Weather.gov, weatherundergroud.com, weather.com, nhc.noaa.gov, wxrisk.com. While not fully versed in all the scientific mumbo jumbo, I still like to follow what the experts are saying. Here is a post I cut and pasted from DT who I follow on his wxrisk.com Facebook page:
***ALERT *** ALERT 0Z GFS RUN IS OUT TO 72 HRS... 0Z GFS TAKE IRENE AGAIN WEST...REPEAT WEST OF HATTERAS at SAT 2PM EDT over sandbrudge VA/ Ngas Head and 50 mies east of the CBBT at SAT 7PM...
What does it all mean? Well I am not really sure what all the acronyms mean but I can figure out that Sandbridge and Nags Head are doomed if the weather model DT is quoting comes true. After all, no one can predict the weather with 100 percent certainty. Even the best meteorologist will tell you that the sophisticated computer models are only as good as the most recent data fed into them and that data changes rapidly and often.
DT has been predicting this would be a bad storm for the Eastern seaboard for about a week now and so far, his predictions have been pretty darn accurate. It remains to be seen what we will get here in Richmond. The coast of NC and VA will definitely get slammed with bad weather, it seems, but here in Richmond, it looks like we will be spared the worst of the storm. We will still likely get lots of rain, either something around 3 or 4 inches, or something around 6 to 8 inches. It really depends on whose forecast you are paying attention to. Some locals have been saying that we will not get that much rain, maybe just 2 or 3 inches. It is an odd thing to me to say that 2 or 3 inches is not that much rain. Relative to what they will get on the shore, it is a lot less, but if it were a regular summer rain event, 2 to 3 inches of rain would be considered a great deal of rain.
At work we are bracing for the worst. We spent all afternoon powering down all of the computer equipment in almost all of our schools. There were even some sandbags placed in and around parts of the building. I certainly hope it is not bad. Being without power is sort of a drag. Sure it is nothing compared to the hardships that millions of people go through everyday. We are lucky to live the lifestyles we live for sure. We have plenty of food, shelter, and resources. We are not in full combat gear in the desert fighting a war that seems like it will never end. We are not starving because of famine. We have rights and people who will protect us from wrong doing.
But alas, I think most of you would agree, being without power puts a crimp in our style. No way to easily cook, no hot showers, no Internet which of course means no Facebook, no Farmville, no Gears of War. It is a far cry from the inconveniences of famine and war but still, it puts us out doesn't it?
For me, I have been paying close attention to the storm for many reasons. I have family and friends who are in the path of the storm. I worry about their well being. I worry about all the firemen, police, coast guard, and military personnel that will be risking their lives this weekend to save and protect others. These people are truly heroes. Also though, and this seems a little selfish to me but it is the truth, I am worried about getting in my workouts.
I can't ride my bike in a hurricane. Petty? Maybe. But it is the truth. I have been thinking about it all week. I am hoping that if I get up very early in the morning and start my ride at first light, I can beat the storm. But looking at the radar, I am not sure that will happen. I can always adjust my schedule but this close to the race, it would be nice to be able to stick to the training schedule. After all, the training plan was custom made for me by a great Triathlon coach who based the plan on lots of data from myself as well as his vast knowledge of training and racing Triathlon. He came in 3rd overall in the Luray International by the way.
I guess I will obsess about the storm for a while tonight but hopefully not too late. Just in case I have the opportunity, I want to be able to feel good for the 55 mile bike ride followed by 45 minutes of running fairly hard. We'll see.
Stay safe and if you are in the path of the storm, be smart. Listen to the warnings and heed them.
You may wonder what one does after competing in a somewhat difficult race? Fpr me, step 1 after finishing was packing up and leaving the venue. I stuck around for a little to rest a bit but then we bugged out. We had about 2 and half hours to drive home and if we got a move on, we would still have lots of Saturday left.
We thought about trying to find something to eat in Luray but honestly, I did not have much faith in our options. I am sure there is healthy food somewhere in Luray but I did not have the energy to search for it. So we hit the road and decided to snack on a few things and see how far we got before having to have a proper meal.
As we were driving through Culpepper, our stomachs were groaning and reminding us how hungry we were. So we parked right on the street in downtown Culpepper and walked in to the first eatery we came to. It was a sub and sandwich place with Deli in the name. I took one look at the menu and decided I could definitely eat a veggie sub with no cheese. The food was all made fresh to order by the owner Sal, or Nick, or Vinny. I did not actually catch the proprietors name but he seemed like a genuine transplant from New York. And his subs did not disappoint. Why can't we get sandwiches and subs like that in Richmond?
