Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Rain was in the forecast and the skies had been overcast throughout the day, but it was after five and it was still dry. In my mind, that meant try to ride…so I did.
First…a little history. About twenty years ago, I was playing with Jason in our yard in Willowick when, for no explainable reason, I became extremely dizzy and fell to the ground. It was grass and I managed a soft landing so I didn’t worry about it too much until it happened again a couple of days later and Holly saw me go down. I went to the doc’s, but everything seemed okay and life went on.
About a month ago, I had another spell in the living room and went down slowly and under control. It’s a weird feeling and like nothing I ever experience. My head just feels cloudy and starts to spin…like I’m on an amusement park ride and then I’m turning upside down. It went away quickly and that was that.
I felt fantastic on the ride. I was riding my course through Waite Hill and was heading east on Eddy when I felt my first wave of dizziness. I thought I was imagining it at first and kept riding, but quickly decided to pull to the side of the road. I nearly fell before releasing my feet from the pedals, but managed to stay upright while my head cleared…which it did in 10 seconds. It was the first time I’ve had an incident in a situation where I could actually get hurt, so it had me a little concerned…but I hadn’t ridden in two weeks and I wanted to do the workout…which supersedes all else…so I continued on. I had a couple more incidents, though not as bad, as I rode up Sperry and crossed Chardon Road headed for Mulberry. I was beginning to question the wisdom of my judgment and imagining myself whipping down Wilson Mills at 50mph and having another spell when I pulled to the side of the road and called Holly. She was shopping at Heinen’s and I told her to finish and that I’d ride along Mulberry. “You’re not riding anymore. You wouldn’t have called if you didn’t think it was a bad idea. Stay where you are…I’m on my way,” she said. So I did.
I don’t know what to think. I’ve had a serious head cold for the past two weeks and I’m still congested. I never gave it a chance to clear up…going from kayaking in cold water to camping out in cold night air. I suppose it could be messing with my equilibrium, but I think its time to let Nilesh know what’s going on and see what he thinks. I took a good tongue-lashing from Holly on the ride home…I had it coming…and spent the rest of the night just sitting quietly writing blogs and looking over Facebook. The good news for me at least is that I finally got in a ride of over an hour. Got that goin’ for me.
Bike workout: 75 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,000.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Working out again...
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Finally…a workout! I made it to the park thrilled that I’d be working out. I could have come yesterday, but knew that the trails would be under water, though a mud workout would have been fun. I’ve still got that that lingering head cold though, and getting soaked to the bone would not be the first choice of the medical community in trying to get better…as if hiking in rain by day and sleeping in the woods by night was. Anyway, it was good to be pushing, moving, and lifting things again. I had a limited amount of time since Jason wanted me in Kent to let some realtors into his place, so I ran between stations to get done more quickly. I felt like it had been weeks since my last complete workout, but found that I was doing everything at the level I had when last I’d been here…which was only a week ago.
The trails were muddy but mosquitoes seemed to be gone. With the forecast looking like rain for the next few days, I may be returning for a run or two over the next couple of days, which would give me an excellent opportunity to find out where the knee stands in relation to surgery. It had done well in all the climbing, though I had noticed on one descent that, after a slip and bending into an awkward angle, I still had pain and a limited range of motion.
I completed the workout, hitting all my expectations though falling a little short on the push-ups with a three set total of 161. I’m crossing my fingers for some good weather tomorrow so I can get in a longer ride. With only one month to go before the time changes, we’re running low on days to ride after work.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Finally…a workout! I made it to the park thrilled that I’d be working out. I could have come yesterday, but knew that the trails would be under water, though a mud workout would have been fun. I’ve still got that that lingering head cold though, and getting soaked to the bone would not be the first choice of the medical community in trying to get better…as if hiking in rain by day and sleeping in the woods by night was. Anyway, it was good to be pushing, moving, and lifting things again. I had a limited amount of time since Jason wanted me in Kent to let some realtors into his place, so I ran between stations to get done more quickly. I felt like it had been weeks since my last complete workout, but found that I was doing everything at the level I had when last I’d been here…which was only a week ago.
The trails were muddy but mosquitoes seemed to be gone. With the forecast looking like rain for the next few days, I may be returning for a run or two over the next couple of days, which would give me an excellent opportunity to find out where the knee stands in relation to surgery. It had done well in all the climbing, though I had noticed on one descent that, after a slip and bending into an awkward angle, I still had pain and a limited range of motion.
I completed the workout, hitting all my expectations though falling a little short on the push-ups with a three set total of 161. I’m crossing my fingers for some good weather tomorrow so I can get in a longer ride. With only one month to go before the time changes, we’re running low on days to ride after work.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Heavy rains and another day off...
Monday, September 26, 2011
I left work in the midst of another pouring rain. The streets were flooding and cars were crawling along as I watched any hope of riding swirl down the drain. It was raining so hard and had been for some time that I doubted the Metropark trails would exist as anything but streams. Still I felt that I had to do something and drove there hoping it would subside…but it never did.
I gave it up and headed for home to clean up the camping gear I had spread throughout the rec room. I doubt I’ll have another opportunity to use the tents this year and I like to make sure they are 100% dry before storing them for the winter. I actually don’t put them back in their bags, opting instead to put them loosely in the attic so if there is any moisture left, it will finish the drying process. I had noticed a couple of spots with leaks in the rain fly, so I should probably seal the seams this winter anyway.
I miss the long rides…the ‘exercise fix’ I was getting throughout the summer. I talked to John about buying whatever we need in cold weather riding gear to keep riding as long into the winter as we possibly could. As much as I dislike riding on the trainer, I do need to get it ready since the rains appear to be in the forecast until Thanksgiving…and I for sure won’t ride in a cold rain.
I left work in the midst of another pouring rain. The streets were flooding and cars were crawling along as I watched any hope of riding swirl down the drain. It was raining so hard and had been for some time that I doubted the Metropark trails would exist as anything but streams. Still I felt that I had to do something and drove there hoping it would subside…but it never did.
I gave it up and headed for home to clean up the camping gear I had spread throughout the rec room. I doubt I’ll have another opportunity to use the tents this year and I like to make sure they are 100% dry before storing them for the winter. I actually don’t put them back in their bags, opting instead to put them loosely in the attic so if there is any moisture left, it will finish the drying process. I had noticed a couple of spots with leaks in the rain fly, so I should probably seal the seams this winter anyway.
I miss the long rides…the ‘exercise fix’ I was getting throughout the summer. I talked to John about buying whatever we need in cold weather riding gear to keep riding as long into the winter as we possibly could. As much as I dislike riding on the trainer, I do need to get it ready since the rains appear to be in the forecast until Thanksgiving…and I for sure won’t ride in a cold rain.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Driving home with no chance for a workout...bummer.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
And now another great disadvantage to not having hiked in to a campsite…I’d have no workout on the day we were leaving from a hike back out. We packed the car and were on the road by 8 a.m. for the nine-hour drive home. I was feeling a strong urge to do something but I’d just have to live with it. I knew Holly would have dinner waiting…it was family night at our place…and there would be no opportunity to work out. I suppose that was a good thing. I’d been pushing myself pretty hard for the last seven days and the cold that had struck me down a week earlier during my kayak training still had a death grip on me.
We made it home by six and after emptying and spreading out all my wet gear, sat down to a delicious chili dinner. I was pretty tired and after downloading all the photos I’d taken on the trip, headed off to bed. I had hopes that I’d feel better in the morning and since I had a lot of catching up to do at work…and that would be a good thing. I felt the emptiness that comes at the conclusion of each summer…my last camping trip gives me the same feeling I used to get as a school child when I know vacation is over and I must return to the books. It had been an amazing last few months, with the changes in my diet and the new workout making a substantial difference in my ability to climb and hike. I know I’ll need to be diligent this fall and winter to be certain that I maintain what I’ve achieved and move into next spring prepared to knock the final pounds off and reach the fitness goals I set for myself eighteen months ago.
And now another great disadvantage to not having hiked in to a campsite…I’d have no workout on the day we were leaving from a hike back out. We packed the car and were on the road by 8 a.m. for the nine-hour drive home. I was feeling a strong urge to do something but I’d just have to live with it. I knew Holly would have dinner waiting…it was family night at our place…and there would be no opportunity to work out. I suppose that was a good thing. I’d been pushing myself pretty hard for the last seven days and the cold that had struck me down a week earlier during my kayak training still had a death grip on me.
We made it home by six and after emptying and spreading out all my wet gear, sat down to a delicious chili dinner. I was pretty tired and after downloading all the photos I’d taken on the trip, headed off to bed. I had hopes that I’d feel better in the morning and since I had a lot of catching up to do at work…and that would be a good thing. I felt the emptiness that comes at the conclusion of each summer…my last camping trip gives me the same feeling I used to get as a school child when I know vacation is over and I must return to the books. It had been an amazing last few months, with the changes in my diet and the new workout making a substantial difference in my ability to climb and hike. I know I’ll need to be diligent this fall and winter to be certain that I maintain what I’ve achieved and move into next spring prepared to knock the final pounds off and reach the fitness goals I set for myself eighteen months ago.
No chance for climbing as the rains continue...
Saturday, September 24, 2011
After two days of hard climbing, I was quite pleased to wake up with no aches or pains. I was displeased to wake up to rain, though. I’d been getting up throughout the night to push water from the tarp that had been accumulating in the low spot created when one of our support logs snapped and fell. I had clothes lines with my climbing wear hanging to dry and didn’t want the whole tarp to collapse under the weight of pooling rain and re-saturate them. We had also placed our shoes there in hopes that they would dry a little, as well. With the humidity near 100% there was little chance of this, though.
By 6 a.m. I was up and moving about. Donnie doesn’t stir unless prodded…which I did around 7:30 a.m. We needed to get over to Noonmark for another fantastic breakfast and develop a plan for something to do in the rain. Ron the firefighter was there again and suggested a trip to Baxter Mt. It is a seldom used trail that has only a 700-foot elevation change over a 1-mile hike…very doable for Donnie the non-climber. Since it was still drizzling at the conclusion of breakfast and visibility was zero, we elected to return to our campsite and wait for better conditions. They would never come.
We made an excursion to a McDonald’s in Lake Placid specifically for their smoothie. I wanted one and figured it would be cheaper than Ben & Jerry’s. It was…by two dollars. We returned to the campsite and after shooting the bull for another hour, my frustrations began to show. I asked if anyone was interested in doing the Survival Workout with me. “What are you going to use for lifting?” John wanted to know. “I lift myself. Push-up, pull-ups, dips and there are plenty of rocks in these old woods,” I said. I told him I felt fresh and could probably break my push-up record of 63. “Dude…no way you can do that many push-ups,” he said…and that was all I needed to hear. I changed into my damp hiking clothes and dropped to the pine needles and began pushing with Paul counting. I hit 57 and struggled through 58, but that was it. “Dude…impressive,” was all John could say.
It was clearing some and I encouraged the group to join me on a hike to Marcy Dam. Apparently the flash flooding had breached the dam and I wanted to go there and take some pictures…doing the Survival Workout as we hiked. It was a 45-minute hike with only a slight elevation change and I really needed to do something before returning to the Noonmark for another meal. On the trail, I found the rocks I needed and was lifting one overhead when some hikers came from the other direction. John tried to explain my odd behavior, but they were having none of it and skirted us quickly. Paul and Donnie turned back about half way, but John and I hiked on. The dam was breached and the pond it had once created was now little more than a large creek running through a sea silt that had been deposited there for the 100+ years the dam had been in place. The ‘forever wild’ laws of the Adirondack Park wilderness areas, as this was, would dictate that the dam should be left to fall apart. I suspect though that the breach will be repaired and this popular camping area will once again have a small lake…of sorts.
We returned and headed to the ADK Loj to get a hot shower…which felt amazing after 3 days without. We did return to both the Noonmark Diner and later to Ben & Jerry’s, but I refrained from ordering any ice cream, though it looked amazing. In all, it was a day without views and a sorry excuse for a workout. That night, I enjoyed a restful sleep without the patter of rain on my tent. I was awakened on a couple of occasions by the howling of a coyote family…its haunting sound a brief reminder of how close we were to nature and to whom the woods really belonged.
Hike duration/Survival Workout: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 120 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 500.
After two days of hard climbing, I was quite pleased to wake up with no aches or pains. I was displeased to wake up to rain, though. I’d been getting up throughout the night to push water from the tarp that had been accumulating in the low spot created when one of our support logs snapped and fell. I had clothes lines with my climbing wear hanging to dry and didn’t want the whole tarp to collapse under the weight of pooling rain and re-saturate them. We had also placed our shoes there in hopes that they would dry a little, as well. With the humidity near 100% there was little chance of this, though.
By 6 a.m. I was up and moving about. Donnie doesn’t stir unless prodded…which I did around 7:30 a.m. We needed to get over to Noonmark for another fantastic breakfast and develop a plan for something to do in the rain. Ron the firefighter was there again and suggested a trip to Baxter Mt. It is a seldom used trail that has only a 700-foot elevation change over a 1-mile hike…very doable for Donnie the non-climber. Since it was still drizzling at the conclusion of breakfast and visibility was zero, we elected to return to our campsite and wait for better conditions. They would never come.
We made an excursion to a McDonald’s in Lake Placid specifically for their smoothie. I wanted one and figured it would be cheaper than Ben & Jerry’s. It was…by two dollars. We returned to the campsite and after shooting the bull for another hour, my frustrations began to show. I asked if anyone was interested in doing the Survival Workout with me. “What are you going to use for lifting?” John wanted to know. “I lift myself. Push-up, pull-ups, dips and there are plenty of rocks in these old woods,” I said. I told him I felt fresh and could probably break my push-up record of 63. “Dude…no way you can do that many push-ups,” he said…and that was all I needed to hear. I changed into my damp hiking clothes and dropped to the pine needles and began pushing with Paul counting. I hit 57 and struggled through 58, but that was it. “Dude…impressive,” was all John could say.
It was clearing some and I encouraged the group to join me on a hike to Marcy Dam. Apparently the flash flooding had breached the dam and I wanted to go there and take some pictures…doing the Survival Workout as we hiked. It was a 45-minute hike with only a slight elevation change and I really needed to do something before returning to the Noonmark for another meal. On the trail, I found the rocks I needed and was lifting one overhead when some hikers came from the other direction. John tried to explain my odd behavior, but they were having none of it and skirted us quickly. Paul and Donnie turned back about half way, but John and I hiked on. The dam was breached and the pond it had once created was now little more than a large creek running through a sea silt that had been deposited there for the 100+ years the dam had been in place. The ‘forever wild’ laws of the Adirondack Park wilderness areas, as this was, would dictate that the dam should be left to fall apart. I suspect though that the breach will be repaired and this popular camping area will once again have a small lake…of sorts.
We returned and headed to the ADK Loj to get a hot shower…which felt amazing after 3 days without. We did return to both the Noonmark Diner and later to Ben & Jerry’s, but I refrained from ordering any ice cream, though it looked amazing. In all, it was a day without views and a sorry excuse for a workout. That night, I enjoyed a restful sleep without the patter of rain on my tent. I was awakened on a couple of occasions by the howling of a coyote family…its haunting sound a brief reminder of how close we were to nature and to whom the woods really belonged.
Hike duration/Survival Workout: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 120 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 500.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
More great climbing on day two...
Friday, September 23
The rain continued to fall into the early morning hours, but when it stopped I climbed from my tent to do what guys do in the middle of the night and noticed that the skies had cleared and were sparkling with stars. I tried to get John up to witness the splendor, but he snored through my efforts. I was up for good by 6 and began packing the gear since we would be moving to a different site where my cousin, Donnie, could join us that night. Donnie camps out of the back of his Acadia and frowns upon hiking and sweating.
