It started out so well.

Week beginning thoughts:
Well, at least it's Monday and I've started the blog...

Monday
Did: strength

Pick it up, put it down.

Good lifting session sets the week off right.

Tuesday
Did: #10kTuesday at the track
Today was a ladder workout with the early crew at the track.

warmup
200/200 - 0:48
400/200 - 1:43
600/200 - 2:39
800/400 - 3:42
800/200 - 3:45
600/200 - 2:47
400/200 - 1:51
200 - 0:47 (sweet, faster than my first!)
cooldown

Whew. Done. Also, I don't like 600s. And I definitely don't like two 800s in a row, even with 400 recovery in between. Eugh.

Wednesday
Did: 40 mins trainer ride
Another early morning (Scott had to get up for an early flight anyway) on the trainer. I didn't feel like this was as good of a workout as my other routine, but it got the job done and hey, it's always better than nothing!
10 min WU
5/4/3/2/2 minutes "hard" effort with 1 min rest between each
10 min CD with 30s sprint every 2 mins

Thursday
Did: 4.14 mi @ 8:48/mi
Just a normal lunch run today. Been a while since I've done that! I thought it might be pretty nice outside but noooope it was HUMID. So gross. At least temperatures are coming down a wee bit... sure didn't feel like it was "only" 75 degrees though.

Friday
Did: rest day
I finally feel like I earned a rest day!

Saturday
Did: 10.14 mi @ 9:00/mi
Ran with D in the stroller, started at Furman and went north towards TR, then back. It was a nice run, good weather, pretty quiet and uneventful. The miles ticked by pretty quickly though I was definitely feeling tired quads by the time I finished. Felt good about this one!

Sunday
Did: ~17ish miles at Dupont... and injury
Well, this ride did NOT end well. Started out great (though it was rainy & foggy on the drive up), managed a dry if not a bit muddy ride and felt good.

Fog!

Was riding with Heather (one who did the Fire Mtn Enduro) and two of her guy friends. We did the "Best of Dupont" loop, which starts out on Reasonover, to Turkey Knob, around to Briery, Grassy, Sandy, Hooker Creek (forgot how fun this is!), downhill on Ridgeline, up Jim Branch & Isaac Heath, then cruised down Locust to some fun jumps.

This is where things went wrong.

I was feeling great, jumping and catching air, shouting some "woohoo!"s... and then I landed weird on the very last jump and... did something. My right side hit the ground hard, both forearms slid on the ground, I think I flipped over my bike or my bike flipped over me... somehow I came to rest with my right foot still clipped in. I sat for a minute, stunned, took stock of how everything felt (nothing broken, nothing felt too bad)... then I saw my right knee. Thought it was just a scrape, but realized quickly it was DEEP. BAD. OH NO.

Momentary freak out, then thankfully a nice man who's a doctor rode up and took a look at it ("yup... you'll need to get that stitched up...") then Heather happened to have some bandages in her pack, so I got all wrapped up. Thanked everyone and hopped on the bike (which was a little twisted in some places - crooked handlebars and seat) to make the ~5 mile trek back to the car. Ugh. I took it nice and slow, grimaced through some steep gravel hills, and made it back to the parking lot. I was so glad to be back.

The bandage made it all the way!

Packed up, drove home, then drove myself to urgent care where I got it numbed, cleaned, and stitched. 4 stitches was what it took to secure the flap/chunk of skin that had gotten torn up by the apparent rock I hit.

I'll spare everyone wound pictures (but I have them if anybody has some morbid curiosity), but this is what my Garmin looks like:

It did not survive.

I'm thankful for helmets. I'm thankful it wasn't any worse than what it was. It hurt like @#($*&@#$! after the adrenaline and Novocain wore off, mostly the sore/bruised knee in general, not the stitches themselves. I'm hobbling around but hoping after a day or so it'll be more tolerable. I'll stay loaded up on Ibuprofen until then.

Some weeks are like that.

Ughhh ok so now it's Saturday and I'm starting the week's blog.... let's just say it's not been that great of a week for exercise.

Monday
Did: nada

Tuesday
Did: track #10kTuesday
I put forth the workout for today and we ended up doing 3x3x400 in a progression of 10k, 5k, and 1M pace. I've done this on the treadmill before but never on a track. It's a great way to test out your own gauge of pace!

10k 400s (target 1:55) - 1:52, 1:54, 1:59 (not bad!)
5k 400s (target 1:45) - 1:50, 1:46, 1:47 (eh, slow)
1M 400s (target 1:35) - 1:39, 1:41, 1:35 (finally hit it on the last one!)

Overall 6.21 mi @ 8:05/mi avg.

