I did a small easy trail run today. Kind of an unfocused week for my training, so I decided I'd explore every new trail I saw that I haven't been on yet. Plus I did my usual yellow trail loop & red trail loop both backwards. Woo - hoooo, living dangerously! Total mileage 6, 4 running & 2 hiking.
Funny, when going the opposite direction you really do see things differently. Some side trails that typically look so minor were like open invitations to run down. And I did. Kind of warm day, and I saw deer, squirel & chipmunks all busy and scampering wildly when interupted by random human running down their trails. Most interesting sighting: one new trail led past an old house foundation. I stopped for a few mins and explored around. Stone bldg, with 'newer' front & back patios of yellow brick. Those looked to be 1950's -ish add ons to an older (1920's ish??) house. Basically I suck at knowing how to date these things so I could be way off. House collapsed both into the basement and along the sides. Piles of stones, just a few bricks. Up & just a few feet away was an old hand dug, stone lined well (more in a sec on that). Down the path about 50 feet was another stone foundation that appears to me as a work house of some sort. More crudely built and it's right over a spring that runs out an arch at the one end. Still standing, some wood & hinges intact. But back to the well. I peered down for a moment - hard to guess the depth but maybe 20 feet. Lots of sticks down there, no water visible in the bottom. The 'drum' which used to hold the rope & bucket have been dropped down into the well. Cool stuff, i like to explore old sites like this. Anyway I thought I saw something like maybe made from leather stuck in the wall most of the way down. Maybe some kind of climbing gear that was left behind by someone? Would I dare to climb down there and trust that I could get out? I moved to the other side to get a better view - and damn if the thing didn't move!! It was a big black snake. Very thick and strong looking. Then my eyes focused on several more down there. 2 big ones and 2 smaller. Three appeared black, at least one of those with a white underside. The forth guy was maybe a garter with short stripe pattern (not lengthwise), or maybe even some other type of snake. Freaky snake pit ! I wonder if they were getting ready to hibernate of if they've fallen in there and can't climb out?
Anyway, it was way cool as I like to explore & discover stuff like that. When I got home I quick grabbed my boys and we went back with flashlights so I could show them. We were all Indiana Jones snake-pit exploring style. I try to instill them with a sense of adventure with stuff like that. In fact, we were having so much fun that I lost track of time and my son was late to soccer practice. Oops.
I did alot of exploring around when i was a kid. The best line of the day: my younger son said, "I wish I could invent a time machine so that Joey & I could go back in time to when you were a boy. Then we could do nature hikes & explore with you when you were a boy."
Awesome.
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Slip & Fall
Not only have I fallen behind on the blogging yet again, but today I had a nasty fall while on a long hike along the Conestoga Trail. Took the wrong line thru a creek crossing and was on some slippery mossy boulders when I lost it. Actually went over a small (very small) water fall and down to the next level. Landed hard, bounced over a few other rocks and finally stopped in a sitting position - right in a mud puddle. Got up & climbed out of there to quickly get moving again. Then started assessing the damage. Could've been worse.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Fri-Sat-Sunday notes
Moving backwards to record my recent workouts:
Sunday - 6 miles trail run. Worked hard on the uphills. Started to feel really good after the half way point but resisted the urge to add on extra miles. Went out there to get 5 or 6 at medium hard effort and got it done. Weather 70 degrees & 95% humidity.
I'm just taking these workouts one or two days at a time. Not 'planning' or scheduling anything to far in advance. Enjoying it, and damn well hope it leads somewhere!
Saturday - 5 miles easy around neighborhood. Got out there early, weather pretty good after yesterday's massive thunderstorms. Surprised to see some of the splits were quick (in the 8:00 to 8:15 range) but the effort was easy.
Friday - 10 mile hike at medium pace with 3x 5 mins. breaks. This is my first official training hike in prep for the SSH challenge. Since I have a knack for getting lost in the woods, I hooked up with a few other hikers. I feel like I now know this half of the course pretty well and next time on these trails I'll be running (where possible - tough trails here). My legs were feeling a bit of a pump at the conclusion of this 10 mile hike.