We returned to Noonmark Diner, but this time John and Paul got a full-blown breakfast. I ate my Kashi cereal at the car, using powdered milk…that didn’t quite dissolve. Ron, the firefighter, appeared for breakfast again and told us that the trail we’d wanted to climb the day before was now open. John looked at me to see my reaction. “I’d like to climb Gothics, Armstrong and Upper Wolfjaw, but that trip could take 9-10 hours and that would have us descending in the dark with headlights…which I don’t think is a very solid plan,” I said. He agreed and we headed for Heart Lake and the tent camping sites on Meadows Road just east of Lake Placid. These sites were free and could be accessed right from your vehicle, which made them very convenient for camping and climbing some of the best peaks in the Adirondacks, but offered nothing close to the peace and serenity of the back country.
We arrived there and set up our tents with the sun shining. By noon, we’d completed our tasks and were prepared to climb Wright Mt., which was the peak I’d climbed 11 days earlier with Savannah and Heidi. It was a fabulous peak for a workout and great views and could be done in a reasonable time…having us back well before dark. I’d made the climb with the girls in 3 hours, but Paul and John were in great shape and we ascended much more quickly, reaching the summit in 2 hours. Though not the deep blue skies I’d experienced with the girls, we still had excellent views in every direction and stayed on top for an hour eating our lunches and exploring for the remains of the B-47 that had crashed into the mountain in January of 1962 killing all four airmen aboard.
The descent was treacherous because of the wet rocks and took as long as the ascent had. We made it in two hours, but still had to hike the mile back to where our car was parked before retuning to the camp site.
I was disgustingly dirty and sweaty and with John in tow, headed for the creek running a couple of hundred yards from our site. The water was moving quickly and having originated high in the mountains was anything but warm. John screamed like a little girl as he entered the bone-chilling waters, echoing his distress off the distant peaks and leaving other climbers wondering what form of torture he was enduring…the sissy. I, of course, sat manly in the cleansing waters scrubbing mud caked from miles of trail from my battered legs. We returned to the site to find that Donnie had arrived and quickly loaded into his vehicle for the 30-minute ride to the Noonmark Diner. We would head for Lake Placid and the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store where I would have a delicious smoothie before returning to our tent site and more rain.
Hike/climb duration: 5 hours
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 170 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 3,500.
The rain continued to fall into the early morning hours, but when it stopped I climbed from my tent to do what guys do in the middle of the night and noticed that the skies had cleared and were sparkling with stars. I tried to get John up to witness the splendor, but he snored through my efforts. I was up for good by 6 and began packing the gear since we would be moving to a different site where my cousin, Donnie, could join us that night. Donnie camps out of the back of his Acadia and frowns upon hiking and sweating.
We returned to Noonmark Diner, but this time John and Paul got a full-blown breakfast. I ate my Kashi cereal at the car, using powdered milk…that didn’t quite dissolve. Ron, the firefighter, appeared for breakfast again and told us that the trail we’d wanted to climb the day before was now open. John looked at me to see my reaction. “I’d like to climb Gothics, Armstrong and Upper Wolfjaw, but that trip could take 9-10 hours and that would have us descending in the dark with headlights…which I don’t think is a very solid plan,” I said. He agreed and we headed for Heart Lake and the tent camping sites on Meadows Road just east of Lake Placid. These sites were free and could be accessed right from your vehicle, which made them very convenient for camping and climbing some of the best peaks in the Adirondacks, but offered nothing close to the peace and serenity of the back country.
We arrived there and set up our tents with the sun shining. By noon, we’d completed our tasks and were prepared to climb Wright Mt., which was the peak I’d climbed 11 days earlier with Savannah and Heidi. It was a fabulous peak for a workout and great views and could be done in a reasonable time…having us back well before dark. I’d made the climb with the girls in 3 hours, but Paul and John were in great shape and we ascended much more quickly, reaching the summit in 2 hours. Though not the deep blue skies I’d experienced with the girls, we still had excellent views in every direction and stayed on top for an hour eating our lunches and exploring for the remains of the B-47 that had crashed into the mountain in January of 1962 killing all four airmen aboard.
The descent was treacherous because of the wet rocks and took as long as the ascent had. We made it in two hours, but still had to hike the mile back to where our car was parked before retuning to the camp site.
I was disgustingly dirty and sweaty and with John in tow, headed for the creek running a couple of hundred yards from our site. The water was moving quickly and having originated high in the mountains was anything but warm. John screamed like a little girl as he entered the bone-chilling waters, echoing his distress off the distant peaks and leaving other climbers wondering what form of torture he was enduring…the sissy. I, of course, sat manly in the cleansing waters scrubbing mud caked from miles of trail from my battered legs. We returned to the site to find that Donnie had arrived and quickly loaded into his vehicle for the 30-minute ride to the Noonmark Diner. We would head for Lake Placid and the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream store where I would have a delicious smoothie before returning to our tent site and more rain.
Hike/climb duration: 5 hours
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 170 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 3,500.
"You picked the only trail in the Adirondacks that's still closed..."
Thursday, September 22, 2011
I do two kinds of camping in the Adirondacks and they both have their advantages. My favorite kind is to park at a trailhead and hike with a full pack to a remote place from which I do all my climbing and hiking. It forces me to pack conservatively since once I leave the car, I won’t be returning for days. It’s in your pack or you go without. It usually means more time alone or that the only people you’ll be seeing are also looking for that kind of serenity that only comes from being alone.
This trip was not one of those. We hiked the .6 miles back to the car in the morning and had breakfast at the car before driving to the Noonmark Diner where we had coffee, used the bathroom went over our hiking plan for the day. We’d be returning here often for breakfast and dinner, which really simplified life at the campsite, but detracted somewhat from the overall experience. We were planning on hiking some difficult peaks in the area hit hard by flash flooding only three weeks earlier and where the girls and I could not go 11 days ago when we’d been in the same place. As luck would have it, an off-duty fire fighter who’d been working on the roads leading to the trails and who was an avid climber, walked in and sat at the table next to ours. Noticing our map, he asked where we would be climbing and then proceeded to check to make sure the trail was open. After a call or two he turned to us and said, “you picked the only trail that is still closed.” Plan ‘B’ hatched quickly.
It was overcast and rain was in the forecast. I like to climb peaks with views and don’t want to be climbing them for the first time when visibility is zero, so our alternative plan was for two 4,000 footers that weren’t supposed to be as spectacular. If we got to the peak and the skies cleared…all the better. We packed our food for the day, raingear, and water in our daypack…which I carried for the additional workout…and headed for the trailhead.
The early going was steep and John recorded a heart rate…he was wearing his monitor…of around 160 bpm. We moved up quickly and reached the peak of Cascade Mt. in about 90 minutes. The peak was completely open and would have offered amazing views, but we couldn’t see twenty feet and the rain was falling. We descended quickly and headed into a col between the two peaks and in another 30 minutes found ourselves on Porter Mt. with about the same view…fog.
On our descent, we met four different school groups made up of kids in the 8th grade who, for various reasons, were climbing that day. “Wish I’d gone to school where they’re going,” I commented to John as they passed. Most were in decent shape, but some were complaining and wondering how far to the top. Still…they were there and better for it. We reached our car after four hours on the trail around 2 p.m. and I was still feeling pretty fresh. I looked to the sky and noticed it was beginning to clear. “We could go up something smaller…like Van Hoevenberg…and maybe get some good views,” I suggested. John and Paul were both up for it, but as we were getting into the car, I pulled out my trail map and noticed another peak even closer…and higher. I pointed it out and they agreed to give it a go.
We hit the trailhead and read the legend, which stated that the peak of Pitchoff Mt. could be reached by hiking 2.5 miles and climbing 2,000 feet. I was holding the map and based on the contour lines, this climb would be straight up for two miles. I kept that information to myself as we began to climb what turned out to be the toughest 40 minutes I’ve ever spent on any peak. The trail was seldom used and full of loose and slippery rocks. As the map suggested, it was a continuously steep grade for a long time. John got his hear up around 170…and it stayed there. I was sweating profusely…and loving it. We reached open rock after 40 minutes of a thigh and lung burning ascent to some rather fabulous views. Though only 3,500 feet and not one of the 46 ‘high peaks’, it offered great views of those peaks. We stayed on top for about 30 minutes before noticing thunderheads rolling off the high peaks to the south…and straight at us. The rains hit us half way down, but were warm and cleansing, so none of minded too much.
We made it back to the car much more tired, but thrilled to have gotten in another great peak where we could actually see something. When it was suggested that we eat dinner at the Noonmark instead of at the trailhead where I’d be cooking, I voted ‘yes’. I had a dinner of Spinach Lasagna and a tossed salad, but passed on dessert. By the time we returned to the trailhead for our hike back to our tents, it was raining again and getting close to dark. There would be no fire that night, but the exhaustion of climbing and hiking over six hours and 5,000 vertical feet had me feeling like retiring to my tent to get the rest I’d need for tomorrow’s ascents.
Hike/climb duration: 6 hours
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 170 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 4,000.
I do two kinds of camping in the Adirondacks and they both have their advantages. My favorite kind is to park at a trailhead and hike with a full pack to a remote place from which I do all my climbing and hiking. It forces me to pack conservatively since once I leave the car, I won’t be returning for days. It’s in your pack or you go without. It usually means more time alone or that the only people you’ll be seeing are also looking for that kind of serenity that only comes from being alone.
This trip was not one of those. We hiked the .6 miles back to the car in the morning and had breakfast at the car before driving to the Noonmark Diner where we had coffee, used the bathroom went over our hiking plan for the day. We’d be returning here often for breakfast and dinner, which really simplified life at the campsite, but detracted somewhat from the overall experience. We were planning on hiking some difficult peaks in the area hit hard by flash flooding only three weeks earlier and where the girls and I could not go 11 days ago when we’d been in the same place. As luck would have it, an off-duty fire fighter who’d been working on the roads leading to the trails and who was an avid climber, walked in and sat at the table next to ours. Noticing our map, he asked where we would be climbing and then proceeded to check to make sure the trail was open. After a call or two he turned to us and said, “you picked the only trail that is still closed.” Plan ‘B’ hatched quickly.
It was overcast and rain was in the forecast. I like to climb peaks with views and don’t want to be climbing them for the first time when visibility is zero, so our alternative plan was for two 4,000 footers that weren’t supposed to be as spectacular. If we got to the peak and the skies cleared…all the better. We packed our food for the day, raingear, and water in our daypack…which I carried for the additional workout…and headed for the trailhead.
The early going was steep and John recorded a heart rate…he was wearing his monitor…of around 160 bpm. We moved up quickly and reached the peak of Cascade Mt. in about 90 minutes. The peak was completely open and would have offered amazing views, but we couldn’t see twenty feet and the rain was falling. We descended quickly and headed into a col between the two peaks and in another 30 minutes found ourselves on Porter Mt. with about the same view…fog.
On our descent, we met four different school groups made up of kids in the 8th grade who, for various reasons, were climbing that day. “Wish I’d gone to school where they’re going,” I commented to John as they passed. Most were in decent shape, but some were complaining and wondering how far to the top. Still…they were there and better for it. We reached our car after four hours on the trail around 2 p.m. and I was still feeling pretty fresh. I looked to the sky and noticed it was beginning to clear. “We could go up something smaller…like Van Hoevenberg…and maybe get some good views,” I suggested. John and Paul were both up for it, but as we were getting into the car, I pulled out my trail map and noticed another peak even closer…and higher. I pointed it out and they agreed to give it a go.
We hit the trailhead and read the legend, which stated that the peak of Pitchoff Mt. could be reached by hiking 2.5 miles and climbing 2,000 feet. I was holding the map and based on the contour lines, this climb would be straight up for two miles. I kept that information to myself as we began to climb what turned out to be the toughest 40 minutes I’ve ever spent on any peak. The trail was seldom used and full of loose and slippery rocks. As the map suggested, it was a continuously steep grade for a long time. John got his hear up around 170…and it stayed there. I was sweating profusely…and loving it. We reached open rock after 40 minutes of a thigh and lung burning ascent to some rather fabulous views. Though only 3,500 feet and not one of the 46 ‘high peaks’, it offered great views of those peaks. We stayed on top for about 30 minutes before noticing thunderheads rolling off the high peaks to the south…and straight at us. The rains hit us half way down, but were warm and cleansing, so none of minded too much.
We made it back to the car much more tired, but thrilled to have gotten in another great peak where we could actually see something. When it was suggested that we eat dinner at the Noonmark instead of at the trailhead where I’d be cooking, I voted ‘yes’. I had a dinner of Spinach Lasagna and a tossed salad, but passed on dessert. By the time we returned to the trailhead for our hike back to our tents, it was raining again and getting close to dark. There would be no fire that night, but the exhaustion of climbing and hiking over six hours and 5,000 vertical feet had me feeling like retiring to my tent to get the rest I’d need for tomorrow’s ascents.
Hike/climb duration: 6 hours
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 170 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 4,000.
Monday, September 26, 2011
"It'll never fit!"
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
I was up, showered, eating and reading the sports page by the time John arrived a little after 5 a.m. As we began to pack the car and it became readily apparent that we’d be squeezed in like sardines, I began to let my irritation show. I knew that Paul had more than camping gear with him…he’d be on the road for three weeks after our camping trip and had a couple of boxes of things to bring along…and could see that there just wasn’t room. I cursed myself for not insisting on taking the van, which would have easily handled our needs. John tried placating me. “Dude…we’ll make it fit. After all…it’s just Paul in the back seat and who cares how much shit he has piled up all around him. We’ll be comfortable,” he said. Okay…that much was true.
We re-entered the kitchen from outside to pack up the six turkey sandwiches I laid out on the counter for the drive up. Dakota had been outside with us while we were shoving things in the car, but on one of John’s trips back inside, he’d let her follow. I stared at the counter where the sandwiches used to be and looked at Dakota who was slowly slinking up the stairs to the safety of her cage. She looked full. “I hope you weren’t counting on those smoked turkey sandwiches,” I said to John. He was looking at the counter with incredulity. “She ate them all? There’s not a crumb anywhere,” he said, admiringly. I thought about a forty-pound dog eating 6 sandwiches in 60 seconds…which would be the equivalent of a 160-pound man eating 24 sandwiches. I wanted to be angry but who was I kidding? I’d left them in snout’s reach and dared her to eat them.
We got to Paul’s place and as we pulled into the driveway and John’s headlights illuminated the mountain of gear stacked outside his door, I blew a gasket again. “This…will…never…work!” John explained my storage issues to Paul as I eyed the watermelon in the stack and started laughing. “Really, Paul? A watermelon in the car? How would we even eat it if we could squeeze it in?” He looked at me puzzled…as if traveling with a watermelon in the back seat of a car on a 9-hour trip was completely normal behavior and said, “I brought a knife.”
Paul is a packing aficionado and after rearranging everything we had…and leaving the watermelon home…found that he was comfortable and that we’d be able to proceed. We made the trip in about 9 hours, arriving in Keene Valley around 4 p.m. I made a spaghetti dinner at the trailhead so we wouldn’t have to carry the food and stoves into the camp site…which would help in keeping bears from visiting. We loaded packs and with about 40 pounds on my back, hiked the .6 miles into Round Pond and our camping destination for the next two nights.
The hike in wasn’t much of a workout, but combined with foraging for burnable wood through dense foliage, found that I’d sweat enough to need a cleaning in the pond. The water was cold but refreshing and Paul had a nice fire going by the time I returned. We had a pleasant night sitting around a fire and talking families, climbing, our lives and man trash. It was another day of serenity in the back country.
Hike duration: 25-30 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 120 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 250.