Wednesday
Did: nothing

Thursday
Did: 4.1 mi @ 8:47/mi avg
Ran early around the neighborhood because, if this week confirms anything for me, it's that things just WON'T happen if I don't get them done before work. So early I go. And it just sets the rest of the day in a better rhythm.

Friday
Did: zip

Saturday
Did: 10.04 mi @ 9:05/mi avg
Stroller run on the swamp rabbit trail today with my little dude. Loved the long miles and lack of pressure for any schedule or speed. We ran from Furman to the Swamp Rabbit Cafe - stopped for a scone ("bixit" according to D) and some playtime before the return trip. I was definitely faster on the first half vs. the return trip...

5 there: 8:45, 8:38, 8:27, 8:25, 8:41
5 back: 9:27, 9:01, 8:43, 9:37, 10:27

Yup, totally pooped out at the end, but it was getting late and hot. /excuses
Still really happy with those first 5 miles though!

Strollin' with my homie 😎

Sunday
Did: 19.1 mi mountain biking
Did the early Sunday morning #dirtchurch ride with some good folks - Waylon, his friend Alex, and John & Brandy. Started off with meeting up at Sunrift to caravan up to Dupont.

Sunrise at Sunrift

Started out at Fawn Lake Access with the lovely climb up Mine Mountain (oof), some fun things including Hilltop, Locust Hill, and Ridgeline, then we climbed up Lake Imaging Road (not fun) before proceeding on the gravel roads to Lake Julia to get to Reasonover Creek Trail.

John always gets some sweet pics on Ridgeline

I got out ahead of the crew during the ~2-3 mile climb on Reasonover, so I stopped just as the downhill started at the intersection with Turkey Knob.

Quiet trails

As I was thinking to myself, 'My, it's so peaceful and quiet out here' I noticed movement just a bit down Turkey Knob, and I figured it was another biker coming up the trail. To my surprise, it was a BEAR. 🐻 It was a small black bear, older than a new baby, but definitely a young cub. It noticed me and turned to look curiously, then continued on its way across the trail and into the woods. I looked around me frantically for mama bear, who was thankfully nowhere nearby (that I saw, at least). I anxiously awaited the arrival of the others, and considered just going on down the trail by myself just to get away from the area, but figured I didn't really want to go anywhere too far without others near me. Yikes!

Excitement behind us, we all made it back to the car uneventfully from that point.


Week-ending thoughts: It's time to make some plans. I keep saying I need to train for something or have some goal, it's time to do it. Enough excuses.

Work travel week

Week beginning thoughts:
This one is going to be a busy hectic week. Scott's gone Sun-Wed, I'm gone Wed-Fri, there's a hurricane barreling towards us, and there's about a dozen other things I need to do/take care of/think about/finish.

Monday
Did: strength
Got a good workout in today. Went immediately after my morning meeting so I wouldn't get caught up in other stuff at my desk, and that was a good call. The rest of the day is slammed with meetings anyway.

4 sets now.

Worked out for over an hour which was great. Had to drop down weight on a few things since I guess it's been a hot minute since I've done a serious lift. Need to get back at it because I feel so much better when I do.

Tuesday
Did: 6.23 mi @ 8:45/mi
I haven't "just run" a 10k in a while, so I was pleased to see a sub-9 pace! Felt good, didn't really push, just ran comfortably and got it done. I still prefer my pre-dawn track workout, but this wasn't too terrible.

Wednesday - Friday
Did: zip, zilch, nada
At a work conference, didn't even pack exercise clothing knowing what my schedule would entail (lots of socializing, not enough sleep).

Saturday
Did: 6.7 mi stroller run @ 10:13/mi
Got super D out in the stroller for a nice little run in the increasing windy-ness ahead of Hurricane Florence. Not at all a fast run, but nice to get out and do something.

Sunday
Did: nothing
Rained all day but not much else, so it was a day to stay indoors.

Week ending thoughts: Ughhhh what a lazy week.

Well then.

So, it's already Thursday... 😐

Monday (Labor Day)
Did: nothing
Well, I did yardwork and walked around the zoo with D. Happy Labor Day holiday?

Tuesday
Did: 6.21 mi @ 10:02/mi
This run almost didn't happen at all. With Scott traveling, there was no early morning group run since I had to get D to daycare. Was going to do my run first thing at work, but after a holiday weekend, I felt like I needed to get into the office and do some work first thing. So I think, ok, I'll run at lunch. Then at 10:15 I get an email from daycare saying they had to close at noon to have the building fumigated and all kids had to be picked up. UGH. So I pick him up and plan to run with him in the stroller... then I had a conference call, so I did that and planned to run after... then I had another conference call and planned to run at the end of the day (~4:30) at which time I noticed it was raining.

Nope.

So I got together an early dinner and when we finished around 6:30 it had stopped raining so DARN IT WE WENT RUNNING.

