know, just being [00:22:00] like really just gearing everything towards training.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

and do you drink anymore? I think I heard you say you don't really drink much alcohol anymore, if not any, or,

Bill Bradford: yeah, so let's see. I'm going on like the third year of no alcohol. Yeah. And, uh, I, I don't miss it. I'm not missing anything by, skipping that part of my life and the, the way that it, it, it kind of started was, um.

I did like a dry January mm-hmm. In, I think 2023. And it ended up being like dry February. Dry March. And then by the time I got like three months in, I was like, I don't miss this at all. I feel great.

Ally Brettnacher: So good. Yeah. It's wild.

Bill Bradford: I feel, I feel so good and I, I don't want to change. And so I really have not had any kind of desire to look in the rear view mirror and be like, especially when you have to be up at five 30 in the morning every day.

drinking a beer or two at this point at the age of 42. It, it just doesn't appeal to me. especially when you have to lift heavy and do all these things every single day. So, let, let me get into my running story. Yeah. If, if you don't [00:23:00] mind. so. I think a good place to start would be in 2020.

I started this, doing this 5K, this Colts 5K. And uh, it was virtual, because of the pandemic. Yep. And my wife and I did it. And I don't even know what my time was. I was looking last night, I couldn't find the time. but I remember thinking, I was like, okay, if the world ever gets back to normal, it would be really cool if I did this every year and I got better every year.

And it turns out that's what happened. Wow. That's exactly what happened. So the following year I did again,

Ally Brettnacher: was it virtual again in 21?

Bill Bradford: it was finally, so that's the appeal is that you get to like finish on the 50 yard. Right? Yeah. So

Ally Brettnacher: cool.

Bill Bradford: It, yeah. And I'm getting ready to do it again here. In, in September, but, the following year I got like over 30 minutes, so I'm like at a 10 minute mile.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Bill Bradford: and then

the following year it's like down to 26 and then the next year down to 24. and I'll, I'll get into where, where I'm at now with the 5K speed, but, I think what also got really interesting was I started over the summer doing these really fun activities where I [00:24:00] would start, surfing on the weekends.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh yeah. I wanna talk about more about surfing, but we don't have to do it right this second.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. Well, what, where, where I wanna go is I'm gonna talk to you about how I got a

coach, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then, I think that would be a great time to come back to, to surfing, but yeah. What we were doing was we were surfing, uh, on Saturdays, and then on Sundays I have this group of friends that we, that we surf with.

And, uh, we would run at Eagle Creek. And so I put on a wade vest and we would run like four or five miles, and you're like, man, this is beautiful out here in the, in the nature, you know, in the natural environment. it's the summer, you know, we'd always have a Popsicle afterwards. It's just a, a great, great way to do it.

But as I'm doing this, I'm,

I'm feeling and

I'm seeing all of the weight just shed off. Right? so I was doing CrossFit. I'm dialing my diet. I'm, I'm, uh, doing five Ks, but I'm adding in all of this other stuff, right? so I ended up doing the mailer series and then going back to where we started today, I met you and you're like, I think at one point you're like, Hey, you should get a coach.

And

was like, [00:25:00] oh, maybe that's a good idea. and so

as I'm. Going through this journey and finding out, hey, like I ran my first half marathon, which was the Indie Mini in, an hour and 50, minutes I think. And people were like, Hey, that's pretty good. Yeah, maybe, maybe you should stick with running.

I

like, yeah, but I was always a football player, right? And they're like, no, dude, I think you're a runner. So I did some fun running events over the summer. I did, Eagle, uh, what was it? run the Night. I did, oh, cool. What was it? Christmas in July and had a blast doing these, these just runs for fun over the summer.

And, then, my friend Stacy actually recommended, Tracy.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Shout out to Tracy Hunter. I'm sorry. Tracy Hunter. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: So Stacey recommended Tracy. That's how you remember it. Right? Thanks Stacy and Tracy. Stacy and Tracy. Oh yeah. Indiana runner girl. She's really amazing. And so, I told Tracy, I was like, I want to, I wanna do this marathon. It's in Jacksonville where my cousin lives. [00:26:00] And, she's like, okay, well when is it? And it's like October. And she's like,

well the, the marathon's in December, but it's like October. She's like, you know, you only got three months for this thing, right? I am like,

well,

Is that a problem? And she's like, that's a huge problem, but we're gonna do it anyways.

Yeah. Oh my

Ally Brettnacher: gosh. What? I didn't realize that

Bill Bradford: I didn't realize that was a problem. I told you I'm new at this, right? Yeah. You're like,

Ally Brettnacher: I don't know why. What do you mean that's three months away?

Bill Bradford: Yeah, no big deal. So she, she trained me up. Like I said, I'm with a lot of secret missions over, the weekends, like.

every other week I was running 18, 20, 22 miles, over here on the, on the Monan, it would be November. It'd be really, really cool, but I'd suit up and, you know, wear those, uh, those, I don't know where those things called, like the male leggings or whatever. Oh yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: I don't know. The Under

Bill Bradford: Armour ones.

Yeah. Yeah. And then I'd wear like body armor up, up top and yeah, it would be, it. I would have to dedicate a good three, four hours on a Sunday to this. So, yeah. Anyways, long story short, your suggestion worked. Having a, a coach was amazing. I was able to do this, this marathon in [00:27:00] Jacksonville.

I finished in four hours and 15 minutes. My music cut out, at mile 24.

Ally Brettnacher: No.

Bill Bradford: watch,

Ally Brettnacher: my

Bill Bradford: watch, my watch it, my watch and my music cut out at mile 24. So I'm like, it's, hot. I'm in Jacksonville. It's like 77 degrees. I'm like just ready to die. But I'm like, I don't even, I don't, I'm not really like even aware of what's going on around me.

I'm just running in a direction.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: but, uh, you had asked about, a funny story, so I'll share one. So I get to the end and my cousin and my wife, and, my cousin's husband, they're all supporting me, taking videos as I cross the finish line. I do the big hurrah. there's some pictures, of me, crossing the finish line.

And so I gave my wife a huge hug at the end. And, we take a picture and so we're walking towards the car and, my cousin looks at me 'cause she's ran like

probably five

or six of these marathons before, and she said. You know, if, if you want to, uh, scream or shout or yell, just go [00:28:00] right ahead. And I said, well, that's what I'm about to do,

because

as soon as she said that, or just a few steps away from the car and my whole posterior

chain starts locking up

and twitching and just like spasming.

So like my calves, my um, my hamstrings, everything is just spasming outta control. And there's pictures of me somewhere where I'm just like, when is it going to stop? And, my wife is like, giving me snacks. And so, and, and my cousin's husband is giving me water. And then my cousin's like coaching me through it.

She's like, it's only gonna be 15 more minutes, I promise. And I'm like, 15 minutes.

Ally Brettnacher: I'd be like, no, it cannot be that long.

Bill Bradford: 15 minutes of excruciating pain.

And then it went

away. And, I was like, well that's, that's not bad for the first

marathon. I guess that's all, all that happened. And, going back to the coaching thing, so she's been running a lot of these and she had this whole thing kind of laid out at her, at her house.

'cause we were staying with her the next day. She's like, here's what I [00:29:00] recommend. So first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna walk on the beach, the next day. So we did like a half mile walk and then I started running and all of a sudden it felt better 'cause it's right on the beach in Jacksonville.

Right. You get the breeze coming off of there and she's like, yeah, the sand is gonna be really good for you. And she had all these like rollers out. In her, uh, house. and then she's like, take a hot bath. So it was like a whole day of just recovery

Ally Brettnacher: and, sorry. Wait, is this your, your cousin?

Yeah, my cousin. Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. So that's so nice. It is. It is really nice when you're running a marathon, having an expert or like, at least I thought she was expert, like walking you through. She's like, and then the next day she's like, okay, now make sure you get on the Peleton.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Go

Bill Bradford: on the Peleton for 20.

And like, I just, she was like my coach. Yeah. So, anyways, I, I still have, coach Tracy and, I think the biggest benefit. Having her as a coach is now she's scheduling intervals for me, Uhhuh. And it works in my Garmin watch.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Bill Bradford: So it'll tell me when to speed up, when to slow down.

Ally Brettnacher: I love that you're [00:30:00] wearing two watches, by the way.

Bill Bradford: I am.

Ally Brettnacher: It took me a second to notice, 'cause you looked at your other wrist and I'm like, well, your watch is over there.

Bill Bradford: Well, I just got this one, so I'm still figuring it out. It looks

Ally Brettnacher: really fancy. Is that, so that's a Garmin,

Bill Bradford: this is a Garmin vivo Active, yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Okay.

Bill Bradford: I just got this one. I love it. and so yeah, I get like real time feedback from that.