I was up, showered, eating and reading the sports page by the time John arrived a little after 5 a.m. As we began to pack the car and it became readily apparent that we’d be squeezed in like sardines, I began to let my irritation show. I knew that Paul had more than camping gear with him…he’d be on the road for three weeks after our camping trip and had a couple of boxes of things to bring along…and could see that there just wasn’t room. I cursed myself for not insisting on taking the van, which would have easily handled our needs. John tried placating me. “Dude…we’ll make it fit. After all…it’s just Paul in the back seat and who cares how much shit he has piled up all around him. We’ll be comfortable,” he said. Okay…that much was true.
We re-entered the kitchen from outside to pack up the six turkey sandwiches I laid out on the counter for the drive up. Dakota had been outside with us while we were shoving things in the car, but on one of John’s trips back inside, he’d let her follow. I stared at the counter where the sandwiches used to be and looked at Dakota who was slowly slinking up the stairs to the safety of her cage. She looked full. “I hope you weren’t counting on those smoked turkey sandwiches,” I said to John. He was looking at the counter with incredulity. “She ate them all? There’s not a crumb anywhere,” he said, admiringly. I thought about a forty-pound dog eating 6 sandwiches in 60 seconds…which would be the equivalent of a 160-pound man eating 24 sandwiches. I wanted to be angry but who was I kidding? I’d left them in snout’s reach and dared her to eat them.
We got to Paul’s place and as we pulled into the driveway and John’s headlights illuminated the mountain of gear stacked outside his door, I blew a gasket again. “This…will…never…work!” John explained my storage issues to Paul as I eyed the watermelon in the stack and started laughing. “Really, Paul? A watermelon in the car? How would we even eat it if we could squeeze it in?” He looked at me puzzled…as if traveling with a watermelon in the back seat of a car on a 9-hour trip was completely normal behavior and said, “I brought a knife.”
Paul is a packing aficionado and after rearranging everything we had…and leaving the watermelon home…found that he was comfortable and that we’d be able to proceed. We made the trip in about 9 hours, arriving in Keene Valley around 4 p.m. I made a spaghetti dinner at the trailhead so we wouldn’t have to carry the food and stoves into the camp site…which would help in keeping bears from visiting. We loaded packs and with about 40 pounds on my back, hiked the .6 miles into Round Pond and our camping destination for the next two nights.
The hike in wasn’t much of a workout, but combined with foraging for burnable wood through dense foliage, found that I’d sweat enough to need a cleaning in the pond. The water was cold but refreshing and Paul had a nice fire going by the time I returned. We had a pleasant night sitting around a fire and talking families, climbing, our lives and man trash. It was another day of serenity in the back country.
Hike duration: 25-30 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 120 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 250.
Final preparations...
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
I wasn’t getting any better and my concerns were growing. The Adirondacks can be very cold and damp this time of year and neither condition does much to improve a severe head cold. There really was nothing to think about though…I was going. I’d bring the Hall’s for my throat and the Sudafed for the congestion and make the best of it. I could have taken another night off from working out, but I’d get little exercise on our travel day and didn’t want two ‘slacker’ days in a row so I headed for the park for the Survival workout.
The workout wasn’t my best effort but I got it done and headed to Paul’s parent’s house to pick him up so we could do some last minute food shopping for the trip. I’ve learned that Paul, probably one of the most experienced backcountry campers on the continent, has a method to the calories he takes on a trip and wouldn’t want me packing his food. John would eat whatever I put in front of him...and then complain that the pinole was too dry. We went to BJ’s and grabbed some fresh and dried fruit, and the right energy bars. I dropped him back at home and promised to return at 6 the next morning.
The night before an extended trip is rather hectic for me as I look to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything essential and have the food figured out to meet our different tastes, caloric needs and the ability to carry and store it all. We were hiking only a short distance from the car to pitch our tents and could leave food in coolers in the car and eat when returning. This would simplify what and how much I could bring, allowing for more fresh food…something I could never take in a bear canister. Once I had it all together and mounded near the door to put in John’s Mazda the next morning, I again questioned the capacity of his vehicle. I wasn’t going to ask Holly to let me take the van for a week, so I would just have to squeeze it in. With that thought, I headed off to bed and set the alarm for a 5 a.m. start.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
I wasn’t getting any better and my concerns were growing. The Adirondacks can be very cold and damp this time of year and neither condition does much to improve a severe head cold. There really was nothing to think about though…I was going. I’d bring the Hall’s for my throat and the Sudafed for the congestion and make the best of it. I could have taken another night off from working out, but I’d get little exercise on our travel day and didn’t want two ‘slacker’ days in a row so I headed for the park for the Survival workout.
The workout wasn’t my best effort but I got it done and headed to Paul’s parent’s house to pick him up so we could do some last minute food shopping for the trip. I’ve learned that Paul, probably one of the most experienced backcountry campers on the continent, has a method to the calories he takes on a trip and wouldn’t want me packing his food. John would eat whatever I put in front of him...and then complain that the pinole was too dry. We went to BJ’s and grabbed some fresh and dried fruit, and the right energy bars. I dropped him back at home and promised to return at 6 the next morning.
The night before an extended trip is rather hectic for me as I look to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything essential and have the food figured out to meet our different tastes, caloric needs and the ability to carry and store it all. We were hiking only a short distance from the car to pitch our tents and could leave food in coolers in the car and eat when returning. This would simplify what and how much I could bring, allowing for more fresh food…something I could never take in a bear canister. Once I had it all together and mounded near the door to put in John’s Mazda the next morning, I again questioned the capacity of his vehicle. I wasn’t going to ask Holly to let me take the van for a week, so I would just have to squeeze it in. With that thought, I headed off to bed and set the alarm for a 5 a.m. start.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Testing the illness...
Monday, September 19, 2011
I slept until about 5 a.m. before my sinus blockage and lack of breathing had me up. I could see I wouldn’t be going to work…I needed to beat this thing…so I used the nasal spray and went back to bed. I was up by 8 and after calling clients to tell them I would have to reschedule, went about trying to find a doctor that would look at me quickly. I tried the Cleveland Clinic in Willoughby Hills because I was told they took same-day patients, but found they weren’t taking them today. John suggested Urgent Care and I figured I’d give them a try if I got desperate…which I wasn’t just yet. I really don’t want to go into the mountains and sleep in the cold night air feeling the way I do, but Paul was coming from Alaska for this trip and unless I was suffering from pneumonia, I’d be going. I drove to Giant Eagle and purchased the things I’d need for your meals and came home to organize my gear and make the food.
I whipped up a delicious batch of pinole and made some gorp (good old raisins and peanuts…with M&M’s) but added banana chips to make it more paleo. It qualifies as something a paleo athlete would eat while competing to spare glycogen stores and keep the blood sugar where it ought to be. Actually, I use the pinole to serve that purpose and bring gorp as a tradition. John loves it and will snack on it throughout the trip. I also made some spaghetti. I boil the noodles ahead and put them in a Ziploc bag with sauce and frozen meatballs and carry this in to our first site for that first night’s dinner. After that, it’s most freeze-dried stuff that can be put easily in a bear canister to keep those giant raccoon-type critters out of the camp site and away from our food (and us).
By late afternoon I’d developed the notion that I should go for a run to determine how much the cold/upper respiratory infection was affecting my stamina. I figured a 30-40 minute effort would tell me what I needed to know without hurting myself. There was a misty rain falling as I exited the car. I’d been thinking I might combine the run with a Survival Workout, so I dropped in the mud and did 60 push-ups before starting down the trail at a fast jog. The run seemed easy though I elected not to do the workout too…I’d save that for the next day if I didn’t have any repercussions from the run. I finished strongly, running the last mile around a 7-minute pace and climbed back into the car thinking that although I had a stuffed-up head, I could climb.
Run workout: 35 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 550.
I slept until about 5 a.m. before my sinus blockage and lack of breathing had me up. I could see I wouldn’t be going to work…I needed to beat this thing…so I used the nasal spray and went back to bed. I was up by 8 and after calling clients to tell them I would have to reschedule, went about trying to find a doctor that would look at me quickly. I tried the Cleveland Clinic in Willoughby Hills because I was told they took same-day patients, but found they weren’t taking them today. John suggested Urgent Care and I figured I’d give them a try if I got desperate…which I wasn’t just yet. I really don’t want to go into the mountains and sleep in the cold night air feeling the way I do, but Paul was coming from Alaska for this trip and unless I was suffering from pneumonia, I’d be going. I drove to Giant Eagle and purchased the things I’d need for your meals and came home to organize my gear and make the food.
I whipped up a delicious batch of pinole and made some gorp (good old raisins and peanuts…with M&M’s) but added banana chips to make it more paleo. It qualifies as something a paleo athlete would eat while competing to spare glycogen stores and keep the blood sugar where it ought to be. Actually, I use the pinole to serve that purpose and bring gorp as a tradition. John loves it and will snack on it throughout the trip. I also made some spaghetti. I boil the noodles ahead and put them in a Ziploc bag with sauce and frozen meatballs and carry this in to our first site for that first night’s dinner. After that, it’s most freeze-dried stuff that can be put easily in a bear canister to keep those giant raccoon-type critters out of the camp site and away from our food (and us).
By late afternoon I’d developed the notion that I should go for a run to determine how much the cold/upper respiratory infection was affecting my stamina. I figured a 30-40 minute effort would tell me what I needed to know without hurting myself. There was a misty rain falling as I exited the car. I’d been thinking I might combine the run with a Survival Workout, so I dropped in the mud and did 60 push-ups before starting down the trail at a fast jog. The run seemed easy though I elected not to do the workout too…I’d save that for the next day if I didn’t have any repercussions from the run. I finished strongly, running the last mile around a 7-minute pace and climbed back into the car thinking that although I had a stuffed-up head, I could climb.
Run workout: 35 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 550.
Monday, September 19, 2011
"You're killin' me, Dave..."
Sunday, September 18, 2011
I think I need to stay away from this Dave Herpy guy and his classes at Kent State. I’m learning some fantastic skills for group leadership and kayaking, but I don’t think I’ll live through another day with him. Okay…I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
I stopped by John’s place in Twinsburg on the way home from Kent after my kayak training. I’d promised to drop off the air mattress I had in my trunk which I’d put there for the camping I never did during the training. I had hoped to camp at Mogador, but was disappointed to discover there were no state camp grounds on the reservoir. In any event, John was preparing to buy another thermarest for our trip to the Adirondacks, but I’d convinced him to try my air mattress before making the purchase. Like me, he has trouble sleeping comfortably on our camping trips, but I assured him this mattress worked. “And we have two of them. You bought one…which I took…and I bought one as a backup,” I explained over the phone earlier in the day.
I pulled in his drive and popped the trunk as he came out to join me. After tearing through all the gear in my trunk and not finding it, I concluded that I’d forgotten to pack it. “Good thing I didn’t camp out after all. I’d have been pissed to find out I’d left it home. I’m coming down again tomorrow to complete the training. I’ll bring it with me and swing by and give it to you on the way home,” I said. He was looking at me funny while I spoke…not that that’s anything too unusual for me. “You sound sick, dude,” he said. And he was right. I sounded congested…because I was…and I felt like I was running a fever. “I went in the water around 1 p.m. and then we paddled for another 3 hours before I had to practice our rescues. I was a little cold after the first dunking, but really caught a chill after the second one. I’ve been feeling a little stuffed up since then, too,” I said…not whining at all.
I headed home thinking of all the preparations and studying I needed to do for my final day of training. I had to completely rethink my on-land presentation and I wanted to go over some videos of the stroke and rescue I was teaching so I had a better idea how to do them. I started studying around 8 and didn’t finish until midnight…by which time my head was throbbing. I went to bed and fell asleep quickly, but woke at 2 a.m. with 100% blockage of my sinus passages…something I have never had. I moved to the recliner downstairs to try and sleep thinking a more upright position would help me drain and when that didn’t work, took a hot shower and tried to blow it out. Except I couldn’t blow since I was so completely blocked. By five in the morning, I concluded that I would not be doing the final day of training…there was no way I could go back in the water…so I laid down in bed for an hour before getting up to go to Mogador and explain my situation to Dave.
I arrived there in time to see the sun rising over the water and took some great pictures of the fishermen in their boats on the water in the shroud the of morning mist. The glow of the long rays of the morning sun reflected off the water and their boats and added to the beautiful serenity of the morning. How I wished I wasn’t in the shape I was and could join them on the water with a sleek kayak to cut through the fog to get some other great pictures. When Dave arrived, I strode up to him to explain the situation. “I come to a seminar three weeks ago and you give me food poisoning and this time you’re not feeding us…so you dunk me in a lake and let the bacteria make me sick,” I said with a nasal-clogged twang. “You don’t sound so good, John,” he said while probably thinking I was some kind of delicate wall flower who couldn’t handle the environment. And I felt that way. I mean I was perfectly healthy and fit all day yesterday and, it seemed, in a matter of moments…was sick. “Look…you were doing pretty well. You need some work on your strokes, but you know how to teach. Just come down next summer and help me teach an intro class and we’ll certify you then,” he said. What else could I do? Damn…but I was close.
Still…I learned so much over the two days and would be able to put it to practical use with my own paddling as well as with helping people just giving the sport a try and since I’m taking newcomers out all the time, that would prove invaluable.
I stopped by John’s place on the way home and gave him the mattress which he tried out and thought would work. John is a treasure trove of medication…he’s always got something wrong…so I asked him for his pharmaceutical assistance with my clogged sinuses. He returned with some nasal spray and Sudafed. “You can get addicted to that nasal spray…so use it sparingly,” he said. I was desperate to breathe again…which I needed to do to sleep again…so I squirted it and inhaled while leaning my head back…as instructed. In two minutes, I was breathing again. What a miracle elixir I’d just shot up my nose!
I went home and slept for a couple of hours before getting up to cut the lawn. Even riding the mower, I felt exhausted and was beginning to worry about my climbing trip…now four days off. I collapsed in a chair upon completion and watched ‘Stand by Me’ with Jason. I asked him about going to the park to do the workout, but he’d already lifted and declined. Probably a good thing since I don’t think I could have…or should have…done it anyway.
I think I need to stay away from this Dave Herpy guy and his classes at Kent State. I’m learning some fantastic skills for group leadership and kayaking, but I don’t think I’ll live through another day with him. Okay…I’m getting a little ahead of myself.
I stopped by John’s place in Twinsburg on the way home from Kent after my kayak training. I’d promised to drop off the air mattress I had in my trunk which I’d put there for the camping I never did during the training. I had hoped to camp at Mogador, but was disappointed to discover there were no state camp grounds on the reservoir. In any event, John was preparing to buy another thermarest for our trip to the Adirondacks, but I’d convinced him to try my air mattress before making the purchase. Like me, he has trouble sleeping comfortably on our camping trips, but I assured him this mattress worked. “And we have two of them. You bought one…which I took…and I bought one as a backup,” I explained over the phone earlier in the day.
I pulled in his drive and popped the trunk as he came out to join me. After tearing through all the gear in my trunk and not finding it, I concluded that I’d forgotten to pack it. “Good thing I didn’t camp out after all. I’d have been pissed to find out I’d left it home. I’m coming down again tomorrow to complete the training. I’ll bring it with me and swing by and give it to you on the way home,” I said. He was looking at me funny while I spoke…not that that’s anything too unusual for me. “You sound sick, dude,” he said. And he was right. I sounded congested…because I was…and I felt like I was running a fever. “I went in the water around 1 p.m. and then we paddled for another 3 hours before I had to practice our rescues. I was a little cold after the first dunking, but really caught a chill after the second one. I’ve been feeling a little stuffed up since then, too,” I said…not whining at all.
