I’m regularly bugging people to come and join me for workouts in the park and so when one of them calls me, I pretty much have to go…even if they want me to meet them there on a Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. Bruce and Jeff would both be coming…Bruce to show off his new backpack he’d gotten for our next trip to the Adirondacks…and Jeff because I gave him so much crap that he couldn’t not come. Jeff and I had done some workouts together this past summer as he was preparing for an elk hunt in Colorado. He went on the trip and was very pleased for the workouts we’d done since he found himself hiking long distances in rugged country…and carrying a heavy pack stuffed with elk meat.
I arrived in the total darkness of an early December morning. It was cold and a light rain was falling and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell I was doing in the park when I could be in bed. Bruce is an early riser and always wants to do things at the crack of dawn…but I think he forgot that dawn wouldn’t be cracking for another hour. Since I spend the most time in the park, they left it to me to lead the way. The trails were drenched and covered in roots that would be invisible in the dark, so I stuck to the bridles early on, but eventually had to hit the hiking trails. It was treacherous, but I’d walked and run the one I took that I was fine…and if they tripped…well…too bad. At one point I commented on how the conditions we were walking in…rain, muddy trails, cold damp weather and the dark…were all things that should keep normal folks inside. Yet here we were hiking and talking and quite enjoying the serenity of the woods, and the scents and sounds that came with them. Once again I was learning that although I hate to get up and get started in the morning on such days, that once I do…I always enjoy the experience.
It wasn’t much of a workout though, so I returned home and climbed on the trainer for my last workout of the year. I plugged in the movie ‘Whale Rider’, which is a wonderful story about the Whangara people of eastern New Zealand and a 12-year old girl who believes she is the descendent of Paikea, the legendary leader of the people who was saved from drowning by riding on the back of a whale. I managed 70 minutes and pushed my heart rate over 130…something I seldom do indoors.
Holly and I had a New Year’s Eve dinner that, for me, was very Paleo. I ate a lobster tail without the butter, a grilled pork chop, homemade applesauce and a tossed salad with mushrooms and craisins (dried cranberries). Later, we watched a little of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve show and was shocked at Dick’s appearance. In 2004 he had a stroke which, to this day, has made speech a labor for him and why he has had a co-host who handles most of the show. When he did come on the air, he skin looked orange…like a really bad spray-on tan. If it’s just that the makeup people aren’t looking at him closely before he goes on…well…they need to. Orange is really not a good color for him.
Hike Duration: 80 minutes. Bike Duration: 70 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 80 hiking and 120 cycling.Calories burned during workout: 400 hiking and 1,000 biking.
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