Madtown!

Last weekend I was in Madtown aka Madison, Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Brick Adventure! Or WIBA for short. On the website it looks like W13A - where the 1 and the 3 (for 2013) make a B. Very clever! 

Anyway, I headed up there with Carol and Pam. Team Rabbit was in full force!! We split the drive up and went about a third of the way the first night then finished the second day. As usual, we had a lot of fun on the drive and already started taking notes about silly stuff to 'rap' about after the weekend was all over. Made it into Madison in daylight so we could check into the hotel and get the car unloaded then head out for dinner and supplies. The first day of the brick weekend would start at 7AM! 

Saturday morning at breakfast we ran into most of the gals who had come from our area: Linda, Becky, Michele, Lori, and Megan! Shortly thereafter we regrouped at the start of the practice swim. The water in Lake Monona was a pretty comfortable temperature and while I tested out Pam's speedsuit I could have gone in just my swim suit! Many of the swimmers did while a fair number wore their wetsuits. I am hoping to wear just a speedsuit on race day actually. The water was a little choppy - not sure if that was due to the boat pulling all the water skiers, or just because. Regardless - I swam about a half mile out per the instructions given to the turn around and back. Carol and I swam practicall together and she noted that where we turned around was .58 miles! Swimming back I used the water ski ramp to sight off of which was nice! Once out of the water we headed back to the hotel to change and grab all of our bike gear! We were headed to Verona to bike 2 loops of the bike course plus some of the 'stick'. 

Once we got to Verona we saw that there were a lot more folks preparing to bike than there had been to swim! It was a nice sized group and we caught up with our peeps again. After a short talk about the course and a couple things to be aware of it was time to roll out. We waited till the end of the group to go and we were off! Most of us stopped at the first rest stop not long after the Mt. Horeb climb. But Pam was ahead of Carol and I and kept on going! The short break felt good and it was time to hit the road again. Some beautiful scenery, fun rollers, and three more climbs awaited us! After the end of the first loop we headed back to the car to restock. Carol and I caught  back up with Pam there. Then it was off for loop two! 

The second loop was uneventful and it was nice to know what was coming since we had already seen it earlier that day. The sun was a bit warmer and I was appreciative of any breeze or shady spots! Hit the same rest stop again for a bathroom break and a Payday candy bar and Pringles! I used my salt tabs but likely should have used more because I started to get a headache on the second half of the loop. I was probably dehydrated. Stagecoach Road -- which is a little bumpy -- hurt my head! It was nice to get the final three hills out of the way and then kind or cruise to our start location. 

I almost wished I had just continued on but we did not have the right cue sheet to continue! Once we unclipped at the car we all had a different ailment! I still had my headache, Pam's legs were cramping, and Carol's stomach was a little upset. I took some Ibuprofen and we waited 15 minutes to see what we wanted to do. We basically decided we were done and changed shoes and went on a 3 minute run! We headed back to the hotel, brought our stuff into the room, and headed to the hotel pool to cool off and soak! It was just what I needed. The cool water almost immediately made my head feel better! After relaxing there for a bit we all cleaned up and went to dinner - Ian's Pizza, my favorite pizza place in Madison! I had a slice of BBQ chicken and pineapple with a 'build your own salad'. My salad was amazing! 

I slept great that night! 

The next morning we had a run on tap! After another meet and greet with our local peeps at breakfast it was back to Monona Terrace to meet up with the group for the run. I don't normally run with a cue sheet so that was funny. I had it in a zip lock baggie though so it stayed dry! It was nice - they started us out by pace and we headed out near the back. At 9AM it was already warm and sunny in Madison! 

The run course starts by taking you around the capitol - and there had been an art festival in Madison since Friday but had not yet opened for the day. Not yet.... Three years ago when I went to Madison for the training weekend with Carol and Pam I ran on my own and got totally lost! This time that did not happen! We ran a total of 12 of the 13.1 miles and it was fantastic! The guy in charge - Rob from EVO TRI - was out on a bike with a trailer and he was carting around bottles of water. Perfect! We saw him twice and sadly I only got water the first time! Now, all the times I had looked at the course map I did not realize how close the turn around was to the first part of the course. Honestly, I did not even realize they were on the same street. *cue the crickets* Well, I know that now! It will be a really fun run (or walk as needed!) on race day! 

