Well, Fall weather is beginning to settle in here in the Midwest; it's my absolute favorite time of year. That slight chill in the air is so much better than oppressive humidity!
Early September is also a time for the Ironman 70.3 Championship and my favorite sports event of the year, Ironman Wisconsin!!
My wife and I did a surgical strike of spectating last weekend, waking up at 3AM, leaving our house in the Chicago suburbs before 4AM, blasting past Lake Geneva and through the beautiful pre-dawn Wisconsin farmland as the sun rose to make the IMWI Swim and Bike transition. One cool thing about Wisconsin is you can spectate form the top of Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace, which gives you a stadium view of the swimmers as they pass. I remember in 2008 when I first attended being shocked at the sound that 2200 swimmers make when all swimming at the same time. It sounds like a waterfall! Magical!
The swim course was altered this year to a single large loop instead of a 2 loop, which helped spread out the field but which made spectating a bit different. Nevertheless, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and when Mike Reilly fired up the crowd before the gun it was as amazing as ever.
As the bikers begin running to start the ride, the crowd shifts to the back side of Monona Terrace, where T1 is on top of the parking deck. Again there is a stadium effect as the crowd screams to their friends and the whistles bounce off the tall buildings overlooking the deck. As bikers run down their aisle to the mount line before heading down the Helix it again gives you goosebumps.
I got some great pictures of the lovely Ms Bop2Mop as we scooted around the course. My favorite is one of her standing in the yellow Penalty Box tent!! Hahaha! Thank God she is a good sport about tolerating my triathlon obsession!
I had about 40 friends or teammates racing this year so it was fun to yell for them and to track them all day. Most people had a great race, with lots of PRs on legs and overall. As usual, IMWI spectators were amazing with supportive and humorous cheers and costumes.
We could not swing it to stay until midnight and hoist a beer at the Great Dane with tired happy victors this year as we had to get home, but next year I again plan to take a few days and make it a 4 day weekend Triathlonpalooza event. IMWI is my favorite sporting event of the year!!
On the personal front, we have been attending High School cross country meets to cheer on Daughter Two and also I have started a streak of running. After realizing the Strava 100 miles in 15 days contest was probably not wise as I work my way back, but still trying to stay motivated and get ready for Outseason training, I joined a 5x50 charity contest where you do a 5k every day for 50 days. Not only will this keep me motivated, but I can work my way up from slow to faster running during this 2 months and be ready just in time for the start of Outseason training. Two years ago Daughter One and I signed up for the local Hot Chocolate 15k race and that kept me engaged all Fall in purposeful training. And I find that running is better for me than a bike focus, which I did last year. I have found I need some kind of structure to help motivate me..I will post how it is going as we get further into it; so far so good!
Hope your Fall is going well and that you get out and enjoy those glorious Fall days!! Whether on the bike trails or chugging around the Lake, you just cannot beat it!
