Rebuilding the Machine

I have been slowly building the milage back up over the last few weeks, and I've been pretty happy with the results. My legs were pretty beat up after Rocky in February, and I know Leadville is gonna require some serious mileage weeks later this spring/ summer. With that in mind, I didn't want to get too crazy too fast. So far, the approach has been working. I've increased the normal daily run to 7 with some solid hills in the mix. There are two painful climbs on the loop by my house that have been getting easier each day. Last weekend I knocked out a solid 14 miler with some climbing on the AT. Yesterday I bumped it up to an 18 miler that had about 2500 feet of elevation gain, most of which was on the AT. I was tired at the end but felt great. Still plenty of life left in my legs at the end. Today, was a nice 5 mile hike at Gentry Creek over by Mountain City, TN. Still feeling good after that, but I'll bet the climbs on the house loop will hurt in the am.

I have been running in La Sportiva Wildcats for the last couple of years, and they have served me pretty well. Lately, I'd been noticing that my toes didn't have enough room on long runs, so knew it was time to either go up a size or try a new shoe. My buddy, Bobby Cordell is a huge Hoka One One fan, so he talked me into trying a pair of the Stinson Evo Tarmacs. They look goofy as hell, but they have been great so far. I've also been wearing the New Balance Leadville shoe for a couple of weeks now. I use the NB's on trails and the Hokas on the road and flat trails. Seems to be a good combo so far. I wore the Hokas for the last 4 miles of yesterday's run, and LOVED them. When I came off the AT and got to my truck on the VA Creeper Trail, I busted out the Hokas for the return trip to Damascus. It was crazy. I felt like I was running on air. It still feels odd to run in something other than the La Sportivas, but I'm willing to try this out to save the feet (legs and ankles) as I prep for Leadville. We'll see what this week brings.