Uwharrie Taper Week 1

Mon - 2hrs/ 6.2m/ 2000' - Looking Glass Rock - Since Hannah and I had the day off of work and were still in Brevard, we decided to hike up to the top of the famous Looking Glass Rock.  What a trail that is!  Glad I got to go up the pluton we left out the day before.

Tues - off

Wed - 35min/ 4m/ 300' - Jacob Fork Park - Heard that there was new trail built at a local park so I thought I would check it out.  Pretty nice work they did out there.  The mtn bike trail is about 2.5 miles long and there is a .5 mile rock dust trail around the baseball fields to round out a short taper workout.

Thurs - 48min/ 6.2m/ 400' - DART - Another great run with the DART crew in Davidson.  Felt fresh today!  Taper is starting to work.

Fri - off

Sat - 2hrs47min/ 16.5m/ 3500' - Sultan 50k - Got out for half of the Sultan 50k since I have Uwharrie next week but I had a blast.  I meet everyone at the start and tried to get pics of everyone heading up the trail at the start.  Then I drove over to the turnaround and waited for the front runners to show up and run back with them.  I hit the trail with Chubby Cheetah and was taking it pretty easy most of the day, but then I started to keep up with the Cheetah on the downhills and got myself in cat and mouse game with him.  I didn't realize what I was doing until I was almost done and promptly slowed my butt down coming into the finish.  No need to reck the body before Uwharrie.  Afterward I just sat around by the fire and enjoyed sharing company with a bunch of great folks from all over NC, SC, and VA.  Great day and extremely scenic run!  Love the South Mountains!

Sun - off - repairing an old beat up pair of outsoles on my Nike Zoom Streak XC most of the day.  Glad to say that I think with the hefty portion of shoegoo I slapped on those suckers, I may get another 100 miles out of them.  Love those shoes!

Totals =

Time - 6hrs10min
Miles - 32.7
Vert - 6,200'

Feeling pretty solid about the first taper week for Uwharrie, but I am not a big fan of tapers.  I feel like I am missing out on some truly epic training runs.  Just goes to show that it isn't about the races, its about the fun you have in the training.

panorama from Looking Glass

Up on Looking Glass with Pilot Mtn in the background

An Icy Upper Falls

One of the views from Upper Falls Trail.  You can make out Grandfather and the gorge on the horizon

What!!!! I got here an hour early!

kumbaya

Doug!!!!!!

Uwharrie Training Week 6

Mon - 0h - off

Tues - 69min/ 7.8m/ 1000' - Hickory City Park - nice relaxed easy run in nasty rainy weather

Wed - 84min/ 10.4m/ 1500' - Crowders - Great workout today.  Ran out of Linwood following Backside/ Crowders/ Turnback/ Fern/ Lake Loop x3/ Fern/ Turnback/ Crowders/ Backside.  Did this run as  3.5x2 tempo run.  Started with a 1.2 mile warm-up then tempo on 2 miles of the Crowders continuing down to the lake for one loop.  Then it was a one loop around the lake rest, and then the same tempo section of the way back to the car.  The tempo section splits were 24:31 and 26:55 (more uphill on the way back)

Thurs - 36min/ 4.7m/ 350' - DART Run - Super wet and cold run with the DART group.  I can't believe there were 3 other people that showed up tonight.

Fri - 52min/ 5.5m/ 800' - Hickory City Park - nice easy relaxed run with Hannah before we drove up the Asheville for the weekend.

Sat -

AM - 2hrs21min/ ~10m/ 2500' - Little Pisgah - Phenomenal run!  Got out with Mad A, Action, Brew, Isaiah, and William for a run up to the bald summit and 360 degree views from this local mountain gem.  I really don't think that I've seen a better view in NC.   Paces varied all day from super relaxed to downhill sprint.  It was a great time and I have some pictures below.

PM - 50min/ 2.5m/ 300' - Warren Wilson - Hannah and I did a short beautiful hike at the WWC trail system about 1.5 miles from Mad A's pad before we headed down to Brevard to stay with the Kirks.

Sun - 4hrs20min/ 23m/ 4500' -  Plutonathonish - Hannah and I stayed in Brevard with the Grand Kirk and Lily Saturday and Sunday nights and Matt and I got out for an abbreviated version of his Plutonathon route which summits the 3 main granite pluton monoliths in the Pisgah National Forest.  The abbreviated version cut out the iconic Looking Glass Rock, but the training plan and the legs were not ready for a 30 mile day.  We started and ended this run from Matts house in Brevard.  The weather was perfect and after the long climb up the new Bracken Mtn trail we were soon on top of Johns Rock enjoying our first pluton view.  Then it was onward to the highlight of the whole route, which is the scramble up the face of Cedar Rock.  The recent week of rain had left the rock face mostly wet and made the scramble a bit sketchy, but Matt, Uwharrie, and myself all managed to get to the top without any incident.  I am not really much of a climber, but I love scrambling up to class 3 and lower 4 routes. This climb was mostly a 3 with some 4's thrown in for good measure.  After soaking in the views for awhile, we started heading back down to Matt's house on another beautiful trail, i Just down remember the name of it.  Great run!