Yep. another thing Tracy does that's really good is she does these, I I think they're quarterly meetings, so it would be like, every three months we'll have like a virtual meeting and she'll be like, so how you doing with your goals? And you know, we make adjustments. So, I think she tries to hide getting mad at me.

'cause I'll just spring stuff on her. I'll be like, oh, by the way, I'm running a half marathon. Oh by the way, I'm gonna run a 10 K Oh by the way, I've been doing this 5K for, for five years. I gotta get a better score. But that's when we make adjustments and then she'll look over my data 'cause it syns with my data and she'll be like, oh, it looks like you're, you're getting close to the, to the intervals that you want.

Mm-hmm. And um, the last thing that I'll mention too, that's a lot of fun is, when it's a major event where she's got a [00:31:00] lot of runners, she will have kinda like a little running party. So at, the monumental this year, she got everybody, everybody together and, we all took photos. There was probably like 10, 12 of us and, uh, everybody that she coaches gets to have this photo event.

We all. have a big celebration, then we go out and then we do our best. And then she shouts everybody out on, on social media. it's a just a really exciting thing, and it's another way to like, just kind of be engaged in the running community. Yes.

Ally Brettnacher: I love it so much. Yeah, it's so interesting. I thought coaches were reserved for like, elite athletes and that I would never need a coach.

I'm like, they have a coach, they're really serious about this. And then I forget how, oh, I was introduced to somebody who then introduced me to my, my coach now, Rachel Senders. And, and I remember her telling me about it. And at first I was like, no, I, I'm okay. I, I've done a lot of running, you know, I don't need coaching.

And then she started explaining what it really was and I thought, you know, okay, maybe I should give it a try. And now I can't [00:32:00] imagine not having that resource, having that community, like, you know, and if you need some help, I don't know, with like nutrition or whatever they, you know, if they don't have that in their own wheelhouse.

They have this whole other community of people to introduce you to, and it's just really valuable. So, yeah.

Bill Bradford: Well, and I think that's something that your podcast does really well too. So, on the way in, I was actually listening to the most recent one. was there a guy from Fishers? Oh, Mike

Ally Brettnacher: or, oh, Alan.

Bill Bradford: Yeah.

He said, I'll never run a marathon. Yeah. And he ended up running a mul, an Ultra Yeah. And then a marathon. Like you went the Ultra then the marathon, like,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. But

Bill Bradford: yeah, he, so what's, what's fun about this, kind of to your point about community is, you know, a as I'm doing this, there's this group of runners at the CrossFit gym and uh, we're all kind of rallying behind each other.

And, all pushing each other. that's, you know, ideas like the Garmin watch, right? Mm-hmm. Like, I got that from, from my group of friends that, that, I see every day. And, we're all trying to share tips on how to get faster, how to do better.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. [00:33:00]

Bill Bradford: And, I think having that community really, kinda, solidifies, you know, why you're doing this.

And, again, going back to the support, just having that supportive group really makes a, a huge difference. And I can, I think I can tack on here. So ever since I've started this at the age of 35, I have yet to, with the exception of one, uh, event, not set a pr, I've been setting PRS for five years.

Ally Brettnacher: Right? That's so fun.

Bill Bradford: I, I do wanna talk about the time I didn't. Um, but there's a good reason why, and I, I, there's actually a lot of reasons why so.

We, maybe we can, uh, reverse back just a little bit.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: to this year, we did the, we both did the rock and roll Las Vegas. Oh yeah. I did the 5K, the first night and, got close to a PR there, but I, I realized, you know, running it in the evening's a little different.

it's so different in the desert too.

Ally Brettnacher: Uh, yeah. I cannot get enough water or hydration when I'm in Vegas. Yeah. I just can't.

Bill Bradford: So do you, [00:34:00] do you hydrate, like here in Indiana, like when you

run or do you

I've been doing a better

Ally Brettnacher: job of it. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: Okay. what, why are you just like, you don't

wanna lose time or you're, sometimes

just like, you go by the station, you're like, I'm, I don't want it, or,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah.

Well, when I'm, I literally, in Vegas in particular, I, every single aid station I would take. And if they had like water, and I think they did Mortal, which is a, yeah, I really love that brand of hydration. But I would do both. I if they had both, I would take both and I would, I would get, I couldn't get enough of the, and I thought I hydrated really well leading up to it, but I just, in the desert, that dry heat, I just couldn't get enough hydration.

Bill Bradford: I, so I, I feel like we were on the same wavelength, on, on that one because, I ran the five KI love the 5K, made a mistake and I went and ate a bunch of donuts afterwards. And I, if, if anybody, knows me, they know that I, I don't eat donuts. But, that was a bad idea 'cause I had a half marathon the next day.

Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Oh man. And then I ate

Bill Bradford: a bunch of

oatmeal. [00:35:00] The

day, the next day. And so, we could talk about, oh no,

it doesn't.

that doesn't sound all that half marathon this year. in rock and roll. Las Vegas. I, I'm running and, uh, I'm getting dehydrated, but I also ate all of this oatmeal and I'm just like, okay, I just wanna make it through this race because I really, really

have to go to

bathroom.

Yeah. Um, oh no. And I'm running and then I, I, I hear, behind me, Hey Bill,

and it turns out it's you. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, hey, I think we were right before Fremont Street, and I was like, man, I am

dehydrated.

I have to use the bathroom. And it's late at night.

Ally Brettnacher: and I'm just like, Hey, how's it going? How's your rate? And you're like, shut the, I gotta go.

Bill Bradford: No, it's not like that.

I was just like in a different. Plane of existence at that point. Yeah. You

Ally Brettnacher: know, you were. 'cause for a second I was like, I don't know if he has any idea who I am.

Bill Bradford: I knew exactly who you were. Yeah. [00:36:00] Uh, I was just like that tired. Yeah. No, I've

Ally Brettnacher: been, I've been there too, for sure.

Bill Bradford: so I did not get a pr that time.

but I ran a 5K the night before and then there was all of the, uh, the nutrition and all of the obstacles. I was only like 30 seconds over, which is amazing.

Ally Brettnacher: I think. So for a night race, the first year I did Vegas, oh, I'm trying to remember what year that was. Uh, um, I don't remember. But the first year I did it, it shredded me.

I didn't know how to fuel when it's in the evening. I didn't know what to do during the day. Like we, my dad loves playing craps and so if you're playing craps, you stand around a table. And so I'm like, okay, I know I can't stand on my feet all day. and then I didn't know what to eat and yada yada, but I had a really brutal race.

The first time I did it. It was horrible. Like I peed my pants at mile 11. And I, 'cause I just, I, my body was like so gone. Yeah. And I mean, you know, at least I didn't boot

pants. It

be worse, you know, like could poop. I mean, I'm glad about that. But yeah. And so the next year [00:37:00] that I did it, I did get redemption.

Like I had a much better race. But when I'm out there, I also have told my coach, like, this is not a race where I'm looking to pr. Yeah. It's for me, not the environment to do that. At least personally. cause I go out there and, you know, have I have fun with my dad and we, go to the Eagles concert the right before the race.

And so that has helped because before I was trying to go like really, really fast and it's just hard. It humbles you that evening and that desert heat, you're just like, oh my gosh.

Bill Bradford: You went through this sphere before, right? Yes. Thi this

year. I

you talking

Ally Brettnacher: and, and last year or whatever year I did it previously, they all kind of blurred together.

Bill Bradford: So you have like a night of entertainment. Before you go out and do this like really amazing, epic thing, right? It's a lot down. Yeah. But maybe we could talk about that real quick. so if there was one race that, that was worth not pring, this is it because, if anyone out there, uh, has not done the rock and roll in Vegas, it is probably one of the most entertaining races.

The, the empty mini is [00:38:00] fun 'cause a lot of local people come out and the, you got cheerleaders and you've got, like local, organizations trying to hype up the event while you're on the track, which is fun. Yeah. But this one, it takes you to a whole new level. So you get to like. Mile three or mile four, and you're like, okay, I just passed, passed a DJ that was dressed up like an alien.

and that was totally normal for all of these people. I remember

Ally Brettnacher: that. Yeah. Yeah. You're just like, cool. Yeah. Yep. There's like robots and then there's, I'm surprised there's not more of like the Vegas girls, you know what I mean, with like the feathers and stuff. probably have been, maybe I just missed it.

But it's funny, you run by the Vegas sign you run, I mean it's Yeah, that's right.

Bill Bradford: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: It's something

Bill Bradford: you go, let's see, you watch the

Ally Brettnacher: sunset in the desert 'cause Yeah, it starts in the light when it's light.

Bill Bradford: Oh. So that's another thing too So yes, I was dehydrated. Yes.