The following is a detailed report of these trails. I do this as much for any others who plan to cover this ground as just for myself so that I can remember the tougher sections. We hiked S2N, so I'm reconstructing these notes because the race is the opposite direction.
Beginning from Otter Creek Campground: first of all, we skipped the the first mile loop up to Osprey Overlook thinking that any one of us could come back on our own to do that piece anytime. Sooo...
the trail literally goes right thru the campground. Blaze marks are blue. Uphill from 'lil store thru a few sites and goes into the woods toward Sawmill Run behind campsite 92 (or there about). Immediately you get some thorns & stinging nettles for a short patch, then woods along creek to wooden bridge. Nice view before steep short climb to logging road. This is State Game Lands(SGL) 83. Road is muddy, deep potholes/puddles to be avioded. About half mile run up to left turn where Furnace Run joins Sawmill. Now along different old road...more grassy/overgrown. This is about a mile long gradually climbing & changes from grassy to wooded alongside creek. Parts have slippery rocks.
In general, long stretches of this trail are rocky. And these rocks are often in speckled sunlight making them tough to see. And sometimes wet and/or mossy (i.e. tricky footing). Generally most the running is in the first half of the course (from stories I hear about 2nd half)...and on the first half I can see that most running is early - i.e. first quarter of this race will be faster whether you go out too fast or not!
Now the trail climbs very steep, then short flat ridge before coming out to an utility road. Turn left, this is easy running segment, third of mile, then thru gate, right onto paved road for 150 yards, crossing road into woods. Look for blue blaze mark, and big poison ivy patch. Short rocky/choppy section in woods, left turn to a total bitch of a section along the side of a corn field. Really overgrown with p. i. and some thorns. I sent a message to the local trail club that this section really needs to be cleaned up before race day; otherwise, maybe corn crop will be done and we can run where the first row used to be. You pop out at a "T" intersection and go str8 across onto Newcut Road (slight uphill). The next mile is roads: gravel (Newcut) then paved (Posey) then gravel (past Blaine jct). A right takes you into SGL 181. This is a wide grass/gravel road. Shade, uphill, nice.
This is mile marker 6, and first water stop here. Then thru gate & start downhill. Longgg steady downhill... old road now has become thick, high grass. Still very wide. This is like a beautiful old country road to nowhere. There's a bend in the road, and when you go around it then the grassy road looks like it just goes down down down forever. This should be the fastest running mile of the entire 25 mile course. No kidding this is almost a mile of steady downhill grassy old farm road with the last half mile straight as an arrow down into dark heavy woods and with woods lining both sides all the way down. Awesome! Wouldn't it be great to run downhill all the time? When you enter the woods at the bottom the trail goes left alongside a creek- this is Oakland's Run. It's like at least 15 degrees cooler in here compared to out in the sun. There's a huge rock I call the "Steamship Rock" which is practically all by itself on the forest floor and jutting out from a hillside toward the creek. (btw, there's a geocache find exactly here if u r so inclined). Anyway, you follow the creek down hill at least one mile toward the mighty river. At one point you cross creek and then climb several steep up & down sections. You're moving from a Hemlock stand, or grove, into what i can only describe as a Rhododendrum Forest. I've never seen so many rhodo's all together. Must be awesome in springtime. Rocky stretches & unsafe footing for running as you get to the bottom of the run and then turn right as the trail goes alongside the Susquehanna for about 1 mile. When you start to pass a few little cottages, the trail begins to change into another grassy old road. When there's a fork, stay left along the river. This didn't seem well blazed/signed...stay left. The road becomes more of a gravel road. You will pass the hydroelectic dam and a few DANGER signs - no swimming, duh. Just after the damn, look for a right turn off road up into the woods. This is well marked. Climbing uphill steady, then more steeply. Cross under 2 electric power lines - this area is steep with unsure footing and somewhat overgrown with p.i. and thorny patches. Finally levels out for a short piece, but then very steep downhill on some newly cut-in switchbacks. Loose footing - dangerous. At the bottom is Mill Creek. You hug the side of the creek for a few minutes. Rocky and slippery. At the bottom where the trail joins a gravel road is a great waterfall but you'll have to stop & turn around to look back up at it... just when the road offers the chance to run once again.
