New River Training Week 3...The Dump

Mon - yoga - did the P90X yoga routine which is quite intense.  It last like 1.5 hours and is broken up into 30 minute parts of strength, balance, and stretching type poses.  Felt great!

Tues - 60min/ 7.5m/ 1000' - Hickory City Park - Another good run on the HCP loop of mine.  The training plan said tempo, but the achilles said, "Take it a little easier", so that is just what I did.  Just a nice and steady run.

Wed - 2hr10min/ 12.5/ 2600' - SOMO - Wow what a run today.  Took my camera out and ended up making a video of quite possibly the best loop in the park.  Route was river, high shoals falls, upper falls, jacob branch, fox, lower CCC, upper falls, shinny, headquarters, river.  This route is really only 11.5m, but I did at least an extra mile while running back and forth in front of my camera for footage. The video is at the bottom of the page.  Love the South Mountains.

Thurs - 48min/ 5.6m/ 500' - DART Run - Joined Dave and Tommy for the Wolf Spider loop with some other roads thrown in for a nice mellow day.  Felt a bit tight and weak today but the achilles is feeling pretty good.

Fri - 31min/ 3.3m/ 500' - Warren Wilson - Got some new shoes in the mail and decided to try them out on Suicide Ridge.  I really like the grip of the Hagios, but man the midsole is super firm.  Not used to that firm of  a sole in a show.

Sat - 3hrs6min/ 18m/ 3500' - The Dump -  Meet up early with the WNC Trail Runners for this inaugural running of multiple loops around the county's landfill mountain bike trail system.  There was a nice crew assembled and after shoving down homeade doughnuts made by Kevin, we began and soon found out that the dump is no joke.  I was half expecting typical mtb trail of the piedmont as the trail stays pretty much in a 200 ft range of elevation.  I didn't realize that it was going to go up and down that 200ft like a bazillion times!  Add to that the irregular early Spring heat wave, and things we getting rough.  I had originally only planned to do a marathon worth of loops, but after the first one, I knew that the second one would be my last.  My legs felt dead and my energy levels were out of whack due to the heat.  I still had a great time after I was done hanging out and cheering people on.  Even managed to go out for another half loop with Phyllis, which hurt really bad, after sitting around awhile.  Of the 25 people who started, I think only 4 people completed the full 50k.

After the run, Kevin and Kate invited everyone out to their farm to enjoy some majestic views, delectable cuisine,  and some pleasant conversations.  We even got to see there new baby calf that was just born earlier in the week.  Check out Kevin's farm, Homemade in Marshall here.

Sun - 2hrs28min/ 11m/ 3000' - Graybeard - Met up with Lauren in Montreat to show her one of the best trail running routes around in Asheville, one that I actually put in my article for IRunFar.com.  We kept the pace easy and relaxed for the day, especially considering participating in the Dump yesterday.  I love this route.  We climbed up the Graybeard trail, through the trestle switchbacks, picked are way down the extremely fun West Ridge trail, and then bombed down Big Piney back to the car.  Like I said, I love this route.

Total =

Time - 10hrs
Miles - 57.9
Vert - 11,100'

This was a great week of running and the achilles held up to the volume.  I didn't really try to test it with much speed, but will check it out this week.  I really didn't stay to the training plan either and kinda just did what I felt like doing, which was having adventures in the mountains.  These are the best types of weeks in running and are the reason I do this in the first place.  Having a training plan is nice, and sticking to it can give you a since of accomplishment, but nothing compares to some great long hours on steep mountain trails, exploring new places, and enjoying that time with friends.

Here is the video of the run I did in the South Mountains.  Enjoy!