Madison Training Mecca

medium sized;friendly and receptive;job opportunities;university town;lots of trails,paths,and facilities;relatively pretty.It's usually only really cold a few weeks out of the year.It's just good for the upper midwest.There are many good places like Flagstaff and numerous in California,Oregon and Colorado but for up here it's Madison.

Cold helps you periodize.

It gets cold during the summer a few weeks yeah, but there isnt a lot of snow compared to the rest of the state and you CANNOT beat the summers in Madison, hands down the best.

cold winters make u mentally tougher...

Come and visit sometime, you'll see why it's one of the nicest places to live in the midwest. Totally setup for biking, running, swimming etc. Plus it's a college town with great places to eat, live...etc.

Wisconsin is bitter cold in the winter.

likes to train outdoors wrote:

Wisconsin is bitter cold in the winter.

Meh, it's not that bad. If you want bitter cold, try Fargo!

The roads surrounding Madison are very good for cycling. There are ample places to run, and in general there is a good athletic culture (competitive clubs, lots of shops, events, etc.)

"it's only really cold a few weeks a year"? Are you serious? I've lived within 20 miles of Madison for 46+ years and it can be (and is...) below zero for stretches up to a week at a time every year. It's "cold" for 3-5 months a year. I can't quite understand the high praise Madison gets; it's probably due in large part to the university environment and the success they've had. Personally, I'm glad I don't actually live in the city because I think running in the surrounding area is better.

The extreme cold for long stretches has not been happening in southern WI since the early 80's. Yes, I actually have run outside in WI when the air temp was -32F, but that was in the early 80s. I have been able to run in shorts 3 out of every 4 weeks during the last several winters.

We have had maybe a handfull of winters with close to average snowfall in the last 20 years. The State is developing ATV trails rather than Snowmobile trails due to the consistant very low snow accumulations.

Spring comes earlier, and Fall stays later in Madison than the eastern half, or northern half of the state.

Just this summer, the State open the Badger State Trail. A crushed stone trail that runs from the southwest side of Madison to the IL state line.

A great geographical location.

Thanks for the feedback is it expensive to live there? Are there many local events, group runs ect? I am pondering moving to a place I can make training my number one priority and based on what I've read and people I spoke to Madison sounds great and not as snobby as Boulder

There are a wide range of places to live, but you can live pretty cheap if you make the effort.

DEFINITELY

Madison is a great place to train, relatively safe to train by yourself at all times of the day and night (not true in many cities), 5ks and cycling events darn near every weekend, and of course, we have our own Ironman Triathlon. I would reccommend going to that event (and its expo :) regardless of whether you or someone you know is competing. There's the Madison Marathon and Half; but I cant give quite as resounding endorsement of those races, they're pretty average. Great marathons in WI, imho, are Cellcom Green Bay and Fox Cities in the spring and fall respectively. Of course Madison isnt a really long drive from either of those. There's also Grandma's Marathon, but that's a little further from the city. Madtown is a great place to live work and train. Ive never been to Boulder for any extended period of time so I cant speak to its snobbiness, however Madison is the complete opposite of snob. It's great. Best of luck w your move.

ps 'Movin Shoes' is the main running store in Madison, fyi

I apologize. You are correct and I misspoke. People stay in their houses for days at a time due to the extreme temperatures. Try Duluth, which isn't a bad place or Chicago. Good luck.

and people say Wis-kaaaaaahn-sin at a pitch that makes the skin crawl.

btw, I wouldn't really consider Madison a training "mecca", but it is a good place to train and a nice town to live in. I guess it could be considered a mecca within Wisconsin maybe.

Sure wish all the tri-tools around Boulder would figure out how swell Madison is and go there already.