Week 8 Wrap-Up:

After a slightly reduced volume week in week 9, I bumped it right back up for week 8. After looking ahead to the next couple of weeks, I opted to swim Monday instead of taking the off day, but, after deciding I was way too tired for any good, I did bag my run workout on Tuesday—but picked up some slightly longer mileage on Wednesday to make up for it. I did, however, take Friday as an off day and took full advantage of an easy night at home to get some extra sleep.

Saturday morning, I met Erin, Sue, and Michele in Madison for a pretty big milestone—an attempt at biking the entire 112-mile IM course. Michele and I stayed together until about Mt. Horeb on the first loop—before which we had to take a detour with some killer hills in order to avoid a car accident. We met up again briefly on the hills on Old Sauk Pass before Michele took off again (no big shock there), and I managed to make it to Mt. Horeb on the second loop before I had to stop for water and mix more nutrition. It seems like there has been significant road construction going on each time we’ve been up to the course, and this trip was no exception—there was about a mile stretch just after the second hill on Old Sauk Pass that was literally torn down to dirt—not the best to ride with skinny tires, but both Michele and I did it. We found out later that Sue and Erin took a detour to avoid the dirt—not sure who was better off, but at least we all made it safely back to Madison. Even with the construction and detour, I had a great ride and felt good—only one stop, too, which was awesome. I have learned, though, that I really don’t like the stretch of the course between Verona and Mt. Horeb—it’s just tough mentally for reasons of which I’m not really sure. I do, however, really enjoy Witte Road and even the climbs after Cross Plains—they keep me in the game mentally and give me very concrete markers as to my progress.

After a brief brick run along the bike path in Madison, we of course convened at Great Dane for food and drink, then I took off for Racine to meet up with Vardo. After looking at her summer schedule, Vardo opted to race the Spirit of Racine Half Ironman, which happened to be Sunday. And, as I was not only sort of in the area but also in need to meeting up with her to start the RAGBRAI logistical fun (see next post), it worked out great for me to pop over to Racine and support her. It was kind of nice being a spectator—I wasn’t worried at all Saturday night and, while I still woke up early Sunday morning, I only had to worry about helping her—not actually doing a race. She fondly (at least I hope) referred to me as her Sherpa as I ended up carrying her bike pump, mixing her Perpetuem, etc., etc.—but I had a great time cheering her on. I took advantage of the bike portion of the race to get in my long run for the week—I had intended to get in 17 miles, but bagged that idea and settled for 12 miles after I realized my legs (and me in general) were really wiped and tired. I managed to time things pretty well and caught Vardo coming out of the water, coming in from the bike, and on both loops of the run at the turnaround/finish line area. She had a great race and was, I think, pretty pleased with how she did.

After loading up her truck and my CRV, we started heading to the great state of Iowa to begin our week of RAGBRAI (the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, for those of you not familiar with the concept). We made a brief pitstop at Vardo’s parents’ house and then stopped in the metropolis of Sully, IA to drop off my car—I planned to stop riding RAGBRAI in Sully and head back to Illinois. It was, to say the least, a brutally long drive as both of us were wiped, but we made it to Ames and to Vardo’s place eventually, thus ending a crazy but fun week.

Here’s the roll-up for the week…

Swim: 2:10:00 / 5300 meters
Bike: 9:56:35 / 171.00 miles
Run: 4:11:50 / 25.77 miles
Total: 16:18:25 / 200.08 miles