Sort of a double...

Thursday, March 13, 2014

After two days of either no workout or unstructured (snow shoveling), I wanted to get back in the groove.  I’d received a text from my son Jason asking me to join him for dinner, which was going to cramp my time.  Still, I had to get something done.

I’d already completed a hike in the North Chagrin Reservation with Dakota and it had been a decent workout.  We’d hiked off-trail through deep snow down to and out on, the marsh.  I checked my pulse and found it was over 90 bpm, or about 20 beats higher if there had not been any snow, and realized I was breaking a sweat in spite of temperatures in the low teens.  The storm the evening before had left evidence of the ferociousness of the wind.  Even in the deepest and most dense part of the woods, trees were plastered with frozen snow on the side that had faced the blizzard conditions.  Now, with the sun breaking through and beautifully deep blue skies overhead, it was a winter wonderland.  Dakota didn’t notice a thing; running merrily from one stick to the next, but I marveled at the tranquility of the setting.

Descending to the marsh was particularly treacherous.  I couldn’t get good footing because the snow below last night’s fall was frozen and slick.  I half skied/skated down and had to work to keep from going over the edge on Snowman’s Ridge; a precarious 100-foot drop.  Dakota assisted me by trying to grab at sticks protruding from the snow that I was grabbing to keep me from slipping.  A stick is a stick.  If my hand is on it, she figures I’m going to throw it and lunges for it.  Thankfully, I made it down without her sending me into the ravine.

We returned to the car after an hour of hiking and I drove home quickly, switched into my riding gear and mounted the trainer for a 45-minute ride.  It was all the time I had before heading to the restaurant. 

Not quite the double I’d envisioned, but a decent workout.  Temperatures are returning to the fifties tomorrow, but I’m thinking an outdoor ride may be hampered by extensive snow melt.  Cold will return over the weekend, so regular outdoor riding is still day to day.  I promise not to complain about heat this summer, should it ever come back.

Hike duration:  60 minutes.  Bike duration:  45 minutes. 
Training Heart Rate:  80-90 hiking and 120 on the bike.
Calories burned during workout:  300 hiking and 625 on the bike.