Week 9: Asheville: A Great Week! - Ride the Rockies Training Goes Vertical

Last Tuesday, I left to head out to Asheville.  It has been one city that I have always wanted to return too.  I was out there last year for a day and half and got the chance to ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mt. Mitchell. It was an amazing ride and I've always wanted to go back out there again and ride.

Well with Ride the Rockies coming up, I decided to go back out there for a week of riding and relaxing.  The plan was to ride for the 6 days I was there and do a little hiking also.  I brought both my mountain bike and road bike knowing that there would be great places to do both.




I left early on Tuesday morning for the 10 hour drive out to Asheville.  From Conway, it is a about an 11 hour drive out there.  I wanted to be out there by dinner time.  I was able to get into town around 5 which was perfect timing to get dinner and enjoy the beer that Asheville has to offer.  I went to Wicked Weed which has probably some of the best beer in Asheville in my opinion.  They also have numerous options.  My favorite there was the Saison XXXI that they offered.  I'm usually an IPA fan, but that beer was really good.  Dinner was at the Lexington Ave Brewery.  I had a good open faced sandwich.  From there, it was back to the room for some sleep for the big ride on Wednesday.

The plan on Wednesday was to do the longest ride of the week.  I knew the climb from Marion to to the top of Mt. Mitchell was one of the longest climbest in the eastern US.  To get to Marion, I would ride east from Asheville on Hwy 70 to Black Mt.  From there, I could ride Look Out Point Trail to Hwy 70 again and then North on 81 to Blue Ridge which would take me to Mt. Mitchell and back into Asheville from there.  The first part of the ride was flat to rolling with a couple of small climbs.  It was then downhill into the Marion area where the real climbing began.  The climb on 81 to Parkway was a tough climb.  It was long and steeper than the Blue Ridge that I did the previous year.  It was beautiful and quiet climb though.  The traffic was pretty much non-existent.  Once I reached, the Blue Ridge I was ready to get to Mt. Mitchell.  However, the Parkway kept throwing more climbing at me!  I was happy once I got to the road that leads to Mt. Mitchell.  I felt the climb was easier than the previous year due to more climbing this year and riding.  I reached the top after 75 miles of riding!  I knew from the top it would be downhill from there!  The downhill was uneventful, but beautiful. The total ride was 99 miles with 11,000 ft of climbing! http://www.strava.com/activities/138704417

I finished the day out with dinner at Salsa's which included an fried japelpenos stuffed with crab and an empanada with steak.  It was a great dinner! 

I wanted to follow up the first day with another good day of climbing and a long ride.  For the day, I chose to ride up to Mt. Pisgah Inn and back to Asheville.  I knew the ride would be around 50 miles, so I thought that would be perfect for the day especially since most of it was all uphill.  The climb up to the Pisgah was steady pretty much the whole way with good views along the way.  When I got to the top, I was still feeling pretty good and decided to ride a little further once I got back in the Asheville area.  My idea was to ride back up to Tower Mt. Rd and back into Asheville which would give a little more climbing.  The ride turned out to be 65 miles with another 10,000 ft of climbing - http://www.strava.com/activities/138914858 -  I may have gone further had it not been that I was out of water and nutrition.  I was still feeling great when I got to the turn. 

After this ride, I was able to get back into Asheville for some lunch and dinner.  Lunch was at Doc Chuy's Noddle House which was very good.  I followed it up with dinner at Farm Burger which made a very good burger.

Day 3 was supposed to be a longer ride than the 40 I put in, but with some weather threatening, I cut it short.  It still turned out to be around 40 miles with 3000 ft of elevation.  It was a good chance to take it back a notch and go out and do something else.  After the ride, I went to lunch at Sunny Side Cafe and had an awesome omlett.  This was followed up with a 6 mile hike along the Shut in Trail which followed the Blue Ridge Parkway from the near the French Broad River.  It was a good hike and even had a little rain along the way.

