Leatherwood Training Weeks VI & VII

Week VI

Mon - 30min/ 1m/ 300' - Disc Golf - just kinda shuffled today

Tues - off - feeling lethargic

Wed - 62min/ 7.6m/ 1000' - Hickory City Park - normal run on the local trail

Thurs - 47min/ 6.3m/ 600 - DART - Another great run with the DART crew

Fri - 26min/ 3m/ 100' - Heritage Greenway - Shakeout run for tomorrow's 50k race.

Sat - 3hrs20min/ 21.5m/ 1700' - Mill Stone 50k - Well, my day didn't go as well as planned.  Some head games and a tight hamstring led me to pulling out of the race after 2 laps.  The race was extremely well organized and I would highly recommend this 50k if you wanting a 50k pr.  The course is fairly flat and all trail other than a bit of gravel at the beginning.  Excellent race management as well.

Sun - off - Was going to try and run, but just wasn't feeling it.  Yesterday's lows still stuck in my head I guess.

Totals =

Time - 6hrs5min
Miles - 39.4
Vert - 3700'

Week VII

Mon - off

Tues - 2hrs30min/ 11m/ 2400' - Big Lost Cove Cliffs & Little Lost Cove Falls - Due to snow, school got let out 3hrs early so I made my way up to the high country to try and find Little Lost Cove Falls.  Upon arriving there was a slick 1 inch of snow coating the roads and trails.  This made for some difficult footing, but things weren't too bad.  I made it over to Big Lost Cove Cliffs fairly quickly but was awarded with no views.  I quickly made my way down to the 464a using a side trail from the cliffs and then began my search for the falls.  I breezed by the side trail and had to retrace my steps.  Went down a wrong trial first, but eventually found the actual "trail" down to the falls.  I slid down the trail to the bottom of the lower falls and was very impressed.  I hung around the falls a bit and then started my trip back to the car using Pineola Rd.  Beautiful run!

Wed - 60min/ 7.3m/ 1000' - Hickory City Park - Great run before the snow storm hit.

Thurs - 55min/ 5.5m/ 600' - Secret Trail Snow Run - Woke up to some heavy snow still falling, so I took off.  Got on some of the secret trails near the house to run through 7 inches of snow and big heavy flakes still falling.  Great run!

Fri - off

Sat - 55min/ 5.5m/ 700' - Boone Greenway - Hannah, Tom, and I headed up to the high country for some XC skiing, but things didn't pan out due to the lack of rentals.  Instead we scrambled for ideas and ended up just settling for a snowy and windy run of the Boone Fork Greenway.

Sun - 2hrs50min/ 14m/ 3200' - SOMO - Tom and I headed out to SOMO to try and dodge some snow, but we ran in it all day for the most part.  It wasn't bad though, and we had a great run out there.  Views were great.

Totals =

Time - 8hrs10min
Miles - 43.3
Vert - 7,950'

Leatherwood Training Week V....Recovery Week

Mon - 20min/ 1m/ 200' - Glenn Hilton Park - another quick round of speed disc golf on 16 of the holes before dark.   Not really a run, but I did jog between each throw on varied terrain.

Tues - 65min/ 7.3m/ 1000' - Hickory City Park - first actual snow run (snow falling) of the year at City Park.  I made first tracks on most of the trail and had a great run in the peaceful falling snow.

first snow

Wed - 60min/ 5.5m/ 600' - Glenn Hilton Park - We had a snow day from from work, so Hannah and I went and ran the 3.5 mile trail in GHP and then proceeded to play a surprisingly well and speedy session of speed disc golf in the snow.  More good recovery.

Thurs - 40min/ 4m/ 200' - Davidson - Meet up with the DART crew for a "frothy" mile.  I took 2nd behind Tom by 2 seconds.  Not really impressed with my time of 8:59.  I can do better than that.

Fri - Ski Trip! - Sugar Mountain - Skiing all day for the first time ever.  For the first 2 hours I hated it.  Couldn't stay upright, couldn't stop, couldn't ski period.  Finally, I made it down the bunny slope a couple of times and was able to stop.  It was time to take it to Green.  Ran green maybe 12 times and never fell down.  After finally getting my ski legs under me, I hit blues for the rest of the night.  Really started to feel confident at the end of the night and now I love skiing.  Can't wait for the next trip.

Sat - 2hrs5min/ 8.5m/ 2500' - Grandfather Mtn - Tom and I headed out to tackle the highest peak on Grandfather Mountain, which is Calloway Peak at an elevation 5,946'.  We decided to take the scenic Cragway Trail up the first half of the mountain.  The views were awesome, but the going was slow due to tired ski legs and post-holing through 10-14inch deep snow.  Although the temperature was in the lower 50's.  Soon we hit the Scout Trail to continue our climb to the summit.  We missed the trail at one point and ended up bushwhacking past a few switchbacks but ended back on the trail.  The snow cover makes things tricky sometime.  Back on the trail, we were able to start running a bit due to the gentle grade of the trail and the packed nature of the snow.  Soon enough we hit the ladders, which were clear of ice, and we scrambled our way up the last pitch of the trail to the summit.  The views were excellent today and the wind was whipping.  We didn't stay on the summit too long due to the wind and retreated to the shelter for a quick snack before we completed our decent.  We made good time heading down the the trail back to the car, although things were a bit slippery with the slushy snow.  It was a great run and I'm glad I got back out on the summit.  Haven't been up there in over a year, but I still want to get out on that high ridge that runs from the swinging bridge to Calloway peak again.  Haven't been on it in over 4 years.

Tom on Cragway

Post-holing

Tom on the ladders

at the summit

 Sun - AM - 90min/ 5.2m/ 600' - Flat Top Tower - After Hannah and I checked out of our cabin, we headed over to the trails at Moses Cone Park to hike up to the Flat Top Tower.  I've done this route a ton of times, but it never gets old.  Great hike with the wife before we left the High Country.

Hannah on Flat Top trail with Grandfather in the background

          PM - 97min/ 10.5m/ 1400' - Riverbend Park - Once we got back to Hickory and ate some lunch, I decided to head over to Riverbend to get in some more miles.  It was a warm day with temps in the mid 60's and the trails were pretty sloppy due to the recent snow melt.  Despite the sloppy conditions, it was a great run.  I forget how excellent the trails are out there.  Need to get out there more, but the stupid park hours it has gets in the way most of the time.  I can tell my body is ready for a rest now though.  Finished up the day with a round of disc golf over at Glenn Hilton.  Great day!

 Totals =

Time - 8hrs17min
Miles - 42m
Vert - 6500'