On our way back we decided to stop at 7-11 to get some more water. And I actually bought a Slurpee! I only filled a small cup about half way and finished about half of that. Oh, thank Heaven! It was just what I needed! We headed out on our way. As we headed back into the capitol square the art festival was in full swing! We were dodging people left and right! Now, Team Rabbit was wearing their ears...and these people would look at us and I can only imagine what they were thinking! Why are these runners wearing bunny ears? In fact, one group of people earlier had asked us, "Did you girls lose a bet?" So funny! If they are out on race day maybe they'll remember us! Ha! 

Once we got back to Monona Terrace we each did 4 burpees! Then we saw that Rob was out at the run meeting place and we headed out to thank him! Which reminds me... I need to send him the Team Rabbit WIBA Rap! Next we headed to our favorite Irish Pub for brunch. I had THE most amazing sandwich: turkey, swiss, and sliced apples on a croissant! Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel one last time to clean up, load up, and head out! Carol and I dropped Pam off at the airport because she needed to work the next day. Carol and I drove about a third of the way for the night then finished the next day. All in all we made great time and were home in time for dinner on Monday night! 

The WIBA weekend was a succes! And now --> only 7 weeks and 3 days till RACE DAY!! 

Happy and Healthy Training!

Next Up: Nags Head 5K

Two Months and Six Days...

Well, I haven’t blogged lately. It’s been a month! Guess I've been a little busy with Ironman training and such. Oops.

Lately, I’ve done a lot of biking. Extra biking during the week and even on the weekends! This was due to a very sore big toe on my left foot.  This came about after a lot of car travel and then I started to feel the pain at the end of the 5K I ran on June 1. A recent X-ray ruled out a stress fracture (yay!) and I did some research (i.e., Google) and found a really interesting website and found some tissue release techniques specific to thebig toe. I've been using them and they really help! But for now, back to biking!

The weekend of June 8-9 called for a 74 mile ride out of Culpeper on Saturday. I had been looking forward to getting back there as the hills would be great for Wisconsin training! There was a small group of folks also training for IMMoo that joined Team Rabbit, and it was nice to bike with some familiar faces! The cicadas were out in full force that weekend. I got a direct hit to my jaw – and it really hurt! Thankfully it did not leave a bruise! Haha The next morning Team Rabbit met up to ride across the Chesapeake Bay over the William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bay Bridge (known as the Bay Bridge for short) for the One Mile Bay Challenge swim! It was a fun swim event. The water wasn't too salty and the temperature was perfect. I wore my sleeveless wetsuit for practice, but I could have gone without it. After we finished up our swim we went in search of coffee for yours truly then headed back home. As we crossed back over the bridge we could see the 4.4 mile swimmers in the water below between the bridge spans. That was very cool! You can read our rap from that weekend, here. After I got home and relaxed a bit I got my bike and went out for a short recovery ride. I could definitely feel my legs from the Culpeper hills!

On the Covered Bridges ride!

Next up is the weekend of June 15-16. That weekend was a lot of fun! It was a double bike weekend – with a total of nearly 150 miles! We biked 72 out of Frederick, Maryland on Saturday and 77 out of Gainesville on Sunday. Saturday we (me, Carol, and Jeff) did two loops out of Monocacy Middle School. I have only ridden out of there twice I believe; once with Carol and Marlene, and once with Team Z. It was a beautiful day for a ride! The sun was out and the temperature was perfect. Hard to believe it was the middle of June! It takes about an hour to get to the school from my house and the scenery is just amazing! It is hard to believe that this close to home there are still one lane covered bridges in use. I even took a picture of one of them. Look at that amazing sky! After a successful ride, it was back home! Once there Carol and I suited up for a swim at my outdoor pool! The water felt nice and it was good recovery for the legs. We determined that that had been our fourth swim that week! On Sunday Carol and I headed out to Gainesville for a two-loop 77 mile ride. The day was overcast and again not too hot. I thought we would get a bit of rain but it held off, which was nice. There was this one road – Hopewell – that we rode on twice as it was on each of the loops. That road is a bit of a bear! Definitely not the worst of the hilly roads we have ridden (or have yet to ride), but our legs were feeling it! All in all it was a successful ride! After we returned to our car the second time, we changed into running shoes and did a little loop around the parking lot and finished with 4 burpees! I also did 4 cartwheels – first time in a while that I've done cartwheels. You can read the Rabbit Rap from that weekend, here!

