A gorgeous fall training hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
Friday, I told you about an opportunity to make this fall truly epic by taking the Ultimate Hike.
Yes, it sounds like the title of a bad reality TV show (oxymoron?) about five people who go on a hike — and only one comes back. In reality — real reality — it’s an opportunity to test yourself and help a bunch of kids in the process. Ultimate Hike is a fundraiser run by CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. CureSearch promises to put you through a 12-week training program, at the end of which you’re able to hike 28.3 miles in one day. In return, you raise $2,500 to help the fight against childhood cancer. Pretty good deal.read more
Saturday, I ran the Umstead Trail Marathonon rolling natural surface trail at Umstead State Park. It was my first marathon, and it was an education — an education in how not to train for a marathon. Don’t, for instance, cap your weekly distance at 33 miles. Or your longest run at 17. Or start tapering in three months out.
So how do you train for a marathon? I explore that in a piece on the blog of one of the race’s main sponsors, the Great Outdoor Provision Co. Not only did I write it, but I plan to cut it out and post it on my bulletin board as a reminder for the next time.
Read it here.read more
With few exceptions, I experience what I write about. It makes it easier to describe the experience. It also makes it easier to sniff out the potential BS factor. This comes in especially handy when writing about new fitness trends and classes. It came in handy a couple weeks back when I started reporting a story on Chi Running for the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.read more
I’m always on the lookout for a quick, effective workout. To share with you, my faithful readers, of course. But mainly for me. This morning, I may have struck gold.
Once or twice a week for the last decade, I’ve done an early morning mountain bike ride at Umstead State Park with my buddy Alan Nechemias. We ride the bridal trail network, sometimes throwing in some adjacent singletrack. We ride for an hour and a half to two hours, usually put in 20 to 25 miles. It’s a great workout.read more
Triathlete Lance Armstrong. Word is he's strong on the bike.
In today’s Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, I write about a Charlotte group (about to expand into the Triangle) called TriItForLife. The nonprofit’s goal is to take not particularly active women and make triathletes out of them. In six years, it’s produced more than 700 triathletes. But it is limited to women and until next year, only those in the Charlotte area. So what are the rest of us supposed to do?read more
