Running, Biking and Swimming Towards a Cure

I hope you are enjoying a happy and healthy start to 2010! I have recently started training to participate in the South Maui Triathlon on June 13, 2010 as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. As a member of Team In Training, I am raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I have committed to raise $5,500 before April 6th, my Commitment Day. On top of this $5,500 that I hope to raise, I will be personally donating $1 for every person that I receive a donation from. Now, I know what you are saying...what is that extra $1 really going to do. Well, I have sent this letter in some form to well over 500 people, so the more you spread the word the more I get to give!

I have dedicated myself to this training and fundraising because I wanted to give back to and help LLS which has helped someone very important to me over the last year. For those of you who do not know, my girlfriend Katie was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in April. Throughout the nine months of her chemotherapy treatment, LLS generously provided Katie with support that helped enormously during this difficult period. On top of this, it is quite possible that without the dedicated research efforts of LLS, the treatments that successfully defeated Katie's cancer would not have been discovered! I cannot express to you how thankful I am for all that LLS has done to help Katie and I hope that my efforts can allow LLS to continue their great work.

As I train, one stroke, pedal and stride at a time, it is with hope that I can make a difference in the lives of other cancer patients and their families who can benefit from LLS. This year, an estimated 140,000 new cases of blood cancers will be diagnosed nationwide, and some 53,000 patients will die. It is my hope that through my fundraising efforts, I can work towards changing these numbers, both with the money I raise and by teaching others of ways that we all can work together toward a cure.

Taking on this triathlon will be a big challenge for me. Anyone who has witnessed my attempts at swimming can attest to how far I will have to come to complete the .93 mile swim. When I played lacrosse at Colby College, my efforts to simply tread water or do the butterfly during our in-season pool workouts kept my teammates and coaches very entertained as I struggled to stay afloat. While this will be a challenge for me, I am inspired by Katie's courage throughout her battle with cancer and I know this will always keep me going till I reach the finish line. I know that with her spirit and your support throughout my training, I will be successful in completing my goal of finishing this triathlon and helping to bring an end to blood cancers.

Please help me reach my fundraising goal by making a completely tax-deductible donation to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The great part about donating to LLS is that $.76 from each dollar that they receive goes directly to support for patients and research to improve treatments. Donations can be made either on my Team In Training home page (http://pages.teamintraining.org/mn/kingtri10/dschupack) or by sending a check to my home address (checks payable to LLS). You can also check with your employer to see if they match gifts as this would instantly double your help to ending blood cancers! I hope you will visit my Website often to see my progress both in fundraising and in training. Thanks for your support!

Dan Schupack

3300 Girard Ave S. APT 24

Minneapolis, MN 55408

danschupack@gmail.com

Cell: 203-671-9549

Training week 1:

The swim is going to be more of a challenge then I had originally thought. I was able to swim 300 meters in 10 minutes at the end of the workout but I had to stop after each lap...that wall will not be there to hold onto when I'm in the ocean! I also traded in the team run this week for 2 days of skiing. Not exactly the same workout (clearly more fun) but hopefully just getting my leg muscles working again will be helpful. This might be regretted next week when everyone is a week ahead of me.

Training Week 2:

Finally got in the first run training of the season and was happy to find the Greenway not as covered with snow as one might expect. Im not sure how training on these ice patches will help when I am running in Hawaii, but I guess I will be prepared for anything if I can run on this (occasional oil slick or banana peel maybe?). We had a special guest coach here this weekend as well, as Mary, a former Colby swimmer, was in town for a visit. It was great to get some extra help from someone so experienced in a pool. With her help I was able to swim a lot farther in this weeks team session, but still do not have the endurance to go for more than a few laps without stopping. I am by far the worst in our intermediate group so I will see if I stay there much longer.

Training Week 3:

As I expected I am making a week or two stop to the beginner swim group to work on form... A little embarrassing but I can't say I am surprised. After a session in this group I can already feel that I am getting the concepts down better and with work will be back in the intermediate group soon enough. On a positive note, the run training is going better than I had anticipated. I am having no trouble doing the good old Lake Calhoun loop (about 4 miles) in just about 34 minutes. I would like to get my mile pace under 8, down around 7 minutes, but with the race still over 3 months away I'm happy with where I am here. So far the biking has been pretty standard. We are just doing spinning sessions now since this is Minnesota and early Spring here is more like winter in some other places. We have had 4 days straight of 37+ (45 maybe today!) and they finally ended our winter parking ban today so I am looking forward to getting out on the road to get some real bike practice soon.

