Weird week

This week has been a weird one for me. After the hiking last Saturday, i did not feel like doing anything on Sunday or Monday. I did 3 mile runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, then nothing on Thursday or Friday. (I let a friend talk me into seing a movie Friday instead of my planned spin class).

S0 I figured I would be rested today so I decided to do a brick. I hopped on my bike and started around the neighborhood then around the next one. I managed to do 5.75 miles when I next reached my house so I decided to go ahead and try to run. The operative word there is try. It felt like somone replaced my nice running shoes with concrete shoes. I managed a mile then when I hit the big hill at the back of the subdivision and my legs just could not take it. I had to walk that hill and the other 3 hills on the way back home. I managed 2.25 miles at a 13 minute pace. Obviously I need to work on my preperations for this. I also think I need to eat something before I try one of these again. I just felt out of energy when I did the run.

So, now for the good news. We are at the beach! I will get to practive my running on the beach for the next week. YAY!

Have fun,
Scott

Last week and Mt LeConte

Last week I had a pretty good week of workouts. Last Saturday, I did my 30 mile ride, and Monday and Wednesday I did 3+ mile runs. On Thursday I did a nice spin class and on Friday I played Basketball for about 1.5 hours. By Saturday, my legs were a little sore, but not really that bad. On Saturday, we climbed a mountain!

Mt Leconte is the third highest peak in the smoky mountains and about 1.5 hours drive from Knoxville. So we loaded up the minivan with the kids (6 and 2) and the backpack carrier and headed off. The kids were fine for the first hour (Thankfully, we have a DVD player), but the last 30 minutes they were complaining about the curves and when will we be there. Next time, we are going to leave the 2 year old with my aunt and just take the older one.

So, we finally got there about 10 am and proceeded to try to get everything ready for the trail. We met my father-in-law there since he loves to do the trails in the smokies. So we headed off. The first thing we get to is a nice stream that we will follow for the next mile.

I thought the girls would love this, but they were still tired from the trip and my 6 year old started having a screaming fit. This lasted about 10 minutes and after that she was fine. She did much better than I thought and I think she could have made it all the way to the top. My 2 year old was having fun riding in the backpack. I just wish it would have lasted!

Of course, they had to get out and play in the creek. Several Times! The water was cold, but I do not think the girls cared. They were just enjoying playing with the rocks and sticks.

So, we mostly carried the 2 year old up to the Alum Cave bluff about 2.2 miles up the trail. The last part of this climb was pretty steep and carrying her and the backpacks was pretty tiring. Now it was Lunch time! For some reason, when you are out in the wilderness, nothing tastes better than a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

So, after resting for a while, we left my wife and youngest here and proceeded to try to get to the top. About another 3 miles. Unfortunately, my shoes did not want to cooperate. At about the 3-3.5 mile mark, my boots started to disintegrate.

Here is what it looked like. If you can't guess from my pants, it was a very wet muddy day on the trail. There was alot of rain the night before. So after a little agonizing, we decided to turn around and head back down. It was probably a good idea since my heels were starting to get a little raw also.

So we hurried back down anc caught up to my wife and of course they had to stop and play in the creek on the way down also! They found where a tree had fallen over the creek and the girls just had to cross over it. Several times.

All in all, we had a good time, but next time I will definitely make it to the top. Hopefully my new hiking shoes will last until after I get done with the hike! We will try again on the July 4th weekend.

Later,

Scott

Recovering from the Weekend

On Saturday I did my first distance ride on my bike. Only 30 miles, but that is about 14 more than I have done at one time before. We averaged about 16.6 miles an hour for the 30 miles. Afterwords, my legs were a little tired and my butt was very sore. Hopefully after riding more, I will get acclimated to riding on the bike seats!

After the ride, I met my family in downtown Knoxville for a literacy festival. We ended up walking all over downtown and the girls liked playing in the water fountains. Then we went to the waterfront to meet some more friends so our kids could play together in those fountains.

Sunday, we took a trip to Dollywood. This is a nice amusement park in the smoky mountains and we spent all day walking around the park. My legs were so tired last night that I just crashed last night.

This morning, I was not sure if I felt up to running, but I wanted to give it a chance. I ended up running 3.25 miles at a 10:54 pace. That is the longest I have run and the fastest pace also. Hopefully by the time my triathlon comes in July, I can be up to 5 miles at a time.

Later