By day 4, the rain was a coming.  It was time to hit the trails on the mountain bike.  The person I was staying with through Airbnb gave me a good map to use for the Bent Creek Trail system. It is a system of trails located 15 minutes outside of downtown Asheville.  At first, when I was looking at the map, it looked intimdating to get around.  However, once I got out there it was very easy to get around. The area has a system of single track trails, double track, and forest service roads.  A lot of time you would take the service forest roads up to the high point of the single tracks and then ride some smoking downhills. The system also had some nice rolling single track without the climbs, rocks, and roots.  Since it was Saturday, there were plenty of people out there and every time I took the map out, someone would help me out.  I only had one good wreck which scrapped up my leg, but by then it was raining pretty hard it was time to go back. http://www.strava.com/activities/139621558

After the mountain biking is out for more of a brewery tour!  I ended up visiting Green Man, Burial, Hi-Line, and Twin Leaf Brewing.  I enjoyed the beer at Twin Leaf which was a new brewery in the area! 

I was hearing go North of Asheville for this Sunday ride.  The day started out with a climb up Elk Mountain.  My idea was to up Elk Mountain back through Weaverville and then down along the French Broad back to Asheville.  This ride was going to around 30 miles.  The climb up Elk was a challenge, but it had some great views of downtown and some beautiful homes along the road.  I guess there is a TT up the mountain because as you got closer to the "finish" you could still see some encouraging words on the road.  Once at the top, I was to go down the other side into Weaverville.  Be careful going down this way, the road for 3 miles was pretty sketchy for the descent.  It is not one you want to take fast.  Once down at the bottom, the road improved and it was flat to rolling into Weaverville and then downhill to river.  When I reached the river, why not go for more miles, so I did an out to Marshall and then back to Asheville from there along the river.  Rolling along the river was a great ride, flat to small rolling and plenty of views of the river.  Also, the road was pretty quiet with traffic for Sunday and plenty of cyclist on the road.   For the second part of the day, I went out to the Folk Art Center along the Blue Ridge Parkway and did the Mountain to Sea trial north on Hike/Run.  It was great hike through the woods.  If I lived out in the area, I would try and do more sections of this great trail. 

I spent the final day out with a ride to Craggy Gardens and back.  I rode south towards the Biltmore Forest and got on the Blue Ridge Parkway there and headed North to the Craggy.  I was just looking for around a 4 hour ride and this worked out to be perfect.  The ride turned out to be 53 miles with 5,000ft of elevation.  For a last ride, it worked out great!  After the ride, I went for lunch and then it was on to a run!  I hadn't ran in a week, so I wanted to get a run.  Well, it couldn't just be any run.  I had seen where they offered a brewery tour by running, however, it was offered on Sunday and this was Monday.  I decided to make my own.  I would run to three breweries have a pint at each and then back to the room.  I choose Wedge, LAB, and Hi-Line.  It would give a little longer run between each place.  The run to Wedge was the longest at 1.5 miles and then to LAB it was another 1.5 miles.  From LAB to Hi-line was probably around 3/4 and another 3/4 back to the room.  It worked out great to end the trip!

 Week 9 Totals:
Swim: 2500 yards - ha I got one swim in on Monday
Bike: 285 miles and 30,000 ft of elevation
Run: 12 miles of hiking

I did one of the rides in Week 10 - so for 6 days I had 338 miles of biking and 16.7 miles of running/hiking. 
 

Quick Week 9 update

I have been training in Asheville since last Wednesday.  For the week, I did 297 miles and 31000 ft of elevation.  It has been epic! 

Week 8: Strong Riding/Lots of Running/Open Water Swim

This post is taking place from Asheville, NC.  Last week, I decided to come out here for the second the time to do some training and also get away on a little vacation.

