Wednesday,
June 19, 2019
Day
19: Another rough sleeping night. I have to apologize to my neighbor who hears
me coughing in the night. She brings me
food to help me through and I’m thinking of recording the cough and playing it
in the window at night after I'm better so she keeps feeding me.
I came home from work early and
reclined for a nap. That lasted for a
couple of hours after which I began to get the itch. ‘What would a little bike ride matter? I’ll just go easy,’ I thought.
I changed into cycling attire
and headed out the door for what turned into a 35-mile ride. I really did keep it easy the whole time and
it was a sunny, beautiful afternoon so that made it almost mandatory for
riding. I took the paved bike trail from
Peninsula to Brecksville which goes through some amazing ledge formations. As I rode I couldn’t help but think how lucky
I was to have this riding environment with no fear of getting mowed over by a
texting driver.
I met up with Kimberly along
the way and she pushed hard for 18 miles.
She’s really a novice rider, just learning how to use the gearing to
make her life of riding easier, but has a natural tendency to push herself and
is already doing well. I’ve told her how
good cycling can be for those all-important Adirondack hiking and climbing
muscles, not to mention the cardio endurance, and she gets it. I have reminded her it’s only to augment the
all-important hikes with the packs on our backs, which she also embraces. She’s an easy and excellent student recognizing
the expertise and brilliance of my leadership in these matters.
She mentioned how she’d passed
a large turtle crossing the path recently and it wasn’t too much later that she
was hopping off her bike for a picture session with a beautiful box turtle that
had made its way onto the path.
I returned home quite exhausted
from the effort. I really need to take a
break and let this bronchitis thing work its way out of me, but I can’t seem to
convince myself that it will happen any faster if I just lay around. I’m not sure it will…
Bike:
Two hours.
Training
Heart Rate: 140 biking.
Calories
Burned: 1,500.
Bonus:
23,000 steps
Tuesday,
June 18, 2019
Day
18: I really don’t think streaks are a good
thing. They tend to lead to poor
decisions about resting minor aches, which can lead to more debilitating
injuries. Having said that, when you’re
competitive and in the middle of one, your good sense seems to be less noticeable. Like me, for instance.
I woke up through much of the
last couple of nights coughing. It has
turned into bronchitis, which can severely limit the lungs capacity for heavy
breathing and cardiovascular exercise…the stuff I try to do daily.
I went into work on a poor night’s
sleep and feeling horrible. Co-workers
gave me a wide berth as I continued to hack up my lungs. I had a water test that had to be done and
delivered to the lab, but after completing that I headed for home and some
rest. I arrived by noon and napped on
the couch, but with the sun out – a rarity these past few months – and my grass
getting out of control, I opted to start up the mower and cut the stuff. My lawn, being the size of a loaf of bread,
was done in twenty minutes. Dakota
though, would have none of my returning to the couch and guilt overcame me…as
well as a driving need to keep the streak alive.
I drove to an old 5-mile
training trail I’d used so often while preparing for the Adirondack hike last
fall. I could have just done the hike
without the pack, but that would have meant the end of the streak so I strapped
it on. The fifty pounds felt like ninety
as I headed in and up. The first mile of
the hike is mostly uphill and it took its toll.
Breathing hard when I made the top, I paused to catch my breath before
continuing what would feel like a death march before I arrived back at the car
two hours later. I was drenched in
sweat, but I hadn’t been coughing while hiking so I had that going for me.
Hike:
Two hours.
Training
Heart Rate: 70-100 bpm.
Calories
Burned: 900.
Bonus:
22,000 steps
Monday,
June 17, 2019
Day 17 in a row: Though I’d been running a low grade fever,
coughing and nursing a sore throat since Friday, I was sure if I just kept
going, it would finally disappear. Hmm…
The skies were gray and the
forecast was for rain, but it seemed to be holding off and I wanted to work in
a ride. I was supposed to meet Kimberly
for a picture taking hike at five, so that didn’t leave me enough time for my
35-mile route. I hurried out the door
with the bike so I could get in as many miles as possible, though.
I know I’ve been riding a in
more relaxed fashion for the last several years. It shows whenever I try to go hard as my
thighs begin to throb and beg me to slow down.
Once upon a time, that would be the signal to ride harder and push
through. It was the necessary ingredient
to making me a stronger, faster rider.
And for pain.
I’m tired of that I’ve been
telling myself. But on this particular
ride I found myself up out of the saddle and pushing hard on every rise in the
road. I was in the profile bars and
pushing harder on the flats, as well. I
was thinking about how I used to time every ride and have time records for the
different courses I rode, only being satisfied when I approached or broke those
records. I was thinking I needed a
stopwatch and should do that again. All
these thoughts were occurring to me as I hacked up a lung and spit phlegm to
the ground.
It was an exhausting 2-hour
ride. My lovely neighbor noticed me
pulling in the drive at the completion and asked me to come over for chicken
and a salad. I had about twenty minutes
to spare and it was such a kind offer that I couldn’t refuse. I showered, changed and joined her on her
porch.
As soon as I sat down, she
looked at me and said, “You look sad lately.