YAY

Wednesday
Did: 40 mins bike trainer
Ahhhh getting the workout done early. Did my usual intervals routine and as usual, was happy to have it finished to start off the day.

Thursday
Did: nada
Was going to run loops close to the house early in the morning with D still asleep at home, and planned to stop every loop to check the baby monitor. I didn't feel great about this to begin with, but the 3 ENORMOUS spiders & spiderwebs stretching across the entire front entrance of the house when I opened the door were the final straw. I said nope and went back inside. I'll run later.
ETA: Did not run later.

Friday
Did: 4.89 mi @ 9:16/mi
Since Thursday's run got spider'd, and Scott is back in town but taking the day off from work, I jumped on the opportunity to join the early downtown crew for their Friday Five run. Small group but got to see a few people I haven't seen in probably several months, so it was great catching up and made the miles tick by. This run felt harder than it should have for a 9:16/mi pace but I'll chalk it up to too many early mornings and the fact that zomg it's finally Friday. 🎉

Saturday
Did: 9.28 mi @ 10:20/mi
This run was, again, harder than it should have been. I'd left my car downtown last night (intentionally) so I could run to it this morning with D in the stroller. We all slept in this morning (yay, needed) and got rolling around 8:45am. I thought it was comfortable, but turned out it was not so much. Definitely sweating by the time we got downtown. Did a bit of walking at the start & end of the run which affected pace a bit. The ~6-7 miles in the middle were all sub-10 pace with one sub-9, so I don't feel like this was a total crap run. Ended up with a nice stroll around the downtown market!

Sunday
Did: 11.4 mi mountain biking
Yay #dirtchurch with friends at Dupont. This is becoming a routine, and I'm liking it a whole lot. Met up with John & Brandy, and their friend (Josh?) for a nice morning in the forest. Scott & D did a gravel ride then rode the kid's bike trail which D is 1) awesome at and 2) loves. SO FUN. I rode with the "grown ups" and enjoyed a nice loop which included both of Dupont's finest downhills (Rocky Ridge & Ridgeline Trails). John even captured a sweet pic of me coming down Ridgeline:

Looks like I even know what I'm doing...

Week-ending thoughts: 😄

Better week?

Week beginning thoughts: This will be a better week.

Monday
Did: strength
Did a short session (30-mins) but forgot to bring shoes, so I wore my toe shoes and for some reason I don't feel comfortable using the gym equipment or heavy weights when I wear toe shoes. It's not like running shoes provide that much protection from the droppage of a 40+lb weight, but still... mental thing, I guess. Plusalso I didn't really feel like lifting anyway, so it was an excuse. Did mostly body weight exercises, all of my core PT, and other random stuff.

Tuesday
Did: #10kTuesday track workout
Ahhh yes, track Tuesdays are a thing! Met up with a small crew this morning (4 of us) to do a ladder workout at the track. This was HARD. I do not like running a 1200. Newp. But got it done and of course felt awesome when it was finished. I didn't have a lot of speed today, probably due to not eating food before I ran... just didn't feel like having my PB oat bar today.

1.1 WU @ 9:14/mi

2x400/200 recovery - 1:37, 1:40 (already slowwwww)
800/400 - 3:25 for the 800 (slowwww again)
1200/400 - 5:23 (that's like a 5k pace... zzzzzz)
800/400 - 3:45 (lololol)
2x400/200 - 1:43, 1:40

1.1 CD @ 8:45/mi

Out of the 4 of us, I was the slowest when usually I'm one of the fastest. Oh well, can't win 'em all. I still finished only about 200m behind the person out front, so at least I didn't get lapped. Felt good to get in the 10k in a solid 50 minutes!

Wednesday
Did: 39 min trainer ride
Another early morning on the trainer, and another day that I'm glad I did. Did the same interval routine as before but during the 10-min cooldown, I did a little hard 30-sec push every 2 minutes, which was an ice way to break up the "long" 10 steady minutes.

Thursday
Did: 4.2 mi @ 8:41/mi 
Lunch run in the heat of the day but still not too bad on pace. This was just a "junk miles" run but still was good to get out and do it.

Friday
Did: rest

Saturday
Did: 13.1 mi mountain biking
Went up to Pisgah with some mountain biking friends and had a lovely morning/day. It wasn't quite the ride we planned originally due to some mechanical issues on one of the bikes in our group, but it was still a great day in the forest on 2 wheels.

A good day, indeed.

Sunday
Did: 6.4 mi run/walk w/ stroller
Started out running and not sure if it was dehydration, poor sleep, hot sunshine, or what... but I was NOT feeling it, mentally or physically, so it turned into a stroller walk through the neighborhood. Whatever!

Week ending thoughts: um. idk. Still a better week, but man, rough ending!