Week 46 - 10,700' (540,700')

316 - 1,700' at Sleepy Gap

317 - 0'

318 - 3,300' on Shut-In

319 - 1,300' Mountains to Sea Trail

320 - 0' - Was hoping to make THIS RUN with Mad A and Mike, but for sure next time. Love the fell runnin' portion of this one guys! Shirtless in Nov. no less.

321 - 2,000' on Driveway reps

322 - 2,400' Bear Wallow x 4. Temps in the 20's with high winds, but skies were clear with some great views. Saw my first icicles of the season.

Week 45 - 12,100' (530,000')

Cool video and great song

309 - 2,000' - Roads

310 - 0'

311 - 2,300' - Back Roads

312 - 1,300' - Mountains to Sea Trail

313 - 1,300' - Mountains to Sea Trail

314 - 3,000' Driveway Reps x 15 hard

315 - 2,200' Driveway Reps x 11 easy

15 quarters w/200'

Had the urge to just go short and hard today and used my driveway rep route to accommodate my needs this morning. So I did 2 warm up reps and saw that I was at the 2:53 range for the quarter and about 200' climb. The 3rd I went balls out just to see what I could do and saw a 2:21 and decided I pick somewhere between for the final 12 and pretty much hit the 2:35-2:40 mark for each. Was enjoying some good music on the ups/hards and downs/easy. Here's a few of my favorites of the morning and I'm sure you can guess what was playing on the the times I was blissfully burying myself and when I was peacefully recovering.

Week 44 - 13,900' (517,900')

302 - 2,000' - Driveway reps.

303 - 0'

304 - 4,200' - Bear Wallow x 7.

305 - 2,200' - Driveway reps.

306 - 2,200' - Driveway reps.

307 - 3,300' - Back Roads.

308 - 0'

I was a little surprised when I added up the vert this week. I felt like I didn't run much this week and that I was squeezing it in where I could. Well, that actually was the case, though. The driveway reps were done at a pretty easy effort and the Bear Wallow run was done with a lot of energy and my mind totally somewhere else - which made the 7 laps seem to go by in no time at all - didn't even eat or drink on that 2 hour plus run.

I've been doing these few routes over and over lately and I think I'm just really getting used to them and they are becoming a bit easy in a not so good way. I'm probably doing these a little faster than I was a month ago, but I'd bet my fitness isn't any better. Just getting better at these routes and not really better at running over-all. If I had to guess mileage for this week it's be less than 40 on just under 14,000'. The driveway reps are done on a 1/4 mile, 200' hill and a Bear Wallow lap is 1 mile and 600' up, then back down. Most everything I'm running is between 10%-20% and I am getting quite comfortable in here. Thinking it might be about time to jump it up a little and get some intensity included soon.

The Challenge

Yesterday the kids and I headed over to spend the day with Mad A and his family. Our kids are pretty close in age so it's loads of fun hangin' out with them and getting involved in some of their play. Riley and Asa are just a few months apart in age and Asa developed a Challenge Course for he and Riley. After a few practice runs to show Riley the course it was on. Asa CRUSHED his own Challenge Course! Riley took defeat well and didn't say too much about it as he and Asa spent the next few hours creating their own teamwork challenges.

After school today Riley headed straight up to the Pump Track running it a little more serious than usual. I asked him if he wanted to me to time him. He said "No, I'm making a course, I want to race Asa on my Challenge." Well, I couldn't stop smiling because the corners of my mouth were tickling my earlobes. Just when I thought this couldn't get any better Riley decided the Challenge would finish with a 50% grade climb. Looking forward to the next time Mad A and family can head over for a new Challenge.

Week 43 - 12,300' (504,000')

295 - 2,300' - Back Roads

296 - 0'

297 - 0'

298 - 6,000' - Shut-In to Mt. Pisgah - see previous post. - 500k mark.

299 - 1,000' - Driveway Reps

300 - 1,000' - Roads

301 - 2,000' - Driveway Reps

Great week hitting the 500k mark as well as getting in a pretty big run, much bigger than what I've been doing. Seemed to have a bit of a let down after Tuesday's 6,000', not very motivated at all the rest of the week. May have just been the fatigue I felt after. I guess I'll find out in a few days. Weather here has been great for running - just perfect.

Last weekend Mad A put on his epic Pitchell, an organised, non race run that could very well be one of the hardest ultra races. It would be my vote for UROC.

I Hit 500,000' Today!

I hit the Half Million mark today at the top of Mt. Pisgah. With 8,300' of vert-2-go after week 42 I decided to make the 500k a memorable one. And the best memories usually involve a lot of fun with some pain mixed in there - well at least for this sport that's what makes the best memories! A few days ago I hit the Back Roads for a quick 2,300' so I could deal with an even 6,000' for something a little more epic. The Shut-In Trail is about 5,300' of climbing, and ends at the Mt. Pisgah parking lot. From there it's another 700' to the summit of Pisgah so I thought this could be the a good plan to hit 500k at the summit. If I was a little short, I could head back down as needed then summit again to hit the number. Fortunately, my altimeter was very nice to me today and read 6,004' of ascent when I reached the summit. All fun stuff, but there's still 9.5 weeks to go and I expect to hit 6ook by the end of the year.

A few numbers that I came up with - I hit 500k in 298 days, averaging about 1,678'/day and 11,765'/week. At this rate I will be around 612,400' for 52 weeks. It would be nice to hit 624,000' for the year which would equal 12,000'/week. I won't hold myself to it, but it will be in the back of my head as I hit the trails during my favorite time of the year.

Week 42 - 12,200' (491,700')

288 - 2,000' - Driveway Reps.

289 - 0'

290 - 0'

291 - 3,300' - Back Roads.

292 - 2,000' - Driveway Reps.

293 - 2,800' - Bear Wallow.

294 - 2,100' - Back Roads.

Pump Track Runner

I happen to rent my place from the Beytagh family. Their son Geritt is the 2008 Downhill Mountain Bike US National Champion. Geritt and his parents are my neighbor and they generously share all of their beautiful land with my kids and I. A few years ago Geritt and his friends built this pump track in their yard - here's some good footage of Geritt giving it a test run while Chewy motivates him.

My son, Riley, loves this pump track, but isn't quite ready to hit it with his bike. He still prefers to run it, which isn't an easy thing either. He must've done 20 laps on this track today asking to be timed for each one. Lotsa fun this afternoon!

Week 41 - 13,300' (479,500')

Working a pretty good trail on my back yard here.
281 - 2,000' - Driveway reps.

282 - 0'

283 - 3,000' - Back Roads.

284 - 2,000' - Driveway reps.

285 - 2,100' - Back Roads - then some hiking and lunch on Mt. Mitchell with Mom!

286 - 2,200' - Back Roads

287 - 2,000' - Driveway reps.

A pretty boring week as far as running goes, but still the 2nd best part of my days! Just got in the runs from my front door eliminating all drive time for running this week.

My Mom is here this week so we've been doing some great stuff including some hiking and lunch on Mt. Mitchell.