August 15^th came and my lease was up. I went out with my roommates for a farewell drink or two. ( It was also Daryl's birthday. )They were both well into their post UW phase. One had already landed a promising job near Chicago and the other was days away from a cross-country trip, and a new life in California.We laughed and wished each other well.

 And so ended my wonderful summer in Madison.

I would drive up for the day one more time, but most of the last month would be spent training in Buffalo Grove. My base period was over and it was cool to add more variety to the sessions. I had taken to running the sledding hill just outside Soldier field. One day I passed a high school cross-country team working over the 200-yard crest to crest lap. I asked the coach about the workout they were doing, "4 by 40." I m sure she was pulling my leg because a single lap took at least a minute. Anyway, I used the area to do my hill workouts, which really help build all around leg strength. They made me more sore than flat running but I’d schedule them with plenty of recovery. I would run slowly, sprint or skip up the hills.

But the most valuable technique was a Chi Running classic. A simple torso twist, with the shoulder pointing up the hill, (like you’re busting down a door),and you have a basic "sideways" running stride. This saves so much leg energy you can ‘t even believe. Sure you look a bit silly doing it, but there is no arguing with the results. The course in Madison had at least 2 hills that seemed worthy of this strange crabby style. On raceday this would grow to 5, for a total of 10 on the two loop course.I was familiar with observatory drive having hiked up it hundreds of times as a student. But I never ran those hills before that summer. I remember watching the footage of IM MOO champ Nicole de boom trudge up the bigger slope. She was going imperceptibly slow and definitely hurting. People were walking all around her. Could her legs be that shot that she couldn’t muster better than a 13-minute mile? I never forgot that image. When my time came,  I didn't hestitate to use the chi style, and it proved to be huge advantage on raceday.

For my build and peak periods, I was sticking with Going Long and it’s advice for race simulation bricks. Varying in length, they were intense workouts that tried to replicate dead legs one could expect on raceday. One of last ones called for a 2.5 hr hammer session on the bike followed by a 90 minute run. It seemed pretty risky so close to the race, but I did it anyway. I drove to Buffalo grove one august sunday afternoon for this workout.The bike went well but the run start was brutal. My legs were gone and no amount of gel or Gatorade was going to bring them back any time soon. The sign in the parking lot said that the park closed at sunset. I ‘m trudging around the nearby trails, with 45 minutes to go, and the light is fading. I really wanted to finish this critical workout, but it was getting really tough. Earlier in the season, I probably would have just packed it in. But I continued to eat and drink and then suddenly I could feel my run legs come under me. It was with about a half-hour to go and with each step my pace was picking up. The rest of my body, particularly my lungs, had made the adjustment. The workout called for nearly top end speed for the finish and I pushed it all the way. And it felt fantastic. Just like those early season bonks on the bike, these runs proved to me that you could come back from the dead. Endurance workouts are filled with ups and downs,( in fact, to me they are what really what defines them ) and it’s important to realize that the power comes and goes. You just have to hang on through the tough parts believing you’ll reach the other side. I suspect IM veterans, in addition to being more fit, are simply more used to the inevitable swings in energy.

To recover, I stopped in the nearest restaurant to the preserve entrance for a bite. It was almost 8PM on a Saturday in suburban Illinois. I walked in, all sweaty and dusty. It was the kind of place your grandparents took you when you visited them in Florida. I was probably wearing a very distant expression, and I stood out just a little bit. But by that time, nothing really mattered but  Madison. Somewhere on those trails back there my training officially ended. It was not a line in a spreadsheet or my pre-set marker in a training log. It was just a feeling that I 'd moved on from one phase to another.

About 75 silver-haired citizens looked up from their ham steaks and root beer. They sat me near the door and fed me scrambled eggs and toast. Served a bit cold and a little underdone it was just fine with me.

I was so close to the race in Madison, and I could feel it pulling me in. I didn’t even notice they’d dropped the check with the food.