Category Archives: training

Trail Training: Red Top Mountain State Park

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We went up to Red Top Mountain Saturday morning for a nice long run. I always love driving up 75 and seeing the fog from Lake Allatoona as a nice cool welcome for a morning run. We planned to arrive and start running by 8am, as the park gets crowded on nice weekends. We paid the $5 parking fee and used the open and clean restrooms at the Visitor Center on the main road. There is a park office and huge parking lot further toward the lake that connects to the trail system there as well in case there’s no parking at the Visitor Center.

The trails here are well maintained and have a soft padding of pine needles on them at this point in the year. The views of the lake are lovely and there’s not a lot of underbrush, so the views through the valleys of trees are also beautiful (even in the winter). Most of the trails are wide enough for two people to run side by side.

We ran on the Homestead Trail which looks a bit like a lollipop. The non-loop part starts at the Visitor Center which is why we parked here instead of at the park office. We ran the loop part of the trail twice in a counter-clockwise direction and then headed back to the parking lot to round out our 8 mile run. Both directions of the loop are equally hilly, but the counter-clockwise direction gives some time to adjust before the first climb. That being said, the loop part of the trail is rather hilly. There aren’t many long climbs, but there also aren’t many flat sections. No chance of getting bored here.

By 9 am we were starting to see increased traffic on the trails and by 9:30 am we had our masks out to cover up as we were passing people frequently. Again the trails are wide, but better safe than sorry!

It was a lovely morning and well worth the longer drive, although I would recommend checking for highway projects before leaving. There has been a lot of construction on 75 recently (like the last 5 years!) and we ended up taking backroads home because there was a 20 min delay on 75 south. Next time we’ll make sure to bring snacks for immediately after our run in case we run into delays again.

Trail Training: Sweetwater Creek State Park

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Sweetwater Creek State Park is advertised as the most visited state park in GA, and it’s absolutely lovely. Well worth the trip for either hiking or running, camping or fishing. The trails are well maintained, well labeled with colored blazes, and the creek is beautiful with mill ruins and history to learn. We did an 8-ish mile run at Sweetwater this weekend. One of our goals was to scope out a possible 10K course for our Tough Treads Trail Series with our friends.

We always make a point to arrive early at Sweetwater because of the crowds, especially during pandemic times. In our experience, you can generally find a parking spot in the main lot if you arrive before 9 AM (the park opens at 7 AM), otherwise you might be stalking a parking spot or parking in one of the overflow lots. There is a $5 daily parking fee or you can get an annual pass for all of Georgia’s state parks.

The trails at Sweetwater have something for everyone. The Red trail runs along the creek to the mill ruins and has interpretive history signs. The Red trail is relatively flat and wide up to the mill and then it turns into more of a scramble over rocks and the trail narrows considerably. It’s super fun to walk along and explore, but it’s not that great to run over especially when it’s crowded.

The White trail is a 5 mile loop that has a bit of everything in terms of scenery. It has wooded and gently rolling trail portions, switchbacks into and out of canyons, more open grassland areas with wide trails, and a portion along the creek that is much narrower trail that climbs over some rock formations and heads up some stairs. It’s not an easy run, but it is certainly satisfying if you enjoy scenery.

This weekend we also did the entry part of the Yellow trail which is relatively flat after the very beginning and crosses the creek. We didn’t get a chance to check out the rest of the Yellow trail loop which looks pretty hilly, but did meander onto the Blue trail for a bit. It was pretty hilly also, but might have been good at the beginning of a long run instead of the very end.

Well worth the visit, but plan accordingly for potential crowds.

*The pictures below are from a trip to Sweetwater in June, 2020.

Trail Training: Chicopee Woods Trail System

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This past weekend we did our long-ish run (8 mi) in the Chicopee Woods Trail System up in Gainesville, GA. This is part of the Chicopee Woods Nature Preserve, which also contains the Elachee Nature Center and the Chicopee Woods Mountain Bike Trails. There is a $5 daily fee ($50 annual fee) to get into the area and use the trails and dogs are not allowed anymore. There is also a fee if you want to go through the small natural history displays and museum at the Nature Center when it is open. They have a great native reptile and amphibian collection that is great for kiddos.

The hiking trails are well maintained and the scenery runs from lovely forested hills, to creeks, to bottomland, and then to a large lake on the other side of the property from the nature center. There are trails with options of 3 mi and 5 mi loops, and several shorter trails that wind around the nature center. It’s beautiful and if you get there before 10 am you’re not likely to see many folks in the winter time. In the summer, the trails get a bit more crowded and the Nature Center has summer camp programs that bring people to the area.

