Off the Couch
In a quiet way, the thousands of people who run, bike, hike, ski and paddle make a lot of noise in Wisconsin
Runners shrink the gender divide
The gender divide shrinks noticeably on the run, as detailed by an informative graphic crafted by the web site MP3 Running.
Dubbed sports bras vs. speedos, the chart illustrates the results of a survey of 11,000 runners conducted by RunningUSA.
UPAF, Rock 'n Sole secure use of the Hoan; cycling commuters look to the street
Cycling advocates in Milwaukee are looking to put some air back in their tires after the Department of Transportation punctured the proposal for a bike and pedestrian lane on the Hoan Memorial Bridge.
The lobbying effort gained momentum throughout the year, and more than 5,000 people signed a petition supporting the addition of a non-motorized pathway in an upcoming rehabilitation of the bridge over the Port of Milwaukee.
Jorgensen's Olympic pursuit draws fresh attention from SI.com
Two years ago, Gwen Jorgensen was a rookie triathlete preparing for her first race as a member of the USA Triathlon elite development program.
Today, she's a member of the U.S. Olympic team and an athlete earning headlines and feature coverage at SI.com.
Jorgensen's Olympic pursuit earns attention from SI.com
Two years ago, Gwen Jorgensen was a rookie triathlete preparing for her first race as a member of the USA Triathlon elite development program.
Today, she's a member of the U.S. Olympic team and an athlete earning headlines and feature coverage at SI.com.
Texas lawyer notches a record 113 marathons in 2011
A Texas lawyer who sometimes mixes miles and billable hours has filed a claim on the Guinness Book record for most marathons finished in one year.
Laurence Macon notched number 113 on New Year's Eve, his 67th birthday, in the Double Marathon near Dallas.
Chase for snow rewarded on the Escanaba Trail
It took a 280-mile drive and a 50-degree swing in temperature, but I found both skiable snow and clarity of purpose along the Escanaba Trail earlier this week.
With a short window of opportunity on day two of 2012, I loaded my cross-country skis in the morning and drove north, to that area on the state map with a white covering. It’s a relatively small swath, mostly north of Wausau, where snow-starved Milwaukee-area skiers can satisfy their craving to kick and glide.
Wisconsin riders set to use home-state advantage in Cyclo-cross Nationals
A strong group of Wisconsin riders will contend for victories among the 1,000 riders racing in Verona through Sunday in the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships.
Kaitlin Antonneau, from Racine, won the U23 race in the 2010 championships and will be a contender in the elite women’s race on Sunday. Ashley James, from Dousman, is the defending collegiate champion and will look to add another stars & stripes jersey.
Skiers find more snow than stamina in northern Wisconsin
I was alone Tuesday morning on the Escanaba Trail, but had plenty of company in the contingent of snow-starved skiers from southern Wisconsin who headed north on word of significant snow blowing off Lake Superior.
It was true.
Lack of snow turns candlelight ski events into candlelight hikes
There will be no Winter Fest without winter.
The Northern Kettle Moraine Nordic Ski Club has rescheduled its annual ski and snow celebration from Sunday to March 18, in hopes the trails at the Greenbush recreation area near Plymouth will be snow-covered by then.
Antonneau pedals to win in USA Cycling Cyclo-cross championships
Kaitlin Antonneau, the reigning Div. 1 collegiate road cycling champion, proved equally fast in the mud on Saturday.
A Racine native and sophomore at Marian University, Antonneau took advantage of a bobble by her teammate, Coryn Rivera, late on the first of four laps and stayed out front to win the collegiate race in the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships.
Antonneau doubles up on wins in USA Cyclo-cross championships
The highly enthusiastic announcers called Katie Compton the best U.S. cyclo-cross racer ever, as the 33-year-old from Colorado Springs crossed the line far out front of the field for her 8th consecutive national title on Sunday.
Then they anointed Kaitlin Antonneau the best young rider in the country, and a possible successor.
Powers in the money shot at USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships
It would have taken more than a measly dollar to slow this trio fighting for the elite men's title in the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships.
In hindsight: Badger State Trail was a bad idea
Dave Zweifel, editor emeritus of the Cap Times, has determined that the creation of the Badger State Trail from Madison to the Illinois border robbed the area businesses of a rail route that they could now use, and was a mistake.
In an opinion piece posted Monday, Zweifel says the decision to abandon the line and turn it over to recreation was short-sighted. He does not expand that argument beyond the Badger and the 60 Rails-to-Trails pathways that extend for 1,300 miles in the state.
