Mountain Bikes, Bass Guitar, and other stuff I like

My apologies for not posting in a while but it has been a busy spring with Renee's 100-miler training and my off-season training as well. My last post was in March so I figured I would update everyone now that June is here. I had a freak swimming pool accident that sliced open 2 of my toes so I had to miss the first Mountain Goat Adventures trail race at Garland Mountain. I was super-bummed and was able to give my spot to Renee. I'm doing the short-course series this year to mix things up since I normally do the long course. I've discovered that my winter running has made me fast.  That and dropping 10 lbs. since last fall thanks to Primal Paleo eating and cutting out a lot of junk. Huge thanks to my wife Renee for getting me started on cleaner eating.  I am setting PRs left and right on both biking and running. It's been great! I have worked so hard the last several years and feel like my results have been mediocre and I'm finally starting to see better than medio...

Went with my dad to the Hickory Knob Triathlon in McCormick, SC.  Wasn't going to do the race until my dad asked if he could go so I couldn't pass up the chance.  I had never been to this area before so was eager to check it out. It is really remote and pretty.  Not to mention that I was looking to do an early-season triathlon for the experience.  There was plenty of rain so the mountain biking portion was moved to the road within the park for a total of about 17 miles. Apparently this race is plagued with bad weather so the race director is considering moving the race back to the fall.  Stayed in Greenwood,SC which was about 45 min. away.  Not too bad of a drive on race morning.  Luckily start time was moved back to 8:15.  Ate 2 huge meals on Saturday then had a mint shake at Arby's. Came back to hotel room and chilled. Put my race number on bike and run belt. I brought both mountain bikes because I wasn't sure how hilly the course would be. Glad...

Was swimming at the pool yesterday and went to kick off the wall when both of my feet somehow came out of the water and scraped the edge.  The pain was intense but I kept swimming.  I thought I just banged them against the wall and not actually scraped them.  20 minutes later I was finished with my set after putting in about 1600 yards.  I get out of the pool and blood starts spurting out of my left big toe.  Walk over to the lifeguards and apologize for the mess. They say no problem then see the blood and say "Okayyyy". I sit down on the deck and they grab some first aid.  Then I notice my right big toe is also cut as is my right index toenail.  That toenail is going to fall off. The guards were asking me how this happened and I explained.  They seemed incredulous as to how this could happen.   That makes 3 of us. I have a trail race on Saturday that is looking doubtful now that I have 3 lacerated toes.  I haven't worn shoes yet so I d...

Set out to do my first Olympic distance triathlon back in June. Well, the training plan began in June but I had the idea over the winter, having complete a few Sprint distance races.  When I first started swimming, I could not go 100 yards without stopping. This race promised a daunting 1500 yard swim! Earlier this year in February I joined the Cherokee Aquatic Center, which turned out to be a huge benefit not only for convenience but for motivation.  It's nice to know I can get a swim in any time of year although I wish they had the full 50 yard lanes year around, except 25 yard lanes during school season.  Swim training consisted of the Zero to 1 Mile program which slowly builds the swimmer up to a mile swim over 6 weeks.  After that I began working on speed in the water with the CSS program, namely the Goldilocks set, where I swim as fast as I can at threshold for 200 yards, 300 yards, and 400 yards with 20 second breaks. Swimming was my main focus in the trainin...

Ventured out on my first backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail, or AT as its known in the hiking community.  I hadn't been backpacking since I was in the Scouts, when we did a 10-miler at Kennesaw Mountain. My wife Renee had never been backpacking although we had both been primitive car-camping before and we each share a love of the outdoors.  This trip had been in the making for a few years with us sharing a "Wouldn't that be awesome," conversation or two.  I also recall my dad saying how neat it would be to hike the entire AT when I was a kid, a lofty goal to be sure. Renee and I are both in pretty good shape from running and bicycling so we figured that a 2-night trip on the AT would be feasible.  We were right...mostly. We purchased our backpacking and camping gear the week before and took a practice hike at a local trail. We did a trial run at Sutallee Trace in Canton to test the waters and get the packs dialed in.  I felt some new muscles being wor...