Training in Bryce

For the last week I've been in an awesome getaway house near Bryce Resort with family for a long belated reunion. Its good to see everyone back together, especially in a place like this.

The house sits at around 2,000 ft. elevation surrounded by endless hills and beautiful gravel roads, its an ideal place for training, both on and off the bike. However, this being my cross-training portion of the year, I've been using the extra time here to run.

I'll usually get up around 6 or 7 when the air is still moist and its in the low 50's which, in my opinion, is pretty much perfect running weather. The miles haven't been tumbling quite as easily as I wanted them to, but I guess I'm still kinda used to getting back from 40 or 80 or 100 mile days on the bike rather than 4 or 6 miles from running.  Its funny how big of a difference there is in that, yet I feel so much more hurt after a 6 mile run than I do after a 60 mile ride.

The gravel roads and soft dirt trails have been keeping me away from possible injuries, especially shin splints, which is a major danger when transitioning from cycling to pounding up and down roads when running.

I've also had to take stretching a lot more serious now due to the fact that most mornings I wake up not being able to take my first few steps without holding onto the wall. And forget about walking down stairs, its impossible. But, each day the mornings get less and less painful, and the endurance gets more and more enhanced. So, although its a long process, I at least know that its paying off.

Today I'll be heading back home to get unpacked, clean, and re-packed again to catch a 6am flight to San Antonio tomorrow morning for my good friend Robbie Wade's wedding. It'll also be a good chance for me to kind of scope the place out, seeing as how I'll be living there and all over the rest of TX for a good 3 or 4 months.

It's going to be nice to get some more running in down there as well, although I'm not quite sure that I'm in the best shape yet to run with a professional triathlete. In fact, I'm positive I'm not in that kind of shape . . . Go easy on me Robbie.

: )