I don't know where I am

I've put in some good, hard workouts recently and my body has confirmed this by its dead and sore feelings. I'm now four weeks out from my first race, perfect time for a little recovery before ramping back up. I took the second half of this week pretty light and easy in hopes of getting the spring back in my step. I really need to push myself the next three weeks if I want to perform as well as I have dreamed in my mind.

So, Thursday morning I went for a nice 1:45 easy spin recovery ride. I took some roads that had been suggested to me by a coworker and was having a good time. I then found a road with no sign, but I figured it looked good. This is one of the great parts of cycling. I find new roads and different back-country places: beautiful deserted roads, cow and horse pastures, the sun rising over fields and white picket fences. I had no idea where I was riding down this road and never did see a street sign. I saw signs for Fisherville and Memphis so I guess I crossed the lines somewhere out there. I took a few pictures which are below. Some didn't come out very well since I was still riding, but you can still get an idea.

After work I decided to go for my first trail in the Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves. I hadn't run any longer than a mile on the road and it had been about a week since I had run in them. However, I wanted to try them out on the trail since that is where I will hopefully be racing them and what they are more designed for. I brought my shirt, shoes, socks, gps, and heart rate monitor with me to work so I could run at Shelby Farms right after work. Did you notice I forgot my shorts? Yea, so I ran in khaki shorts with a leather belt. Yea, get that image in your head. Anyway, the run went great. I wanted to go for 1.5 mile, but ended up doing a full 2 miles. It felt great. My calves didn't complain like they had been when I ran on the road and I felt very nimble through the trail. I started out slow and easy because after all I am trying to recover, but it was hard to hold back in these shoes. Mile two ended up being a 6:17! This really helped my confidence in these shoes and my possibility of being able to race in them later this month. Most of my races are only 3.5 miles long and I just killed a 2 miler. 6:17 is pretty fast already and then through a twisty trail? I'll take that any day of the week. Well onto a rest day and a long run before I start hitting it hard again next week.