After devouring my 12 inch sub and eating the little bits of crusty bread discarded by Melissa, we drove the rest of the way home. Interestingly enough, I had a bottle of water, two cans of coconut water, plus 750 ML of additional water after the race but I did not have to stop to use the bathroom at all. I guess my body really needed replenishing.
Upon arriving home, I was hungry again. So we decided to get cleaned up and go to dinner and a movie. Can you believe it? A proverbial night on the town. Well at least a night at the mall. We went to a Thai place and I again devoured the appetizers and my big meal and then we went and saw a movie.
I slept like a log that night and spent most of the next day relaxing, napping, eating and drinking. Monday I went back to work but otherwise took another rest day.
That is what I did after my race. What about Matias Palavecino? What did he do after winning Saturday's Luray International Triathlon in a time of 02:04:28 (my time was 03:15:03). Well, he competed in the Sunday Luray Sprint Triathlon and won that as well. I was wiped out for two days after my once race. This guy races two races in one weekend and wins them both. Not only did he win but in Saturday's race, he beat the second and third place finishers by 6 minutes!
Matias's performance plus all the other super fit triathletes who passed me on the bike acted to inspire me. When the alarm went off Tuesday morning, I was ready to get back to training and do my best make myself a stronger racer. I have not nailed every workout since the race but I feel pretty good about my training over all. I have two more weeks of training before race week. During race week, I still train but at a much smaller volume and with less intensity. Hopefully Irene won't wash out my plans for the weekend. I think if I get up early enough on Saturday I can get my long ride and run in. I may have to run in some rain on Sunday but as long as we are not having hurricane weather, I think I will be up for it. It could rain on race day after all.
Finally, here are some pictures from the pros from my race. You can click on each thumbnail and to see the bigger picture. Then click on the X to close it. The photographers did a great job. I managed to make a funny face in a couple of the bike pictures. I was having fun!
Going into the Luray International Triathlon, I knew it was going to be a challenging course. Also I knew this would be my B race. What is a B race you might ask? To be honest, I can really only give you a minimal explanation. It is not an A race, that is for sure. It is more of a training race and I suppose the B race is supposed to have less pressure to reach specific goals and is supposed to require slightly less effort than the A race. That said, I am still a newbie so when my coach told me that Luray would be my B race leading up to the Williamsburg A race, I nodded to show my understanding but I don't have precise measurements to differentiate between an A effort and a B effort. Is there a particular pace on the swim, bike, and run for a B race versus my A race? Maybe 20 seconds per mile slower on the run for example? I really have no way to quantify it this early in my triathlon career. I decided my goal for this race would be to not be last in my age group and to feel good at the finish.
Before I get into the blow by blow of the race, I have to tell you a little about our stay in New Market. We had to stay in New Market because all of the hotels in and around Luray were booked when I started looking to make reservations. Our hotel was about 40 minutes from the race venue. When we finally arrived after getting my packet and scoping out the swim, bike, and run course, the lady working the front desk asked us if we were here for the 50-Mile Yard Sale. I told her no. We were here for the Triathlon. Then I said, 'a 50-yard yard sale sounds like fun though.' She corrected me. It was 50 miles of yard sale. Interesting.
She also said there was another event nearby that was causing all the hotels to be booked. There was a Hazzard Reunion. As in "The Dukes of Hazzard." Ah. Now we know why we saw three General Lee's parked at a roadside diner on our way through Sperryville. Who knows what goes on at such an event. One can only imagine. There would be the General Lee cars of course and I am guessing some sort of Daisy Duke contest, lots of rebel flags (we confirmed that when we drove by the event site), and maybe some bluegrass music and fireworks. None of it made much sense to us. Maybe my cousin John can tell me about what goes on at such an event. I am not sure if he has ever heard of it either but if there is anyone that I know who would know, it is him. If you are reading John, please enlighten us city folk.
After we checked in, we decided to order some pasta and have it delivered to the room. Unfortunately, the person taking the order thought I wanted plain pasta with absolutely no sauce. I guess in my efforts to make sure that there was no meat in the sauce, she decided I meant no sauce at all. I am not sure who would eat such a meal but that is what was delivered. So off I went in the car in search of spaghetti sauce. After a trip through town, I found some at a small market, came home and used the in-room microwave to heat up the sub-par meal. It was better than nothing I suppose.