I was exhausted and yes, I didn't, hit a pr, but I still felt pretty good, doing it

Until

I got to the end. And then when it was, you know, you get that post-race like euphoria, right? Yeah. At, at 13.1 and [00:39:00] I'm just like, oh, I finally got to the end. But now it's like, you know, 20, 30 minutes later, after that's gone away, it's like really, really cold.

And I started shivering.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. I,

Bill Bradford: and there was like a post-race party at

the Belafonte

and I wanted to go, but I ended up just going back to my hotel room because I was like

cold.

Yeah. Did

that happen to you? Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: so it did. The first year I remember I got so cold and I bought a sweatshirt. Mm. And so then I'm like, okay, like I'll just do that again.

'cause I don't like doing gear check. I've had a bad gear check experience and so I'm just like, I'm not gonna worry about that. So I, I just, in my mind I am like, I will buy another sweatshirt. So this year I buy a sweatshirt and they're different from last year. I dunno if you saw me share about this, but they have all the runner names on the back, which is so cool, except for the fact that they split 'em up into like three groups.

So my dumb ass didn't look at the signs. And I bought a sweatshirt that had all these names on it, but it doesn't have my name on it, which I don't really care. But I, you know, it's not the cheapest sweatshirt. It's like 60 [00:40:00] bucks, you know,

Bill Bradford: that's not cheap. I'm

Ally Brettnacher: not like trying to, so anyway, I have a sweatshirt without my name and I have one with my name on it though, from year prior.

And it was the best investment though, because putting on a sweatshirt after that, ' cause I wait for my dad and I was cheering my dad on and his, cousin and his cousin's sons. And so I was waiting around and I knew I would need it. So, and they have hot chocolate at the end. And this year it tasted horrible.

Oh, I

Bill Bradford: bet.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I mean, you just gotta mix it. The right ratio. It tasted like hot water. It was disgusting. I was very sad.

Bill Bradford: disappoint you fly all the way out to Vegas.

Ally Brettnacher: I'm just thinking about that hot chocolate like the whole time.

Yeah. Was

there like at

Bill Bradford: least a marshmallow or No, nothing.

Ally Brettnacher: It was, ugh. I'm like, if you're gonna do hot chocolate, please tell the volunteers how to make the hot chocolate.

It was bad.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, uh, I can't even remember what I had at the end, but I remember there's just so many people that you end up filing outta there and you just end up, I ended up in like a ca a, a, a casino and I'm like, shivering so bad. Yeah. Because I'm like dehydrated. And then the desert cold, like you [00:41:00] said, once the sun goes down, it's a different story.

Mm-hmm. Because it's probably like

once

the sun went down, it's probably like 50 or, yeah. Yeah. It's, it's upper 40. It's chilly quick. It, it gets chilly really quick. so how many years have you been doing the rock and roll? I think I've

Ally Brettnacher: done it three times now. Is that right? I skipped a year. 'cause one of my good friends, Selena, who's a runner, she got married on that weekend.

So I went to Austin, Texas for her wedding. I want to convince her that for her anniversary she should come do it, but I'm signed up for next year. ' cause that's where they get you at the expo. They're like, sign up for next year for only a hundred bucks. I'm like, okay.

Bill Bradford: Well, and then they have like all the different series, so it's like, you can go to Nashville.

Oh, right. I

Ally Brettnacher: know that's true. Yeah. You could

Bill Bradford: get all the different, medals and they all come together. Yeah. So, yeah. It's a fun series. so, okay, so you wanna talk about surfing? Uh, I wanna

Ally Brettnacher: talk about surfing. It's so cool.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. so, okay. I think a, good place to start this story is, back in 2023. My friend Lori, who goes to CrossFit.

she was setting the world [00:42:00] record for surfing and, no big deal. No big deal. She already had the record, by the way. It was like 12 hours of just surfing, like endurance surfing, right? And so

Ally Brettnacher: for people who I don't know, aren't from the Midwest, they don't know what you mean by surfing in Indiana. Yeah.

Can you explain what surfing is?

Bill Bradford: Yeah. Okay. So it's actually not surfing like, you would see on Baywatch or whatever, where like in an open wave, it's actually, um, a special boat that, creates a wave for you. So the cool thing about it is that you get pulled up by a tow rope and then, uh, because the boat is actually creating this wave, you can actually toss the rope, and if you balance it right, you can surf with no rope.

And, so I think this is a fun place to, reference about my story because when I first started. Again, I was a different body type, 245 pounds. And, uh, the whole first summer I could not get up, onto the water. Like I'm, every time it, you know, just being that, that big. And then also, uh, I had a [00:43:00] lot of like muscle imbalances so like I was, I could like a really strong back squat.

but when it came to other types of exercises that require balance and stuff like that, I, really, really struggled. Yeah. And so the whole first summer, that my friend Lori is, going for this, this record, she's surfing for like 12 hours and I'm surfing for none, but I'm just hanging out on this boat and I'm learning all this stuff and I'm, and

Ally Brettnacher: where do you go?

Geist or what?

Bill Bradford: Uh, yeah, so we go to Raccoon Lake, which is out in Rockville, which is due west, of Indianapolis. It's about an hour and 15 minutes west of Okay. Indy. But, She ends up setting the world record. I, I believe, at like 15 hours. and I got all of our friends from the CrossFit gym to go out there.

But, it was a little, it was a little challenging because, she had to bring the Guinness Book of World Records, staff out, pay for their, them to stay in Indiana and then also Really? Yeah. Had to pay, pay their hourly wage. And then like, I, I think if I'm remembering [00:44:00] this, correctly, and then they would have to be out on the boat.

There's two judges, right? And they had to be on the boat and make sure that she's actually surfing right. And, uh, so she came really close, to her, her record. I think she. I can't remember if it was 15 or 18 hours, but because she didn't get 24 hours, which was her goal, they, they said that she's gonna have to try it again.

So

Ally Brettnacher: what? Yeah. Even if it was a record

Bill Bradford: Yeah. For her second attempt. she's already like in the Guinness Book World Records, if I understand this correctly, but, because she didn't get the 24 hours. But, anyways, we like really got like around this like goal of just like supporting Lori. when she would do these attempts, I would be out there, you know, handing her like a little go, go squeeze pack.

I was gonna

Ally Brettnacher: say. Okay. How does she feel? How does she, how do you hand it to her?

Bill Bradford: so I very carefully. Very carefully, right? But she can get really close to the

boat.

and, I would hand her,

you know, like a, a peanut butter squeeze packet or like

go, go squeeze or

whatever. Yeah.

And so, yeah, she has to,

hydrate and, fuel [00:45:00] probably about.

uh, once every hour

or so, because what, what ends up happening? Kind of like what I was saying when I had my marathon. I think all of those things locking up on me was dehydration. Yeah. She can be in this spot where she could be dehydrated if she's not feeling properly. so that was back in 2023. so did

Ally Brettnacher: you sit on the boat for 15 hours?

Bill Bradford: I would, I would just do shifts of like, you know,

Ally Brettnacher: how could they, how could you get off the boat, um, while she was surfing

Bill Bradford: you? So they create the rules, if I remember right, the, Guinness Book of World Records. And so they would say, okay, you can, you have one break every eight hours. So that's when, 'cause you do have to refuel.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Oh, the boat.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. Right. Yeah. 'cause there's just not that much fuel. I didn't even

Ally Brettnacher: think about that part of it. Yeah,

Bill Bradford: yeah, yeah, yeah. So she has like eight hours of fuel, I think. So she would come in dock, she'd get a, a quick bathroom break, and then they would refuel a boat and then, uh, they'd switch judges and then yeah.

Go back out there again. So, okay. So, yeah, here she's doing this amazing thing. I can't do it at all, right? Like,

Ally Brettnacher: I can't even get on the surfboard.

Bill Bradford: I, [00:46:00] I cannot even get up on, on the water at all. I've never

Ally Brettnacher: even tried it. So there I'm even further behind. Some

Bill Bradford: people can just pop right up there. Some people, and part of the problem again, was my knees were, were hurt from, um, football, from football, all, all this stuff.

So, the next year I've got a friend, who would go out there and support my friend Lori with me. and his name is Sean. And, he does yoga. He's really good at yoga. So. One day we're, out there, we're making an attempt for, I think for the, world record. And I said, Hey Sean, next time we go, do yoga.

Let me know. He's like, yeah, yeah. Okay. Uh, no problem. So I meet him out at is uh, in Broad Ripple. Oh, okay. Uh, I think it's, uh, I think it's Broad. Ripple Yoga is the name of it. Okay. If I remember right. and I get in there and I can't do anything once again, uh, like all these

are just so

much better athletes and, and, and they can do all these bal like arm balances and they can do just incredible stuff in this yoga studio.

