Ok, not really. But kind of. I'm still a Chicago sports fan. But I will take Madison over Chicago for lifestyle any day of the week. Anyways, a few weeks ago my wife and I decided we were making the move to Wisconsin for many reasons. But one GREAT reason was for the amazing training around the area. We're situated in the Madison area, and couldn't be happier. The amount of routes for training outside the city is astounding. But even within the city limits, you can find countless routes and people filling them. The amount of people being active is truly amazing. But the amount of bike lanes and room made for bikes is even better. You can't go a block without seeing someone on a bike. Whether they're just cruising around for fun, commuting to work, or grinding away at a training ride, they're everywhere!
I've only been living here a little over a week and already I'm in love with the area. I've seen Neil deGrasse Tyson give a speech to the graduating senior class of UW-Madison, tried out some of the local pubs for some beer and grub, and of course, tried out some of the training features that Wisconsin has to offer.
My first ride consisted of an out and back loop to the Trek Bike Headquarters in Waterloo, WI. A nice, fairly flat ride with a little over 1,100 vertical feet and a slight wind out of the NE, this ride was great. There was a few nice rolling hills along with some good climbs. But nothing to write home about.
I have been able to put in some running, slowly, and it seems to be coming along great as well. I got in a 3 and 4 mile run this week. The good thing about all the hills near where we're living is that going uphill running takes a lot of sting out of impact, so I'm able to go a bit further or longer without putting as much stress on my knee in terms of recovery. It's been about 4 months since surgery, and my knee is coming along slowly, but, I've been given the green light for running as I see fit and comfortable. After a few bouts with some 10min/mi paces through 2.5 miles or so, I'm starting to see 8min/mi and I never thought I'd say this, but it feels great to be going so fast. Not my typical fast speeds, especially over such short distances, but for recovery, I'll take it!
(Above: Random wildlife around the route (left), Trek Headquarters (middle) one of countless hills on the IM course(right))
Finally, I took a big jump and hit up the Ironman WI loop starting from home and hit it hard. The course for the full IM is 2 loops, so I decided to just take on one and see how it went. This course is hilly! Nonstop hills once you get out of Madison and head West. None of them are so over the top that they crush you, but they just keep coming. One after another. There's no break points. Ok, so here and there you get a mile maybe of some flats. Instead of charging, however, I spent my time recovering and refueling in these parts.
Overall, this move plays a huge part in the way my wife and I want to live our lives. Madison is an amazing city, full of things to do. But it's not overwhelming or overly expensive. There is so much activity and so many great people we've come across already, that we're certain this is a place we want to be for a long, long time. We're still close to our families, but we also have the training and playing grounds right out our back door for the summer time and winter when we go skiing and snowboarding. And it's a perfect place to raise our baby on the way, too!
-Dave
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