Week 8 was overall a pretty good week.  I felt that I was really strong riding wise.  I only did 4 rides, but my longest ride was for the Tour de Toad.  On Saturday, I went for a 40 mile ride before the 46 mile Tour de Toad.  The 40 mile ride was an easy OAB to Morrilton.  I held back on the ride on felt that the 40 miles came and went pretty easily.  I knew the big ride would be on the Tour de Toad.  The plan for this ride was to see how long I could hang with the main group with out killing myself.  I was able to make it with them for about 10 miles and then the group split.  When the group spilt, I choose not to try and chase down the leading group knowing that wouldn't work out for the best.  For the next 10 miles, I was working with a group of about 3 riders feeling pretty good and pulling at a good pace.  Then we were caught by a group of 5 which was nice to hang onto.  This group of around 8 held together pretty well until the only real hill on the course.  This sepreated everyone out.  I was with three others again until I made the decision to go back to 2 people that I knew.  This worked out pretty well.  We pulled the last 15 miles at over 20 miles an hour. By the time I had finished, I was actually feeling pretty good for a 90 mile ride.  I can really tell my training is picking up and fitness improving.

This week with the runs was a so/so week.  I was able to get in 16 miles which is the most since March.  I felt my second long run of the week on Sunday after 90 miles on Sunday.  My best run of the week was on Friday when I tried to run a mile has hard as possible.

Swimming was swimming this week.  I was able to get my first open water swim of the year.  I did 45 minutes with a wetsuit and felt great.

Well tomorrow it's off to a good week of riding in Asheville!

Week 7: Where did those rides come from? Ride the Rockies/IM Wisconsin Training

I would like to call this the week of where did those rides come from!  On Monday, my legs were somewhat tired, but I did an easy ride south of town which had a mix of hills and flat areas.  By Tuesday, I was ready to go somewhere different to ride.  I've been all around the routes near Conway and I was looking for some hill repeats.  So what better choice then to head to the front side of Petit Jean for hill repeats!  I've never done repeats on that climb, so I didn't know how they would go.  My goal was to climb up three times.   Here is the link to the Strava segment - http://www.strava.com/segments/2386024.  Each climb would take about 13 minutes, so I knew I was in for a fun afternoon.  I parked out at Petit Jean visitor center and road about 4 miles out to the climb and it was another mile to the bottom.  From there, the climbs began!  The first one went well.  I was feeling good and controlling the pace knowing I still had two more left.  The second was a little struggle, but it could have been in my head.  By the third one, I was ready to tackle the climb and go hard up it.  I pushed hard up the climb and felt great the whole time!  Yeah, I was a little tired by the end, but I had reached my goal!  When I got back to my truck, I was still feeling pretty strong and felt that I could have done a 4th.  I like rides when finish strong and know that you could have gone longer.

My Thursday ride I was planning for a little more mileage.  Knowing that some storms could be moving in the afternoon, I left in the morning.  When I reached around 28 miles, the skies were looking kinda of cloudy, but I thought the storms aren't supposed to be here for a while.  As I approached the Lollie Bottoms and about 10 miles left, the skies were telling me the rain is moving in!  I picked up the pace and thought I could stop and look at the radar on my phone, but nah better to push on.  When I got home, I had just made it by about 10 minutes.  10 minutes later it was pouring down rain and some lighting.

The big ride was planned for Saturday.  I had a couple of choices, but decided to ride with a friend here in town.  The plan was to go 55 miles with the North Loop.  This route starts out with some rolling hills, followed by 2 climbs and more rolling hills to flat to finish.  My idea was to ride with the group for this 55 miles and see how I felt at the end and possibly do some more afterwards.  We would ride together as a group through the flats and rollers, but up the hills one guy would push hard uphill, I mainly stayed back to contain myself and climb within myself.  I finished the 55 feeling pretty good and I knew I could do some more.  I set a goal for 80, knowing I could add the short South Loop.  By the time I finished the 80, I was feeling good and even felt I could have done more again.  I think my key to this 80 mile ride was I keep myself hydrated and feed well.

