Week 13 Wrap-up

With the racing season officially underway, Week 13 was back to more routine training—still not getting nearly enough sleep, but overall, I think I handled the training volume OK under the circumstances. I did another swim in Diamond Lake in Mundelein—it’s murky enough to help me overcome the initial panic of getting in the lake and one of the few lakes in the area that has a decent swimming area. Early Saturday morning (and I mean early), I drug myself out of bed (or, more accurately, off my friend Theresa’s couch—she happens to live in Mundelein and invited me over Friday night to hang out with her family and then crash so I’d be at least a little closer to Madison) and headed north to Madison, where I was slated to meet up with Jeremy, Sue and Michele to ride the out-and-back section of the course plus one loop. First, though, I met up with Claire, a friend from my hometown for whom I used to babysit. We met at the Madison Farmers’ Market and walked around for about an hour, catching up on life, work, etc. while we wandered around. It was great seeing her—it’s been over a year at least—and a great way to start the day!

After buying some snap peas and green beans and saying goodbye to Claire, I met up with the rest of the gang and we took off via bike for Verona. The out-and-back portion is fairly unremarkable except for some rolling hills on Whalen Road, one of which ends up being a bit of a doozy on the way back to Madison at about mile 100. Unfortunately, though, it was hot (~90°) and windy (Accuweather had winds of 17 mph with gusts up to 30 mph), which made it “fun”. I rode the loop with Jeremy—it was his first trip up there and a good test of my memory. We both relied on our route sheets, but kept plugging away through the loop. Helping talk him through things (particularly the three climbs starting at Old Sauk Pass) actually helped me get the course more firmly in my mind and, given the crappy weather, it helped having someone with whom to commiserate a bit. The wind, sadly, was a headwind heading into both climbs on Old Sauk Pass (the first brutal hill and then the hill with the cell tower on it), but both of us just kept our heads down, shifted into our granny gears and went slow and steady.

We got a little lost in Verona—somehow we missed the turn at the four-way stop and made it back to the Mobil station, but didn’t have a clue which way to go from there, so we asked several other cyclists to help us get back to the course and, ultimately, back to Madison. After filling up with water and taking a brief break, we headed back out to Whalen Road and the return trip. The hill at mile 100 is not much more fun at mile 60—especially when you’re tired and wiped—but we made it and, with the exception of some pretty crazy crosswinds, the return trip was uneventful.

Neither of us even remotely wanted to do a brick run when we got back, but when we saw Michele already out and running on the bike path, we decided we should probably suck it up and do at least a little run. It was bloody hot and windy, but we headed out, albeit slowly, and chalked up 3 miles (with some walking as we both had problems keeping our HR in check). After pounding some Gatorade and changing into dry clothes, Jeremy took off for Chicago and Sue, Michele, and I headed to our now-customary post-ride locale, the Great Dane Brewing Company, for beverages and food. A great way to end the day…

Sunday brought about the long run, which my legs resented and which was made more “fun” by the incredibly stifling humidity—haven’t had to walk to take water breaks in a long time, but man, I was ready to keel over at points. I took it slow and steady—even stopping to buy more water along the way—but still managed to get in 14 miles…not bad for tired legs.

Here’s the roll-up for the week…

Swim: 2:59:00 / 8300 m
Bike: 6:31:21 / 110.69 miles
Run: 4:44:35 / 30.04 miles
Total: 14:14:30 / 145.92 miles