Hortonville runner joins seven continents marathon club
Ray Miller, a new member of the Seven Continents Club, will have mind-freezing marathon tales to share when he takes center stage with the Fox Cities Pacesetters next month.
The business executive from Hortonville finished the Antarctic Ice Marathon on Dec. 1, and fulfilled his quest to run a marathon on all seven continents at 60.
Skier glides through more hidden gems in northern Wisconsin
Off the Couch contributor Sara Knutson had hoped for a ski season longer than 10 days, but she made the most of her recent time in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula. In the second installment of her Skiventure, Knutson shares impressions of the Watersmeet, Escanaba, Manito-Wish, Razorback Ridges and Raven Trails.
The graduate student from Shorewood returns to Boston College next week, no doubt fighting the temptation to extend her winter break and ski on the big batch of snow forecast to blow off Lake Superior Wednesday through Friday.
Cellcom Green Bay Marathon sets limit at 10,000 runners
The field for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon and Half Marathon will be capped at 10,000 runners, an increase of 2,000 from the record turnout in 2011, race officials announced Wednesday.
The split will be 3,000 in the marathon and 7,000 in the half marathon.
Warming shelter on the Zillmer Trails ready for snow and skiers
If the snow arrives as forecast, skiers will have their first opportunity to check out the new warming shelter on the Zillmer Trails in the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest.
The building sided with white pine is a fitting memorial to Mike Krueger, who made the Northern Kettle Moraine his home and treated it as such. He volunteered for 16 of the 18 years that the Friends of the Northern Kettle Moraine hosted a candle light ski at Zillmer, and his wife, Faith, provided the initial $5,000 donation to start the building fund.
Summerfest Rock 'n Sole Run changes course for 2012 encore
The encore version of the Summerfest Rock ‘n Sole Run will have a revised set list: an unusual 6.55-mile distance to complement the half marathon, a 5K, and new start and finish areas.
Organizers revealed those changes Thursday morning, and promised the 2012 version of the Rock ‘n Sole would be better than the original.
Off the Couch goes on the air Friday morning
I was flattered to be invited to join Joy Cardin on the Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network to talk about winter sports Friday morning.
From 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., Cardin and I will talk about cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and snowbiking with the radio listeners. Hopefully, a few of the regular Off the Couch readers will join in to lend their suggestions, or heckle.
Make the most of the snow
During my stint on Wisconsin Public Radio this morning, host Joy Cardin mentioned the workout benefits of shoveling snow.
Because there's a fresh opportunity to build some muscles right on my sidewalk, I looked back at a couple previous posts on the technique that will maximize the benefits of the work.
Wisconsin dark horses ready to race for Olympic Marathon
My thanks to several readers who alerted me to two women from Wisconsin that I overlooked in the original post of this story.
Sarah Bashinski Flament, 36, is a Wausau native who now lives and trains in Poland, Oh., and Rachel Evjen Booth, 31, graduated from Eau Claire North High School in 1999, are running in the Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday.
Dot McMahan ninth in US Olympic Marathon trials
Four years older and now a mother, Dot McMahan repeated her top-10 performance in the US Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday, in a race won by Shalane Flanagan in a record time.
McMahan, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alum, ran nearly three minutes faster in Houston than she did in Boston four years ago, but her 2:32:16 was about six minutes off the pace to secure a spot in the 2012 London Olympics.
Registration opens for 2012 Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon
Registration for the 2012 Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon opened on Sunday, starting the race for the 3,100 slots in the run from Grafton to Veteran’s Park on Oct. 7.
Organizers expanded the marathon capacity to 3,100 runners for the 32nd edition. In 2011, the field of 3,050 filled in mid-April.
McMahan calls Olympic Marathon Trials a break-through run
A strong race to ninth place in the Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday clearly energized Dot McMahan, who called it a break-through run during an interview for the Flotrack web site.
McMahan, who ran at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, joked about making the "mommy Olympics" by finishing third behind Kara Goucher and Deena Kastor in the group of mothers who raced. She was serious about the thrill of "racing" a marathon for 26.2 miles.
Snow on Birkie Trail eases skier worries
The snowfall early this week should provide some relief to cross-country skiers starting to worry about the American Birkebeiner, the biggest race of the year.
Fretting about conditions and conditioning is a year-round exercise for thousands of skiers, and recent news should ease that anxiety.
Headphones make for a walk on the dangerous side
If distracted drivers and icy sidewalks weren't enough, researchers at the University of Maryland have tracked a new danger for pedestrians: wearing headphones.
Closed off to the warning sounds around them, the number of walkers killed or badly injured in crashes in the US tripled from 16 in 2004 to 47 in 2011. It's a small sample, but suggests strolling to your favorite artist's rhythm is unsafe.