My running for the week was ok.  I was able to get 13 miles in with a "long" run of 5.  The long run felt ok.  I think the fatigue on my legs was part of the issue, but I was able to get through it.  By Sunday, I went on a 3 mile fast run and felt good, but I was still feeling it a little.  Overall, the runs were ok.

It was another consistent week of swimming.  I say consistent because again I felt ok. I was able to get through the workouts, but I didn't see any breakthroughs this week.  I'm glad though I keep up the work and am being consistent.  I think this will pay off in the long run!

Below was my Friday fun of re-mulching my beds.  I started with one scoop of mulch and realized, I would need at least tow more!  Fun time on Friday!





Week 7 Totals
Bike - 182.9 miles
Run - 13 miles
Swim - 4 miles

Another note, I always enjoy the Strava challenges.  The cycling challenges can be tough to complete because they require a lot of riding!  The most recent one required 1266 km in 40 days.  I was able to complete the challenge on Saturday with 8 days to spare!  May has a couple of tough challenges that will help the focus for training.  The first one is to climb around 7000ft in 4 days.  This could be tough find the climbs.  A few 60 mile routes around Conway will get around 3000 ft of climbing or I could do some hill repeats up Petit Jean or Mt. Magazine to get even more!  The second challenge is to ride 16 hrs in 8 days.  I think that will be tougher than the first because it will require focused riding days and being consistent.  If you miss a day, that means the next days have to be even longer!

Week 6: Keep on Keeping on - Ride The Rockies/Ironman Wisconsin

This week was filled with some interrupted workouts and nice long ride.

My usual Monday involved Masters Swimming during lunch.  Well mother nature decided to cut the workout short.  A small thunderstorm moved in and stopped the swimming for 20 minutes.  We were able to get back for about 10 minutes before another crack of thunder and lighting finished the swim for the day!  It was a short swim, but I would make for it on Thursday.  On Thursday, the main set for the swim was a 150 swim, 4 x 25, 150 swim, 4 x 25, and then a 150 swim.  Well for some reason, I keep thinking in my head the that the 150 swim was 3 x 150.  I ended up with about 900 extra yards, but I actually felt good throughout the swim, even though I swam 3300 yards.  This was the most that I've swam since my 33rd birthday!

I was able to get in a good amount of riding this week and some hills.  On Tuesday, I did the North OAB which includes about 3000 ft of climbing in 50 miles.  Thursday was some hill repeats out at Wye for around 2100 ft of climbing in 37 miles, and the big ride was on Saturday.  68 miles for at total 3,400 ft. of climbing.  Still not as much as I will see Colorado, it is more than I've had lately.  The great thing about the Saturday ride was that it was at a higher intensity than what I've been riding lately.  My legs started out cold, but by the time we got to Thornburg I was feeling pretty good.  I finished the week out with a 36 mile flat ride to Morrilton OAB.  I didn't know what to expect on Sunday, but I was surprised how good my legs felt.

Running wise I felt pretty good with all my running this week.  The "big" run for the week was a 4.25 mile run between the rain on Monday.  I was able to hold a 7:59 pace for the run.  Also, during the week, I mixed a 3 mile Spencer Hills run.

The great thing about this training is does help break up the day while I look for a job.  It has been tough trying to figure out exactly what I want to do, but it has been a rewarding experience to get the chance to look at things again and see exactly where I want to go.  I don't have to make a jump into anything.

This week I also taught a kids class in taekwondo for the first time in about 2 years.  I've taken over a class for someone for the rest of the school year.  It was interesting trying to figure how to best teach 20 plus kids of various ranks and ages.  It will be a challenge, and it is something that I'm looking forward too.

I got my t-shirt and hat for Ride The Rockies.  What a great welcome package!

Week 6:
Cycling - 191 miles
Running - 13 miles
Swimming - 3.75 miles

Week 5: Big Miles, Baseball, and New Rides

This week was going to be a little harder to plan out.  For just under a year, I had a trip to Starkville, MS for Super Bulldog Weekend.  At the time, I didn't know I would be doing Ride the Rockies, Ironman Wisconsin, and looking for a new career.  Well I guess, you adapt, overcome, and mange.