I headed home thinking of all the preparations and studying I needed to do for my final day of training. I had to completely rethink my on-land presentation and I wanted to go over some videos of the stroke and rescue I was teaching so I had a better idea how to do them. I started studying around 8 and didn’t finish until midnight…by which time my head was throbbing. I went to bed and fell asleep quickly, but woke at 2 a.m. with 100% blockage of my sinus passages…something I have never had. I moved to the recliner downstairs to try and sleep thinking a more upright position would help me drain and when that didn’t work, took a hot shower and tried to blow it out. Except I couldn’t blow since I was so completely blocked. By five in the morning, I concluded that I would not be doing the final day of training…there was no way I could go back in the water…so I laid down in bed for an hour before getting up to go to Mogador and explain my situation to Dave.
I arrived there in time to see the sun rising over the water and took some great pictures of the fishermen in their boats on the water in the shroud the of morning mist. The glow of the long rays of the morning sun reflected off the water and their boats and added to the beautiful serenity of the morning. How I wished I wasn’t in the shape I was and could join them on the water with a sleek kayak to cut through the fog to get some other great pictures. When Dave arrived, I strode up to him to explain the situation. “I come to a seminar three weeks ago and you give me food poisoning and this time you’re not feeding us…so you dunk me in a lake and let the bacteria make me sick,” I said with a nasal-clogged twang. “You don’t sound so good, John,” he said while probably thinking I was some kind of delicate wall flower who couldn’t handle the environment. And I felt that way. I mean I was perfectly healthy and fit all day yesterday and, it seemed, in a matter of moments…was sick. “Look…you were doing pretty well. You need some work on your strokes, but you know how to teach. Just come down next summer and help me teach an intro class and we’ll certify you then,” he said. What else could I do? Damn…but I was close.
Still…I learned so much over the two days and would be able to put it to practical use with my own paddling as well as with helping people just giving the sport a try and since I’m taking newcomers out all the time, that would prove invaluable.
I stopped by John’s place on the way home and gave him the mattress which he tried out and thought would work. John is a treasure trove of medication…he’s always got something wrong…so I asked him for his pharmaceutical assistance with my clogged sinuses. He returned with some nasal spray and Sudafed. “You can get addicted to that nasal spray…so use it sparingly,” he said. I was desperate to breathe again…which I needed to do to sleep again…so I squirted it and inhaled while leaning my head back…as instructed. In two minutes, I was breathing again. What a miracle elixir I’d just shot up my nose!
I went home and slept for a couple of hours before getting up to cut the lawn. Even riding the mower, I felt exhausted and was beginning to worry about my climbing trip…now four days off. I collapsed in a chair upon completion and watched ‘Stand by Me’ with Jason. I asked him about going to the park to do the workout, but he’d already lifted and declined. Probably a good thing since I don’t think I could have…or should have…done it anyway.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
"Time for a wet exit, people..."
Saturday, September 17, 2011
“Okay…to perform the ‘wet exit’ correctly, after you’ve rolled…bang three times on the bottom of your kayak to alert fellow kayakers that you’re in need of help,” Dave Herpy instructed as we prepared to get wet. The water was in the high sixties which is pretty cool, but we did have wet suits on. I was listening to what he was saying and that the three bangs would alert a fellow kayaker to approach with their craft and if you could grab the tip of their boat, might right yourself without coming out of the kayak. I was also thinking that the chances of that happening were about as good as the Indians winning the World Series and that I should just get the hell out of the thing as soon as it rolled over. “Won’t the fact that they can see the bottom of my kayak floating in the river be sign enough that I’m in distress?” I asked. I loved creating teachable moments for him…and he loved having me in his classes. Kept him on his toes. It really was no big deal and if nothing else, forced you to calm yourself, get your bearings…which is a little tricky when you’re upside down and attached to your craft with a spray skirt…and think about what you needed to do to turn this into something positive. When it was my turn to roll, I took a deep breath, rolled over and began releasing oxygen through my nose as I banged, removed the spray skirt and pushed myself out of the kayak and to the surface. “You okay?” my training partner asked as I broke the surface. “Everything’s good…but he lied. The water’s damned cold,” I said.
It was around 2 p.m. and we’d been training since eight that morning. All ten candidates had taught about some aspect of kayaking to the rest of the group so our teaching styles and grasp of the content could be evaluated, critiqued and improved upon for the final practical exam the next day. We were on the water now to demonstrate a stroke we had to teach to the group and then to perform two-person rescues. My partner Carolyn and I would be demonstrating the ‘heel hook’ rescue…something I’d never heard of and since I’d never been in the water with my kayak before, never done. I paddled over to her and brought up the subject. “So Carolyn…all ready to demonstrate our rescue?” She had gotten a mouthful when practicing her wet exit and I didn’t think she was particularly looking forward to going into the water again any time soon. “Oh yeah…it’s really kind of easy. I’ve done it in the pool and googled it. I know all about it,” she said with confidence. ‘Hmm’ I thought as the wheels began turning. “Hey…how about I do the roll and you rescue me?” I suggested this knowing that she’d have to do all the talking and I’d just do the acting. It would look like I’d known everything all the time and I kind of liked going over and really wanted to find out how tough it was to re-enter a kayak in water over my head. “Works for me,” she said.
Once she described what we would be doing to me, it actually sounded quite easy. Execution would be next. I rolled my kayak, came out cleanly and surfaced next to it, tapping the top of my head with my hand to indicate that I was okay. She paddled over next to me and the kayak and instructed me to grab hold of the bow (front) of her kayak as she began the process of flipping mine over and emptying the water from it. This process is actually quite easy. The rescuer grabs the bow or stern tip of the kayak and pulls it up from the water to break the suction created when it turned over. They then drag the tip up and over their deck in front of them and lift and rock the kayak to get the water from the hold. This is done in seconds and the empty kayak is then flipped upright and pulled along side their kayak, facing in the opposite direction. The rescuing kayaker then leans over the empty cockpit and hold firmly to the far side of the kayak…stabilizing it so the kayaker in the water can re-enter by sliding down the side of their kayak to a point just behind the cockpit. Next, they reach across their kayak to grab the ropes on their rescuers kayak and using these for leverage, pull themselves from the water to the deck of their kayak. From this position, they simply swing their feet from the water and into the cockpit, turn over and…back in and up. It all took about 90 seconds to perform…not bad for two rookies who had never performed the maneuver.
Carolyn rolled next and once again managed a mouthful of water. I watched her closely as I performed the tasks necessary to get her boat ready to re-enter to be sure that she was okay. She did well getting back in and I got the chance to see how easily I could manage to balance both boats while she did. As long as I had a firm hold on her boat and pulled it snugly against mine, there was no way either craft could roll over during re-entry. The simplicity of the process gave confidence I had never before experienced for being on the open water in my kayak. Though we would not be practicing self-rescue, I now knew how to do it and believed that I could perform it. I’d have to try sometime soon.
The training was tremendous and I learned more about kayaking in one day than I had in the previous 13 years of paddling. The instruction course we were training to present to beginning paddlers was an outstanding way for anyone to begin the sport. I could see its value in teaching them safety and skills that would give them the confidence essential to getting the maximum enjoyment from the sport. We had been on the water practicing strokes, paddling around to different training sites and performing rescues for almost 4 hours. I’d gotten a little too much sun and was quite tired from all the activity and stress. As I left the parking lot for home though, I knew I had a lot of work to perform that evening to prepare for tomorrow’s practical tests for certification. I also felt the beginnings of congested sinuses which I assumed was a result of my time in the water.
Kayaking: Four hours on the water.
Training Heart Rate: 75-125 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,000.
“Okay…to perform the ‘wet exit’ correctly, after you’ve rolled…bang three times on the bottom of your kayak to alert fellow kayakers that you’re in need of help,” Dave Herpy instructed as we prepared to get wet. The water was in the high sixties which is pretty cool, but we did have wet suits on. I was listening to what he was saying and that the three bangs would alert a fellow kayaker to approach with their craft and if you could grab the tip of their boat, might right yourself without coming out of the kayak. I was also thinking that the chances of that happening were about as good as the Indians winning the World Series and that I should just get the hell out of the thing as soon as it rolled over. “Won’t the fact that they can see the bottom of my kayak floating in the river be sign enough that I’m in distress?” I asked. I loved creating teachable moments for him…and he loved having me in his classes. Kept him on his toes. It really was no big deal and if nothing else, forced you to calm yourself, get your bearings…which is a little tricky when you’re upside down and attached to your craft with a spray skirt…and think about what you needed to do to turn this into something positive. When it was my turn to roll, I took a deep breath, rolled over and began releasing oxygen through my nose as I banged, removed the spray skirt and pushed myself out of the kayak and to the surface. “You okay?” my training partner asked as I broke the surface. “Everything’s good…but he lied. The water’s damned cold,” I said.
It was around 2 p.m. and we’d been training since eight that morning. All ten candidates had taught about some aspect of kayaking to the rest of the group so our teaching styles and grasp of the content could be evaluated, critiqued and improved upon for the final practical exam the next day. We were on the water now to demonstrate a stroke we had to teach to the group and then to perform two-person rescues. My partner Carolyn and I would be demonstrating the ‘heel hook’ rescue…something I’d never heard of and since I’d never been in the water with my kayak before, never done. I paddled over to her and brought up the subject. “So Carolyn…all ready to demonstrate our rescue?” She had gotten a mouthful when practicing her wet exit and I didn’t think she was particularly looking forward to going into the water again any time soon. “Oh yeah…it’s really kind of easy. I’ve done it in the pool and googled it. I know all about it,” she said with confidence. ‘Hmm’ I thought as the wheels began turning. “Hey…how about I do the roll and you rescue me?” I suggested this knowing that she’d have to do all the talking and I’d just do the acting. It would look like I’d known everything all the time and I kind of liked going over and really wanted to find out how tough it was to re-enter a kayak in water over my head. “Works for me,” she said.
Once she described what we would be doing to me, it actually sounded quite easy. Execution would be next. I rolled my kayak, came out cleanly and surfaced next to it, tapping the top of my head with my hand to indicate that I was okay. She paddled over next to me and the kayak and instructed me to grab hold of the bow (front) of her kayak as she began the process of flipping mine over and emptying the water from it. This process is actually quite easy. The rescuer grabs the bow or stern tip of the kayak and pulls it up from the water to break the suction created when it turned over. They then drag the tip up and over their deck in front of them and lift and rock the kayak to get the water from the hold. This is done in seconds and the empty kayak is then flipped upright and pulled along side their kayak, facing in the opposite direction. The rescuing kayaker then leans over the empty cockpit and hold firmly to the far side of the kayak…stabilizing it so the kayaker in the water can re-enter by sliding down the side of their kayak to a point just behind the cockpit. Next, they reach across their kayak to grab the ropes on their rescuers kayak and using these for leverage, pull themselves from the water to the deck of their kayak. From this position, they simply swing their feet from the water and into the cockpit, turn over and…back in and up. It all took about 90 seconds to perform…not bad for two rookies who had never performed the maneuver.
Carolyn rolled next and once again managed a mouthful of water. I watched her closely as I performed the tasks necessary to get her boat ready to re-enter to be sure that she was okay. She did well getting back in and I got the chance to see how easily I could manage to balance both boats while she did. As long as I had a firm hold on her boat and pulled it snugly against mine, there was no way either craft could roll over during re-entry. The simplicity of the process gave confidence I had never before experienced for being on the open water in my kayak. Though we would not be practicing self-rescue, I now knew how to do it and believed that I could perform it. I’d have to try sometime soon.
The training was tremendous and I learned more about kayaking in one day than I had in the previous 13 years of paddling. The instruction course we were training to present to beginning paddlers was an outstanding way for anyone to begin the sport. I could see its value in teaching them safety and skills that would give them the confidence essential to getting the maximum enjoyment from the sport. We had been on the water practicing strokes, paddling around to different training sites and performing rescues for almost 4 hours. I’d gotten a little too much sun and was quite tired from all the activity and stress. As I left the parking lot for home though, I knew I had a lot of work to perform that evening to prepare for tomorrow’s practical tests for certification. I also felt the beginnings of congested sinuses which I assumed was a result of my time in the water.
Kayaking: Four hours on the water.
Training Heart Rate: 75-125 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,000.
Kayaking 101
Friday, September 16, 2011
It was the beginning of what was going to be a very busy nine days. I was scheduled to attend an Kayak Instructor Certification course offered through the American Canoe Association and being taught by Instructor Trainer, Dave Herpy, of Kent State University. The program began with a classroom session on Friday for five hours to be followed with two eight-hour sessions on Saturday and Sunday at Mogador Reservoir about 10 miles south of Kent. I’d be working Monday and Tuesday and then leaving for five more days in the Adirondacks. Some where in there, I needed to get in some good workouts. I knew it would be tight so I planned to make any time I did get really count.
I hit the park after work for a Survival Workout and started with an all-time push-up high of 62. Starting this way drives me harder throughout because it makes me feel like if I push, all my numbers will be higher. I don’t really know all of my numbers…it’s hard to gauge if you’re lifting more when you’re lifting odd rocks along the trail and that is on purpose…but I know my push-up, pull-up and pole climbing numbers well and managed to bust them all. I finished my last set of push-ups with a 59 which broke my two-day old record for three sets by nine and it now stands at 175. I suppose I should start thinking I can take it to 200 and get the one-set record up to 70, but that’s hard to imagine right now.
I figured the kayak training and certification would be difficult for me. Though I’ve been kayaking for 13 years, I’ve never used a sea kayak, don’t know all the strokes or the nomenclature, have never rolled and will be with people who live to kayak, I think. I like the sport and would probably do a lot more of it if it was easier to access. It takes about an hour to load and drive to any really good kayaking spots, and with limited time to work out, that usually means I’ll hop on the bike or go to the park 10 minutes away to get in a workout. Still…I wanted to learn as much as I could about the discipline and believed taking a crash course designed to make me an instructor to teach entry-level kayaking would improve my skills and knowledge base tremendously.
Once at the class…there were 12 other people…and hearing everyone’s level of experience, I no longer felt quite so intimidated. I surmised that although all of the people had time in the water with kayaks, none seemed to have done and extended trip kayaking…something I had done often…and so I at least had practical experience that would match or exceed half of the folks in the group. The down side was I was teaching two different things for evaluation to the group…the ‘pivot’ stroke and something on the topic of ‘balance, posture and trim’ as it relates to kayaking and knew almost nothing about either one. The course would be testing my ability to gather information quickly and turn it into a presentation that made it sound like I knew what I was talking about…you know…bullshitting. If it came down to that…I had nothing to worry about. After all, I have my PhD. in it already.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
It was the beginning of what was going to be a very busy nine days. I was scheduled to attend an Kayak Instructor Certification course offered through the American Canoe Association and being taught by Instructor Trainer, Dave Herpy, of Kent State University. The program began with a classroom session on Friday for five hours to be followed with two eight-hour sessions on Saturday and Sunday at Mogador Reservoir about 10 miles south of Kent. I’d be working Monday and Tuesday and then leaving for five more days in the Adirondacks. Some where in there, I needed to get in some good workouts. I knew it would be tight so I planned to make any time I did get really count.
I hit the park after work for a Survival Workout and started with an all-time push-up high of 62. Starting this way drives me harder throughout because it makes me feel like if I push, all my numbers will be higher. I don’t really know all of my numbers…it’s hard to gauge if you’re lifting more when you’re lifting odd rocks along the trail and that is on purpose…but I know my push-up, pull-up and pole climbing numbers well and managed to bust them all. I finished my last set of push-ups with a 59 which broke my two-day old record for three sets by nine and it now stands at 175. I suppose I should start thinking I can take it to 200 and get the one-set record up to 70, but that’s hard to imagine right now.
