Training week 6/24 - 6/30

Well I had kind of a "down" week this week meaning I didn't train as much which was fine. The body needed a little less load on it and I was busy doing other things. Sometimes you need to just enjoy life...do some other things...and let training take a backseat. Did a bit of that this week which was nice mentally. Oh and the rain didn't help either. Lots of rain and more coming everyday this week. Hopefully I can have a strong week coming up regardless. But I'm worried about my bike legs (and planned off road triathalons) since I can't seem to get out on my mtn bike much. Anyway my week.

Mon: 7 mile road run. Hill workout.

Tues: Off. I met up with my old roomate from college Michael Yelton who is a fly fishing guide in the Lake Lure area. Went out early and had a great time fly fishing for white bass and catching some smallies. Nice weather and a beautiful morning to be outside. The Broad river and the Lake itself are both really nice. Was a little rusty with my fly fishing but remembered how much I enjoy it. Going to get back into fly fishing more when I get to VA.

It was funny to talk about the "good ol days" a bit and hear about people. He always kept up with people better than me and I admit that some of the people he kept telling me about I couldn't remember who they were or what they looked like. Has it really been that long? Almost 15 years....so I guess yes it has.

Wed: off (rain rain)

Thurs: 11 mile trail run at Salem lake. Considering I hadn't run much this week I thought I would have felt better on this but for some reason the opposite seems to be the case a lot for me. The more I run the better I feel for some reason. Really humid...but an okay run.

Fri: Off. Headed back up to the mtns to get my kids from my Mom's.

Sat: 20-22 (don't know exactly) trail run on the Mountains to Sea Trail. So right near my mom's house you can access the mountains to sea trail which basically follows along the blue ridge parkway for this section. It's an interesting trail...still a work in progress so "piecemealed" together meaning one minute you are running a nice trail...the next you are out running on the parkway...the next running through a cow pasture. Kind of funny but it was still a good run.

Had some animal encounters too...
Early in the run I actually was cruising a downhill section...turned a corner and came up on a bobcat. I'm glad I had just recently gone to the bathroom or I might have peed my running shorts because it scared the mess out of me. I slammed the brakes on in time to see him raise up his back shoulders...make some kind of weird hissing/spitting sound and then take off so fast it was like he had been shot out of a cannon. Crazy how fast he moved and was gone. Also saw no joke 25 deer standing together in a field at one point...weird to see so many together in one place. If it had been sunday I would have assumed they were having church. Also I was climbing a ladder to go over a fence at one point and came down right into a group of turkeys who weren't happy to see me either. (sensing a theme?) Oh and I got a big kick out of the cows who were standing all along the trail at one point....don't normally trail run with cows though the cow pasture section was my least favorite part of the run. It's tough to run in cow pastures....and smelly too.  

Early morning on the MST trail....not a bad view from the trail. 

Ran out onto thunderhill lookout and snapped this pic a little later.

Beautiful stream that I followed up on one of my climbs up the mountain. 

After my run we headed out to a place called Blue Bear Mountain to go camping with the kids. Matty and Ames and their fam went with us. It was nice and cool up there and a beautiful day. Had a great time. Trout fishing (Ike caught a nice sized rainbow trout)...hiking in the woods (Maya was a beast out there! she may be my trail runner)...relaxing and hanging out (Ezra James loved the freedom of being able to roam around)....cooked dinner over the fire....and then all piled into the tents. Fun to let the kids all play together and then sit by the fire with my bro sharing a Deviant Dale's IPA.

Now that's a good day!

Sun: Off. had a lazy day getting up from camping....packing things up and headed back to Winston Salem. Too tired and too much gear to clean up to train.

Had a crazy last week or so with all my wanderings but have had some great runs and done some fun things. But we move to Roanoke in two weeks so it's time to stop messing around...get down to business and get some packing done.

Totals: Running 39 miles. Biking 0 miles (not good)