On race morning, I was feeling pretty relaxed. We checked out about 5:30 or so and made our way to the venue. I got my bike racked on the end and started to lay out my stuff and then stood there staring at it for a while to make sure that I had everything to my liking. Here are a few pictures of me in Transition.
After getting all setup, it was time to face the music and head on down to the lake for a swim warmup. I swam out to one of the buoys, tread water for a little bit, and then swam back. The water was quite warm and there was no current to speak of in the little lake. After my warmup, I got out and listened to the pre-race announcements. We had the National Anthem and then it was time to start.
I was in wave 2 with red swim caps. Each wave had a different color swim cap. Right before the 1st wave of green swim cap racers got in the water, I saw the surgeon who operated on my knees. We shook hands and wished each other luck. He was in the first wave and I knew I would not see him on the course. He was 10th overall at this race last year so he would be long done while I was still sweating it out on the run course.
Here are a few pictures of the swimmers mulling about before the race. I am actually in all of these pictures. You may have to click on them to see the bigger versions but I am there.
Notice in the above picture the stairs in the background. After the swim, we had to run all the way up those stairs to transition to get on our bikes. In the above picture I actually have my hand up in the air and am waving to Melissa who took all these great photos. I am in the last group of 10 guys at the top left part of the picture.
Right before my wave was to start, another red-capped racer said to me, "why do I do this. Right before every race, I ask myself this. Why am I doing this. Swimming is definitely not my best sport. I am not terrible but sometimes I wonder." I assured him that when he got settled on the bike, he would be having fun. Besides almost every swimmer who says they are slow or a terrible swimmer is faster than me.
And then we were off. The mayhem begins. Open water racing is a contact sport. I was punched, kicked, run over and otherwise jostled during much of the race. Here are some pictures showing the beginning of my wave.
Overall, I would have to say the swim was hard. I found myself taking frequent breaks and slowly getting left behind by everyone else in my wave. It was not long before some silver capped racers who started 3 minutes behind me caught up to me and started running over me. After a while, the white capped swimmers caught up to me. They were mostly women who seem to be more polite in general and tended to not run me over. I could see a few red caps in my vicinity but I was afraid I was falling way behind my fellow 40-44-year-old men. Since my goal was to not be last in my age group, I knew I just had to keep one or two red caps in site as I was sure I could make up the time on the run if I stayed somewhat close.
When I exited the water to run up the stairs, I was among a lot of women. The women were at least a couple of waves behind me so I was already fading in the race and it had barely begun. In the end, my swim time was really not all that bad for me. Here is a picture of us running up the stairs. I am in there behind all the women.
Once back in T1, I quickly put on my shoes, socks, and helmet and took off on the bike. The bike course was going to be tough- I knew that. Melissa and I had driven the course the day before and made note of all the hills. As I made my way along the course, I passed a few people at the beginning but after that I was mostly being passed. Occasionally, I would hear what I thought was a car coming up the road behind me. But when the vehicle passed me, I saw that it was not a car at all. It was a biker with aero wheels flying by at breakneck speed. I felt like I was standing still when these guys would speed by with their loud wind-breaking bikes. As the bike portion of the race continued, I continued to mostly get passed by other riders. The course was a lollipop and we had to do the round part twice. No doubt the guys screaming by me were on their second lap.
I was starting to worry about my goal. No doubt I had a blast on the course as it was gorgeous and there was little to no car traffic. And since there was no double yellow line on much of the roads, there was no problem passing other riders. In Triathlon, going over the double yellow line is an automatic disqualification if an official happens to catch you. The rolling farmland made for a beautiful course. But I just could not keep up with these guys.
In the last 10 miles of the bike portion, I had slowed down quite a bit. I was spinning along in a pretty low gear, taking it pretty easy really. I looked at my watch and it said 10 miles an hour. Wow. It seemed like I was going so slow. There were several sections of the course that looked flat. But they were not. They were what we call, "false flats". It looks flat but once you have to shift down to a low gear, you realize there is nothing flat about it. Sure there were some nice downhills. I even got up to 41.88 miles an hour at one point. But they did not last. In the end I think I averaged 15 miles an hour.
