Monday, August 11, 2008

Calf Buster

A week like normal should be. This put me running 4 days and riding one. That one is better than none. Now with three months of consistent running under my belt. Felt the need to bust out of the neighborhood and surrounding area.

An area that has piqued my interest on the bike would do the same for the feet. Friday, I made my way over to Granby Riverwalk Trail. A series of old fishing trails and a concrete path paralleling the river. A far less popular area, unlike the Cayce/WC Greenway. Started out with a mile warm-up around the new USC baseball field then into the woods. Hitting the trails, turned up the pace for 3 miles of good tempo. Cool down for a mile. No walkers, no senior citizens who pretend not to hear you, no drop kick dogs, no baby strollers & no stalkers. Just me and my ipod cruising through the woods.

Saturday a much needed reuniting with the bike. Broke out the trusty hybrid for a pleasant 90 minute spin out into Cayce and down Dixiana & back. No asshole rednecks and really nice weather. The running has definitely helped with the fitness. Now it's time to familiarized oneself with a saddle again. Even managed the traditional cyclist arm tan. Sweet style.

Sunday was the test of mettle. Trail running at HSP. Surprising to not see many peeps out at the trail. Started from the Eagle TH parking > Discovery Trail > Crooked Pine > Midlands Mtn. > Stewardship > Stewardship Connector > Eagle > Eagle TH = 7.5mi ~ 67min.

The full price of admission came with the accent of Stewardship then onto the connector. This series of climbs started the burn. My small amount of water was gone and the drive was going south. Jim past but I was too focused on the water at the truck to say HI (sorry Jim). Back to Eagle TH headed down hill along the double track picking up the pace to the FS road then a left on Eagle trail. This is one of the original trails in HSP. Off limits to wheels but friendly to feet. Not many cyclist see this trail. With 7 miles in the legs this trail's steep accent back to the car can really hurt. Hence the breaking point for me. Fun stuff, next HSP challenge - Lost Creek.

12.5mi by foot
25 mi by wheel
=3 good workouts

4 comments:

Jim said...

Glad to hear you've been making it out even if its less time on the bike. No apologies needed for me, heck that makes twice you saw me out there without me seeing you. I really gotta start paying more attention to the surroundings, bad enough not catching the brush in time but its darn right pathetic zoned out and not recognizing the runners sharing the trail. Cya next time.

Jason said...

Trail running Lost Creek is also a goal of mine by October. I might have to buy some of those fancy short shorts for that though.

My bike tan is almost gone... nocturnal running has many downsides.

spokejunky said...

Why would you want to bust a calf? They're so cute and they give us milk.

jpelton said...

Word is that there might be a Dupont Epic on 9/14. You in?