Is something wrong?”
How perceptive people who know
you well can be. We don’t see a lot of
each other, but enough that she had noticed something I hadn’t even noticed
myself – a change in behavior. I
explained about Miggie as she held my hand and teared up. “It is what it is and there is nothing I can
do,” I concluded.
I picked up Kimberly…and her
bike for some minor repairs…and headed for Brandywine Falls. Though the water flow was down, it was still
an impressive volume crashing over the rocks and cascading 65 feet to the pool
below. After several pictures, we headed
back to my place to get Dakota and walk the Towpath to the Beaver Marsh. The river had receded back into the banks,
but the trail still had significant puddles.
We sat at the marsh and photographed a Great Blue Heron, among other
things. We talked about her training
program and the need to amp it up if she was to be ready to climb Giant in the
Adirondacks this September.
“You need one really hard day
every week and that hell day is going to be spent with me so I make sure it
happens,” I told her. On the bike, with
a backpack climbing multiple hills or steps and maybe even some jogging, but I am
going to make sure she doesn’t start up that mountain unprepared. I love guinea pigs.
Bike:
Two hours.
Hike:
40 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 140 biking and 70 bpm hiking.
Calories
Burned: 1850.
Bonus:
22,000 steps
Sunday,
June 16, 2019
Father’s Day…and rain day.
It had been raining all night
and much of the past several days so when my daughter Heidi texted about
kayaking, I told her it was out of the question.
‘How about breakfast at Molly
Brown’s then?’ she texted back.
Not a bad alternative. I ate large and after dropping her off and
hanging out indoors for several hours while the rains continued, decided it was
time to say ‘screw the rain’ and do something anyways. My streak of consecutive days was at 14 and I
wasn’t going to let wet stop me…though it would alter my mode. I’d done a 30-mile ride on Friday and a
five-mile hike with a 50-pound pack on Saturday, having upped the weight since
it’s been a month since I started carrying it again.
I knew from finding roads
closed as I’d driven to Heidi’s place earlier that the Cuyahoga River was at
record levels and flooding was occurring everywhere. I packaged up my cellphone in a ziplock bag,
put on my running gear, and headed for the Towpath and a trip to the Beaver
Marsh and the bridge over Ira Road to get some pics of the flooding. Once on the Towpath, I didn’t get far before
running into a breach by the river of the bank.
The water was flowing at record levels and the Towpath was underwater by
several inches. I took some pictures and
decided that walking through ankle deep water towards the marsh was probably
not a good idea.
I continued my run in the
opposite direction, splashing through the puddles and enjoying every step. It was extremely humid and I was sweating
buckets, but everything on my body felt fine and I continued to go for thirty
minutes. I’d have to look back in my
blog, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t gone that far in over a year. I’ve now run a couple of times a week for the
past three weeks and I’m getting close to moving my runs to every other day
before going back to back. Though I’m
pushing the time of individual runs out more than I probably should, I am
taking plenty of rest time between runs and it seems to be working.
The rain continued throughout
the day and the forecast is for lots more over the rest of the coming
week. I’m planning a photo shoot hike
for tonight and hoping to get some interesting shots of the power of raging
water.
Run:
30 minutes.
Hike:
40 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 150 running and 70-90 bpm hiking.
Calories
Burned: 750.
Bonus:
12,500 steps
Thursday,
June 13, 2019
I arrived home planning to do a
run before John arrived for a hike with packs.
As I climbed from the car, I felt the pain of yesterday’s step-ups
throughout my legs. I’d only done 100, but
the logs I’d chosen on which to do them were high and I hadn’t done any since last fall. Still…I thought all the hiking with a pack
and the bike riding would have spared me this soreness. Wrong.
My running as a 64-year old who
hasn’t run consistently in eight years always begins with aches throughout my
lower body. I’ve come to expect this and
start slowly; with trepidation. By the
time I was actually on the towpath however –about two minutes of running – I
was feeling pretty loose and pain-free.
I ran down the trail for 12 minutes before turning and heading
back. I did a little extra near the
house to bring my total run time to 25 minutes.
I felt like I could have gone much longer.
So…note to self…be
cautious. Yes…the cycling and hiking
with a pack has given me good conditioning for running, but I could easily
overdo it and end up with an overuse injury because it feels easy right now.
The rains had been falling all
day and I suspected we’d have trouble getting in a hike. John was running late getting out of downtown
and had forgotten to bring his stuff to hike.
He would need to go home before coming to my place. I could see it was likely not going to
happen, so I took Dakota for a two-mile hike, without my pack, so I could make
my 20,000 steps for the day. I’m kind of
caught up in a streak that has me at 11 consecutive days over 20K, something I’ve
only done twice before. My record is 17
days, which is a long way off with a weekend full of thunderstorms predicted.
We ate spaghetti and Butter Boy
only had two pieces of garlic bread, which I had not slathered in the
quantities of butter he would have liked.
I only had two sticks anyways.
I ate the doughnut from the
Middlefield bakery I’d brought for him to sample; it was really a test to see
if he’d eat it and he passed, after he left.