I finally approached the final big climb. There were people at the top of the hill with horns and cowbells cheering us on. It was a great motivator and really helped lift my energy levels. I came into T2 feeling pretty pumped up. Melissa got a short video of me coming in.
T2 was a little shorter than T1. I took a shot of Hammer Gel and swished it down with some water, changed my shoes, put on my race belt and hat, and took off. I immediately passed some strollers who were taking their time easing into the run. Here is a picture Melissa got of me passing one guy. Not sure why I tend to make faces when I get my picture taken during a race.
After a few minutes of running, I glanced down at my watch. I was running a 7:10 pace. Pretty fast considering all I had done at that point. Of course, this out and back course was all downhill at the beginning and then all uphill at the end. Here is the elevation profile for the course.
I ran pretty well and I started to realize that while I had been passing lots of people, no one had passed me. I started picking people off one by one. Some of them had started in a wave behind me, caught me on the swim or bike, and now I was catching them on the run. In Triathlon, we all have our ages inked onto our calf. That way, when someone passes you or you come across someone on the course, you know if they are in your age group or not. I started counting whenever I passed someone in my age group. 1, 2, 3, etc. I think by the time the race was over, I had caught 12 people in my age group on the run course. I was hurting on some of the hills but was motivated to keep going to see if I could catch more people in my age group. Melissa snapped this final picture of me running in strong at the end. Yes. I passed that last guy and absolutely no one passed me on the run course.
In the end, I had a great time, did well for my first race at this distance, and felt good about the whole thing. Yes, I am slow in the water, and yes I am slow on the bike. But I have room for improvement and I still have my run as my strength.
My times were as follows:
1500 Meter Swim - 38:55
T1 - 2:38
26 Mile Hilly Bike - 1:41:56
T2 - 1:39
10K Hilly Run - 49:56
Total - 3:15:03
I ended up 272 out of 388 overall and 58 out of 74 in Men 40-44. The most interesting thing to me is that the next fastest run split was the 24th place person. All of the people who beat my total time between my 58th place and the 24th place person had slower run times than me. I am hoping that this trend holds true for my next race. Perhaps I can catch even more people on the 13.1 mile run.
Thanks again to Melissa for supporting me, cheering me on, and taking pictures. I can still see Melissa cheering me on. It is always so uplifting.
Well, I have a 75-minute zone 3 ride followed by a 20-minute zone 3 run to knock out before work tomorrow so I better hit the bed. 4 AM will be here soon. Thanks for reading.
When the alarm goes off at 4:00 AM, it is quite startling. I am usually very sound asleep at that time; it is dark, and the electronic alarm clock seems piercing and not at all pleasant. Lately I have had to wake up at 4 or 4:15 AM in order to get my workouts in before work. I could wait until after work to workout which is something I used to always do. But the heat in Richmond during the summer is often oppressive. The only solution is to get up early, put on my head lamp (as to not disturb my wife's slumber), fumble around for all the things I need for a workout-pants, socks, shoes, heart rate monitor/watch, and perhaps a shirt and then get moving.
When I get up this early, before I even get out of bed I usually first grab my iPod touch which has its nighttime home on my bed stand, get on Facebook, and announce to all my virtual friends that I am up early to workout. This first step is a physical and mental trick to get me going. The back lit screen burns my eyes with seemingly searing light which wakes me up some. And the affirmation on Facebook commits me to actually getting out of bed and doing the workout. I wrote it down for all to see-I must do it.
Another thing I do to help me get motivated to not go back to sleep is to visualize racing, visualize myself as a triathlete. This is what triathletes do. They get up before the sun and workout. And often these workouts are not simply short runs around the block. For instance, my Tuesday morning workout consists of 45 to 60 minutes of intervals on the bike trainer or 60 minutes of steady riding followed by 30 minutes of fairly fast running. Fast for me anyway.
Staying motivated is the key to being able to continue to workout hard week after week. Again, using self talk and little tricks helps me. For instance, my training day starts on a Monday. It is one of the easiest days because it is a rest day. I sleep until 6 and don't workout. A couple of times I have gone to a yoga class on a Monday but mostly I just wake up, go to work, eat mostly all day, come home, eat dinner, watch 40 minutes of Hulu and go to bed. Then comes the Tuesday workout. Since Wednesday is a rest day, I use that fact to help me stay motivated for the Tuesday morning wake up and subsequent workout. I just tell myself that "tomorrow is a rest day" or "Just one workout and then I get to rest."