And here I am just like ready to pass out 'cause it's 110 degrees. Oh, it's hot yoga too. Yeah, it's super hot. but the interesting thing about this is I did [00:47:00] yoga once on like a Monday. I did it again on a Wednesday, and then on Friday I have to go out there and I have to try to get up on the water. And uh, at this point I'm kind of like, I don't even know if I like this anymore.

'cause everybody else is so much better than me. But. I get up, I

up there and

grab the tow rope and, it gives me

one real big tug. And next

I know I'm on the

water and, uh, I'm feeling like this amazing sensation in my legs and in my, in my core. And I'm like, this feels kind of like yoga. And next thing I know, I'm surfing on my own.

And, I, I credit a lot of that too. You know, the, the consistent strength training, the yoga, the balance, all of these things are like tying together and I'm finding out I can do things I couldn't do before. Mm-hmm. Uh, at a different body type. And, so yeah, surfing is definitely part of this journey.

And I, I've been doing it, for three or four years now, and it's really fun because we'll bring new people out and teach [00:48:00] 'em. I think we've been getting better at teaching people how to do it. So, you know, when you come out it's not as hard to learn anymore. 'cause you've got experts that are kind of guiding you through it.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I'm just still like, stuck on the fact that somebody could surf for that long.

Bill Bradford: It, that's wild. It's really, it's really incredible. she's been doing it for, many, many years and, uh, she does it every weekend and, yeah, it is a really long time. I think, if I remember right, she actually beat the mail record, which is eight hours and she still has the record for 12 hours.

But, yeah, it's, it's, it's incredible.

Ally Brettnacher: That's so wild.

Well, that's

cool. That's a really fun hobby too, to like, something to do on the weekends. Especially in this Indiana summer at this moment it's like so hot. You have to be in the water.

Does

your wife Katie surf? Has she learned?

Bill Bradford: Yeah. Yeah. She, uh, she's, she's one of the ones that, uh, we taught last year, so she got up on the water too.

Ally Brettnacher: That's awesome.

Bill Bradford: but, uh, it's a, it's a new set of like muscle groups. Mm-hmm. So you can be a really strong [00:49:00] person or

someone with really good running

skills or endurance, but you have to put it all together to get up on that water. 'cause it, it happens real fast.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. oh, I know what I wanna talk to you about next, if this is okay.

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Ally Brettnacher: I know what I wanna talk to you about next, if this is okay. all the Spartan races Oh yeah. That you do. And then Team Carey, 'cause that's. Associated with the Spartan races, Okay. So this other really cool thing that you do is Spartan races, which I don't know what they are.

Okay. So can you start and explain to me

what

a Spartan race is?

Bill Bradford: Yeah, so a Spartan race is a lot of fun and you can do it at a 5K, you can do it at a 10 K. You can even, I think they have like a 20 k. they also have, there's different options, right? Sometimes they do it at a stadium. So my first one was at Notre Dame.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh,

Bill Bradford: that's really cool. So it's [00:51:00] up

and down,

up and down the stairs, and then, oh,

Ally Brettnacher: nevermind. That sucks. Yeah. Yeah. That's the hard

Bill Bradford: part. It wasn't that bad, but there'll be, uh, obstacles interspersed throughout.

So,

sometimes it's a rope climb, sometimes it's a sandbag carry.

Ally Brettnacher: Do you know when you sign up for the race, what the obstacles are gonna be?

Bill Bradford: Yeah, you do. And the more you do, the more you see the same things over and over. Yeah. this one that I did most recently was an outdoor one, and it's actually on a ski slope.

So,

Uh, the, the fun,

fun part about this one was, it was, it was extra muddy. And, so in the first mile, so this one was,

we did

the 5K this year.

and in the first mile people were losing their shoe, cause it was so muddy. Yeah. So they would have to finish the rest of the race with, without a shoe. Yeah. They'd just take 'em both off and just like barefoot.

Ally Brettnacher: what, where was this by the way?

Bill Bradford: This one, was at Perfect North. Uh, okay. That's the

Ally Brettnacher: only ski slope I know.

That's anywhere close to here, so

yeah. Yep.

Yeah,

Bill Bradford: yeah, yeah. That, so that, that's a fun one. But,

it,

so there, there, sometimes there's

bars, like,

oh my

that you swing from.

But, sometimes

there's, uh, these rings that [00:52:00] you have to

from. sometimes there

will be, um.

like on this one, there was

big obstacle where you had go underwater.

And under this, basically this big barricade, uh, sometimes there's a big barricade you have to climb over. and it's also kind of fun because it lends itself really well to a team. because some obstacles you can do by yourself. Some of them you might have to like, get some assistance from a friend and like, you know, like, you know, do the thing where you step up on someone's knee or whatever to get up over it.

so the team, Carrie, my friend Carrie and I, actually started doing these, these Spartans a long time ago. I think she did hers in, her first one was in 2021. Mine was in 2023. And

Ally Brettnacher: where, how did you discover that? Was it through CrossFit or?

Bill Bradford: It was, it was through CrossFit and I remember seeing Carrie, post about it.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. And so you're like, what's that? I

Bill Bradford: was like, ah, I, I might wanna do that someday. Right. and so

yeah, there's

people at CrossFit do it. It's a lot of fun. The pictures are always great 'cause you got mud all over aal, so it was like, let me try it. And plus it was a Notre Dame.

I'm from

South Bend, so Oh,

Ally Brettnacher: [00:53:00] okay.

Bill Bradford: I was like, ah,

I'll go up and see my parents.

first

one went great. I had a lot of fun. I was like, I think I might be hooked on this, on this thing too. and so we got this idea that, with our surfing group, with Lori and, and my friend Sean and some other people, Hey, let's start training for these things.

So we did one in, we did one in Grand Rapids. So we, we, we even like practiced the javelin throw where it's like this big javelin, you have to hit a target. Like we, we practiced that at Eagle Creek. We would put on our, our weighted vest and like we were getting in really good shape. People

Ally Brettnacher: were probably looking at you like, what are those dudes up to?

Bill Bradford: What, these guys are on a different level. Yeah, we're gonna

Ally Brettnacher: stay over here because they're wearing vests and throwing jains.

chaplins.

Bill Bradford: Well, I will say about the way of vests, like if anybody is interested in really

improving their times

or like making

a drastic change. I had

20 pound weight vest and I could attribute a lot of the drastic

weight loss [00:54:00] to that time period when I was training at Eagle Creek with this thing.

'cause it was hot out. And it's basically like I'm

pounds or whatever, I'm probably

down to

20% body fat, you know, midway

through my journey or whatever. Mm-hmm. And, it's, my body is being tricked into

it's heavier than it is.

So I could

like, kind of going back to what

was saying, these sensations that I'm having in my body while I'm surfing and stuff

that,

can feel them while I'm running too.

at, at Eagle Creek, I could literally feel the fat burning off of me sometimes. but we get into, the next year and

we're like,

' cause we're, we're really, really pumped up about

Spartan

races. We were like, oh, we, we just gotta do this every year. So we get ready to do this local one. And my friend Carrie, who's just an amazing person, she takes me aside at, at, at CrossFit class one morning and says, Hey, I can't do the, the, spartan this year.

you can have my ticket. I had just one thing to ask, would you wear this, pink shirt [00:55:00] because I've been diagnosed with, with breast cancer? And I said, it's already been done. Like, say no more. Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah.

Bill Bradford: Done right. and then the next thing I did was

I found like four or five friends that would

do this with me, right?

Mm-hmm. So we came up with this really slick logo, cause we're all gonna do this. and this idea around Team Carey, this concept of, Hey, we're all gonna support our friend. So, uh, my friend Cam put together, she's really talented with, making t-shirts. She makes this slick design and it's got. The American flag and a pink ribbon on it, and it says, team Carey.

And we were like, this is great. This is exactly what we're trying to go for here. cause we're trying to support Carrie through her, you know, her battle against cancer. So, this one is in Lawrenceburg last year. Carrie sits out, and, and brings us, sandwiches and, feeds us. And then my wife, Katie, stays with Carrie as their, uh, and, and videotapes this while we're doing this really awesome race.

And so, yeah, we did the [00:56:00] race and we all had these, these pink, wrist guards on that had the, little, pink ribbon on it to, you know, basically, Encourage everyone and the awareness around, breast cancer.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Bill Bradford: And then at the end, once you go through the obstacles, there's this thing where you jump over this fire pit.

Uh, I was wondering

Ally Brettnacher: if there's fire in Spartan ones. I can't keep track of it. There's the Yeah. And the flame

Bill Bradford: shoot up and everything. Right? Right. so it just so happens there's a photographer at the end and, uh, we figure out, hey, let's, let's all do a big jump at the end, right? So

we get

it, and then we get to the end.

We had a blast. We're all muddy. And I, I don't know what it is about the angle of that camera, but when we jump, it looks like we're jumping like 10 feet in the air. but we're like, okay, here we go. This is what we're going for. Team Carey, she's gonna go, she's gonna go kick the crap outta this cancer.