With the spring weather, it's been hard to pick which days are best for long riding.  We have had some really windy days here lately and sometimes riding in the wind is not too fun.  On Monday, I decided to see if anyone was riding at 5:30 from the local ride spot on Country Club and Tyler.  As luck would have it, someone was there.  We decided to ride the south loop with Scenic hill.  This was a good ride and a great way to start the week.

I took Tuesday off from riding and just swam and ran.  The plan was for a big on Wednesday.  The wind was supposed to be light and out of the west.  I decided to ride out to Atkins and climb Crow Mt. as an OAB and then add another 20 miles to make 80.  The ride started out really well.  The wind was in my face, but I was making good progress keeping the HR and Power in Zone 2.  I reached the climb and went up.  The climb was not that hard.  I wish it was closer to Conway because it would make for some great hill repeats.  It was long, but not very steep, so you could go up easy or crush it if you choose to.  On the way back, I had the wind at my back and everything was going well until I realized that I still had 20 miles left.  At that point, I had underestimated my nutrition.  I went out with 2 bonk break bars and 4 Clif Gels.  With 20 miles to go, I knew I was low on fuel and it would be tough.  I pushed through and got 80 in solo.  This was my longest solo ride ever.  One thing I learned is that I need to eat more if I'm going to be running a marathon afterwards in September!

Thursday was another easy day.  I would have liked to have gone for a short spin, but the wind was 20-30 and said I'll just take it easy with a run and swim.  Friday was an off day as I made the trip down to Mississippi.

I still wanted to get my rides in so I brought my bike down with me and went on 27 mile ride on Saturday and 20 on Sunday.  It is always nice to ride in new places because you don't know the distances so the time seems to go by faster.  On Saturday, I pushed the power on the bike to 80% max for the ride.  I felt good and afterwards ran 2 miles at a 7:57 pace.  The rest of the day was followed with crawfish and baseball.  Sunday morning, I went ahead and rode in Starkville.  One, I knew it might rain in Arkansas and it was going to be windy there.  It was a nice ride out on Old West Point Rd.  All the roads from the weekend were nice rollers with no climbs or true flats.

So overall, I had a great week of training.  I'm still lacking on the climbing, but the distance is going well.  Also, this was my biggest week of running since Feb.  The legs held up well through the week.  I still need to focus on keeping the run easy and light while still building the distance.  Also, had my biggest week of biking.

Totals Week 5
Bike -176 miles
Run - 12.3 miles
Swim - 3.61 miles

Week 4 for Ride the Rockies to Ironman Wisconsin

This was another good week of riding and swimming.  Running was still taking a back seat to the other two.  I was able to get in 3 swims, 4 rides, and 4 runs.  For the first time in a over a month, I went back to the gym to start working on some light strength training.  I went for 20 minutes two days last week.  I focused on the lower body/core one day and then upper body/core the other.  I know I was sore after lifting.  Also, this week for the first time in over 25 days I took a complete day off.  No running, biking, swimming, or strength.  I just relaxed and recovered.

A couple of notable rides this week were hill repeats at Ft. Roots and my Saturday ride.  The hill repeats were the first of the year.  It was nice to be able to work on strength.  Also, you get some good views of Little Rock on the ride up.  The second ride was on Saturday.  I did 45 miles with two friends.  They had never really been north of Conway, so I look them out on a new route and surprised them with a couple of hills.  I don't know if they'll let me pick the route again. After the ride with them, I went down south of Conway for another 22 miles to finish out the day.

Week Totals
Bike - 148 miles
Run - 8.6 miles
Swim - 4.17 miles

I need to focus on getting closer to 10 miles this week.  Also, I'm heading to Mississippi this weekend, so I'll get a lot of riding in between now and the weekend.  My swimming is coming along pretty well.