On Thursday, I have had a day off and I am ready to roll. And I only have to run. So not only do I not have to get up quite as early, but since I am not doing a brick, I think of it as an easier workout. I tell myself, "just a little run." Forget the fact that my Thursday run calls for mile repeats at zone 4. I try not to think about that part of it. I just get out there an knock it out.
There are other things I do to stay immersed in the proper mindset. I read Runners World magazine, Triathlete Magazine, blogs about Triathlons, and right now I am reading a book about a guy who ran across America in 50 days. I also think of how lucky I am to be able to do what I do. My younger brother gets up every day and goes to work. Each day is a workout for him. Even simple things like putting on his socks and shoes takes some work. But he does it every day. He could collect a social security disability check. But he doesn't. He faces each day's physical challenge as stoically as any John Wayne character ever did. I think about him often when I workout. My brother is another weapon in my motivation arsenal.
This Saturday I will toe the line in the Luray International Triathlon. The course will be hilly on the bike and the run. The swim will be the longest I have ever swum in a race and includes several turns. It will be hard work to stay on course during the swim. But I am confident I will have a blast. I have trained well and look forward to stepping up to the challenge.
I would like to quickly recap the Vermont race and vacation, and then next time delve into my training, and discuss my upcoming race. As my mileage and training time goes up, I have less time and energy to blog, even though I enjoy it. When I get behind on my writing, I feel like I am not getting to do all the the things I would like. Working 10-hour days during the summer makes it even harder to carve out some time to sit down and write. I find myself with a small amount of time so I will try to be brief and to the point. Yeah right.
The Vermont Sun triathlon was super fun. It was a great venue and turned out to be a beautiful day on race morning. As you may have read in Melissa's posting, we arrived the night before and had a somewhat mediocre dinner. The only thing I could find on the menu was a fried fish sandwich. And as the saying goes, "when in Rome," so I opted for the onion rings as a side. Not the best pre-race food but it would have to do and I was really just planning on taking it easy anyway. Yeah right. Me? Take it easy? I will take it easy when I die. That said, I had no goals other than to have a good time so there was little to no pressure.
On race morning, we were one of the first to arrive as usual. If you want a good spot on the rack, you have to get to transition early. After we got our bikes racked, Melissa and I took a little swim in the lake mostly just to see what it would be like. It was pretty warm and pretty darn shallow and clear. That would prove to make the swim a little less intimidating for the both of us.
I was in the second wave and Melissa was in the 4th wave. When the gun went off and I splashed into the water, I found myself in a bit of a jumble of swimmers. I got punched in the face by one guy but there was no damage done other than to startle me. I moved to the right side of the pack. This may not have been the most strategic move because our first turn was a left turn. But I am not the strongest swimmer and tend to breathe to my right side almost exclusively (something good triathletes DO NOT do). After we rounded the first buoy and swam for a bit, I pulled my head out of the water to survey my position. I had drifted pretty far out into the middle of the lake, definitely off course. I had to swim back towards to the buoy line. I ended up doing this a couple of times which must have tacked on another 50 yards or more. I was zig zagging all over the place.
When I got finished with the swim, my heart was pounding and I was breathing hard. I made my way to the bikes, had a fast transition, and took off. The first part of the course, once I left the parking lot, was uphill. I passed a couple of people on this hill but it took lots of effort and I was definitely not taking it easy. Soon, I was passed by a lady down on her areo bars. I kicked it up a notch to try to stay with her without getting close enough to get a drafting penalty. I ended up passing some more people and then catching and passing her on another small climb. She and I would leap frog that way for the first couple of miles until she found her rhythm and dropped me.
I kept chugging along, passing a few people and getting passed here and there by some others. Mostly I was passing versus being passed. After about half way, I relaxed and enjoyed the beauty that is Vermont. There are no billboards or strip malls in Vermont and there is pretty rolling farmland everywhere. I had a great time taking it all in while keeping my cadence high.
After the bike, I had another fast transition and took off on the 5K run. It was hilly and I was pretty spent by this time. The 600 yard lake swim was the farthest I had ever gone in a race and I think that took its toll. I felt slow on the run. I did pass some people and I did not get passed by anyone. Towards the end of the run, a person was gaining on me just as we crested the last hill before the downhill finish. I put the hammer down and ran a 6:30 pace into the finish line. After all, I could not let this person catch me at the end. Even though I did not have a specific race goal, I was not going to lie down and let someone beat me at the very end. Besides, I always have a good kick and downhill is my specialty so the nature of the course was in my favor at this point. Not that it really matters because after all this was just our vacation right?