Right? so we did it and she was really thrilled with the fact

that we're out there

supporting her and, at the end she says, Hey, you know, it'd be really cool.

we do this

again

next year, I said, yeah, we're gonna do this [00:57:00] next year, and you're going to have beat cancer. And she looks at me and she smiles and she says, yeah, that is what, that's, that's what we're going for.

So

I think this event was really good because, it brought awareness to the CrossFit community. So I, I think we had a couple other events throughout the year, uh, like a Saturday workout. We just made it a team carry workout. Mm-hmm. And so, like, people would come in, we bought these pink balloons and you know, she's, I think this might have been in January, she's midway through her, her battle with cancer and she hasn't beaten it yet, but she gave us a status update and she's like, you guys, you know, you guys are great.

The support's been amazing. I'm still fighting it though, you know? and then, you know, we would check in with her. I think April, she came back to the gym. We didn't know a whole lot, but then in May I texted her. I said, Hey. So what do you think? Should we do another team, Carrie? And she's like, yeah, and, and I beat cancer.

And so yeah. I'm like, this is amazing. Like, we did something that that helped out. at least in, in a small part. I think Carrie did all the [00:58:00] work herself.

Oh.

Oh yeah. But, she got to do it this year with me and this year we did the 5K. but uh, we did that big jump over the fire pit. It was even better than the year before.

you know, it's, it's a big dramatic way to, to, it's to celebrate. I think

Ally Brettnacher: that's so incredible. Carrie, you're amazing. If you're listening,

Bill Bradford: Carrie, you, you are an amazing person and, uh, you're an inspiration to all of us. So, yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: that's incredible. That's so, I mean, again, community is everything that just makes such a difference.

How many Spartan races do you think that you've done?

Bill Bradford: Okay. How many

Ally Brettnacher: are there? Like, are they all over the country? Oh,

Bill Bradford: they're so, oh man. Okay. So. I have a tendency

to get maybe a little too, um,

into things if you haven't noticed. so there are a lot, and I've done probably five at this point. so I got my wife to do this last one.

I, I

have gotten a little greedy with the fact that she, she did this last one with us, because I found that there's one in France. cause they have them all over the, they have these, isn't

Ally Brettnacher: it all over the world? They have

Bill Bradford: all over the world. I didn't know that. And so I was like, Hey Katie, [00:59:00] this one's in the fresh French Alps.

You wanna do this one? I was like, yeah, we could do this for our anniversary. And I, I

almost had her convinced. I was like, it's France. You love France. You love France.

What? Let's go. Right?

but we settled on Costa Rica. It's not a Spartan race. So to be continued, but yes, they

'em all over.

over.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

That's Ama Costa Rica sounds a little better. I mean, actually, I don't know. But if, for an anniversary trip, I would say I really would love to do an international race at some point. I've never done one. And to be able to do that would be amazing. And so I was have thought about, oh, maybe for our anniversary we could take a big trip and I could just tack on a marathon, but that's a good way for me to get in trouble.

Yeah.

Bill Bradford: I was gonna, yeah. Tacking on a marathon is not like, tacking on just a little bit extra. Right. You know, it is just, it is a lot. It's like the

Ally Brettnacher: whole trip. I mean, it's not just a little thing, but yeah. My friend Amanda Looper, who was recently on this podcast, she did that. Her and her husband went, for when she did Berlin and Berlin, they made a whole trip out of it.

I don't know. That [01:00:00] seems so hard, but. Cool. Yeah. Berlin's a

Bill Bradford: big one, isn't it?

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, yeah,

Bill Bradford: yeah. You bring interesting people onto your, onto your show. if you don't mind, I was gonna ask you, just, about the, event that you invited me to, the Lindsay hee Oh

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. That you guys ca you and Katie came and that was so nice.

Bill Bradford: It it was nice. And, so, for me, the reason it was nice was, that was right before the mini, it was the day

before the mini.

And, it was like, I, I don't know if, was that, was that intentional that you

Ally Brettnacher: Yes, we did it around the mini weekend and it all comes. My friend, a friend of mine is the GM at Bottleworks Hotel, Josh Rogers.

He's an incredible human. He's so talented. We met in another life when we both worked in software and he said before the monumental last year, you should do a live podcast here. And I was like, well, that'd be cool, but I don't have enough time to plan that this year. Yeah, let's, can we do something around the mini?

And he said, let's do it. And so we did. So, uh, I, Lindsay had been in town the year prior, and for anybody who doesn't know Lindsay Hein, she has Sandy Boy [01:01:00] Productions, which now my show is a part of, and she's had her podcast. I'll have another for like nine years now, coming on a decade. So anyway, she had been in town the year prior for the mini, and then I was like, Hey, if we get this event going, like, would you come in town again?

Mm-hmm. And so she did, and we got it all together and it was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to put on an event. Okay. But it was, it was so, I loved it. I wanna do it every year. So thanks for being there.

Bill Bradford: It was so, so Katie came with me and my, my wife, and You're welcome. Uh, it was, it was actually a huge, benefit to me, honestly, because, uh, like I said, I'm still brand new to this running thing. And so the, the fun part about that, just to bring it into context, was you, sh now did you bring the two guests on or did she,

Ally Brettnacher: so she brought Kim Conley. Okay. Um, and then I brought Cam.

Bill Bradford: Okay. Mm-hmm. So Kim was what, the 800 meter What fif,

Ally Brettnacher: uh, oh, was it 800 or 1500? I can't remember. I'm sorry. I think you're right.

1500. It was a little

Bill Bradford: bit longer than 800.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: So she's kind of like a, a mid range. She's [01:02:00] not sprinter. She's more of a, like, not a distance,

Ally Brettnacher: middle, middle distance. Well, now she does, she's done some distance, but yeah, .

Bill Bradford: She had this

incredible like, focus, when you listen to her story about how

went from being, I think, what was it, seventh place to all the way to placing third place so she could get to the Olympics.

And she basically, and I'm gonna, I, I hope I don't butcher her story, but

the, the best part

about her story is like, she thought she

wasn't gonna qualify and basically

she just closed her eyes and

just like gave it

everything she had to the point where she didn't even. Realized that she

catching up to all of

other really amazing athletes.

And by the end, by the end of it, she was way ahead and she had actually qualified just by like,

almost like giving up like inhibitions, if I

remember right.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. And so I was like, so that, that's kind of the mentality that that's why it was

a benefit to

me to be there, because [01:03:00] that's the kind of speed that I'm going for now.

now that I'm working on 5K speed.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Bill Bradford: I wanna

get for this

5K. Like I said, I get better every, every year. I'm at

a 2107. I

got third place in a race in October.

That was the fir or no? Yeah, in October. No, I'm sorry. That was in November.

it

the gobble gallop in

Ava.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Oh, okay.

Bill Bradford: That was the first one I ever

for. That's the PR I'm chasing right now, which is

a

2107.

Ally Brettnacher: What pace is that?

Bill Bradford: That was a, just under seven. Just under seven when we Yeah, I wanna say 6 59.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, there you go. Six 50.

Bill Bradford: Yeah, that's what I'm chasing right now. So I need

that

of like mentality.

Mm-hmm. and I love this Colts 5K because it, it ends up on the 50 yard line,

Uh,

every year. So what I do is, uh, once I hit the, the grass, 'cause it that's what you, I pretend that I have the football and I'm just like going running. That's so great. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like it's the Super Bowl or something.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: And the pictures always turn out great 'cause I'm just giving it everything I've got. I need that kind [01:04:00] of

mentality that I'm getting to the point now where the prs are Harding harder to get.

Yeah. because I'm getting faster

so

like if I get a, a PR by like eight or nine seconds, I'm super happy because.

like the last PR was incredibly fast. Yeah. Uh, before that. so Cam, on the other

for

your, event that you had with Lindsay Hein, there was a huge contrast between her kind of intensity and his kind of intensity because Cam was this guy who had run completely across America.

Ally Brettnacher: No, around.

Bill Bradford: Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: around.

It's crazy. Around He did. He did the perimeter.

Bill Bradford: Yes.

yes. Yeah. How'd

Ally Brettnacher: you find him? He, I was introduced to Cam, well, I, I think I first, so Misha Track Club is TJ Dailey's Club, and he, they put on events and so I, you know, the full mo, is one of their events. Okay. And I, I think I ended up just seeing that he, that Cam was doing this, like, because I follow TJ and, and [01:05:00] MTC and just saw that he was gonna run around the United States.

I'm like, that's wild. And I had TJ on my podcast and then that's what led me ultimately to being introduced to Cam and having him on the podcast. And so I'd had him on the podcast. And so when we were talking about who to have for this live event, you know, Lindsay, she interviews pro athletes, like that's her jam.