Training Week 4:

Instead of a run this week we had a scavenger hunt/amazing race type event around the Twin Cities where we were only allowed to run, walk or take the bus. Although my team failed to get back on time (the buses really are slow when everyone is out and about on a sunny Saturday) it ended up being really fun and I got to see many things around the area that I hadn’t seen in my year plus here. Despite the use of the bus, I still got a lot of running in and it was good to let me body feel what its like to work out all day (we went from 10-2). On the bike this week we started working on hills, which is a little funny when you are biking in a flat indoor room. Im sure it will help though as a good part of the bike will be going up the side of a volcanic mountain. Swimming is still challenging me, but I am feeling more confident and my endurance is increasing.

Training Week 5-7:

Sorry I have not updated this recently, things have gotten quite busy here. It was great to see so many friends and supporters in DC a few weekends ago at the annual Doghead (St. Patty’s Day) celebration. It was also great to see that the all day festivities didn’t take too much out of me as I was still able to run well and at about the same pace when I got back on Monday. I have made some huge strides in the pool over the last few weeks and officially moved back up into the intermediate group. I feel much more comfortable in the water now and in the last 2 workouts was able to swim 900 meters and 1200 meters respectively. Being able to complete these distances in our new location (50 meter pool instead of 25 meter) has really helped my swimming mentality and I am confident that by race day I will be able to complete 1500 meters for sure. With the early spring and warm weather we have had here, we officially had our last indoor bike session last week. I am really excited to test out my new (new to me but probably also older than me) bike on the trails this week. Running has still been going great. I did over 7 miles last weekend (although it was accidental as I missed the turn around spot by about a mile) and it felt great to go farther than I will have to in the real race. Thank you again for all of your support, I hope you know how much it means to me and helps me to get through the tough workouts!

Fundraising Update:

I just wanted to thank everyone who has supported me so far. I reached my original goal so much faster than I could have expected. You all have gone above and beyond the call of duty and I can’t thank you enough. I also wanted to say to those who still want to donate, please do not be discouraged to support just because I have met my original goal. Although I am officially going to Hawaii now, cancer is still damaging peoples lives and taking loved ones away from us everyday. I have decided to raise my personal goal up to $7,500 because LLS needs all the support it can get in its quest to wipe out blood cancers and I know that we can get there.

(P.S. I am also in second place overall in fundraising out of the 100+ people training for triathlons here in the Twin Cities so keep up the good work! It would be a pretty cool accomplishment for all of Cheshire/Colby/DC/wherever I know you from to be part of the top fundraising group in a city all the way across the country!)

Training Week 8-12 Update:

Sorry again for not updating this sooner the last month has really flown by. Training has really been going well recently. I have become much more comfortable in the pool and at our last workout was able to swim continuously for about 30 minutes, swimming 1200 meters or 4/5 of the race. We will be jumping in Lake Minnetonka this Sunday to get our first open water swim training in. I know that this will truly test whether I am ready for the race because open water is a whole different ball game than the pool. I am looking forward to this challenge because if I can make it in the frigid lakes here in Minnesota, I’m sure I will be fine in the bathtub like conditions of the South Pacific. (Luckily it is supposed to be 90 on Sunday to partly cancel out the cold lake)

Since we have been outside now, we have moved from just simply biking or running to doing what they call a “brick”. This is where you train as if you were doing the race and hop right off your bike and go for a run. I wasn’t sure how necessary this was until the first session when my legs were so wobbly after biking that I nearly fell over multiple times in the first mile running. I am glad to have learned how to deal with this now and not on race day! Other than that biking and running have been going well. I did crash my bike last week and have the scraped right elbow and knee to prove it...don’t worry I rolled right onto my feet and came up laughing. The addition of new pedals with toe clips that keep my feet on (its amazing how hard that can be when you are really pushing it) will ensure that this was my one and only crash.

I want to thank everyone again for the support, I know that I would not be as ready for the race as I am without having everyone behind me. Look for more updates over the next few weeks before the race.