This is one of the more difficult sets of trails that we have experienced in the greater Atlanta area (minus the hike to the top of Kennesaw Mountain). The trail parking lot starts at a high point and all trails head downhill toward the lake. Some of the trails follow streams and are relatively flat along stretches and then climb up and down switchbacks as it follows the mountain contours. There are several areas with stairs set into the trail to facilitate uphill climbs. We tend not to run this trail very often right after all the leaves drop in the fall because it makes roots hard to see, but in all other seasons it’s easy to avoid tripping.

Highly recommend a trip up here to hike, run, or mountain bike!

Tough Treads Trail Series By 7 Wonders

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Vickery Creek, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Photo by Miranda Wilson

This pandemic has taken a huge hit on running with the cancellation of almost all in-person race opportunities. We have been missing our running community horribly and so my husband and I decided to organize a trail race series to do with our friends.

The idea is to hold 5 “races” throughout the year in a pyramid of distances – 5k, 10k, half, 10k, 5k. They will be spaced 4-8 weeks apart and will all be at local trails around Atlanta. We will meet in the parking lot at a specified time (with masks on of course), say hi, and then run. There will be a staggered start to limit contact, and people will time themselves. All the races will be self supported to limit contact as well.

We are going to make shirts for everyone, as we’ve been wanting to do for a while and if people complete the series, I have agreed to make medals. If people want to compete we will keep track of times for everyone and may have extra medals for those.

We already have 12 of our friends that want to come out. I’m really excited to see people and have something to train for. I’ll keep you posted!

DexaFit – Body Composition and Performance Metrics

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Every athlete wants to perform better in their respective sport. Sometimes that means having a greater power:weight ratio. Sometimes it means having better aerobic fitness and endurance. Sometimes it means having more muscle mass. And sometimes it just means weighing less so you have less to carry around in your activities. In this case, knowledge is power, and places like DexaFit are there to help provide you with that information.

DexaFit is an organization expanding throughout the U.S. and geared toward athletes that want to know more information about their body composition and performance. This organization, and others like them, can assess a variety of metrics that help athletes perform better, train smarter, and reach peak potential. Just a few of those metrics include:

  • Body Composition: They use DXA scan technology to assess lean muscle mass and body fat percentages. It can identify asymmetries in muscle mass and assess bone mass density. This can be a great tool for preventing injuries because of asymmetries and can help guide future targeted training.
  • VO2 max: They use a traditional treadmill test to identify both aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. This can be a good tool to track progress for endurance athletes, but can (along with additional information) also help identify a heart-rate-specific calorie burn and heart rate training zones.

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  • Resting Metabolic Rate: This is by far the easiest assessment. It only requires breathing into a tube for 15 minutes while at rest. This can give athletes (and really anyone) a good idea of the number of calories the body burns while at rest (i.e., if you were to laze around in bed all day). This metric can be especially helpful in planning nutrition decisions.

As an athlete, the more one knows about their body and how it functions the easier it is to know what changes need to be made and help plan strategies to reach individual goals.

I have been to DexaFit twice and both times have had very positive experiences, learned a lot about my body and how it functions, and have used the information to make goals and plan my training in a smarter way. I would highly recommend paying them or other organizations like them a visit.

Welcome to SEA Fitness

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Welcome to my new endeavor! A fitness blog!

First off, you might be wondering what SEA stands for. Strength, Endurance, and Agility!

You also might be interested to know what prompted this new blogging experience. I am a long term runner, soccer player, triathlete, and ultimate frisbee player and have always been interested in maintaining fitness and training for specific athletic goals. I have finished graduate school and am interested in regaining my pre-graduate school fitness and motivation, with an aim to complete a marathon by the end of 2013.

My husband also plays on top nationally-ranked ultimate frisbee team and is planning on trying out for the U.S. National Team in March. He has asked me to be his “personal trainer” so that he can go into tryouts in top shape.

While I do not have any formal training in exercise science, personal training, or nutrition, I do have a plethora of personal experience and the web at my fingertips. Please do not take anything I say as medical advice. I am just here to share the ravings of a fitness enthusiast.

Thus, I am going to use this blog to do a variety of things:

1. Document the workouts, advice, and training regime I have designed for my husband and the sport of ultimate frisbee.

2. Discuss my own marathon journey.

3. Talk about training, nutrition, motivation, gear, and racing.

4. Discuss the benefits of developing and maintaining fitness.

I hope to be posting once or twice a week and look forward to interacting with the blogosphere!