And for me, I'm like. I interview people who are not pros. Right. And like

Bill Bradford: me. Like you. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: And it's fun. And, and Cam is not a pro. No. But he ran around the perimeter in the United States and so it just seemed like a good balance. so that's how, yeah, that's how I found him. And yeah, he's just incredible.

Bill Bradford: He, he really is incredible. so, a couple highlights of that one he, did he start in Cleveland or He started in Indiana. He

Ally Brettnacher: started in Ohio somewhere. I

Bill Bradford: forgot. Yeah. Somewhere there. And he said he started, what, what did he have to hit? Like a 40 mile or something like that? Mm-hmm. I might be getting that wrong, but he said, oh yeah.

When I first started out, I

was like

trying to run an eight, [01:06:00] minute mile the whole way. And then I learned very quickly that I can't do that. And I'm like, well, if he's not an Olympian, like he, he could be. Yeah. If he was doing that eight minute mile for that long is, is absolutely amazing. But I think he said he got like day three or four in, and then he is like, okay, I need to like actually enjoy this.

Right. the other thing too, he had this, little kit, cart behind it. Oh yeah. The kid, the kid

the kid runner.

And, it contained all of his stuff. So I was like, as he was talking at this event, I'm like, looking it up and I'm like, he, I'm looking at a picture of this thing. I'm like, he really ran around with this thing around his waist and he did.

And as he's talking about it, he is like, oh yeah, the, the wheels would like break.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my

Bill Bradford: gosh. Yeah. He said like, broke like eight times. Oh my gosh. And he'd be like, in the middle of Montana or something.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: And he'd be like, uh, I have no idea how I'm gonna get outta this situation. So like these, random strangers at like a coffee shop would be like, Hey dude.

Uh. I can take you to Walmart if you [01:07:00] want, and you can get like a replacement to the Yeah, yeah. Tire. So, he was, and I mean,

he, he didn't sound like Forrest Gump, but he kind of looked

like him a little

too. Oh, totally. With the beard and

Ally Brettnacher: the hair. Yeah. Yeah. When you see him, like, with a hat in these pictures of him, like running in the middle of nowhere, you're like, yeah, you're basically Forrest Gump

Bill Bradford: ba basically.

Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Anyways, kudos to you for bringing those two together in Indianapolis the day before, the Indie Mini. And, so that's another one that I, I set a PR on. And so

like in the back

my mind I'm thinking, okay, if this guy can run around the country with a kit, right?

right? And, this other person can close their eyes and get a, a qualifier for the Olympics, I can hit a pr.

So, this

year I was

1 43 52 which, which

beat my previous record from. The monumental of last year, by about nine seconds.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: So,

yeah. Oh, and uh, I was gonna ask you about Lindsay. So,

did you know

before or Yes.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. She used to live here in Indianapolis. Okay. And so [01:08:00] I met her when she lived here and we weren't like friends where we'd like hang out, but I would follow her on social media.

I listened to her podcast. I met her at a, you know, race I think a couple times. Just like in passing. Yeah. And then I also used to organize this, group called Linking Indie Women, where we had a monthly event and we'd have a woman from the community come speak and tell her story. Okay. So Lindsay, I asked to do that one of these months and it was like her first speaking gig she ever had.

And it is kind of cool 'cause it kind of, it's just interesting how everything kind of circles back piggybacks and like ties together. Yeah. But, so I kept in touch with her over the years and when I got into the running space. I reached out to her to get her feedback and then I started a podcast and I didn't tell her about it at all because I was like, I'm not gonna even try to talk to her until I know that I can do this.

And so, yeah. And so then at one point I was asked to be part of a podcast network. Oh. And I thought, well, if I'm gonna be part of a podcast [01:09:00] network, I should be part of Lindsay's podcast. Never. 'cause I know her. Yeah. And so that's how that all came to be. And now I consider her a coworker, certainly. Okay.

And a friend too. So it's nice to have a partner in crime of sorts. And she's amazing. So, I'm so lucky.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. So you guys are all part of this like community,

network of

podcasters. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Ally Brettnacher: Yep.

Bill Bradford: Oh,

and that was another thing at the event too. There were other

there. Yes,

Ally Brettnacher: I

know. I, uh, yeah.

Bill Bradford: So, there were all these interesting,

there was like a question

answer at the end.

And,

Yeah. They were the first people to raise their hands. Were always like, Hey, I'm the host of blah, blah, blah. Hey, I'm the host of this podcast. Yeah, yeah.

yeah. Local

indie news. So, yeah. Uh, yeah, I, so I got like,

I got to learn

about the, Olympic community, the long distance, uh, force Gump community.

Yeah. The Lindsay,

Yep. Community. And then the other,

other local

Yeah. All of those things happened at, at that one event. So yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: It was so cool. Thanks again. Yeah. For being there. It was, I, it filled me up. I hope we can do something around monumental. We are [01:10:00] going to try, so stay tuned.

Bill Bradford: Yeah, that's,

that's what I was gonna ask

'cause if you're gonna do another one, that'd be awesome. Yeah.

I

don't think I'm at that level where I would be a guest yet, but, maybe you can find a,

Ally Brettnacher: Hey. I mean, if we have an everyday runner panel, which I have thought about too, because there's, you learn a lot from Olympians and pros and people like that, but also I feel like I relate so much to people who are.

Living life, having a job and still chasing these prs and doing crazy things, I think that's pretty cool. Which is why I have the show. So,

Bill Bradford: yeah.

Yeah. What, so like what's, what's your favorite part about, about being a podcaster is

just

like,

Ally Brettnacher: oh, I, I didn't realize that I was gonna build a community. It, I mean, I guess looking back now it seems kind of dumb, but like now I have all these new friends Yeah.

Who all love something I love and a lot of them are local and then I get to introduce them to each other. Yeah. And it just is really cool. So yeah, that's my favorite is just getting to meet. All these amazing people.

Bill Bradford: Do you think the the local, community here in indie is

is

[01:11:00] pretty strong around running or mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I do. And I think it's getting just even stronger Yeah. As our events, like the Carmel Marathon and like monumental, continue to level up Yeah. And just get bigger and there's more races on the scene, and it's just, it's really fun to be a part of.

Bill Bradford: It's interesting because I, I'm, I'm recalling now, when I was in Vegas, I think I had an Uber driver who was, he's like, oh, you're doing the, the, uh, run Las Vegas?

I was like, yeah. He said, where are you from? And I said, Indiana. He said, oh, yeah. There's a lot of, a lot of runners in Indiana. It's like a really, oh yeah. And I, I had never heard of that. Yeah. You're

yeah,

like,

Ally Brettnacher: I guess,

Bill Bradford: yeah. Well, I think on your last podcast you were talking about how Colorado

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Is right.

Is like the place to go. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. So, so that, that actually might be

a, a good

into the next thing. So I. You had asked

about hi rocks.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. Because what the heck is this? I see it everywhere and I have no idea. I haven't looked into it. So tell us.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. So I looked up an answer for you and I, I put it in my notes, but let's see how I do.

HIX is kind

[01:12:00] a newer thing. but, uh, the reason why I I'm thinking of Colorado is because I'm, I'm planning to do a HYROX competition in, November with, my friend, Andrea.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. From,

Bill Bradford: from high school. She was a, a, cross country, champion, back when we were in high school.

Okay. We're only like, it's, it's weird. We're only like six or seven days apart. Right? But she was this, uh, amazing runner in high school and, she had, she had, she had. Seen all of these, uh, Spartan runs in the podcast mm-hmm. And stuff that had been going on. She's like, Hey, could we do this, this HYROX thing together?

So I've been doing some simulations here in Indie,

and I, I did with one, with a partner. I'm gonna do this one with her,

but you can do a, uh, either singles or doubles division. And, the best way I can sum it up is it's like a, a CrossFit competition that focuses mostly on endurance and speed, not on strength.

Uh,

if you can imagine kind of like a hybrid between, distance running, kind of like, the one [01:13:00] guest

were talking about, that

does the Olympian. Okay. Yeah. Uh, yeah. So e everything is, bookended,

all of

these stations

by, a

one kilometer run. So you start off with a one kilometer run

and then,

the first station would be rowing.

So then you do like a thousand meter

row.

Jesus. Um, and when you have a partner, it's actually not bad

you just split

it up. 500.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: Each.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: And then you do a one kilometer, run.

And then, uh, after

that, then you do, um, a thousand meter,

uh, ski erg. Uh, have you seen a ski UR machine? Oh,

Ally Brettnacher: I don't think so.

Bill Bradford: A lot of people aren't familiar with

but, uh, I remember

Ally Brettnacher: the Nordic track ones. Yeah. Is that what it is?

