Two days...two doubles...

Sunday, January 2, 2011

The day started well with Holly waking me early to ask if I wanted to walk the block with her and Dakota. This is a casual, talking pace and not something that I classify as a workout…thus relieving me of something later. In fact, I returned home after and hopped on the bike for a ride. I was planning on at least an hour, but received a text from John while riding asking if I wanted to go for a hike. Well…sure. I told him to give me the time I needed to finish the ride…but he’s always early and arrived with me at the 55-minute mark. I figured that was good enough…I don’t like to keep him waiting…and headed for the shower while he kept Holly company.

We parked at the bottom of Ox Lane in the North Chagrin Reservation and I took him on my special, off-trail, through instead of around ravines – hike. It was somewhat muddy and the footing was treacherous and we found ourselves sliding backwards on occasion. The trek we took though really increases the heart rate beyond the normal trail stuff and that’s what we’re both looking for. John has had some difficulty getting in his workouts of late, but has re-committed himself to being in peak form for the coming summer months of hiking. In fact, he is planning one trip to the Adirondacks with his wife, Teri, with the intent of taking her up one of the 46 high peaks.

“Giant would be a great one…but she’s got to be ready, John,” I said…like he didn’t know. It’s easily one of, if not the best peak in the Adirondacks if you’re looking for a trailhead that’s easy to access and spectacular vistas for most of the trek. It was the climb John and I did on our last day the previous September and the one I’ll return to over and over, knowing it never gets boring. I’m hoping to get Holly to try it some day.

“I could write something up to have her ready, but it’ll include some time with a pack and bleacher work if she’s going to handle it. Very doable, though…you gotta push it on her,” I added.

We hiked down into and out of a couple of decent ravines before arriving at the marsh overlook. It’s a beautiful spot that few know about since there are no trails leading there and we stood there taking it in and discussing a trip to the Rockies. “I think I’d like to pack in to an area where there’s more than one species that could eat me. They’ve got mountain lions, grizzlies, and wolves. Some how it heightens the experience…living with that tension,” I said. There’s some of that in the Adirondacks, but black bears just aren’t the same as grizzlies.

We finished the hike in a little over an hour and I felt like I’d put in two workouts for the day. I have to break a good sweat and get the heart rate up over 100 for at least some part of it to consider it…and I had. When we returned home, John dove into the cookies and other Christmas sweets, but I managed to satisfy myself with pinole. It’s only day two, but I’m starting to focus in again…

Bike duration: 55 minutes. Hike duration: 65 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 biking. 70 hiking.
Calories burned during workout: 825 biking. 350 hiking.