Trixie' new friend, Sheila!

The weekend of June 22-23 called for another trip to Culpeper! This time for 88 miles! We (me, Carol, Pam, and Jeff) did a repeat of our 74 mile ride from two weeks prior and afterwards added a 7 mile out and back for 14 more and a total of 88. It was a nice and sunny day and got a bit warm. It did start out chilly though because I used my arm warmers for a bit! The hills seemed tougher to me this time but it was likely a combination of the heat and tired legs! This was the third build week so I guess tired legs should have been expected! Etlan wasn’t so bad but I was quite happy when we got through Round Hill and Scrabble! I would have been happy to call it a day after the first 74 miles but my rabbits motivated me to go out for the additional 14. I was of course very happy I did! We made a well-deserved stop for Ledo’s pizza after the ride and after Carol and I were on a mission to clean up because we were headed to a Grease Sing-A-Long at Wolftrap! We had planned to buy lawn tickets at the door but they were sold out and we ended up in the pavilion. This was actually a good thing since we had been going since pretty early that day! On Sunday I was meeting P-Diddy for a run before outdoor swim practice. I woke up to a little drizzle but figured a little rain wouldn't hurt us – we were planning to swim anyway! P and I met at the pool parking lot. We started off on our run and the farther away we got from our cars the more it rained! It poured so much that there were huge puddles in places on the sidewalk that were not there on our way out! Right after we finished Carol showed up. Since it was still raining – a lot - we were wondering if the swim practice was going to be held! Little by little some cars started showing up in the lot and the coach arrived! Practice was on! I have to say it was a lot of fun swimming outdoors in the rain! We swam for about an hour then that was it for me for the day. Click on to read our Round Hill Rap!

So, this brings us to last weekend. Finally – a recovery weekend! And I truly took advantage of the entire recovery week! I only had two swims and an easy run during the week. On Saturday morning I had a short, 22 minute run and that was it! Then I was off to a little weekend away with some friends. I was heading to Arrington, Virginia to the cottage of a high school classmate and three other friends from high school. Funny enough this was exactly one year after last year’s derecho and our 30^th high school reunion pub crawl! Seriously, we were all inside the Fish Market in Old Town Alexandria when the storm (what storm?) came through and none of us knew about it! Well, not till after the fact that is! Power was out all in the area and our actual reunion was cancelled due to power being out at the hotel. So it was funny that we were all together again! It was honestly a nice relaxing weekend with no plan, just chilling and catching up with old friends. Just what I needed!

This week I am back on the training bandwagon full swing! Lots of swim/bike/run on tap, even though I’m headed out of town Saturday for a family reunion in Pennsylvania! Thursday (Independence Day) I have a fun and casual Sprint Triathlon with some friends at a local pool. Then on Friday after a short work day I will do a hilly brick workout with Carol at Prince William Forest Park: 50 bike miles followed by 3 run miles! Sunday I plan to run about 5 miles with my cousin on the mountain she lives on in Pennsylvania! Yay for more hills!

As of today there are just two months and six days until Ironman Wisconsin! Yikes!! But honestly, I am super excited. Next weekend is the Moo training weekend in Madison! A lot of our group is headed out there for this. We will have an opportunity for an open water swim on Saturday morning followed by riding the bike course. My plan is to do as much of the 112 miles as possible! Sunday the plan is for one loop of the run course – or 13.1 miles!

Happy and Healthy Training!