Icebreaker Marathon runners set to hibernate at race pace
Call it a form of active hibernation.
More than 800 runners from 21 states will tuck themselves into the Pettit National Ice Center and race this weekend in the fourth annual Icebreaker Indoor Marathon.
FatBike races widen their tracks in Wisconsin
The popularity of FatBikes has ballooned much like the four-inch tires that make them the monster trucks of the cycling world.
Those roll-over-anything mountain bikes called out to Gary Lake’s inner kid three years ago, and the Twin Lakes resident launched the team SnowBike Enduro in 2011, to share the fun with the group of fellow riders who like to play in the snow.
Clearing the way for winter biking
Dozens of cyclists pedaled through the cold in Chicago this morning to join Winter Bike to Work Day organized by the Active Transportation Allliance.
The Jan. 20 date is tied to the 27th anniversary of Chicago’s coldest day, when the official temperature at O’Hare International Airport was 27 degrees below zero. Riders were lured to Daley Plaza with coffee, bike lights and balaclavas.
Snow delivered on time for Lapham Loppet, weekend events
The steady snow on Friday arrived at the perfect time to freshen the ski trails for the Lapham Loppet on Saturday and the Minooka Park Barnelopet on Sunday.
“With the snow coming in and the temperatures dropping, it should be really good,” said Mary Eloranta, coach of the Peak Nordic Ski Team that trains at Lapham Peak.
Flaws scores three-peat in Icebreaker Indoor Marathon Gold Medal Challenge
Mary Flaws ramped up her training three years ago and has been unbeaten since in the Indoor Icebreaker Marathon Gold Medal Challenge.
The cookie baker and computer specialist from Waukesha secured the three-peat on Sunday with a victorious marathon in three hours, 13 minutes, a day after she ran a 1:34:01 in the half marathon.
Waupun receives recreation grants to extend hiking trail
Waupun has received two grants to build a hiking trail along the Rock River from Meadowlands Heights Park to Edgewood Drive.
The new pathway through the natural area will extend east and help link the Fond du Lac County Park Trail with the 34-mile Wild Goose State Trail, which skirts the western edge of the Horicon Marsh.
It's official. Team running for Jenny Crain secures Guinness Record in Lakefront Marathon
The 62 runners who roped together for Jenny Crain and the Lakefront Marathon did a little victory dance this morning.
The Guinness Book of World Records certified their effort as the new mark for runners to complete a marathon while linked together, through all 26.2 miles and every bathroom break.
Riders ready to race in Great Lakes Multisport indoor time trials
Cyclists and runners will feed their competitive hunger early this season through a couple races lined up as part of the Great Lakes Multisport Expo in Franklin this weekend.
On Saturday, riders will find a respite from the drudgery of indoor trainers in a 10K team time trial presented by the Tour of America’s Dairyland and P3 Performance Professionals. Four-person teams will pedal on RacerMate CompuTrainers that simulate the effects of riding in a draft and make precise team work a big part of winning.
Schlitz Park to host dash for cash in one-mile road race
Schlitz Park will host a one-mile road race for cash prizes on June 26, giving area runners a unique test of speed and power, organizers announced Thursday.
The race is believed to be the first-ever, competitive mile road race for money in Milwaukee.
Paralympic races to test Telemark Resort's Olympic potential
The reborn Telemark Resort in Cable will host 100 athletes this weekend in an international paralympic ski competition that will serve as a test of the area’s Olympic ambitions.
The new operators of Telemark, in a partnership with the Central Cross Country Ski Association, are striving to create an Olympic training center for skiers and mountain bikers, in an area famous for the American Birkebeiner and Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival.
Mother of five runs to freedom from domestic abuse
Jennifer Chaudoir knew all too well what she was running from.
It took her many miles to learn what she was running to.
Centurion finds Madison not so grand
Organizers of the Centurion bike tours have dropped Madison from its list of rides for 2012, after two disappointing outings.
Bad weather, bad timing and disappointing numbers conspired to doom the combination bike tour and race built on the European Gran Fondos.
Users divided on Bugline Trail paving
Runners who like the feel of gravel under their heels have joined the opposition to a plan to spend more than $3.3 million to pave the Bugline Trail in Waukesha County.
The long-planned project has moved into the design phase, with the heavy work set for 2013 to 2014, despite the divide among users.
Cudahy trucker chosen for CNN 2012 Fit Nation Triathlon Challenge team
A heartfelt video produced on the road and on the fly earned Glenn Keller a slot on CNN’s 2012 Fit National Triathlon Challenge Team.