I can see that I’m losing weight so I figured I could handle it.
Run:
25 minutes.
Hike:
40 minutes.
Training
Heart Rate: 150 running and 70-90 bpm hiking.
Calories
Burned: 650.
Bonus:
20,000 steps
Tuesday,
June 11, 2019
“The Indians suck. They just SUCK!” John said as we ate our
dinners watching the game at Fishers.
We’d done a 3-mile hike with
our packs on and then come for dinner.
He is not very happy with the 2019 Indians, mostly because of all the
disappointments we’ve suffered as fans since losing the World Series in extra
innings in 2016.
“They just knocked off the
Yankees and the Twins in back-to-back series and they’re over .500 by three
games,” I said. “They don’t suck, they
just aren’t playing as well as you’d like them to.”
He finally acknowledged this
and we went back to planning for our trip to the Adirondacks we will be taking
with his son Henry the first week of August.
“If we’re going in the
backcountry and climbing multiple peaks, you have GOT to get rid of that gut,
Butter Boy,” I had admonished him a couple of weeks earlier while eating
spaghetti at my place. He’d taken a
piece of bread and slathered it with more butter than I would use on a loaf.
“I like butter,” he said in
defense.
“Tell me about it when you’re
puking out half way up Dix Mt.,” I said.
Since that time, he’s been good about biking and hiking, though still
eating his ice cream and butter.
I have continued my own
reclamation. Though only running once in the last week, a 22-minute effort, I’ve ridden the bike or walked
with the pack every day for two weeks. I
hope to knock off four peaks above 4,000 feet on our trip in August on the same
day and that means being in good shape.
If I manage to do that, I’ll have notched 40 of the 46 peaks over 4,000
in the Adirondacks and close to my goal of becoming a 46’er…someone who has
done them all.
John is due over tonight and I
hope to ride before he gets there and then hike five miles with forty pounds
strapped on. I’m staying focused on
fitness.
Hike:
One hour.
Training
Heart Rate: 70-90 bpm hiking.
Calories
Burned: 500.
Bonus:
24,000 steps
Wednesday,
June 5, 2019
A little over a week ago, a
woman I have been seeing for three years let me know that she no longer sees
any point since she will never feel strongly enough about me to want to spend
the rest of our lives together. “You’ve
been better to me than anyone ever has in my life and I love you. You deserve better than me, though.”
In other words…I’m done, she
said. What I deserve ought to be my
decision and I’d chosen her. But as life
has thrown me these curves since my wife of 39 years met her soul mate seven
years ago, I have to figure out a way to understand and deal with my new
reality. Because I am happy with who I
am, for the most part, I will be able to do this. A good friend shared a poem with me about
people being in our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When I put what has happened with my
different relationships in this context, I recognize that these people were in
my life for a reason – to help me move onto the next phase of my life possibly,
or a season – a period of time that could end because they weren’t meant to be
with me for a lifetime. Sadly for me, I
would have liked to have had more than one of them in my life for a lifetime,
but never had control of the issue. I
don’t think I ever will.
Having said all that, I am
taking this opportunity to reclaim my body and get back to the training I was
doing in preparation for the travels and road I will be walking in the
future. Two days ago, I pulled my first
double. I had ridden the bike 35 miles
on Saturday and Sunday and my legs were feeling it. Monday I chose to hike 3 miles with my pack
loaded to about 35 pounds, which I’ve been doing for three weeks, as a kind of ‘break’
day. On Tuesday, I rode 30 miles when I
first got home, but then took Dakota, strapped on the pack, and did another
3-mile, hilly hike. I felt every step in
my weary thighs as I climbed those hills.
Yesterday unfolded with a plan
to meet John, who is also in a heightened state of training as we plan our
summer climbs in the Adirondacks, to hike a longer, more difficult trail with
packs strapped on. The weather, however,
had different ideas. We had received
another deluge during the afternoon hours and the trails would be extremely
muddy and not particularly safe. It was
raining when I got home, but a warm and gentle rain (though thunder was booming
in the distance), so I laced up my running shoes and headed out for a
ten-minute run. I need to start back
slowly on running, but I have every intention of making myself a runner
again. More on that later. As the rain fell and I splashed through the
puddles on the Towpath, I felt invigorated.
I also wanted to see how high the waters had gotten in the Cuyahoga
River. So I did what I so often do…threw
out caution and ended up running 20 minutes.
I followed it with a two-mile hike in that same gentle, warm rain
viewing a large female snapping turtle making her way to her nesting ground.
By the time John arrived, I was
more than exhausted and we elected to go with a short hike to the Beaver Marsh
in the Park and observe the flooding. It
was prolific and awe-inspiring.
So there. I’m pushing myself. I have been inspired again by events in my
life that saddened me and turned once more to my best antidote – exercise. I guess it could be ice cream and then I’d
weight several hundred pounds, so I’m grateful I lean the way I do. Life happens.
I’ll be fine.
Run:
20 minutes.
Hike:
One hour.
Training
Heart Rate: 150 running and 70-90 bpm hiking.
Calories
Burned: 1000.
Bonus:
23,000 steps