Big sections of this trail are not 'runable' because it's just too steep up (or down) or because of slippery rocks. You have to pick your spots. And be ready to slow down as soon as you see terrain changing. Be ready to walk/hike. If this was a shorter race you could attack every hill, but this is 25 miles amigo!
Take a right when the Mill Creek hits the gravel road. Almost immediately look for left down a short embankment. There's a very old looking stone foundation here, and a guardrail along this side of road. Short descent gets you onto trail alongside the big river. Slippery rocks for a half mile until the Historic Lock 12 area. Should be able to run along here, pay attention to trail...not views. Arrive at playground/restrooms/parking lot and this is water stop #2. Course is a bit of mystery after here, but assume you go uphill thru both parking lots, left on gravel road, left onto highway and then across Rt 372 big bridge. I don't see any other trail leading up onto bridge approach. Plus that would round up the mileage to make this side of the river 12 miles ( and other side will be 13). Other side is supposedly more challenging climbs & descents. Look forward to that next week. I may need to invest in a machette for the overgrown parts of this course!!
Sunday - 6 miles trail run. Worked hard on the uphills. Started to feel really good after the half way point but resisted the urge to add on extra miles. Went out there to get 5 or 6 at medium hard effort and got it done. Weather 70 degrees & 95% humidity.
I'm just taking these workouts one or two days at a time. Not 'planning' or scheduling anything to far in advance. Enjoying it, and damn well hope it leads somewhere!
Saturday - 5 miles easy around neighborhood. Got out there early, weather pretty good after yesterday's massive thunderstorms. Surprised to see some of the splits were quick (in the 8:00 to 8:15 range) but the effort was easy.
Friday - 10 mile hike at medium pace with 3x 5 mins. breaks. This is my first official training hike in prep for the SSH challenge. Since I have a knack for getting lost in the woods, I hooked up with a few other hikers. I feel like I now know this half of the course pretty well and next time on these trails I'll be running (where possible - tough trails here). My legs were feeling a bit of a pump at the conclusion of this 10 mile hike.
The following is a detailed report of these trails. I do this as much for any others who plan to cover this ground as just for myself so that I can remember the tougher sections. We hiked S2N, so I'm reconstructing these notes because the race is the opposite direction.
Beginning from Otter Creek Campground: first of all, we skipped the the first mile loop up to Osprey Overlook thinking that any one of us could come back on our own to do that piece anytime. Sooo...
the trail literally goes right thru the campground. Blaze marks are blue. Uphill from 'lil store thru a few sites and goes into the woods toward Sawmill Run behind campsite 92 (or there about). Immediately you get some thorns & stinging nettles for a short patch, then woods along creek to wooden bridge. Nice view before steep short climb to logging road. This is State Game Lands(SGL) 83. Road is muddy, deep potholes/puddles to be avioded. About half mile run up to left turn where Furnace Run joins Sawmill. Now along different old road...more grassy/overgrown. This is about a mile long gradually climbing & changes from grassy to wooded alongside creek. Parts have slippery rocks.
In general, long stretches of this trail are rocky. And these rocks are often in speckled sunlight making them tough to see. And sometimes wet and/or mossy (i.e. tricky footing). Generally most the running is in the first half of the course (from stories I hear about 2nd half)...and on the first half I can see that most running is early - i.e. first quarter of this race will be faster whether you go out too fast or not!
