Testing the hip...

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

I headed directly from work to the park…as I often do…but this time I was in a hurry. I wanted to do the Survival Workout and get home in time for a two-hour ride. The hip soreness was down…but not gone…and I wanted to test it with a bike ride. I need to get the cardio workout without stressing it further and riding is my best option. I had to know how it would respond since backpacking is so close. The next few days will likely determine where I will be camping when I go to the Adirondacks. I can’t afford to put on a heavy pack to hike in and create a base camp if I’m going to be too sore to climb the next day. One of the great things about the Adirondacks is that so much of the Park is open camping…hike in and get 150 feet from a trail or water source and plunk your gear down and set up camp. This of course isn’t all that easy since the woods are quite dense off-trail and finding a good place to pitch a tent can be problematic. Still…I may have to camp close to the car if I’m to climb.

I climbed a couple of steep hills during the workout and the hip felt pretty solid. I returned home and hopped on the bike with the intent of riding long…but easy. This time I kept it that way, taking an extra 10 minutes to ride a course that usually takes close to two hours. There were a couple of times when I felt the hip throbbing, but if I changed the position of my leg or sat back in the saddle, it went away. Not a great sign for carrying a pack, though I’m reasonably certain I’ll be able to climb.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes. Bike workout: 1 hour and 55 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for workout, 130 biking.
Calories burned during workout: 600 for survival workout. 1,500 biking.