I figured the kayak training and certification would be difficult for me. Though I’ve been kayaking for 13 years, I’ve never used a sea kayak, don’t know all the strokes or the nomenclature, have never rolled and will be with people who live to kayak, I think. I like the sport and would probably do a lot more of it if it was easier to access. It takes about an hour to load and drive to any really good kayaking spots, and with limited time to work out, that usually means I’ll hop on the bike or go to the park 10 minutes away to get in a workout. Still…I wanted to learn as much as I could about the discipline and believed taking a crash course designed to make me an instructor to teach entry-level kayaking would improve my skills and knowledge base tremendously.
Once at the class…there were 12 other people…and hearing everyone’s level of experience, I no longer felt quite so intimidated. I surmised that although all of the people had time in the water with kayaks, none seemed to have done and extended trip kayaking…something I had done often…and so I at least had practical experience that would match or exceed half of the folks in the group. The down side was I was teaching two different things for evaluation to the group…the ‘pivot’ stroke and something on the topic of ‘balance, posture and trim’ as it relates to kayaking and knew almost nothing about either one. The course would be testing my ability to gather information quickly and turn it into a presentation that made it sound like I knew what I was talking about…you know…bullshitting. If it came down to that…I had nothing to worry about. After all, I have my PhD. in it already.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Running fast...
Thursday, September 15, 2011
What would a week be without at least one trip to Dan’s with another car issue? The Honda ‘check engine’ diagnostic light flashed on and so I knew I’d be heading out to see him after work…effectively making a long bike ride impossible. Once there, he quickly determined it to be nothing and when I mentioned it was cold and didn’t want to ride anyway he couldn’t help but comment. “You getting soft already? It’s only 50 degrees.” Of course he hadn’t bought his riding shoes yet and wasn’t riding at all…easy for him to say. But yes…I was getting soft quickly. It happens every fall when temperatures start dropping. No big deal, but the first time its cooler and especially the first ten minutes until I’ve warmed up really tend to suck. No matter…I didn’t have time to ride, so I headed for the park for my weekly run.
Now…this is perfect running weather. I decided to run the course I follow for the Survival Workout because it tends to be less muddy and with the rains we’ve been getting, it seemed like a good choice. I ran a course that takes me about 33 minutes on a good day but since I haven’t run it since losing all the weight, I was challenged to push it. I have a split a little less than a mile which I reached in less than 7 minutes and would normally reach closer to 8. It felt so easy that I decided to pick it up. I don’t really have any other check points on the course since I run it so seldom, so as I was approaching the final mile I decided to run what I believed to be sub-7 pace. I finished in 30 minutes…a full 3 minutes faster than usual on what I figured to be about 4.5 miles. I was curious about the pace I was running and decided to stop up at the Mayfield Track on my trip home and time myself on the quarter at the pace I’d been running. I hit the track jogging, but quickly accelerated to the pace I felt I’d been running in the park and after completing a quarter mile and checking my stop watch, confirmed I’d been running a 7-minute mile pace.
It’s been a long time since I’ve raced the roads…20 years in fact. Finding that I am again running sub-7 mile pace for 4-5 miles without much difficulty on 4 miles of running a week has me thinking about racing again. The problem of course is the knee. I could continue to train as I have been and do a 5K road race now and again, but without doing a lot of training, I don’t think I’d be happy with the outcomes. I suspect I could run under 20 minutes for that distance, which would be competitive in my age group, but I know I would be frustrated by not being able to do the training to run faster. Maybe I’ll get that operation and then maybe I’ll race again. Maybe.
Run workout: 35 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 550.
What would a week be without at least one trip to Dan’s with another car issue? The Honda ‘check engine’ diagnostic light flashed on and so I knew I’d be heading out to see him after work…effectively making a long bike ride impossible. Once there, he quickly determined it to be nothing and when I mentioned it was cold and didn’t want to ride anyway he couldn’t help but comment. “You getting soft already? It’s only 50 degrees.” Of course he hadn’t bought his riding shoes yet and wasn’t riding at all…easy for him to say. But yes…I was getting soft quickly. It happens every fall when temperatures start dropping. No big deal, but the first time its cooler and especially the first ten minutes until I’ve warmed up really tend to suck. No matter…I didn’t have time to ride, so I headed for the park for my weekly run.
Now…this is perfect running weather. I decided to run the course I follow for the Survival Workout because it tends to be less muddy and with the rains we’ve been getting, it seemed like a good choice. I ran a course that takes me about 33 minutes on a good day but since I haven’t run it since losing all the weight, I was challenged to push it. I have a split a little less than a mile which I reached in less than 7 minutes and would normally reach closer to 8. It felt so easy that I decided to pick it up. I don’t really have any other check points on the course since I run it so seldom, so as I was approaching the final mile I decided to run what I believed to be sub-7 pace. I finished in 30 minutes…a full 3 minutes faster than usual on what I figured to be about 4.5 miles. I was curious about the pace I was running and decided to stop up at the Mayfield Track on my trip home and time myself on the quarter at the pace I’d been running. I hit the track jogging, but quickly accelerated to the pace I felt I’d been running in the park and after completing a quarter mile and checking my stop watch, confirmed I’d been running a 7-minute mile pace.
It’s been a long time since I’ve raced the roads…20 years in fact. Finding that I am again running sub-7 mile pace for 4-5 miles without much difficulty on 4 miles of running a week has me thinking about racing again. The problem of course is the knee. I could continue to train as I have been and do a 5K road race now and again, but without doing a lot of training, I don’t think I’d be happy with the outcomes. I suspect I could run under 20 minutes for that distance, which would be competitive in my age group, but I know I would be frustrated by not being able to do the training to run faster. Maybe I’ll get that operation and then maybe I’ll race again. Maybe.
Run workout: 35 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 550.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
"I'm in your hands. Tell me what to do."
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The man who is completely responsible for putting me back in the woods after a twenty-five year absence called me with an urgent request to get together. We agreed to meet later in the day. “You know me, John. I’ve been carrying too much weight for way too long and it’s catching up with me. I go to do a weight workout and I’m just not recovering the way I once did. My legs and ankles are sore. I need to lose weight and I know it. I’ve been reading what you’ve done with the ‘Paleo Diet’ and I need to make myself do it. I trust you to tell me how to make it happen,” he said over a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
I’d been thinking about Henry since a voicemail he had left me on Sunday. Coincidentally, he’d left that message as I was hitting the summit of Wright Mt., a peak I would neve be on if not for his influence in getting me back to the Adirondacks His message said he was in Grayling, Mi., the headwater of the Au Sable River and one that we had run twice in our kayaks…a distance of over 100 miles. I owed him a great debt for putting me back in touch with the woods and all of the wonderful things that have occurred because of that since that time. When he called again to get together, I started thinking about what he needed to do to get back in shape and was ready for the meeting with some basic questions. “You’ve got to change the way you eat and that means everyone in the house has to be on board,” I began. He said his wife totally supported his efforts and only needed some of the particulars to put a plan into action. “I really think you should focus on the eating first and worry about the exercise in 30 days. The Paleo has worked for me and it will work for you. I’ll get you a copy of the book, but I really think you ought to meet with my nutritionist, Bob…get the blood work and do it right,” I said. He agreed to the broad strokes of our plan and said he’d call Bob right away.
And I know he will. Henry…like an addict who really wants to conquer his or her problem…has hit rock bottom. He knows and accepts it and will give himself completely to the steps he has to take to fix the problem. As I’ve analyzed my success over the previous months and that of others I have helped over the years, it is this starting point that must be reached. It’s not a part-time thing…particularly as you age. There is no forgiveness. Body fat, poor conditioning, high blood sugar and other self-inflicted maladies don’t give a rat’s ass about how busy you are or how difficult it is to eat correctly. Either you do it right or you pay the price. There are no negotiations. When you truly understand and accept this simple truth, you can recapture your fitness and health. I know you’re reading, Henry, and I also know you’ll be a new man…Younger Next Year…as we go forward. Let’s climb a peak next September…
I got back in the saddle with a good Survival Workout, breaking my push-up record by doing 60 in my final set on trembling arms and totaling 166 for the three sets. I had someone pass me as I was curling rocks and actually cheer for the methods I was employing. “Beats the hell out of a fitness club,” he called as he ran by. I couldn’t agree more.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
The man who is completely responsible for putting me back in the woods after a twenty-five year absence called me with an urgent request to get together. We agreed to meet later in the day. “You know me, John. I’ve been carrying too much weight for way too long and it’s catching up with me. I go to do a weight workout and I’m just not recovering the way I once did. My legs and ankles are sore. I need to lose weight and I know it. I’ve been reading what you’ve done with the ‘Paleo Diet’ and I need to make myself do it. I trust you to tell me how to make it happen,” he said over a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
I’d been thinking about Henry since a voicemail he had left me on Sunday. Coincidentally, he’d left that message as I was hitting the summit of Wright Mt., a peak I would neve be on if not for his influence in getting me back to the Adirondacks His message said he was in Grayling, Mi., the headwater of the Au Sable River and one that we had run twice in our kayaks…a distance of over 100 miles. I owed him a great debt for putting me back in touch with the woods and all of the wonderful things that have occurred because of that since that time. When he called again to get together, I started thinking about what he needed to do to get back in shape and was ready for the meeting with some basic questions. “You’ve got to change the way you eat and that means everyone in the house has to be on board,” I began. He said his wife totally supported his efforts and only needed some of the particulars to put a plan into action. “I really think you should focus on the eating first and worry about the exercise in 30 days. The Paleo has worked for me and it will work for you. I’ll get you a copy of the book, but I really think you ought to meet with my nutritionist, Bob…get the blood work and do it right,” I said. He agreed to the broad strokes of our plan and said he’d call Bob right away.
And I know he will. Henry…like an addict who really wants to conquer his or her problem…has hit rock bottom. He knows and accepts it and will give himself completely to the steps he has to take to fix the problem. As I’ve analyzed my success over the previous months and that of others I have helped over the years, it is this starting point that must be reached. It’s not a part-time thing…particularly as you age. There is no forgiveness. Body fat, poor conditioning, high blood sugar and other self-inflicted maladies don’t give a rat’s ass about how busy you are or how difficult it is to eat correctly. Either you do it right or you pay the price. There are no negotiations. When you truly understand and accept this simple truth, you can recapture your fitness and health. I know you’re reading, Henry, and I also know you’ll be a new man…Younger Next Year…as we go forward. Let’s climb a peak next September…
I got back in the saddle with a good Survival Workout, breaking my push-up record by doing 60 in my final set on trembling arms and totaling 166 for the three sets. I had someone pass me as I was curling rocks and actually cheer for the methods I was employing. “Beats the hell out of a fitness club,” he called as he ran by. I couldn’t agree more.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
No time to work out
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The least favorite part of a trip to the Adirondacks is the fact that you must leave them. And so we did on Tuesday morning, making the eight hour drive home in eight hours. Holly had a chicken dinner waiting when we arrived after which I drove the Jeep to see Dan for an oil change and final inspection before Savannah returned to Ohio State the following day. He completed his inspection after changing the oil and closed the hood. I was climbing in the car when I remembered she’d said that the spare tire was no good. I went to the rear hatch to check it to find that it was one of those useless little things that comes stock with the vehicle and that it had a gash the size of a piece of bread in it. “Don’t bother fixing that. You need a new wheel and tire,” Dan said. We talked about where I’d get such a thing before tomorrow and with that, climbed in the Jeep and headed home.
Holly offered me the chance to go on a 40-minute walk later that night, and though I had done nothing physical that day, I declined. I still had to download and save all my pictures, sort through and put away the camping gear I would not be using this coming weekend, clean up the cooking gear and put away the food. I also needed to sift through the mountain of emails I had received while traveling and, if I had time, post some pictures of the trip on Facebook. It was a poor excuse not to do something, but I stuck to it. Maybe a rest day wasn’t a bad thing with the activity that was quickly approaching.
The least favorite part of a trip to the Adirondacks is the fact that you must leave them. And so we did on Tuesday morning, making the eight hour drive home in eight hours. Holly had a chicken dinner waiting when we arrived after which I drove the Jeep to see Dan for an oil change and final inspection before Savannah returned to Ohio State the following day. He completed his inspection after changing the oil and closed the hood. I was climbing in the car when I remembered she’d said that the spare tire was no good. I went to the rear hatch to check it to find that it was one of those useless little things that comes stock with the vehicle and that it had a gash the size of a piece of bread in it. “Don’t bother fixing that. You need a new wheel and tire,” Dan said. We talked about where I’d get such a thing before tomorrow and with that, climbed in the Jeep and headed home.
Holly offered me the chance to go on a 40-minute walk later that night, and though I had done nothing physical that day, I declined. I still had to download and save all my pictures, sort through and put away the camping gear I would not be using this coming weekend, clean up the cooking gear and put away the food. I also needed to sift through the mountain of emails I had received while traveling and, if I had time, post some pictures of the trip on Facebook. It was a poor excuse not to do something, but I stuck to it. Maybe a rest day wasn’t a bad thing with the activity that was quickly approaching.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Uncle Bill and the Survival Workout
Monday, September 12, 2011
The plan for the day was to return to Noon Mark for breakfast and then drive the two hours north to Potsdam and the home of my Aunt and Uncle where we would spend the night visiting with relatives…including my 105-year old grandmother. The plan did not include any hiking or climbing…a shame in my estimation…so I alerted the girls the night before that I might get up before dawn and climb Mt. Van Hoevenberg so I could get some pictures of the sun rising over the high peaks. This only made sense if I had a clear morning sky, so when I woke at 5 a.m. to overcast conditions, decided it wouldn’t be worth making us late for breakfast. I fell back asleep, but woke again around six to see the color of fire in the sky over the mountains I could see from my tent. I quickly dressed and headed for the meadows where I was sure to take some great pictures and I wasn’t disappointed. A mist was rising off the tall grasses that spread in front of me to the mountains beyond. The sky over the mountains was more orange than anything else and I cursed myself for not climbing…but what I was seeing was still spectacular.
I returned to the tent and began taking it down and returning my gear to the van and organizing the mess we’d made of it over the past two days. By eight I was getting hungry and woke the girls, still sore from yesterday’s climb, to begin their process of packing to leave. We went for our breakfast and then drove to Potsdam where we found my very fit 66-year old aunt and 72-year old uncle preparing us a healthy lunch and talking about the afternoon’s activities. “I was thinking we could all go for a ride…Eunice and I on the tandem, the girls on the mountain bikes and you can ride my road bike, John,” my Uncle Bill said. Heidi was okay with it, but Savannah is no big fan of riding and the 13-mile trip he discussed had them both thinking…no thanks. Aunt Eunice came to the rescue and suggested a trip to the Raquette River and some kayaking…of which they had two…while I biked with my Uncle. Perfect.
My Uncle has been biking for over 30 years and always has the best equipment. He ordered me onto his Trek 2400 carbon fiber road bike, which I gladly accepted. He was riding a much slower mountain bike and so I did a series of hard rides out and back to him as we pedaled the country roads outside of Potsdam. I could see from his speedometer that I was riding much faster than I usually do averaging 21 mph for 31 miles of riding. His bike was easily 8 pounds lighter than mine, which would account for the 3 mph difference I was enjoying. I was extremely pleased to get in the ride as I was thinking it was going to be a day with no activity.
Later that night after a fabulous dinner of fresh corn, spinach picked that morning, a fresh garden salad and a meatloaf of veal and pork, I treated them to one of my smoothies. After dinner, my Uncle and I got to talking about his workout routine and how he found it difficult to always get to the gym and that he felt he needed more upper body strength. He hadn’t counted on what came next…a full demonstration of the Survival Workout with particular attention to the things he could do around the house. “My balance is bad, Johnny…and ideas how to make that better?” I showed him how to ‘walk the line’ in the duck walk position and to do knee bends while staying on the balls of his feet. He thought it was so great that he called my Aunt to show her what he’d learned. With little effort…another convert.