Bill Bradford: It's very similar to Nordic Track, but the Nordic track you might

be like interval on this one. You're actually like bringing both

of them

down at the same

time and pushing off. Yeah. Push. Yeah.

It's like, it's like cross country skiing, basically. Wow. That's awesome.

it's like a vertical rower, really.

but it's definitely something you wanna practice. Geez, that sounds like it would be hard if you hadn't. yeah, and well, we noticed that. [01:14:00] So,

my, my friend Ian and I just did one, at,

I think, was it called Myriad Fitness Downtown Indy.

Okay. We did our first, our first simulation, and, we did it, we

pretty good, but we noticed that the teams that didn't have the rowing or the

skiers down,

they didn't have a good scheme

behind or a good

form.

they were really, really struggling.

Whereas since

we were going to CrossFit, it was pretty natural for us.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: it's really taking off, because it, I, I think it started probably about two years ago, but

I

think a lot of people

are finding

they enjoy CrossFit, they enjoy all

of the, um, benefits of it,

but they also wanna be, uh, even more of a hybrid athlete in this endurance space.

So the

good news is if you

do CrossFit and maybe even if you like, run a little bit, it's very accessible. Whereas, you know, like you said, CrossFit, it was, very intimidating

at

first. There's, you know, people, you know, snatching 225

pounds over their head and, doing, handstand walks and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. There's no handstand walks, there's no muscle up, there's no like, [01:15:00] heavy lifting. It's, wall balls. So you

like a hundred wall balls at one station. Oh my God. Uh, and then you do a one

kilometer, and then you do, uh,

a sled push

a sled pull. I would say the biggest thing as far as

you're familiar with HIIT

workouts.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: the biggest thing that's gonna

get your heart

rate up

is gonna be the wall balls, and then also these bur beam

Ally Brettnacher: no.

Bill Bradford: burpee broad jumps. So you

have to, do them, you hit the ground, you jump up, and then you jump as, as,

as far as you can hit the ground. You do this over and over, your heart rate gets up pretty high.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, yeah.

Bill Bradford: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: And for people who don't know what hi hit is it's high intensity interval training. So it's like where you get your heart rate up really high for a kind of a shorter amount of time, recover and then repeat.

Bill Bradford: You do. And, so I, I, I like

to wear

a, a fitness tracker mm-hmm. So I can kind of see, you know, when am I, redlining or

am I getting into zone four, zone five.

Yeah. but yeah, it, so High

ROCs is really taking off my gym.

CrossFit Gym is a, it's a CrossFit gym and

it's

the Indiana [01:16:00] affiliate.

For HYROX, and so interesting.

Uh, yeah. And so it, it sounds like other

gyms are, are just now, trying to do that in the area too. But, these events sell out very fast and, they're a lot of fun and, uh, they're getting really, really popular. So I'm really looking

forward to it. the, the fun part

about doing it with a partner though, is like, so my friend Andrea's in, in Colorado, and, uh, I think probably about two or three weeks ago we decided we were gonna do this thing.

And so she's in Colorado, she's training for it. I'm training for it, and like, you know, once a

week we'll be like,

kind of texting back and forth. Mm-hmm. Like, Hey, what's your time? You know, and so like, what's your time on the skier? And, you know,

Hey, what, what pace do you wanna run the kilometer at? Well, I'm at, I'm at

about a seven 50 pace, like when I'm sprinting, so

we're trying to figure out like how we're gonna all do

this together.

Mm-hmm.

yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot of fun. But,

I was

gonna ask you about the HIIT workouts. So

in the, in the running community, do you see a lot of [01:17:00] folks that are doing that kind of like cross training with the running? Or is there a lot of just like strict,

like running

athletes?

Ally Brettnacher: Well, I would say, well, a good running coach is gonna incorporate cross training for sure.

And so today I told you, you asked me if I had gotten a run in and I said, no. Today on my calendar I've got Peloton. And so my coach has me doing a 30 minute, she just said like a fun ride, just like pick one. They have like, you know, just good music basically. And then a 15 minute hit ride. Which I'm already dreading, but yeah.

So she'll program stuff like that for me. Or there's different types of like running classes too on Peloton Okay. With interval stuff or hit and hills where you'll do some sprint work and some like some, uh, incline. So yeah. It's not my favorite thing cross training 'cause I love running so much. Yeah. But I have realized, you know, as I'm trying to feel as good as I can and as I'm trying to chase my best times, it's so important for me to do that kind of stuff.

So, yeah.

Bill Bradford: Do, do you like, on the

Peloton, do you like having

that [01:18:00] screen there and then

having,

like the interaction because there's, there's like a coach there, right? Mm-hmm. That kinda like coaches you through

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: And, tells you when to maybe like, kick it

up a notch. Yeah. And it's all live.

Ally Brettnacher: Uh, it's actually, most of it is on demand.

Bill Bradford: Is it? Okay. So there,

Ally Brettnacher: there are live classes available pretty much every day.

Bill Bradford: Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: I don't do live classes that often 'cause I just like to get on the bike whenever I want and not be, you know, have that dictated by somebody else. They also, I can watch Netflix on it.

Bill Bradford: Oh, there

you go. So

Ally Brettnacher: if I have an easy, like, what's it called?

Like a low, low impact ride. Mm-hmm. I'll just turn on Netflix. There you go. And just, yeah. Not push myself. Like, I just try to keep it. Yeah. Do you have like a

Bill Bradford: show that like gets you motivated to run? Like,

Ally Brettnacher: you know, it's funny because I don't really watch shows that get me motivated, like, that are like inspiring.

I watch shows that are like, mostly like garbage tv just to like, because I, that's the time where I feel like I can get away with doing it. Yep. And so it's entertaining and it kind of just takes my mind off of like doing the work. And [01:19:00] so I, yeah, it's, if I have a interval workout, I'm not necessarily watching tv.

It depends. I'll try to do it outside, but if I am doing it on the treadmill. I might still watch something else, but it's not something that's like, yeah. If I watch an action movie of some sort, it can be kind fun. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm like, okay, he look at him, Ron, you've

I

Bill Bradford: could do

Ally Brettnacher: the same thing.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: so I, that kinda reminds me

so,

so some, some races that I, and maybe I'll still play the

card here.

some races that I do sometimes I just want

do to complete. Yeah. Um,

so that, that may be the case for this

marathon that I do.

But also,

so there's this really fun event.

It's, uh, run the night. Uh, have you heard of it? I don't, I don't think I, I have, trying to decide if I have,

Ally Brettnacher: I'm not sure. You said it was at Eagle Creek?

Bill Bradford: It's at Eagle Creek. I did my first one last year. And so

that one you have to wear a headlamp

and it's pitch blackout. It was so hot. Right. and, I am doing it and, you know, it's, there's a little bit of mud here and there, and actually we.

[01:20:00] This is gonna sound, bad, but we

won. We're like.

you know, I was running with my

friend and we were

watching

this, person in front

of us just like,

injure

their ankle

and just like double over, like, falling down.

like,

I was like, okay, I'm not gonna approach this with the same approach of like a

running race, right?

Where I'm

trying to beat everybody. I'm literally just gonna try to survive this. So when I'm running and listening to stuff, I might just listen to like,

Ali on the run.

or like you

Or like, you

uh, like a, like a podcast. Totally. Instead of like, just like something like with a rhythm or a beat.

Oh, actually, there's another thing I

bring up to you. So I went to a running clinic, back in,

wanna say March at the Runner's Forum. Have you ever been to one Uhuh?

Uhuh?

this one was a lot of fun. so I. When, uh, when I went to this thing, the purpose of it was on running form.

And so, Shocker. They said,

make sure your land,

your feet land perfectly square

the ground.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. No

Bill Bradford: pronating, no. Mm-hmm.

You know, and [01:21:00] so

I was like, okay, I should have known that.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm. Um, and

Bill Bradford: then they also talked about like your, your, uh, what was it, your, not beats per minute, but, um, cadence. Cadence. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it should be around 1 65. So, um, one of the things they had us do was like.

Actually pull out like a, was it

metrodome.

Yeah. And uh, like,

just

kinda like practice running in place, at a beat of like, I think 1 65. So I found out you can actually do that. Did you know this on Spotify? You know what I'm talking

Ally Brettnacher: about? Oh. That you can search for songs that have the right beat.

Yeah. I've never done it, but I knew you could. Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: They said if you ever

get bored

and you like, are sick of listening to the same songs, just go to Spotify and type in 1 65 BPM. And

then it's gonna be like all the

songs

Ally Brettnacher: will just be the right tempo. It's really smart. Yeah. And you can just run to that tempo.

Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Bradford: So, going back to the community, you know,

the more you're

around mm-hmm. People that, know what they're doing, the more tips and trick tricks you get.

and so yeah, those are, those are two things that that work for me. And it really depends on the purpose, Like I said, if I'm just trying to survive this run.