Totals =

Time -  11hrs26min
Miles - 63.9
Vert - 10,950'

Summit of Little Pisgah
cred: Isaiah Mosteller

Laughter Mtn Rd
cred: Isaiah Mosteller

Looking at Mt Mitchell
cred: Isaiah Mosteller

The bald we headed up
cred: Isaiah Mosteller

Short break from the climb up the Bracken Mt Trail
cred:  Matt Kirk

View From John Rock
cred: Matt Kirk

Scrambling the first pitch up Cedar Rock
cred:  Matt Kirk

View from Cedar Rock w/ me scrambling
cred:  Matt Kirk

Uwharrie Training Week 5

Mon - 69min/ 7m/ 1600' - SOMO - Decided to explore some trails out at South Mountains and was very pleased.  The route was River, Little River, Upper CCC, Sawtooth, Chestnut Knob, River.

Tues - off - stuck at a staff meeting

Wed - off - lazy

Thurs - 74min/ 8.7m/ 600' - Davidson - Great run with the DART group around the neighborhoods of Davidson.  Got there a bit early and did 3 miles on the college trails before joining the group.  The last half of the run I was feeling pretty good so Chad and I pushed the pace a little.

Fri - off - life

Sat - 3hr24min/ 20m/ 3500' - Uwharrie - Hannah and I meet up with a few other loonies that wanted to run the entire length of the Uwharrie Trail.  I was wanting to use this run as a gauge of what to expect to run on the out portion of the 40 mile in 3 weeks.  I planned to see how fast I could just run the 20 and base my race paces off that.  Unfortunately I didn't get the gauge I was wanting.  I expected that I could at least run this in 3:15, but I pushed and pushed and only came in at 3:24.  This is only 1 minute faster than when I ran the out portion in the 40 2 years ago.  I felt like that was perfect back then, but today I was wiped out.  Hopefully that is due to a hard 50k last weekend and a tempo run on Thursday.  If not, sub 7 hrs is looking really tough in a few weeks time.  It was unseasonably warm today and very humid so that could have had an effect as well.  Regardless it was a great training run.

Sun - 82min/ 9m/ 900' - Lake Norman - Headed out to run a new trail in the park, the Wildlife Loop.  To access the loop by trail requires a 2.8 mile run on the Laurel Loop.  I was feeling pretty sluggish the entire run due to yesterday's outing but somehow managed to keep a descent pace.  Instead of taking the 2.8 mile Laurel loop back, I hit Wildlife Rd instead to make the return trip shorter by about 1.5 mile.  The trail is pretty nice, but runs through a pine forest and reminds you of running closer to the coast.

Totals =

Time - 7hrs9min
Miles - 44.7
Vert - 6600'

Took quite a few days off this week but I was planning on this week to be a bit of a rest week and I think it all worked out.  Big miles coming next, then time for a taper.

Uwharrie Training Week 4

Mon - off

Tues - 1hr/ 6.2m/ 500' - Fisher Farm - Nasty weather lead to lack of motivation to complete the days workout of 14 hill repeats.  Ended up doing only 4 repeats and then just jogged the rest of the time.

Wed - 57min/ 7.5m/ 1000' - Hick City Park - Great tempo run out at my loop in the park.  After the first 1.5 mile I got a cramp in my side and was having some acid reflux issues which slowed me down a bit for a couple of miles, but I was able to get it back together in the end and only missed my fastest time by 10 seconds.  Ran the last 1.5 mile greenway section about 40 seconds faster than ever before!

Thurs - 46min/ 5.6m/ 300' - Davidson - Great run with the DART group in and around the residential areas of Davidson.  Really enjoying these runs.

Fri- off - preparing for Tanawha tomorrow

Sat - 7hrs31min/ 32m/ 7000' - Tanawha 50k - Superb run on my old stomping grounds.  More info below

Sun - 35min/ 4m/ 300' - Davidson XC - Good to get back out on the Davidson XC trails for a much needed shakeout run after yesterdays run.  Was surprised with how well my legs felt.  Not saying they felt great, but much better than expected.

Totals =

Time - 10hrs49min
Miles - 55.3
Vert - 9,100'

This week was pretty solid and the Tanawha Trail Runs went extremely well.  We had twenty people at the start and the weather turned out perfect, although a bit cold in the first hour.  My run went well and I had company the entire time, unlike ALTAR a few weeks ago.  The climb up to Calloway Peak was quite the adventure.  More than half of the Scout Trail was ice covered and all those that were going up to the summit were beginning to get worried that the trail would only get worse and that the ladders near the peak would be completely covered in ice.  Non of us had spikes but we kept pushing through, going around the ice covered scrambles and eventually making it to the ladders.  Miraculously, the ladders were free of ice except a couple of steps and we made it to the summit.  The views were extraordinary and I was amazed that we were able to make it up to the summit.  The rest of the run went well and taking the parkway partially around the boulder field section of the Tanawha on the way back was a great idea.  Doug gave us some flack for that one, but I was happy with the choice.  After the run, most of us headed over to Canyons to grub down, have a few drinks, and talk about our adventures.  Another great run, with even greater people.

Click on the picture below to view photos of the Tanawha Trail Runs.