Bike workout: 90 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,200.
The plan for the day was to return to Noon Mark for breakfast and then drive the two hours north to Potsdam and the home of my Aunt and Uncle where we would spend the night visiting with relatives…including my 105-year old grandmother. The plan did not include any hiking or climbing…a shame in my estimation…so I alerted the girls the night before that I might get up before dawn and climb Mt. Van Hoevenberg so I could get some pictures of the sun rising over the high peaks. This only made sense if I had a clear morning sky, so when I woke at 5 a.m. to overcast conditions, decided it wouldn’t be worth making us late for breakfast. I fell back asleep, but woke again around six to see the color of fire in the sky over the mountains I could see from my tent. I quickly dressed and headed for the meadows where I was sure to take some great pictures and I wasn’t disappointed. A mist was rising off the tall grasses that spread in front of me to the mountains beyond. The sky over the mountains was more orange than anything else and I cursed myself for not climbing…but what I was seeing was still spectacular.
I returned to the tent and began taking it down and returning my gear to the van and organizing the mess we’d made of it over the past two days. By eight I was getting hungry and woke the girls, still sore from yesterday’s climb, to begin their process of packing to leave. We went for our breakfast and then drove to Potsdam where we found my very fit 66-year old aunt and 72-year old uncle preparing us a healthy lunch and talking about the afternoon’s activities. “I was thinking we could all go for a ride…Eunice and I on the tandem, the girls on the mountain bikes and you can ride my road bike, John,” my Uncle Bill said. Heidi was okay with it, but Savannah is no big fan of riding and the 13-mile trip he discussed had them both thinking…no thanks. Aunt Eunice came to the rescue and suggested a trip to the Raquette River and some kayaking…of which they had two…while I biked with my Uncle. Perfect.
My Uncle has been biking for over 30 years and always has the best equipment. He ordered me onto his Trek 2400 carbon fiber road bike, which I gladly accepted. He was riding a much slower mountain bike and so I did a series of hard rides out and back to him as we pedaled the country roads outside of Potsdam. I could see from his speedometer that I was riding much faster than I usually do averaging 21 mph for 31 miles of riding. His bike was easily 8 pounds lighter than mine, which would account for the 3 mph difference I was enjoying. I was extremely pleased to get in the ride as I was thinking it was going to be a day with no activity.
Later that night after a fabulous dinner of fresh corn, spinach picked that morning, a fresh garden salad and a meatloaf of veal and pork, I treated them to one of my smoothies. After dinner, my Uncle and I got to talking about his workout routine and how he found it difficult to always get to the gym and that he felt he needed more upper body strength. He hadn’t counted on what came next…a full demonstration of the Survival Workout with particular attention to the things he could do around the house. “My balance is bad, Johnny…and ideas how to make that better?” I showed him how to ‘walk the line’ in the duck walk position and to do knee bends while staying on the balls of his feet. He thought it was so great that he called my Aunt to show her what he’d learned. With little effort…another convert.
Bike workout: 90 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,200.
Ten years later...back in the Adirondacks
Sunday, September 11, 2011
It’s hard not to think about where you were and what you were doing on this day ten years ago. For the first time in several years, I found myself again in the Adirondacks. Ten years ago, I’d been hiking and kayaking on Cranberry Lake with John and Henry throughout that day and having seen no one, hadn’t known of the attack. Only when I kayaked into the hamlet of Wanakana to pick up some supplies at the general store and heard a report on NPR did I begin to understand. The clerk at the counter looked at my three day growth of beard and said, “You don’t know what happened this morning, do you?” I admitted I didn’t and as he told me, struggled to comprehend what I was hearing. When I returned to our camp site an hour later and relayed what I had been told, neither of my camping partners could believe what I said upon the first telling…it was just too unbelievable. Since we had no access to any form of mass media to give us any details, we sat around our campfire that night and speculated how and why the deed had happened and what it would mean to the rest of our lives. All these things…and the efforts of the police, fire and civilians that went into saving lives throughout that day coursed my mind as I sat on rock outside my tent waiting for the girls to stir.
By eight o’clock I quit waiting and got them up because I knew it would be a long day and we were burning daylight. I made some peaches and cream oatmeal for them and ate my usual breakfast of Kashi cereal. The milk I’d brought along had begun to freeze overnight and was the consistency of yogurt, which disturbed me with each bite…but I finished it because I knew I’d need the calories. We packed a lunch, raingear, and other essentials of a day hike to a peak and were on the trail by 9:30 a.m.
The floods and storm damage had done little to the trail we followed, which was reasonably step over the first mile and had left the girls breathing heavily and bemoaning their own lack of training. “I really should have done a little more to get ready for this,” Savannah said at one of our breaks. “Hey…we’ll get there. Take your time and enjoy the journey,” I said, but knew it was lost. When you’re suffering, you only want it to be over…and that was a long way off at this point.
We hit the junction for the final half mile to Wright Mt. after 4 miles of hiking, but this would prove to be the steepest and most difficult. Savannah is not particularly thrilled when traveling on open peaks above the tree line, but proceeded stoically. There were numerous spots where we were forced to use hands and feet to make the ascent and Heidi worked with Savannah over these difficult points while I scouted ahead to find the easiest route. We arrived at the summit after three hours of hiking to winds of forty mph, but spectacular views. After pictures, we hunkered down behind a rock outcropping to eat a meal of beef stick, cheese, apples, and Kashi bars. Savannah was uninterested in food, mostly because she was dreading the descent which she found much more terrifying than the trip up. We tried to get her to eat…she would need the fuel for the return trip, but she resisted and ate little and after 45 minutes on top, began our return trip.
Fatigued and sore, the girls both stumbled and struggled with the descent. We took our time though, and arrived safely at the trail head at the Adirondack Loj in a little over three hours and in the late afternoon. I hiked the final mile to the van and drove back to them so we could take hot showers in the Loj bathhouse…a heavenly experience after sweating for 7 hours on the trail.
We drove to Keene for a dinner at the famous Noon Mark Café and then back to Lake Placid for a night consisting of sitting in a Starbucks and discussing the travails of the day. We returned to our camp site and quickly climbed into our sleeping bags. I was awakened only once to the sound of a lone coyote calling to a mate.
Hike/climb duration: 7 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 3,000.
It’s hard not to think about where you were and what you were doing on this day ten years ago. For the first time in several years, I found myself again in the Adirondacks. Ten years ago, I’d been hiking and kayaking on Cranberry Lake with John and Henry throughout that day and having seen no one, hadn’t known of the attack. Only when I kayaked into the hamlet of Wanakana to pick up some supplies at the general store and heard a report on NPR did I begin to understand. The clerk at the counter looked at my three day growth of beard and said, “You don’t know what happened this morning, do you?” I admitted I didn’t and as he told me, struggled to comprehend what I was hearing. When I returned to our camp site an hour later and relayed what I had been told, neither of my camping partners could believe what I said upon the first telling…it was just too unbelievable. Since we had no access to any form of mass media to give us any details, we sat around our campfire that night and speculated how and why the deed had happened and what it would mean to the rest of our lives. All these things…and the efforts of the police, fire and civilians that went into saving lives throughout that day coursed my mind as I sat on rock outside my tent waiting for the girls to stir.
By eight o’clock I quit waiting and got them up because I knew it would be a long day and we were burning daylight. I made some peaches and cream oatmeal for them and ate my usual breakfast of Kashi cereal. The milk I’d brought along had begun to freeze overnight and was the consistency of yogurt, which disturbed me with each bite…but I finished it because I knew I’d need the calories. We packed a lunch, raingear, and other essentials of a day hike to a peak and were on the trail by 9:30 a.m.
The floods and storm damage had done little to the trail we followed, which was reasonably step over the first mile and had left the girls breathing heavily and bemoaning their own lack of training. “I really should have done a little more to get ready for this,” Savannah said at one of our breaks. “Hey…we’ll get there. Take your time and enjoy the journey,” I said, but knew it was lost. When you’re suffering, you only want it to be over…and that was a long way off at this point.
We hit the junction for the final half mile to Wright Mt. after 4 miles of hiking, but this would prove to be the steepest and most difficult. Savannah is not particularly thrilled when traveling on open peaks above the tree line, but proceeded stoically. There were numerous spots where we were forced to use hands and feet to make the ascent and Heidi worked with Savannah over these difficult points while I scouted ahead to find the easiest route. We arrived at the summit after three hours of hiking to winds of forty mph, but spectacular views. After pictures, we hunkered down behind a rock outcropping to eat a meal of beef stick, cheese, apples, and Kashi bars. Savannah was uninterested in food, mostly because she was dreading the descent which she found much more terrifying than the trip up. We tried to get her to eat…she would need the fuel for the return trip, but she resisted and ate little and after 45 minutes on top, began our return trip.
Fatigued and sore, the girls both stumbled and struggled with the descent. We took our time though, and arrived safely at the trail head at the Adirondack Loj in a little over three hours and in the late afternoon. I hiked the final mile to the van and drove back to them so we could take hot showers in the Loj bathhouse…a heavenly experience after sweating for 7 hours on the trail.
We drove to Keene for a dinner at the famous Noon Mark Café and then back to Lake Placid for a night consisting of sitting in a Starbucks and discussing the travails of the day. We returned to our camp site and quickly climbed into our sleeping bags. I was awakened only once to the sound of a lone coyote calling to a mate.
Hike/climb duration: 7 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 70 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 3,000.
"You know...the 'Miracle on Ice'?"
Saturday, September 10, 2011
We were on the road a little before 8 a.m. for a nine-hour drive to Keene Valley, N.Y. and our camping destination point. I was right on time as I exited Rt. 87 heading into Keene when I came up against a detour sign. I know the roads in this area…because there are only two…and knew that this detour was long and not very promising. We made our way east and north and then back south to Keene only to find that the road and trails to the campsite and peak we were looking to climb had been washed away from the flash floods that had devastated the area from Hurricane Irene. My mind raced for a back-up plan to my carefully prepared itinerary and with deft mental gymnastics, came to a quick conclusion. “Shit…now what are we going to do?” The girls…not terribly concerned…had nothing to offer. “We can camp in another area, but we’ll be next to the car and won’t be able to have a fire. It’s in the High Peaks area where they’re prohibited,” I said as a way of explanation. Hiking in with packs was never high on their bucket list and they readily agreed. Their bigger concern was over the peak we would be climbing and how many miles of hiking would be involved. “Maybe we’ll do Colden. It’s only a few miles,” I said.
“Colden? Yeah…I’d say 7 miles to the peak…14 round trip,” the guy at the Information Center at the Adirondack Loj said…with the girls listening. “That’s not happening. We need something closer, dad,” Heidi said without hesitation. I’d been on Wright Mt. last summer, but it had been raining and foggy and I hadn’t seen a thing so thought maybe we should try that. “Trail map says its about 3.4 miles to the peak,” I said which they agreed was doable.
Evidence of the flooding was visible wherever we went. Apparently, people had been trapped in the Loj for four days as water crested and damaged the bridge on the only road out of the area. Trail bridges had been washed out throughout the region and would make many trips difficult. Ours did not have any major water to cross, so we were good. We went to our campsite and had a spaghetti dinner before driving into Lake Placid so the girls could get a feel for an Olympic town. “You guys ever heard of the ‘Miracle on Ice’?” They looked at me with blank expressions. Why would they know? Though the victory of the USA hockey team over the Soviet Union may rank as one of the biggest events in the history of sports in this country, it happened in 1980…eight years before Heidi was born. They gave me a ‘that’s a nice story, grandpaw’ look and continued to window shop the stores along the main drag of this scenic little town.
We returned to our site and climbed into our tents on a clear but chilly night. I fell asleep quickly but later woke to the sound of four or five coyotes calling to the night.
We were on the road a little before 8 a.m. for a nine-hour drive to Keene Valley, N.Y. and our camping destination point. I was right on time as I exited Rt. 87 heading into Keene when I came up against a detour sign. I know the roads in this area…because there are only two…and knew that this detour was long and not very promising. We made our way east and north and then back south to Keene only to find that the road and trails to the campsite and peak we were looking to climb had been washed away from the flash floods that had devastated the area from Hurricane Irene. My mind raced for a back-up plan to my carefully prepared itinerary and with deft mental gymnastics, came to a quick conclusion. “Shit…now what are we going to do?” The girls…not terribly concerned…had nothing to offer. “We can camp in another area, but we’ll be next to the car and won’t be able to have a fire. It’s in the High Peaks area where they’re prohibited,” I said as a way of explanation. Hiking in with packs was never high on their bucket list and they readily agreed. Their bigger concern was over the peak we would be climbing and how many miles of hiking would be involved. “Maybe we’ll do Colden. It’s only a few miles,” I said.
“Colden? Yeah…I’d say 7 miles to the peak…14 round trip,” the guy at the Information Center at the Adirondack Loj said…with the girls listening. “That’s not happening. We need something closer, dad,” Heidi said without hesitation. I’d been on Wright Mt. last summer, but it had been raining and foggy and I hadn’t seen a thing so thought maybe we should try that. “Trail map says its about 3.4 miles to the peak,” I said which they agreed was doable.
Evidence of the flooding was visible wherever we went. Apparently, people had been trapped in the Loj for four days as water crested and damaged the bridge on the only road out of the area. Trail bridges had been washed out throughout the region and would make many trips difficult. Ours did not have any major water to cross, so we were good. We went to our campsite and had a spaghetti dinner before driving into Lake Placid so the girls could get a feel for an Olympic town. “You guys ever heard of the ‘Miracle on Ice’?” They looked at me with blank expressions. Why would they know? Though the victory of the USA hockey team over the Soviet Union may rank as one of the biggest events in the history of sports in this country, it happened in 1980…eight years before Heidi was born. They gave me a ‘that’s a nice story, grandpaw’ look and continued to window shop the stores along the main drag of this scenic little town.
We returned to our site and climbed into our tents on a clear but chilly night. I fell asleep quickly but later woke to the sound of four or five coyotes calling to the night.
Friday, September 9, 2011
One day to go...
Friday, September 09, 2011
One day before the mountains and I’m feeling the serenity already. Tomorrow will be a nine hour drive to the trailhead, and then a short 30-minute hike into the area where we will camp. The girls are not crazy about three hour hikes with packs after long drives and convinced me to take them to a different place to camp and climb. There are so many in the Adirondacks, so it was easy. We normally camp in an area of high bear activity, which tends to make them nervous…and I’m avoiding that, as well. Though we’ll be camping in a part of the park less traveled by the bears, we’ll still need to have everything in a bear canister. It’s the law up there and even if it wasn’t, it’s just too easy to do and it keeps all critters out of your food.
I went for a Survival Workout and tried to make it really tough. I did some extra climbs and lifts and found that by the end of the workout I could only do 35 push-ups for my last set…which sucks. My knee was a little sore while walking…which is somewhat disconcerting, but I’ll know more on Sunday when we climb.
I spent the night packing and repacking to make sure I had everything we needed. No matter how careful I am, it seems I always leave something behind. On this trip at least, it won’t matter so much since we’ll be within an easy hike of the car and civilization should I forget anything too important. Up early to pack the food and take the last shower for a few days. There’s nothing quite as refreshing as submersing and washing in a cold, spring-fed mountain lake after a hard day of hiking. Shrinkage…gotta’ love it.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
One day before the mountains and I’m feeling the serenity already. Tomorrow will be a nine hour drive to the trailhead, and then a short 30-minute hike into the area where we will camp. The girls are not crazy about three hour hikes with packs after long drives and convinced me to take them to a different place to camp and climb. There are so many in the Adirondacks, so it was easy. We normally camp in an area of high bear activity, which tends to make them nervous…and I’m avoiding that, as well. Though we’ll be camping in a part of the park less traveled by the bears, we’ll still need to have everything in a bear canister. It’s the law up there and even if it wasn’t, it’s just too easy to do and it keeps all critters out of your food.
