Pine Mountain Adventure

Greg and I met at The Bike Store at 4am loaded the Honda and headed to the Waffle House to carb up on some good ole waffles. Once we finished there we jumped on the road and headed west to the Pine Mountain Trail.

Once we arrived on the east side of the trail we drove up the road to our first scheduled water/food stop dropped our bags and headed up the road to drop off our bags for which would be our out and back stop. Once we pulled we decided and nature break was needed before sunrise. Once I went to shut the car off the radiator house decided to burst. There was nothing we could do about it so once we jumped in the car we headed down the road with my car almost over heating and parked at the east end of the trail. I figured we might as well not worry about the car until we finish the run, we were already there, might as well. Curtis was waiting for us, he could only do a small portion of the run b/c he had to head south for business later in the day.

We started nice and easy. The weather was pretty much perfect. Great cloud cover, misting half way through the run. The sun only came out the last hour or so. We covered over 24 miles on this out and back adventure and we only 7 people and that was in the last 6 miles.

I will admit I totally underestimated "true" trail running. It is a whole different ball game when you incorporate roots, rocks, creek crossing, off camber sections, really long technical down hills, really long not so technical and very technical uphills. I did alot of speed walking.

I decided to try some different things on this run to really dial in what I want to use at the Stumpjump 50K. I used Nuun for 99% of my hydration needs with some watered down orange gatorade for the last 1.5hr. The only energy packets I used were Gu, which is new for me. I used there Roctane to get me through the last hour. I took a Gu every 30-45 minutes and drank appx. 16-20ounce of fluid an hour. I started to feel some cramps coming on the last 5 miles but it was very humid and no air flow for most of the run.

At the first stop (5 miles in) I filled up another bottle of Nuun and ate half a Clif Bar just to ease stomach. At the turn around point (12 miles in), we actually stopped and I had a peanut butter and bannana sandwich, some pistachios, and some fluid. The only problem I had with the sandwich was the first couple of minutes of running after stopping was a little of indigestion but it went away pretty quick.

With about 2 miles to go we stopped at Slippery Rock Falls for a nice relax soak. Here is a picture from the Pine Mountain website.

The gear I used for this run was:
Fuel Belt Trail Runner
Nathan Quick Draw Plus
Insport shorts
The Bike Store Champion Sytems Running Singlet
Sock Guy Dopers Suck Socks
Pearl Izumi UltraSensor Race Visor
Polar S625X Heartrate monitor
Asics Kahan Trail Shoes

I had no problem with any of these products. Minus cold/bad weather this is exactly what I will use for the Stumjump 50K.

About the car, to make a long story short we barely it made it to a very small gas station in Shilo, Ga and used product that clogs holes in radiotors or hoses and we made it home. What an adventure.

I have had so much fun training for this so far I might just add the Pine Mountain 40 miler put on by these guys and gals in December.

Caden, Steph and I went for a ride the other day. We rode around 5 or so miles before Caden decided we should head back.



This is just two shots of some of the trails we have put together over at Central Baptist Church. (no complete loop yet, we will eventually get there) (thanks a ton to Greg and Brandon and anyone else that has helped so far)


This Trek 7.2FX is Steph's new commuter. 1 World 2 Wheels!

On to other notes, one of my favorite sites that I have been visiting lately is Groovy Green. Check it out!

I had a great ride this morning. I left the house a little before 8. I put in 2 hours on the bike. It took a couple of miles to get comfortable but about8 or so miles in my legs felt good.

I hydrated with NUUN tablets in both Polar bottles. I did have one Hammer Gel to get me going this morning since no coffee was ready this morning before I left.

I am planning on running tomorrow (5 or so miles), taking off on Saturday (commuting into work) and running 10-13 miles on sunday.

In coffee news this was funny.

My big run is coming next Sunday.

This is the coolest thing. Check out more info here.

RANDOM BLOG MODE ON:

I am currently high on caffeine thanks to Starbucks!

I am counting the days until Trek World Backstage. As I have been thinking about the trip I have also had coffee on the mind. I always have coffee on the mind but I am going to hit up this one place once we get settled in Madison.

I started yesterday off really good with a 9 miler but I under-estimated the humidity and I got really dehydrated.(I should have been drinking this during the run) I was brought to a walk on three separate occasions. I didn't think I needed my bottles but I screwed that up. Towards the end of the run I felt little nauseous.

I want to get in at least an hour on the bike but currently the weather is not cooperating. But we will see. We did need the rain.

One of my new favorite websites.

Well, as of June 9 we have 82 participants for the Stumpjump 50K. Check here for the list. I am pretty stoked to see such a large turnout on the list this early.

My schedule for this month long run wise is:
Saturday 12 July- 15-20 mile run at LH Thomson
Sunday 27 July- Me and a few friends are heading to Pine Mountain to run point to point. I believe it is 23 miles point to point. This will be a big test for me. I will not be used to the terrain but I heard that it closely resembles what I should expect at Stumjump.

During the week I will be filling it up with plenty of 4-12 mile runs on the road and some light off road. I am still riding but only for cross training and maybe twice a week if I can find time.

In august I plan on hitting up Pine Mountain one more time and get 2 good runs in at Dauset.

I finally found the right shoes for me. I have went through Pearl Izumi and Adidas on the trail side of the house. I went back to Asics and chose the Kahana 2.

On the cycling side of the house I am going to pick my Tour De France pick: Cadel Evans is the man to beat. I believe he has some tricks up his sleeve. I love his consistency. Great bike handler, he came from the mtb world. Good all-arounder.

My site of the week is Krissy Moehl's site. Click here.

I am going to Trek World Backstage in August. I am looking forward to it. Have you checked out the new Trek commercial.