I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 11

Lunch- typical lunch run- started off with 7 guys, then pared it down until it was only Jim and I by the end of 10.5 miles.  That happens most days.  Jim and I inevitably do 2-4 laps around the track at the end for extra miles (each lap is .68 miles).  Legs felt real good today.  Going to try a workout with Hot Dan in the morning. 

AM- BW with Dan, similar to Feb 12 workout.  Long repeats on the GE track, 3 laps each = 2.05 miles per repeat with 90 sec recovery.  2 miles warmup, then first interval was 12:21.  I then took a pit stop and joined Dan for 2 laps in 7:59, then 11:55 for 3 laps.  Dan stopped here but I did one more repeat in 11:41, plus added on a makeup lap of 3:46.  Pretty good workout considering how I feel.  Avg pace was 6:01 at start and improved every repeat till last was 5:32 pace.  Finished with about 4 miles cooldown.  I think 14 miles total in 90 or 95 min.

 Lunch- 6.5 ez with Rob and Todd. 

AM- too tired to get out of bed at 5:30 am

Lunch- 12 miles.  Started with 9 guys, winnowed down to just Jim by the end.  Like usual.  

Headed up to Scout Camp tomorrow in the Smokies.  Plan to run the famous Art Loeb trail through Shining Rock Wilderness, which I've never seen.  Looking forward to it. 

AM 9 ez around home before heading to the mtns.

PM- Interesting run.  Staying for 2 days at Camp Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp, which happens to sit right next to Shining Rock Wilderness.  The famous Art Loeb trail finishes in camp.  I decided to save it for tomorrow so ran what I expected to be a more tame creek trail that appeared to be similar to Jardine Juniper, 2000 ft climb and 10 miles RT.  You would think after 3 years in the South I would stop underestimating the technicality of these trails, but you'd be wrong.

The trail started with a very steady climb for 3 miles along Little East Fork river.  The trail was all runnable but definately much rocker than expected.  Then it crossed the river and started a climb up to Art Loeb.  The trail was still a runnable grade, but much of it was very, very overgrown with plants from shin to above head height.  For much of it, I just ducked my head, put my arms over my face, and pushed through.  My shins got absolutely shredded, bloody and raw.  Not fun at all- I really don't recommend the upper part of this trail at all.  Finally reached a junction, but they don't mark trails in the Wilderness area.  Wanted to do a loop with Art Loeb rather than descend the overgrown trail so spent a while trying to figure out which trail was correct.  After many dead ends in 8 foot high raspberry bushes, I finally turned around to retrace my steps.  It was miserable till the river crossing.  Then, what seemed very rocky on the way up was actually quite nice on the way down and my tired legs carried me over the technical terrain with ease.  Finished with 12 miles and 2600 ft climbing in 2:43 (yes, 13+ min miles).  Very tired and thirsty, as my one bottle was inadequate for a 3 hr summer run.  It was a sign for things to come tomorrow.

AM- Epic run on the Art Loeb trail.  This was, without a doubt, one of the most brutal, slow, painful, epic, and (at least once it was over) enjoyable training runs ever.  I mean, 6 hrs for 19 miles with half the water I needed for a hot summer run- and that doesn't start to describe it.  Anyways, started in camp and ran/hiked 3.7 miles up the start of AL.  I had been warned about some hornets/yellow jackets at one spot and thought I avoided it, but they still found me.  2 quick, very painful stings later, I moved on.  Met some campers at the saddle and we conferred on which path went where (again, I'm really not a fan of "keep the wilderness pure with no trail signs").  I ran/hiked the 1.3 miles up to the top of the famous Cold Mountain (namesake for a book and movie).  The first half was too steep to run, the second half was extremely overgrown, worse than yesterday's run.  2/3 mile pushing through bushes is just slow.  The reward was 2 overlooks that made the climb worth it.  Returned back to the saddle.  To give you an idea on how technical and slow it had been so far, I reached the saddle at 2:35 into the run.  And it was only 7 miles.  I've run marathons faster than that, y'all.

I had hoped the next section of the Art Loeb would be fast running as the trail appears to follow a ridge, but a backpacker told me it was the most technical section of all.  He was right.  Just a brutal trail following a ridge, sometimes dropping off the sides almost vertically.  I got lost and had to do some backtracking.  The section is called the Narrows and it's some of the slowest trail I've ever been on.  After about 3 miles of slow trail and over an hour later, I finally hit the only smooth, runnable trail of the day.  I cruised along, passing the confusing intersection from Thursday where I got lost (very easy to do on the unmarked trails) and pushed on till an open meadow, about 11 miles and just over 4 hrs into the run.  Time to go back.

One thing I should mention.  For summer runs, I usually plan on 25-30 oz of water an hour.  For this trip, I only took 110 total ounces.  I had really been rationing and started to notice on the way back.  At first, my hands and wrists got really puffy, then my feet swelled up.  Finally, I stopped sweating.  Yeah, that's really not a good sign.  I begged 10 oz water from some backpackers and pushed on.  The narrows was again confusing, with a couple wrong turns and even some significant backtracking when I thought I was off-course but wasn't.  I was very relieved to finally reach the saddle, 3.7 miles from the end, as I figured I could make the downhill even feeling poorly.  The downhill was again very rocky and slow and I walked some of it, partially due to technicality and partially due to how I felt.  It took me 70 minutes to get down!  I ran into a scout troop hiking up that had about 20 wasp stings between them.  When I reached the nest, I took a few extra minutes to circle way around the mean buggers.  I finally pulled into the trailhead 6.5 hrs after starting.  My watch ran for 5:56, and my "running time" was 5:25.  19 miles and 5000 ft climbing or so (garmin connect said 7000+ ft).  What a run.  I was pooped and jumped into a river, laying in the cold water and earning some stares from boy scouts.  I had missed breakfast and lunch, so had to drive 30 minutes into town for a wonderful Waffle House meal.  Great Southern run all around.

Past 2 days, 10 hours running.  Wow- pretty wiped out.  This run was perhaps my longest training run ever time-wise.  I wasn't exhausted from running fast, but it was very rough terrain and I got way too dehydrated.  Hope this will help and not hurt for my race next week.  It's interesting my race will be almost twice the distance but hopefully the same time.

A nice stream near the start.  You can tell cause my shoes are clean and dry, my legs aren't bloody, and my shorts aren't torn and wet 

View towards the Smokies from Cold Mountain 

Looking towards Asheville.  Pretty country. 

This is the trail, climbing over the rock.  See the almost sheer wall above and below the trail?  Terrain like this = 3 mph pace. 

Typical trail.  Yeah, not much of a trail. 

The only fast running of the day. 

View from the Bald at the turnaround.  Glad I made it all the way to this point.  You can see why they call these the Blue Ridge Mtns. 

AM- Pretty early run to get in a few miles before cleaning camp and heading home.  Ankles and achilles were sore from yesterday's adventure and I kept turning my left ankle today.  Lower legs are pretty swollen.  Did an easy run- 3 laps of the scout swimming lake waiting for the sun to come up, then 4.5 miles out and back on the Little East Fork River trail again.  Shoes were still wet from Thur so I was squishy the whole time.  Finished with 7.5 miles in 1:13 and 1300 ft climbing.

Almost 18 hrs running this week.  Plus highest mileage week of the year, which easily could have been 20 miles higher if I didn't have 2 super-slow runs.  Going to do very easy Mon-Fri next week, then race Laurel Valley on Saturday.  35 miles across South Carolina in the middle of August with no aid stations.  Genius.