I went for a Survival Workout and tried to make it really tough. I did some extra climbs and lifts and found that by the end of the workout I could only do 35 push-ups for my last set…which sucks. My knee was a little sore while walking…which is somewhat disconcerting, but I’ll know more on Sunday when we climb.
I spent the night packing and repacking to make sure I had everything we needed. No matter how careful I am, it seems I always leave something behind. On this trip at least, it won’t matter so much since we’ll be within an easy hike of the car and civilization should I forget anything too important. Up early to pack the food and take the last shower for a few days. There’s nothing quite as refreshing as submersing and washing in a cold, spring-fed mountain lake after a hard day of hiking. Shrinkage…gotta’ love it.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
"Who's a fanatic?"
Thursday, September 08, 2011
My knee was still a little sore from my last run and so I was looking for something to do without impact…which pretty much left cycling on this particular night. It had been raining off and on, but the roads were reasonably dry though the skies looked menacing. I quickly changed and headed for my bike and arrived there just in time to watch the skies open up. I stood and watched the landscape guy across the street continue on through the deluge. I almost decided that if he could, so could I, but with further contemplation, decided it was time for a night off. I spoke to John later about my decision and that I’d purposely decided against the trainer, as well. “I can’t even think about riding the bike inside at this time of the year. I’d rather do nothing than do that. Besides…I don’t want to be a fanatic,” I concluded. There was a pause and a snort on the other end. “Seriously dude…you’re already a fanatic whether you took a night off or not.”
And I know he’s right. I worried throughout the night that I would suddenly gain back the 30 pounds I’d lost if I didn’t go out and do something…fast. Later that night, I considered going up to the track and doing some bleacher work. Right…my knee was hurting and I was thinking of bleacher work? Seriously…I do have a problem. So…I made myself do nothing.
I did take the time to do most of the packing for the camping trip with the girls. They pretty much show up and count on me to have gotten everything we will need for the trip. I do help them with their clothing because I want to be certain they have what they’ll need…no cotton, warm stuff, and rain gear. As every good backpacker knows…cotton kills…and we don’t bring it into the mountains. Which isn’t entirely true. I always bring a cotton t-shirt to sleep in, but I would never take it climbing. Once wet, it stays wet and if it’s on your body, it wicks body heat away and can lead to hypothermia in cool conditions…like the ones we will likely experience over the weekend.
I head into this weekend with some trepidation. We’ll be climbing Giant Mt., which is a vertical climb of over 3,000 feet and the descent could be tough on a torn meniscus. This is a warm-up with the true test coming in two weeks when John, Paul and I climb between three and five peaks with total elevation gains of probably 10,000 feet. If I make it through that week, I’ll be happy and ready to succumb to the knife and get my knee back so I can run or do whatever I want to do once again.
My knee was still a little sore from my last run and so I was looking for something to do without impact…which pretty much left cycling on this particular night. It had been raining off and on, but the roads were reasonably dry though the skies looked menacing. I quickly changed and headed for my bike and arrived there just in time to watch the skies open up. I stood and watched the landscape guy across the street continue on through the deluge. I almost decided that if he could, so could I, but with further contemplation, decided it was time for a night off. I spoke to John later about my decision and that I’d purposely decided against the trainer, as well. “I can’t even think about riding the bike inside at this time of the year. I’d rather do nothing than do that. Besides…I don’t want to be a fanatic,” I concluded. There was a pause and a snort on the other end. “Seriously dude…you’re already a fanatic whether you took a night off or not.”
And I know he’s right. I worried throughout the night that I would suddenly gain back the 30 pounds I’d lost if I didn’t go out and do something…fast. Later that night, I considered going up to the track and doing some bleacher work. Right…my knee was hurting and I was thinking of bleacher work? Seriously…I do have a problem. So…I made myself do nothing.
I did take the time to do most of the packing for the camping trip with the girls. They pretty much show up and count on me to have gotten everything we will need for the trip. I do help them with their clothing because I want to be certain they have what they’ll need…no cotton, warm stuff, and rain gear. As every good backpacker knows…cotton kills…and we don’t bring it into the mountains. Which isn’t entirely true. I always bring a cotton t-shirt to sleep in, but I would never take it climbing. Once wet, it stays wet and if it’s on your body, it wicks body heat away and can lead to hypothermia in cool conditions…like the ones we will likely experience over the weekend.
I head into this weekend with some trepidation. We’ll be climbing Giant Mt., which is a vertical climb of over 3,000 feet and the descent could be tough on a torn meniscus. This is a warm-up with the true test coming in two weeks when John, Paul and I climb between three and five peaks with total elevation gains of probably 10,000 feet. If I make it through that week, I’ll be happy and ready to succumb to the knife and get my knee back so I can run or do whatever I want to do once again.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Excellent endorsement for 'Paleo' and the Survival Workout
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
I was going to be meeting with one of the lead doctors from the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute, a foremost authority on how much of an impact (clinically substantiated) lifestyle decisions made on quality of life and the condition of the body and mind. He lived and breathed it every day, running the Lifestyle 180 program and seeing the impact sensible eating, exercise and mental well being had on the clients he served. Never shy about these things, I had brought along my copy of ‘The Paleo Diet for the Athlete’ as well as a couple of questions regarding the Survival Workout. As we were concluding the meeting, I pulled out the book. “What do you think of this whole ‘Paleo’ thing as it relates to what you’re doing?” His smile broadened as he answered, “Cordian (the book’s author) really knows what he’s talking about and it’s very good stuff,” he said. I told him how I’d been following the diet for over four months now and, in conjunction with my ‘Survival’ workout, believed it responsible for the new lighter, stronger me. “I could tell you’d lost weight and I really like what you describe you are doing in the woods. People don’t need to join gyms. They can get what they need…as you say…in the parks and around their homes,” he agreed.
We had talked about health care reimbursement for services that kept people well (difficult to get paid) verses those more expensive services to treat people who are sick (normally paid) and the frustration this created. Employers, too, are hard to convince that an investment in keeping staff well is cheaper than paying medical expenses when they are sick. “We need more documented evidence to support what common sense tells us is absolutely true if we are to get them on board,” he said and I know what he means. Working in manufacturing where productivity and the cost of manufacturing and building the item is everything, it’s hard to convince upper management that they build in a new cost that ‘should’ save money down the line. It was so refreshing to speak to someone with whom I shared so many basic philosophies.
I did the Survival Workout without a partner later that night and found that I did not push myself as hard as when I was with someone else. Not that I have to impress anyone, but there is something about having another person there…almost like a teacher making sure you don’t cheat…that makes me do one more rep or one more set than I might otherwise do. I still did everything on the agenda, but I know I left a couple of reps undone before the workout was over. I also tried going ‘Off’ free for the first time in a month only to discover half a dozen nice welts when I returned home afterwards. They aren’t as bad…but they’re still there.
Both Holly and I were feeling the need for some fat in our diets so I threw hot dogs on the grill. I did wash it down with a smoothie and we had sweet corn…unbuttered…but sometimes you just need a little extra fat and sodium…and nothing quite fits that order like a couple of hot dogs.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
I was going to be meeting with one of the lead doctors from the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute, a foremost authority on how much of an impact (clinically substantiated) lifestyle decisions made on quality of life and the condition of the body and mind. He lived and breathed it every day, running the Lifestyle 180 program and seeing the impact sensible eating, exercise and mental well being had on the clients he served. Never shy about these things, I had brought along my copy of ‘The Paleo Diet for the Athlete’ as well as a couple of questions regarding the Survival Workout. As we were concluding the meeting, I pulled out the book. “What do you think of this whole ‘Paleo’ thing as it relates to what you’re doing?” His smile broadened as he answered, “Cordian (the book’s author) really knows what he’s talking about and it’s very good stuff,” he said. I told him how I’d been following the diet for over four months now and, in conjunction with my ‘Survival’ workout, believed it responsible for the new lighter, stronger me. “I could tell you’d lost weight and I really like what you describe you are doing in the woods. People don’t need to join gyms. They can get what they need…as you say…in the parks and around their homes,” he agreed.
We had talked about health care reimbursement for services that kept people well (difficult to get paid) verses those more expensive services to treat people who are sick (normally paid) and the frustration this created. Employers, too, are hard to convince that an investment in keeping staff well is cheaper than paying medical expenses when they are sick. “We need more documented evidence to support what common sense tells us is absolutely true if we are to get them on board,” he said and I know what he means. Working in manufacturing where productivity and the cost of manufacturing and building the item is everything, it’s hard to convince upper management that they build in a new cost that ‘should’ save money down the line. It was so refreshing to speak to someone with whom I shared so many basic philosophies.
I did the Survival Workout without a partner later that night and found that I did not push myself as hard as when I was with someone else. Not that I have to impress anyone, but there is something about having another person there…almost like a teacher making sure you don’t cheat…that makes me do one more rep or one more set than I might otherwise do. I still did everything on the agenda, but I know I left a couple of reps undone before the workout was over. I also tried going ‘Off’ free for the first time in a month only to discover half a dozen nice welts when I returned home afterwards. They aren’t as bad…but they’re still there.
Both Holly and I were feeling the need for some fat in our diets so I threw hot dogs on the grill. I did wash it down with a smoothie and we had sweet corn…unbuttered…but sometimes you just need a little extra fat and sodium…and nothing quite fits that order like a couple of hot dogs.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Finishing fast has always worked for me...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Once again I was crushed for time and figured the only thing I could do for a workout was a short run. The last three times I have run, I’ve gone out fast in an effort to both test my condition level and to challenge course records I set last summer. And in each case, I blazed through the early checkpoints, but lost it as I got nearer the end of the run. I decided on a different approach for this run. I hit my first checkpoint a full minute slower than I’d been running this course…which is probably a little over 2 miles into my run and about the half way point. It was a cool evening…good for fast running and I felt like I was going really slowly. I decided to ratchet it up. I made it to the three mile mark around 22:30…still 45 seconds behind the paces I’d been setting, but getting back 15 seconds. Still feeling very comfortable, I decided to push myself. I ended by running the last mile under 7 minutes over twisting, rooted trails…which for me is quite respectable and actually equaled the fastest time I’ve ever run on the course…with plenty left in the tank.
There are many theories and ways to run and race and I’ve always coached my runners to be able to finish fast. Going out hard and then losing a place or two over the final stages of a race can be demoralizing. The runner with strength in the finish tends to feel invulnerable…like no lead is too big for them to overcome. It’s not right for everyone, but it’s always worked for me.
I went back to eating the perfect Paleo dinner by breaking some cold chicken breast into a sauté pan, adding some garden fresh tomato and then scrambling in four eggs. It actually tasted pretty good, though not very filling. There is something to be said for fat and starches…they fill you up. I failed to add a smoothie, which would have done the trick. Being a little hungry after a meal isn’t the worst thing in the world, though, and something I should do more often.
Run workout: 33 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 550.
Once again I was crushed for time and figured the only thing I could do for a workout was a short run. The last three times I have run, I’ve gone out fast in an effort to both test my condition level and to challenge course records I set last summer. And in each case, I blazed through the early checkpoints, but lost it as I got nearer the end of the run. I decided on a different approach for this run. I hit my first checkpoint a full minute slower than I’d been running this course…which is probably a little over 2 miles into my run and about the half way point. It was a cool evening…good for fast running and I felt like I was going really slowly. I decided to ratchet it up. I made it to the three mile mark around 22:30…still 45 seconds behind the paces I’d been setting, but getting back 15 seconds. Still feeling very comfortable, I decided to push myself. I ended by running the last mile under 7 minutes over twisting, rooted trails…which for me is quite respectable and actually equaled the fastest time I’ve ever run on the course…with plenty left in the tank.
There are many theories and ways to run and race and I’ve always coached my runners to be able to finish fast. Going out hard and then losing a place or two over the final stages of a race can be demoralizing. The runner with strength in the finish tends to feel invulnerable…like no lead is too big for them to overcome. It’s not right for everyone, but it’s always worked for me.
I went back to eating the perfect Paleo dinner by breaking some cold chicken breast into a sauté pan, adding some garden fresh tomato and then scrambling in four eggs. It actually tasted pretty good, though not very filling. There is something to be said for fat and starches…they fill you up. I failed to add a smoothie, which would have done the trick. Being a little hungry after a meal isn’t the worst thing in the world, though, and something I should do more often.
Run workout: 33 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 550.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Another convert to the Survival Workout.
Monday, September 5, 2011
I’d convinced my nephew, Nathan, whose birthday we’d been celebrating the night before, that he should come and join me for a Survival Workout before heading back to his next stint on a boat on the Great Lakes. He’s an engineer of some kind and works in the engine room keeping these massive ore boats doing what they are supposed to do…mechanically at least. He’s in pretty good shape normally…but was going out with a group of friends to some spots in downtown Willoughby to drink a little…or more.
I cut him some slack on the starting time and he arrived close to noon looking like he may have had one or two more than he should have before taking a taxi ride back home. He knew me and knew it wouldn’t do any good to complain or ask me to go easy…that would only make what was about to happen even worse. He sucked it up, sprayed on some ‘Off’ and grabbed hold of our pull-up branch.
There is something to be said for working in an engine room and regularly lifting things that weigh in access of 80 pounds. Nathan is lean, races a sailing craft, rides his bike whenever he can and hikes at all the ports of call along the Great Lakes. He’s extremely active and it showed. He did 8 pull-ups and 30 push-ups…both respectable numbers for a guy who never does either. Low body fat and a good strength to weight ratio is the trick here. He lifted the rocks and logs I lifted while doing bounding and other sprint-type activities in between. As we approached our last sets though, he was feeling the cumulative effects and could only manage 14 push-ups for his last set while I was going for my 3-set record and completing 53 to hit a new pr of 161.
“How come you’re 56 and can do so much more than me?” Good question and easy answer. You can maintain so much of your fitness for so many years if you just work at it. “I’ve been doing this workout continuously since the Spring. I’ve dropped over 20 pounds since then, but when I started, I assure you I could not do a pull-up and 25 push-ups was my limit,” I said. “And the good news is…if I keep it up, I should be doing all of this stuff into my 80’s.” He gets it. He wanted to do the workout with me because he’s an outdoor guy and really doesn’t like working out with weights in a gym. I wanted him to see how to work the different muscle groups…and energy systems…so he could create his own workouts either on the ship or in the parks along the way in the different ports of call. “It’s really not that hard Uncle John…I can think of lots of things I can use on the ship…or in the parks…to do this stuff.” That’s right…it’s really not that hard and it’s a hell of a lot more interesting.
I ate poorly again. We had a cookout…because it was freezing…and I ate two hamburgers with buns, baked beans and a sweet roll. Later that night, I had leftover spaghetti with the rest of the beans. I’m sure to have added back a couple of pounds, but the coming weeks should get me back where I want to be going into the winter months. And I have a plan to stay there, too.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
I’d convinced my nephew, Nathan, whose birthday we’d been celebrating the night before, that he should come and join me for a Survival Workout before heading back to his next stint on a boat on the Great Lakes. He’s an engineer of some kind and works in the engine room keeping these massive ore boats doing what they are supposed to do…mechanically at least. He’s in pretty good shape normally…but was going out with a group of friends to some spots in downtown Willoughby to drink a little…or more.
I cut him some slack on the starting time and he arrived close to noon looking like he may have had one or two more than he should have before taking a taxi ride back home. He knew me and knew it wouldn’t do any good to complain or ask me to go easy…that would only make what was about to happen even worse. He sucked it up, sprayed on some ‘Off’ and grabbed hold of our pull-up branch.