Now the trail climbs very steep, then short flat ridge before coming out to an utility road. Turn left, this is easy running segment, third of mile, then thru gate, right onto paved road for 150 yards, crossing road into woods. Look for blue blaze mark, and big poison ivy patch. Short rocky/choppy section in woods, left turn to a total bitch of a section along the side of a corn field. Really overgrown with p. i. and some thorns. I sent a message to the local trail club that this section really needs to be cleaned up before race day; otherwise, maybe corn crop will be done and we can run where the first row used to be. You pop out at a "T" intersection and go str8 across onto Newcut Road (slight uphill). The next mile is roads: gravel (Newcut) then paved (Posey) then gravel (past Blaine jct). A right takes you into SGL 181. This is a wide grass/gravel road. Shade, uphill, nice.
This is mile marker 6, and first water stop here. Then thru gate & start downhill. Longgg steady downhill... old road now has become thick, high grass. Still very wide. This is like a beautiful old country road to nowhere. There's a bend in the road, and when you go around it then the grassy road looks like it just goes down down down forever. This should be the fastest running mile of the entire 25 mile course. No kidding this is almost a mile of steady downhill grassy old farm road with the last half mile straight as an arrow down into dark heavy woods and with woods lining both sides all the way down. Awesome! Wouldn't it be great to run downhill all the time? When you enter the woods at the bottom the trail goes left alongside a creek- this is Oakland's Run. It's like at least 15 degrees cooler in here compared to out in the sun. There's a huge rock I call the "Steamship Rock" which is practically all by itself on the forest floor and jutting out from a hillside toward the creek. (btw, there's a geocache find exactly here if u r so inclined). Anyway, you follow the creek down hill at least one mile toward the mighty river. At one point you cross creek and then climb several steep up & down sections. You're moving from a Hemlock stand, or grove, into what i can only describe as a Rhododendrum Forest. I've never seen so many rhodo's all together. Must be awesome in springtime. Rocky stretches & unsafe footing for running as you get to the bottom of the run and then turn right as the trail goes alongside the Susquehanna for about 1 mile. When you start to pass a few little cottages, the trail begins to change into another grassy old road. When there's a fork, stay left along the river. This didn't seem well blazed/signed...stay left. The road becomes more of a gravel road. You will pass the hydroelectic dam and a few DANGER signs - no swimming, duh. Just after the damn, look for a right turn off road up into the woods. This is well marked. Climbing uphill steady, then more steeply. Cross under 2 electric power lines - this area is steep with unsure footing and somewhat overgrown with p.i. and thorny patches. Finally levels out for a short piece, but then very steep downhill on some newly cut-in switchbacks. Loose footing - dangerous. At the bottom is Mill Creek. You hug the side of the creek for a few minutes. Rocky and slippery. At the bottom where the trail joins a gravel road is a great waterfall but you'll have to stop & turn around to look back up at it... just when the road offers the chance to run once again.
Big sections of this trail are not 'runable' because it's just too steep up (or down) or because of slippery rocks. You have to pick your spots. And be ready to slow down as soon as you see terrain changing. Be ready to walk/hike. If this was a shorter race you could attack every hill, but this is 25 miles amigo!
Take a right when the Mill Creek hits the gravel road. Almost immediately look for left down a short embankment. There's a very old looking stone foundation here, and a guardrail along this side of road. Short descent gets you onto trail alongside the big river. Slippery rocks for a half mile until the Historic Lock 12 area. Should be able to run along here, pay attention to trail...not views. Arrive at playground/restrooms/parking lot and this is water stop #2. Course is a bit of mystery after here, but assume you go uphill thru both parking lots, left on gravel road, left onto highway and then across Rt 372 big bridge. I don't see any other trail leading up onto bridge approach. Plus that would round up the mileage to make this side of the river 12 miles ( and other side will be 13). Other side is supposedly more challenging climbs & descents. Look forward to that next week. I may need to invest in a machette for the overgrown parts of this course!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Legs are beat up
This is a recap of Sunday, Mon., Tues since I've been busy and not blogging.
Tues: whew, my legs are sore. Some aches & pains in feet & knees, but nothing too bad. Main problem is quads very beat up from Sunday's long trail run. Glad I did it, but paying the price of DOMS today. Rest day, no workout.
