Ice Age Trail -- Table Bluff Segment

May 24

We hiked a  portion of the Ice Age Trail called the Table Bluff Segment located just west of Madison early on Monday morning.  The weather has been unseasonably hot so far this year, so the hike was a bit difficult at times.  Although the overall distance of this particular segment, out and back, was just 5 miles.


more to come

Perrot State Park

May 19-21 -- Our first tent camping trip in about 20 years.  Great fun.  We went with some friends of ours, who stayed at the site next to ours.  The camp ground was not very crowded as it is still pretty early in the season, so that made a pleasant first venture back into camping after such a long break.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  High 70s, 80ish and lots of sun.  There was some rain the second night, but not until we were tucked inside our tent.  The rain drops on the tent made sleeping very easy.  The first night I had a difficult time getting used to the sounds of the forest, not to mention the freight trains racing along the river.  But on the 2nd night the rain made it very peaceful.

So what did we do at Perrot State Park?  There were some very nice hiking trails in the bluffs.  One, Brady's Bluff was a great hike.  The view was spectacular.  I did the hike twice, once with a friend and then an hour or so later, I did it again from the opposite direction with my husband. 

Besides the hiking trails, the Great River State Trail runs right alongside the park.  We did a little biking along the trail. Next time we go back to the park, I will definitely be riding much further on the trail than I was able to fit in this time.

My husband was able to take a few good photos of a bald eagle on a little patch of land out in the river.  It was  fun to watch the eagle as he ate while keeping a hungry black crow at bay. 

Photos coming soon.

Indian Lake County Park

May 15

On Saturday, May 15 we went to Indian Lake, a county park that has very nice hiking and cross country ski trails and of course, a lake.  The weather was great, but we just felt like doing a casual walk around the area, rather than any real hiking.

Here are some photos.

5 Miles

I increased my intervals to 12 from 9, but I also changed the for each interval slightly.  Last week I did 9 intervals at the ratio of 3:00 minutes running and 2:30 walking.  Today I lowered the walk time by 30 seconds, so I run 3 and walk 2.  Today was 12 reps plus a 5 minute warm-up and about a 3 minute cool down.

I was really hoping I would be able to cover 4 and a half miles or so today and was pleasantly surprised when I uploaded my data and saw that I was just over the 5 mile mark.  Makes me very happy.

Another Sunday Run

I plan to run/walk a half-marathon in September so I have to keep on track with my training. Today was my weekly "long" run.  I went just over 4 miles. I need to increase the distance of my long run by 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile each week in order to get me up to the 13.1 mile needed to finish. I am pretty early into my training, so I am feeling pretty confident that I will be able to finish the run in approximately 3 hours. 

Also, I am still training for that 5k run in July.  My original goal for that race was to complete it without any walking time, but I am sort of reconsidering.  I seem to like this run/walk routine I have gotten myself into.  My average pace has been about a 13.30 minute mile even though I have been walking about half the time, or just less than half. 

My training plan is to do intervals of 3 minutes run and 1 minute walk for the entire length of the course.  I figure this is my first season of jogging ever...if I can complete a course at the ratio of 75% run to 25% walk, I will be happy.  As of today, I run 3 minutes and walk 2:30, so I have not gotten to my goal ratio yet, but this is only the beginning of month two. I have plenty of time before the half-marathon.

Governor Dodge State Park

Finally a nice weekend.  The past few were cold and rainy, but today was perfect. Sunny, upper 60s...a great day for hiking in Governor Dodge State Park.  We went on portions of various trails within the park for a little over a 4 mile loop around Cox Lake.

More photos soon