I ended up 92 out of 199 so a top half finish overall at 1:24:31. I was 11th out of 15 in the M40-44 age group with the the following splits:
It sure was a fun day of racing in a really great venue.
The rest of our vacation was nice and relaxing. We went to Burlington and checked into a hotel where we watched the Women's World Cup Final. The game went into penalty kicks and the US really lost their composure and lost to a more technical Japan. But it was nice to sit in the AC and relax and watch the game before going down to the waterfront to take in the sights.
The next day we went to Ben and Jerry's factory for a tour and some fresh samples of ice cream. I don't typically eat any kind of dessert but I made an exception for this occasion. Needless to say, the ice cream was quite delicious. It was a small sample which is really all I needed. If you are ever up that way in Vermont, you must check it out.
After our morning stop at Ben and Jerry's we went on to the Northeast Kingdom for some relaxation, nice scenery and 100 miles of single track mountain bike trails. Just because we were on vacation did not mean that we would be couch potatoes.
On the contrary. While Monday was a rest day, on Tuesday we did 2.5 hours on the mountain bikes in the morning. After our ride together, we took a little break, had lunch and then I headed out solo to tackle some more technical trails. I made it about 15 minutes into my ride when everything literally came to a skidding halt. I knew right away that I had a major problem. A stick or a rock must have lodged in my rear wheel or derailleur. As it turns out, it was more than a major problem. My bike was rendered useless. In fact, it would not roll at all. So I did what I had to do and hoisted my bike onto my back and walked about 2.5 miles back to the trailhead. Uphill of course. Luckily, I was able to use my phone to send Melissa a message to meet me with the car so I did not have to walk the additional 2 miles back to our room where I started my ride.
We took the bike to the local shop and after discussing some things with the mechanic decided not to get it fixed but rather rent a hard tail 29er. I got a 3-day rental starting the next day plus daily insurance for only $85. Not too shabby at all.
After we got back from the bike store, I went out on my road bike to do my 2 X [9 z4 +3 Z5] w/5m RI. Basically I rode down to the bottom of the hill on Darling Hill Road and then crunched up the hill for 9 minutes hard and then 3 minutes all-out. Lather, rinse, repeat. I nailed the workout and my heart rate was flying.
Again, since I can rest when I die, after all that, we both entered a local 5 K trail race. After all, we could see the start from our room so why not? It was only $5 a person. It was low key with about 20 runners total. Some of them would be doing one loop which was about 1.5 miles and some would be doing two loops. At the beginning of the race, these two college runners who were running the 1.5 mile loop took off fast and I took off with them. I stayed with them for a few minutes but they were running a sub 6 pace down the hill. I let them go but now found myself in the lead since they were only doing the one loop and I was doing the two. During my second loop, I noticed a guy who was starting to gain on me. I could not let this happen as this could be my one and only chance to win a race. I was probably about 25 to 50 yards in front of him. I decided to put the hammer down after I went around a turn. That way, when he went around the turn and did not see me, I would have a psychological advantage. It is always easier to chase someone when you can see them. Now, he would not know what happened to me. Plus, after I climbed the hills again and I knew it was mostly downhill from there, I really opened it up. There was no fanfare, and not prizes. Nor really an acknowledgement that I had won. But I knew. And the guy who "almost" caught up to me? He asked me after the race if I ran the second loop faster or what. He said that he stopped briefly to tie his shoe and when he looked up, I had vanished. I told him that I usually start out too fast, falter in the middle, and then pick it up at the end. It was surely a great finish to a lovely day of exercise.
Summarizing the rest of our week, on Wednesday, we rode for 3.5 hours. Thursday we did about 40 minutes of swimming in a lake. Friday we rode for 2 hours and 45 minutes and did a 30-minute trail run. In between, we ate a lot and read, and walked around the grounds of the Inn. Unfortunately our room did not have AC so we ended up pretty hot at night and did not get the sleep we needed. So by the end of the week, I was ready to head home. It was a little bit of a downer, not being able to sleep well due to the heat. If we ever go back, we will make sure to get a room with an AC unit like we had last year.