Mon: Legs tired & sore from yesterday's really long hard effort. But I really forced myself to get out there and put in a few miles. Alot of times Runner's World and/or other sources say to clear out the legs by running a few miles the day after a tough effort. We'll see if there's any truth to that. I've always taken the approach that easy 'junk' miles are counter productive and so instead will usually just take rest days totally off to recover. I can see the mileage benefits of a more active recovery... just hope the body holds up okay with this new approach. 5 miles ez.
Sunday: Great long trail run - done solo - with plenty of hills. 14 miles total, about evenly split with flat sections and hills. Some hills very steep. Really took my time, 10 minute pace. Also took 2 five minute breaks back at the car to refuel/hydrate. So that would make it more like 11 min.pace but I stopped my watch during these breaks. Total climbing approximately 700 - 1,000 feet. I just looked at the Topo maps and seems to be closer to 1,000 ft. Also add the same for downhills, some of which were very steep/not traditional trails.
I am toying with the idea of a very long trail race/hiking challenge in Sept. The Susquehanna Super Hike is a running and/or hiking event. It is 25 miles and features 4,200 of elevation gain (8,400 total up and down). Link is here. I came to find out about this by chance, but it's interesting. Problem is that the PDR 13.1 is 8 days later. However, I am increasingly doubtful that I can take a real shot at a new personal best because my workouts just don't seem to be showing me that I've got it right now. So the trail race is appealing in leiu of a PR attempt.
So I'm thinking about it. And the long long trail runs with tons of steep hills can't hurt no matter which way I decide ... right?
Tues: whew, my legs are sore. Some aches & pains in feet & knees, but nothing too bad. Main problem is quads very beat up from Sunday's long trail run. Glad I did it, but paying the price of DOMS today. Rest day, no workout.
Mon: Legs tired & sore from yesterday's really long hard effort. But I really forced myself to get out there and put in a few miles. Alot of times Runner's World and/or other sources say to clear out the legs by running a few miles the day after a tough effort. We'll see if there's any truth to that. I've always taken the approach that easy 'junk' miles are counter productive and so instead will usually just take rest days totally off to recover. I can see the mileage benefits of a more active recovery... just hope the body holds up okay with this new approach. 5 miles ez.
Sunday: Great long trail run - done solo - with plenty of hills. 14 miles total, about evenly split with flat sections and hills. Some hills very steep. Really took my time, 10 minute pace. Also took 2 five minute breaks back at the car to refuel/hydrate. So that would make it more like 11 min.pace but I stopped my watch during these breaks. Total climbing approximately 700 - 1,000 feet. I just looked at the Topo maps and seems to be closer to 1,000 ft. Also add the same for downhills, some of which were very steep/not traditional trails.
I am toying with the idea of a very long trail race/hiking challenge in Sept. The Susquehanna Super Hike is a running and/or hiking event. It is 25 miles and features 4,200 of elevation gain (8,400 total up and down). Link is here. I came to find out about this by chance, but it's interesting. Problem is that the PDR 13.1 is 8 days later. However, I am increasingly doubtful that I can take a real shot at a new personal best because my workouts just don't seem to be showing me that I've got it right now. So the trail race is appealing in leiu of a PR attempt.
So I'm thinking about it. And the long long trail runs with tons of steep hills can't hurt no matter which way I decide ... right?
Friday, January 23, 2009
Who's Highest?
I spent some time looking at the websites for all three marathons that I'm considering. Vermont City, Buffalo, and Ottawa are all on Sunday May 24th. I'm sort of committed to this date so that the wife & kids can come along as my cheering/support crew. This will be a Memorial Day mini-vacation for us.
Also, the day before my buddy Rob is getting married in Bean Town, so I'm hopeful that we can do the wedding (and most likely have to skip the reception)... and then reasonably travel the rest of the way. Burlington, VT makes that game plan work the best.
Other considerations are that Canada just seems too complicated. Passports & plane rides. Buffalo has a few advantages in that they offer a half marathon(VCM does not) so if my training goes badly then I could request to step down from full to half. Buffalo costs $10 less than VCM but gives both a quality shirt plus a "I'm in training" t-shirt. That's nice.