There is something to be said for working in an engine room and regularly lifting things that weigh in access of 80 pounds. Nathan is lean, races a sailing craft, rides his bike whenever he can and hikes at all the ports of call along the Great Lakes. He’s extremely active and it showed. He did 8 pull-ups and 30 push-ups…both respectable numbers for a guy who never does either. Low body fat and a good strength to weight ratio is the trick here. He lifted the rocks and logs I lifted while doing bounding and other sprint-type activities in between. As we approached our last sets though, he was feeling the cumulative effects and could only manage 14 push-ups for his last set while I was going for my 3-set record and completing 53 to hit a new pr of 161.
“How come you’re 56 and can do so much more than me?” Good question and easy answer. You can maintain so much of your fitness for so many years if you just work at it. “I’ve been doing this workout continuously since the Spring. I’ve dropped over 20 pounds since then, but when I started, I assure you I could not do a pull-up and 25 push-ups was my limit,” I said. “And the good news is…if I keep it up, I should be doing all of this stuff into my 80’s.” He gets it. He wanted to do the workout with me because he’s an outdoor guy and really doesn’t like working out with weights in a gym. I wanted him to see how to work the different muscle groups…and energy systems…so he could create his own workouts either on the ship or in the parks along the way in the different ports of call. “It’s really not that hard Uncle John…I can think of lots of things I can use on the ship…or in the parks…to do this stuff.” That’s right…it’s really not that hard and it’s a hell of a lot more interesting.
I ate poorly again. We had a cookout…because it was freezing…and I ate two hamburgers with buns, baked beans and a sweet roll. Later that night, I had leftover spaghetti with the rest of the beans. I’m sure to have added back a couple of pounds, but the coming weeks should get me back where I want to be going into the winter months. And I have a plan to stay there, too.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Monday, September 5, 2011
A little extra for overeating...
Sunday, September 04, 2011
I knew I had to do something long…because of the guilt from eating poorly the day before. I suppose it wasn’t all that bad, but with the way I’ve reconditioned my thinking, it was a huge slip and needed corrective action. I also wanted to do some long aerobic activity since in two weeks, John, Paul and I would be climbing peaks for three consecutive days in the Adirondacks and would need the kind of endurance you get from long rides.
I headed out my Pekin Road course with a turn around at Burton/Windsor Road. Normally, the road is quiet and was until I crossed Auburn where I began to notice increasingly heavy traffic for the remainder of the ride to the half way point. I can only surmise that with the Geauga County Fair in Burton, that this road was some kind of short cut. I was in no particular hurry and made it out in an hour and forty minutes. On the return trip, I added some miles by cutting through the park, but had slowed some when a rider from Lake Lucerne pulled along side of me and began a conversation. I found out that he knew an old Iron Man buddy, Randy Tevepaugh, and that he was a lot younger than me and riding one of those light weight road bikes like John’s. He said he noticed a huge difference in climbing when he switched bikes, something he found to be a necessity since the crowd he rode with all had them and he couldn’t keep up unless he switched. I suppose if you have the money that’s okay, but my competitive riding days are behind me and now I’m riding for the workout. I could likely ride a couple of miles an hour faster on the lighter bike, but my effort would be the same so the conditioning and calories burned would be the same, as well. Since I almost always ride alone, it doesn’t matter how fast I’m going…I’m not holding anyone up…so what does it matter? When they start making the 10-pound bikes, I’ll convince John he needs one and that, to make him feel okay about buying one, I’ll take his 15-pounder off him and put it to good use. Until then, I’ll ride my Trek tank.
I finished the ride exhausted and with a nice rash where the bike seats meets my seat. I’d been sweating pretty heavily and the salt rubbing did its thing. I went to my sister’s for a birthday gathering of relatives and found that sitting on wooden kitchen chairs was less than comfortable. She had a lot of non-Paleo food, which I avoided until it was time for dessert. They had about five kinds of ice cream, which I came to find was made from Wooly Mammoth Milk…way to go Breyer’s…so I had a little…too much. Anyway, I’ll do something tomorrow to make up for that and then I’ll do something on Tuesday to make up for the burgers I’ll probably eat at our cookout tomorrow…and then I’ll…
Bike workout: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 2,900.
I knew I had to do something long…because of the guilt from eating poorly the day before. I suppose it wasn’t all that bad, but with the way I’ve reconditioned my thinking, it was a huge slip and needed corrective action. I also wanted to do some long aerobic activity since in two weeks, John, Paul and I would be climbing peaks for three consecutive days in the Adirondacks and would need the kind of endurance you get from long rides.
I headed out my Pekin Road course with a turn around at Burton/Windsor Road. Normally, the road is quiet and was until I crossed Auburn where I began to notice increasingly heavy traffic for the remainder of the ride to the half way point. I can only surmise that with the Geauga County Fair in Burton, that this road was some kind of short cut. I was in no particular hurry and made it out in an hour and forty minutes. On the return trip, I added some miles by cutting through the park, but had slowed some when a rider from Lake Lucerne pulled along side of me and began a conversation. I found out that he knew an old Iron Man buddy, Randy Tevepaugh, and that he was a lot younger than me and riding one of those light weight road bikes like John’s. He said he noticed a huge difference in climbing when he switched bikes, something he found to be a necessity since the crowd he rode with all had them and he couldn’t keep up unless he switched. I suppose if you have the money that’s okay, but my competitive riding days are behind me and now I’m riding for the workout. I could likely ride a couple of miles an hour faster on the lighter bike, but my effort would be the same so the conditioning and calories burned would be the same, as well. Since I almost always ride alone, it doesn’t matter how fast I’m going…I’m not holding anyone up…so what does it matter? When they start making the 10-pound bikes, I’ll convince John he needs one and that, to make him feel okay about buying one, I’ll take his 15-pounder off him and put it to good use. Until then, I’ll ride my Trek tank.
I finished the ride exhausted and with a nice rash where the bike seats meets my seat. I’d been sweating pretty heavily and the salt rubbing did its thing. I went to my sister’s for a birthday gathering of relatives and found that sitting on wooden kitchen chairs was less than comfortable. She had a lot of non-Paleo food, which I avoided until it was time for dessert. They had about five kinds of ice cream, which I came to find was made from Wooly Mammoth Milk…way to go Breyer’s…so I had a little…too much. Anyway, I’ll do something tomorrow to make up for that and then I’ll do something on Tuesday to make up for the burgers I’ll probably eat at our cookout tomorrow…and then I’ll…
Bike workout: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 2,900.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
No will power...
Saturday, September 03, 2011
I met Bob at 7:30 a.m. for another Survival Workout. It was going to be a steamy day, so getting it out of the way early made all kinds of sense. The mosquitoes are particularly active early though, so after spraying myself with Off, I offered it to Bob. “Nah…I take so many ‘B’ vitamins that they won’t bother me,” he said. Bob’s really all about the proper nutrition and I’m sure he thinks that some vitamins actually do offer protection against mosquitoes…but the ones in the North Chagrin Reservation didn’t get the memo and were swarming all over him. “Um…there’s three on your forehead and I think they’ve sucked your brains out,” I said. He swatted at them and laughed…believing that I was kidding. “You go without the ‘Off’ and let me know how that works for you,” I said as I tossed it back into my car.
I’ve been having trouble with my arm and I know its from the pull-ups, so I tried doing them with my palms in. There was almost no pain when I did them this way, but I did feel it when I did my overhead rock presses. We pushed each other as we always do, and after two sets of push-ups, I was in an excellent position to break my pr again. I did 55 for my final set and a new three set high of 160. I don’t think I’ll touch that for awhile…unless Bob is there.
I had a bad eating day. I’d stopped at the neighbors to borrow a drill and Jen offered me some kind of orange slushy drink. I was overheating in the yard and it looked delicious…so I downed it. Later, she joined Holly and me in the pool and brought along another drink full of calories and I had half of that. Then Holly and I headed off to a dinner party where I ate too much breaded chicken, cheese and a can of pop…sweetened. I felt so guilty by the end of the night that I made a mental commitment to do a three-hour ride the next day. Rain or shine.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
I met Bob at 7:30 a.m. for another Survival Workout. It was going to be a steamy day, so getting it out of the way early made all kinds of sense. The mosquitoes are particularly active early though, so after spraying myself with Off, I offered it to Bob. “Nah…I take so many ‘B’ vitamins that they won’t bother me,” he said. Bob’s really all about the proper nutrition and I’m sure he thinks that some vitamins actually do offer protection against mosquitoes…but the ones in the North Chagrin Reservation didn’t get the memo and were swarming all over him. “Um…there’s three on your forehead and I think they’ve sucked your brains out,” I said. He swatted at them and laughed…believing that I was kidding. “You go without the ‘Off’ and let me know how that works for you,” I said as I tossed it back into my car.
I’ve been having trouble with my arm and I know its from the pull-ups, so I tried doing them with my palms in. There was almost no pain when I did them this way, but I did feel it when I did my overhead rock presses. We pushed each other as we always do, and after two sets of push-ups, I was in an excellent position to break my pr again. I did 55 for my final set and a new three set high of 160. I don’t think I’ll touch that for awhile…unless Bob is there.
I had a bad eating day. I’d stopped at the neighbors to borrow a drill and Jen offered me some kind of orange slushy drink. I was overheating in the yard and it looked delicious…so I downed it. Later, she joined Holly and me in the pool and brought along another drink full of calories and I had half of that. Then Holly and I headed off to a dinner party where I ate too much breaded chicken, cheese and a can of pop…sweetened. I felt so guilty by the end of the night that I made a mental commitment to do a three-hour ride the next day. Rain or shine.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Summer ain't over quite yet...
Friday, September 2, 2011
The heat is back…I know it because I gave in and agreed to turn the air conditioning back on. I know I have to be careful again. I’ve been dropping an inordinate amount of water lately and don’t think I’m replacing it all and that is never good for performance…or health.
I headed out on the bike with the intent of covering my Sperry Road to Mulberry course. I had less than two hours to complete the ride, but with the scorching heat, I didn’t know if I could maintain the pace I would need to make it in time. It normally takes me a hair over an hour to hit the top of the hill on Sperry just south of Billings so when I arrived there in 58 minutes, I was pretty sure I’d be okay. I continued to ride hard for the next ten minutes, but then the heat began to take its terrible toll. I slowed noticeably as I rode home on Mulberry, not even trying to maintain my normal speed and finally arrived back home drained and tired in a little less than two hours.
Mimi had put in an emergency email to me. She’s been getting water in her upstairs bathroom because some leaves plug her gutter just above the window and when the torrential storms hit, the water climbs the gutter and comes in through the window below. Only it doesn’t stop there…finding its way to the dining room below via the chandelier over the table and then to the basement. I put the ladder to the gutter and climbed up to find a handful of leaves…and that was it. Her cable was running from the roof into the gutter at that exact point…the only thing I could see that would cause the backup…so I pulled it out and ran it alongside the gutter. Water is an amazing element and can do considerable damage in a big hurry. I climbed the ladder in my work pants and was sweating through them by the time I descended. The good news is she’s got some more tree cutting and stump digging to perform…and I love that workout, though I think I’ll save it for a night when it’s not 200 percent humidity.
Bike workout: 1 hour and 49 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,500.
The heat is back…I know it because I gave in and agreed to turn the air conditioning back on. I know I have to be careful again. I’ve been dropping an inordinate amount of water lately and don’t think I’m replacing it all and that is never good for performance…or health.
I headed out on the bike with the intent of covering my Sperry Road to Mulberry course. I had less than two hours to complete the ride, but with the scorching heat, I didn’t know if I could maintain the pace I would need to make it in time. It normally takes me a hair over an hour to hit the top of the hill on Sperry just south of Billings so when I arrived there in 58 minutes, I was pretty sure I’d be okay. I continued to ride hard for the next ten minutes, but then the heat began to take its terrible toll. I slowed noticeably as I rode home on Mulberry, not even trying to maintain my normal speed and finally arrived back home drained and tired in a little less than two hours.
Mimi had put in an emergency email to me. She’s been getting water in her upstairs bathroom because some leaves plug her gutter just above the window and when the torrential storms hit, the water climbs the gutter and comes in through the window below. Only it doesn’t stop there…finding its way to the dining room below via the chandelier over the table and then to the basement. I put the ladder to the gutter and climbed up to find a handful of leaves…and that was it. Her cable was running from the roof into the gutter at that exact point…the only thing I could see that would cause the backup…so I pulled it out and ran it alongside the gutter. Water is an amazing element and can do considerable damage in a big hurry. I climbed the ladder in my work pants and was sweating through them by the time I descended. The good news is she’s got some more tree cutting and stump digging to perform…and I love that workout, though I think I’ll save it for a night when it’s not 200 percent humidity.
Bike workout: 1 hour and 49 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,500.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Training properly for running is WAY overrated...
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Wow…were my legs hurting and tired! Again…do as I say and not as I do. Yesterday’s attempt to pr on my 7-mile trail course when I’d been running once a week for the last month and never over 35 minutes was…well…colossally stupid…to put it mildly. And on a day when the humidity rivaled an Amazonian rain forest? COLLASSALLY STUPID! I spent the day trying to rehydrate myself since I could tell I was still down some water weight that needed to be replaced. Anyway…I was sore today and not looking forward to any part of any workout…but I was going to do one.
I headed for the park and the Survival Workout. I’d purposely left push-ups out of my last workout because my biceps muscle on my right arm gets sore whenever I’m doing them. I thought if I took about five days off from doing them, it might heal. Wrong again. I knew after the first that it was still screwed up…but did that stop me from doing 13? Anyway, the rest of the workout was standard stuff with the mosquito’s doing their damndest to get to me. I did add three trips up the swing set pole without…climbing it like we used to climb the rope in gym class without the use of feet. This puts such emphasis on the muscles of the hands, arms, and back as well as the core muscles which scream their resistance going up…and coming down if you do it slowly.
I was returning along the bridle trail when a saw a stick about the thickness of a broomstick stretched across it. I was thinking how much Dakota would like to grab it when it began to move. The ‘stick’ was a black snake over 5 feet in length and the first one I’ve ever seen in the park. I love getting to see that kind of stuff, which is part of the reason I’ll always try to do my workouts in this…or some other outdoor venue. You never see a snake in a fitness facility. Never.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
Wow…were my legs hurting and tired! Again…do as I say and not as I do. Yesterday’s attempt to pr on my 7-mile trail course when I’d been running once a week for the last month and never over 35 minutes was…well…colossally stupid…to put it mildly. And on a day when the humidity rivaled an Amazonian rain forest? COLLASSALLY STUPID! I spent the day trying to rehydrate myself since I could tell I was still down some water weight that needed to be replaced. Anyway…I was sore today and not looking forward to any part of any workout…but I was going to do one.
I headed for the park and the Survival Workout. I’d purposely left push-ups out of my last workout because my biceps muscle on my right arm gets sore whenever I’m doing them. I thought if I took about five days off from doing them, it might heal. Wrong again. I knew after the first that it was still screwed up…but did that stop me from doing 13? Anyway, the rest of the workout was standard stuff with the mosquito’s doing their damndest to get to me. I did add three trips up the swing set pole without…climbing it like we used to climb the rope in gym class without the use of feet. This puts such emphasis on the muscles of the hands, arms, and back as well as the core muscles which scream their resistance going up…and coming down if you do it slowly.
I was returning along the bridle trail when a saw a stick about the thickness of a broomstick stretched across it. I was thinking how much Dakota would like to grab it when it began to move. The ‘stick’ was a black snake over 5 feet in length and the first one I’ve ever seen in the park. I love getting to see that kind of stuff, which is part of the reason I’ll always try to do my workouts in this…or some other outdoor venue. You never see a snake in a fitness facility. Never.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.
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