Yeah. [01:22:00] I'll listen to a podcast. If it's gonna be

one that's like really intense,

we'll, we'll go towards the, and really try to like focus on that cadence. Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah. Yeah. That's actually a perfect segue to the end of the podcast questions. Sure. Is there anything else we missed?

Bill Bradford: no. No. I think, I think we covered everything.

Yeah. I can't

Ally Brettnacher: look how long we've been talking.

We've

talking for It's like 90 minutes.

Bill Bradford: 90 minutes. Isn't that wild?

Ally Brettnacher: So, um, so good segue. 90 good minutes. 90 great minutes. So the first question that I ask everybody on this podcast is, what's your favorite running mantra and or song?

Bill Bradford: Uh, so mine's probably gonna be a little embarrassing,

but

I'm gonna say it anyways.

and, I forget the movie. Was it Finding Nemo? Oh, finding Nemo. Yeah. So there's this part where, the little fish is, Just keep

swimming. Just keep swimming.

Just keep swimming. Yeah. So I just like change it to my head. Change it to, uh, just keep running.

Ally Brettnacher: You know what's really funny, bill? What's that?

My kid, my kid was literally watching Finding Nemo this

morning. It was,

I swear, like, she, I was like, do you wanna watch, you know, we [01:23:00] go through this argument every morning when she wants to watch something and I'm like, okay. We've settled on Finding Nemo,

Bill Bradford: finding there's a lot of

wisdom in Finding Nemo.

There sure is. Great.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. And then what about song?

Bill Bradford: Um, my favorite song. Oh, okay.

Ally Brettnacher: Or like one that you play to get you fired up. Like if it comes on, you're like, okay. Like, I'm gonna run through all

Bill Bradford: Yeah.

You know what's a good one is, thunderstruck by ac CDC. Do you like that one? That

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. Except for the fact that the Pacers did not beat the Thunder.

Ah,

Bill Bradford: yeah. Yeah, because I,

Ally Brettnacher: they were playing it on I could hear it. Oh, that they were playing it in the stadium too

Bill Bradford: soon?

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, too soon. The day after. I know we were recording this the day after. The Pacers bad timing. Go. Did not win. Bad, bad timing. Yeah. Geez. Way to talk about thunder. Yeah. Yeah. Um, no, that song is class is going great.

Until then. Until then, now we gotta go. Yeah. well, I'm sure somebody listening will be happy that the Thunder won. I hope not. If you're listening and you like the thunder, just get outta here. I'm just, I don't care. Ghost sports. Okay. So I'm gonna

Bill Bradford: redeem Go Sports and I'm gonna redeem myself because they played the Colts.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Bill Bradford: Too. And we talked [01:24:00] a lot about the Colts today.

Ally Brettnacher: We did,

Bill Bradford: yes. Yeah. So it's the Colt song. in my mind it's

a cult song. It's not, not a OKC song, so,

Ally Brettnacher: yeah.

Well, and they also, actually, this is embarrassing. One of the shows I watched on the treadmill was the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders documentary. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And that, that's their song too. Thunderstruck. They play it. And so like, I can't That's right. They do. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway,

Bill Bradford: I noticed that too. It might as well be everybody's song. So yeah. It's a, it's

Ally Brettnacher: a good song. and then your next finish line and, or milestone, so you mentioned the Next Marathon.

So what are you training for right now and what, maybe you could walk us through the PRS that you're chasing.

Bill Bradford: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. hang on just a second. You gotta

Ally Brettnacher: cheat for that 'cause Yeah, yeah. I do

Bill Bradford: have to cheat. I was

Ally Brettnacher: trying to remember what my, 'cause when you said your half marathon pr I'm like, mine's close.

Mine's like 1 43 41 I think.

Bill Bradford: What's that?

Ally Brettnacher: My half marathon is one 40. 3 41. That's really

good.

Bill Bradford: That's,

Ally Brettnacher: I think that is really good. When did you do that? Thank you. not last year, but the year before. Would that have been 23? Yeah. 2023.

Bill Bradford: 2023.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Because

it was [01:25:00] not the wind year because 22 it was really windy at monumental.

Mm-hmm. And that was the first year I ever did the full marathon at Monumental. And it was so windy. And then the next, that was just like, I'm trying to just finish for that year and then half marathon pr and then last year I got my marathon pr.

Bill Bradford: Maybe you had a great win pushing you the whole time, right?

Yeah. That's why you got it. Yeah. Yeah. so I am chasing a lot of things actually. And again, I. For those of you who don't have a coach, if you are considering getting one, I think this is a really good reason to do that. I have like three goals that I'm chasing and it's a perfect time to do it 'cause it's over the summer and there's a lot of really good races coming up, here in Indie.

So my 5K, I am trying to get it, under 2106 and yeah, like I said, that's the race that I've been doing and getting better at every single year.

so I'm training

on that and we're doing a lot of intervals to, so like short intervals too, like even 20 and second.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Right. 20 and 32nd pushes.

Bill Bradford: Yeah, I'll

do like ton of them.

And yeah, with like [01:26:00] a little warmup in between or a little cool down. But yeah, it's a

very, very, quick interval, for. Then I'm also doing it, so that's in September, on September 6th.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Bill Bradford: On September

12th, I think I'm doing the

geist. Oh yeah, that's a 10 K. I am trying to get under

51 minutes, I

believe for that one.

Okay.

under 51

24. And that'll be at,

at about a seven 40 pace is what I'm pushing for. How hilly

Ally Brettnacher: is the 10 k course?

Bill Bradford: so at

the Geist, I think they said it was a little hilly, but you, you go right

along, along the reservoir.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Bill Bradford: They said it's beautiful. So it is.

Ally Brettnacher: I've done the half marathon there a bunch of times.

Oh, have you? That's

Bill Bradford: awesome. So, so that's a

good one

go to. It is

Ally Brettnacher: good, but it's hilly. So just, I mean, you're obviously doing all the right cross training for that kind of stuff, but you just might wanna check the elevation for the 10 K. 'cause I don't know about the 10 K, but Yeah. I mean, people still pr geist as their half marathon pr, like really, I think elevation can be a great change of muscle groups and stuff, so,

Bill Bradford: yeah.

I like hills too.

but yeah, [01:27:00] I, I think, I think the

cross training will help. Yeah. I

think the intervals will help. but yeah, I'll, I'll check in to see what,

what the elevation, it can't be nearly as bad as, that that

one, that is in October at Fort Ben. I think you were gonna say that. Super hilly.

I don't

Ally Brettnacher: think it's that bad. Think, I think I was just talking to the, actually the guy who started that race and cause it'll be the 30th year this year. And

I think

Geist is a lot hillier actually. So, okay.

Bill Bradford: So I'm

in for some hills.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So I'm just fair warning. Yeah. I'm not trying to like crush your dreams because you're gonna get it, but just so you know.

Bill Bradford: Yeah. Well at the running clinic they said, we talked about

that. So

I think they said you should,

I mean, again, it's common

but

should on a hill, that's what they said.

Most of

your energy should be expended going uphill. Mm-hmm. And then, you can kind of hit the brakes on

way down. 'cause you don't wanna, you don't wanna gas yourself

on the way down.

Right. That's, that's the best way to do it. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, totally.

Bill Bradford: My last goal is, monumental This year. I wanna do under one 40. My last goal, my last was like one four, basically your time. 1 43. but I, [01:28:00] I think, you know,

we have some good

weather and, I'm able to continue with my training program, which I am,

I think I'll, be able to hit that goal.

And then, and then the last thing is the, the, the monumental the following year. That's when, uh, I think we're gonna be training for the, do the full again.

Do the full.

So, okay. Nice. Yeah. This, this year's gonna be more, kinda shorter distances, improving times. Mm-hmm. The next year's gonna be, distance, so I love that.

Yeah. So exciting. It's very exciting. And, I think the cool thing about doing all of this is that you also

get to

listen to your podcast while you're doing it. Hearing about all these people that are really, really amazing and all the tips and tricks that they, they've learned too. Yeah. So for sure, I think it's been a really.

great benefit

to listen to your show. And also thank you for having me on today. I really enjoyed being a guest.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh. It was so fun, bill. And it all started on an airplane. All

Bill Bradford: started on an

Ally Brettnacher: an airplane.

Well, thank you to everybody who's listened as well, and happy running. Hooray.

Bill Bradford: Hooray.

if you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones, please be sure to share with [01:29:00] your friends rate review, share. Did I say share? And that's the best way to tell other people about this show. If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm Ally, A-L-L-Y-T, Brett, B-R-E-T-T, alle t Brett runs, and you can also follow Bill.

Bill is Bill dot Bradford, B-R-A-D-F-O-R-D two, so you can see his crazy handstands. And so thanks for listening this week, and I'll talk to you soon.