The best runner comments I've heard all say VCM is the choice. Also it's the best option if we're going to combine the wedding & race weekends together. So therefore Vermont City gets the nod. According to their website the race is already 40% full (1,400 regist'd outta 3,500 spots). I figure I'll wait another 3 or 4 weeks to be certain that my progress continues.
I'm psyched to have make this decision! I've never been to VT before. I did see the Green Mtns over Lake Champlain when i was on the top of Mount Marcy, NY in summer of '07. Just looked up some VT facts: they are bigger in area than Delaware but smaller in population. That makes Del one of the most densely populated states & Vt one of the least. They have the mountains, we have the shore (or beach as the locals call it). They have an international border; we have the Mason-Dixon line which is sort-of a border. We also have the only weird circle-arc border that projects into MD & NJ due to the very olde fashioned way that things were mapped out. VT's highest elevation is 10 times higher than DE's...but the marathon is supposedly mostly flat, along the shore of Lake Champlain, with some small rolling hills. Delaware's also unique in that there are 3 notable places of "highest elevation" which I read about once but can't seem to find a webpage to link with now.
I've been to the top of all three spots. A marker of highest point is along Ebright Road, and is the official spot. But next to that is a trailer park (of all things!) and the streets within the park were graded for drainage when it was created so that there is clearly a small hill which is higher than the Ebright Road location. I've read that this place doesn't officially count because it's man made and therefore it's only a footnote to the real place. Also, a third spot is the top of Iron Hill, which is just south of Newark. This is the highest "summit" entirely within the state of Delaware. The official location on Ebright is an uphill grade that continues into PA with the top of the hill in the other state. Several other states have this same issue - Connecticut & Massachusetts for instance - where the highest point is the side of a hill which peaks outside their own state in their neighbor's state. DE is the only state I'm aware of that has this combination of 3 highest points depending on how do you want to define who's highest.
Also, the day before my buddy Rob is getting married in Bean Town, so I'm hopeful that we can do the wedding (and most likely have to skip the reception)... and then reasonably travel the rest of the way. Burlington, VT makes that game plan work the best.
Other considerations are that Canada just seems too complicated. Passports & plane rides. Buffalo has a few advantages in that they offer a half marathon(VCM does not) so if my training goes badly then I could request to step down from full to half. Buffalo costs $10 less than VCM but gives both a quality shirt plus a "I'm in training" t-shirt. That's nice.
The best runner comments I've heard all say VCM is the choice. Also it's the best option if we're going to combine the wedding & race weekends together. So therefore Vermont City gets the nod. According to their website the race is already 40% full (1,400 regist'd outta 3,500 spots). I figure I'll wait another 3 or 4 weeks to be certain that my progress continues.
I'm psyched to have make this decision! I've never been to VT before. I did see the Green Mtns over Lake Champlain when i was on the top of Mount Marcy, NY in summer of '07. Just looked up some VT facts: they are bigger in area than Delaware but smaller in population. That makes Del one of the most densely populated states & Vt one of the least. They have the mountains, we have the shore (or beach as the locals call it). They have an international border; we have the Mason-Dixon line which is sort-of a border. We also have the only weird circle-arc border that projects into MD & NJ due to the very olde fashioned way that things were mapped out. VT's highest elevation is 10 times higher than DE's...but the marathon is supposedly mostly flat, along the shore of Lake Champlain, with some small rolling hills. Delaware's also unique in that there are 3 notable places of "highest elevation" which I read about once but can't seem to find a webpage to link with now.
