http://alishalion.com Thu, 20 May 2010 04:22:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's been another awesome week up in the mountains of NC. The weather's been perfect- despite the threat of rain for a couple days, the sun stayed out and the temperatures mild. I've enjoyed a nice week of relaxing and less training to recoup from the hard week I had ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/mountain-reflections/ After a pleasant rest day on Saturday, I was back at it on Sunday with a metric mountain bike race in Damascus, VA called Iron Mountain. This was the first year for the event, and there was a good turnout. They did a fabulous job marking the course, stocking the ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/iron-mountain/ Yes, I'm tired... but in a good way tired. Not like burnt to a crisp or anything. After finishing the Grizzly yesterday, I was certain that the decision for me to ride 100 108 miles on Wednesday before all this madness was a very GOOD THING (not to take Martha ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/the-bear-the-grizzly-tired-alisha/ Had a fun swim this morning with the Boone Master's ladies. I'm really having a good time swimming with them. We did a set more like I'm used to today... repeat 100's, 50's, and 25's. I can definitely tell I'm a "one speed" kinda girl... I pretty much hit a ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/a-swim-then-chillin/ So after master's swim on Tuesday morning, I went out for a solo ride after lunch. The weather was amazing, yet again, with sunny skies and puffy clouds. I couldn't wait to get out on the road. I went up 194 again (a 10 mile or so climb from Vale Crucis ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/194-part-duex-and-roan-mtn-ride/ I've had a pretty good couple of days... mostly spent drinking coffee until the afternoon hours and kicking my feet up. Eventually I end up heading out to run or swim, but the lazy mornings are definitely addictive. Yesterday, I finally went out to swim at noon. I did a pretty ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/laid-back/ So I decided yesterday that I was going to do a loop to include Tater Hill. For those o' you that ain't Southern (fo' real), that's tater... like tater chips, tater tots, baked taters... ya know. Except for this "hill" isn't a "hill." It's a freakin' WALL. I've only climbed ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/tater-hill-and-firetower/ The past couple days have been cooler up here in Blowing Rock. I actually ran with a long-sleeve shirt Friday morning! It was only 50 degrees out. On my way to master's practice Thursday, I turned the seat heaters on in the car. It's definitely a nice climate change to ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/happy-4th/ After a failed attempt to go swim this morning in Valdese (the pool was closed until 11:30am, why I don't know...), we went to breakfast with my brother in Morganton at the new bagel shop in downtown. It was really good... it's the same shop as Boone Bagelry, so I ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/busy-wednesday/ Yesterday was two rides, two runs... we stayed at my parents' house in Drexel on Monday night so I could do my bike fit with Sonni. I rode in the morning with Joe, then took Sheldon out for a run. Later that evening, I went out for a ride in Hickory ... http://alishalion.com/2009/07/double-day/