I've been to the top of all three spots. A marker of highest point is along Ebright Road, and is the official spot. But next to that is a trailer park (of all things!) and the streets within the park were graded for drainage when it was created so that there is clearly a small hill which is higher than the Ebright Road location. I've read that this place doesn't officially count because it's man made and therefore it's only a footnote to the real place. Also, a third spot is the top of Iron Hill, which is just south of Newark. This is the highest "summit" entirely within the state of Delaware. The official location on Ebright is an uphill grade that continues into PA with the top of the hill in the other state. Several other states have this same issue - Connecticut & Massachusetts for instance - where the highest point is the side of a hill which peaks outside their own state in their neighbor's state. DE is the only state I'm aware of that has this combination of 3 highest points depending on how do you want to define who's highest.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Ketchup N Camping
Ok, trying to catch up with blog entries. I can't sleep and there's 175 channels of crap on the tube. So in reverse order... here we go:
Saturday began with a horrible night's sleep since that's the standard drill for these things. Bacon & eggs & pancakes - which I would normally never eat that type of stuff at 7:30 a.m. but the boys had already been successful in lowering my resistance. Then outside where the temp was about 3 degrees Fahrenheit. No kiddin, really friggin freezin cold. Think witch's teat in a brass bra level of cold. All the dudes with Volvo's, Beamers & Mercedes were going out to their cars to check the on-board thermometers. Ugh. Anyway, as the day progressed the temp came up to something like 25 F and there was no wind that I could tell (may be the woods). Had a good day. Hiked a bit - hadn't worn my hiking boots since last summer? Here's a pic: that's us on the hanging bridge over the frozen creek. The boards all creaked & groaned as we climbed & crossed this contraption. I'm sure it was perfectly safe but the boys got a kick out of thinking that the thing might collapse onto the ice at any moment.
Thursday I had a very busy day and didn't get home until like 7:30 which is entirely too late. No exercise, but a pretty decent day otherwise.
Wednesday I had time for the Y and a lil cross traing session. I really felt like a run, but forced myself not to do that because I'd run the last two workouts in a row and I really have to contain my enthusiasm so as to not re-injure myself. 40 mins of lite cardio, most of that on the stationary bike. Then I did a good stretch - did I mention that rest & STRETCHING get the credit for my speedy recovery. Cross training is really just filling up time while burning a few calories. It cannot begin to provide the fitness improvement effects of running. And swimming is just something I don't seem to get. (yes, after a gland total of one (1) swim workout I have given up on that as a viable xtraing method - mostly the calf cramps to blame. see entry 1/7/09 here). I hit the weights for a moderate effort. Then proceeded home to eat wayyy too much for lunch. No wonder I can never seem to lose those final extra 10 pounds.
Saturday began with a horrible night's sleep since that's the standard drill for these things. Bacon & eggs & pancakes - which I would normally never eat that type of stuff at 7:30 a.m. but the boys had already been successful in lowering my resistance. Then outside where the temp was about 3 degrees Fahrenheit. No kiddin, really friggin freezin cold. Think witch's teat in a brass bra level of cold. All the dudes with Volvo's, Beamers & Mercedes were going out to their cars to check the on-board thermometers. Ugh. Anyway, as the day progressed the temp came up to something like 25 F and there was no wind that I could tell (may be the woods). Had a good day. Hiked a bit - hadn't worn my hiking boots since last summer? Here's a pic: that's us on the hanging bridge over the frozen creek. The boards all creaked & groaned as we climbed & crossed this contraption. I'm sure it was perfectly safe but the boys got a kick out of thinking that the thing might collapse onto the ice at any moment.
Thursday I had a very busy day and didn't get home until like 7:30 which is entirely too late. No exercise, but a pretty decent day otherwise.
Wednesday I had time for the Y and a lil cross traing session. I really felt like a run, but forced myself not to do that because I'd run the last two workouts in a row and I really have to contain my enthusiasm so as to not re-injure myself. 40 mins of lite cardio, most of that on the stationary bike. Then I did a good stretch - did I mention that rest & STRETCHING get the credit for my speedy recovery. Cross training is really just filling up time while burning a few calories. It cannot begin to provide the fitness improvement effects of running. And swimming is just something I don't seem to get. (yes, after a gland total of one (1) swim workout I have given up on that as a viable xtraing method - mostly the calf cramps to blame. see entry 1/7/09 here). I hit the weights for a moderate effort. Then proceeded home to eat wayyy too much for lunch. No wonder I can never seem to lose those final extra 10 pounds.
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