Tag Archives: adventure

A Whole New Level of Pain

Posted on December 21, 2008 | Leave a comment

Last weekend was quite a blur, and the week which followed was no slacker either. Consequently I’ve had a couple of posts queued up which I haven’t made yet, this one being one of them.

Very early Friday morning I flew to Atlanta where I had a completely full afternoon lined up. It started with a lunch meeting to which I arrived precisely on time from the airport. After a completely full day I treated my parents to dinner at Amalfi, a really nice little family run Italian restaurant on the south side of Roswell. Like me, my parents were in town to see the Greatest Kid in the World perform in the Nutcracker Ballet.

The next morning we got up and went shopping, but that’s a subject for my next post. After shopping we drove to the small town where the GKITW lives and watched her perform in the Nutcracker, did our traditional after show dinner and then drove back in time to crawl in bed at midnight.

I was up again at 4:00 am to catch a 6:10 am flight from Atlanta to Dallas. I was headed back because I wanted to join a day hike in Mineral Wells, Texas with a new group of friends. Landing at DFW at about 7:40 gave me enough time to drive the hour and a half out to Mineral Wells and get a little breakfast along the way.

As the map shows below, we actually started our hike in a tiny little “town” called Garner, Texas. How Garner qualifies to have any designation at all on the map is kind of hard to understand. The best that I could tell it consists of a church and a convenience store across the road from one another. That’s it.

Anyway, we entered the trail at Garner and walked toward Mineral Wells. The folks I was with are part of the same backpacking group that I made my aborted camping trip with last month. Healthy this time, I was eager to get my hike on and see what the day would be like. The weather could not have been better. It was a little breezy at first, bright blue sky and a high of 75 degrees. We were planning for a solid 14 miles, which is trail length from Garner to Mineral Wells and back as you can see:


View Larger Map

The hike was exactly what I had hoped for – about as physically aggressive as you can get on flat land without running. Our pace was somewhere between 3-4 miles per hour the entire way out and back. The trail was about as wide, smooth and flat as you can get. It is an old converted rail bed that has had the rails and ties stripped out so that folks like us can enjoy a long walk.

We made three stops in our 14 mile trek. The first and third were at a small park dedicated to Vietnam War helicopter pilots. Apparently the Mineral Wells area was where the Army trained helicopter pilots for quite a long time. The second stop, ironically enough, was at a McDonald’s on the eastern edge of Mineral Wells. There we were, doing some awesome healthy hiking and we go and stop at Mickey D’s. I had a cheeseburger and a small Coke. Most everybody else had an ice cream sundae. Obviously we were burning it all off, I just thought it was funny that we hiked through the Texas countryside with great exercise and scenery and a McDonald’s was our halfway point.

After that we headed back, and the last few miles our bodies started to protest the pace and distance. 75 degrees started to feel a little hot in the sun when the breeze stopped. Also, we never slackened our pace, going just about as fast as we could the whole way. A couple of us started to run low on water, and they in particular were feeling it. As far as that was concerned I was fine. I had my 100 ounce Camelbak and though it was getting pretty light the last few miles I felt plenty hydrated. It was obvious that we were sweating a lot. In five hours of hiking I had to pee only once while drinking almost three quarts of water and a Coke.

My adaptation to our speed was another matter. My legs were getting sore before we ever reached our starting point, which was a big warning sign that caught my attention. By the time we got back I was definitely feeling it, and once we stopped moving while we formed up around our cars to say chat a bit and say goodbye the alarm bells were going off. My legs were getting cramps just standing around. After a short while we all loaded up and headed off to our various destinations.

After driving nearly two hours to get back to Uptown I parked the car in the deck and went to step out of it and stand up. OUCH!!

Feet, legs, lower back – they were all very angry with me. I was stiff as a board. Shuffling slowly up the apartment I must have looked like a physical therapy patient. And I was exhausted. A vegetable really. I was so tired that I couldn’t even think clearly. I took a long hot bath to try to make the muscle aches a little better and it did help. As I sat there and soaked it occurred to me that my legs were actually more sore after this hike than they were after climbing Pike’s Peak! It had to be the pace. Pike’s was grueling but slow. We were moving when we went to Mineral Wells and back, and that had to be the cause. The good news – my knees were perfectly fine, which is further proof that all my exercise since September is really paying off.

The rest of the evening was a collapse into exhaustion. Originally I had planned to cook a dinner and chill out like I often do on a Sunday night, but there was no way in heck I was doing that last Sunday. Standing long enough to cook a dinner was out of the question. I can’t remember what I ate, but I sure didn’t cook it.

I tried to watch the Cowboys-Giants game, but by half time it was obvious I wasn’t going to make it to the end. I had started the day at 3:00 am Central Time, literally hiked my butt off, and stayed up until about 9:00 pm. A pretty solid 19 hour day! I hobbled to bed and slept a deep dreamless sleep for about 10 hours before waking up. It wasn’t enough. I was slow and dopey and achey all day long, but still really glad that I went. That level of exertion was actually exactly what I was looking for. I’m going to keep pushing myself harder and harder until I can do… I’m not sure what. Some really cool fun adventurous stuff. And I’m going to enjoy it the whole way!

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Hiking Again and Again

Posted on December 7, 2008 | Leave a comment

This was a great weekend to be outside, and I soaked up as much of it as I could.

Yesterday I drove up to the north shore of Lake Grapevine for the 2nd time this fall to take a hike with a large group. We got started around 10:30. It was interesting for me to experience this trail as a hiker, since last time I had been one of the mountain bikers that we spent a fair bit of the hike dodging. I felt a little better watching some people who obviously knew what they were doing on a bike struggle to make it up some of the rockier climbing stretches. That had been me just last month.

But yesterday was easy by comparison. You really could not have asked for better conditions. Cool but not cold, dry, clear and not too much wind. I had to be back in Uptown by 3:30 and didn’t want to cut it close, so I did the math and figured my halfway point to be 12:30. The portion of the group that I wound up with included someone who has been slowly recovering from an ankle injury, so we were not pushing the pace very hard on the way out. We were enjoying conversation and getting to know each other a bit, which also kept us at a reasonable pace.

When it was time for me to turn around I was on my own. Everyone else was continuing on a bit further and then meeting for lunch and drinks afterward, so they were in no rush to get back. I decided that since I was on my own I would try to make the return trip more of a workout than a stroll, and pushed myself pretty hard. Just by walking fast on the rugged terrain I was able to get to a heart rate of about 120 bpm on the uphill stretches. Funny enough, while in that mode I was easily passing some of the mountain bikers while going uphill, then on the downhill stretches they would catch me again.

What took two hours on the way out took just over an hour on the way back. It wasn’t like maximum effort on the elliptical machine, but it was a good workout. The best part was that although one of my knees and both my calves were just a bit stiff for the rest of the day it was nothing like I had been this summer after hiking the Muir Woods. It seems pretty clear that all of my exercising has really helped my knees a lot – exciting – I’m not even really all that conditioned yet. I figure if I keep this up I’ll be in great shape for hiking long distances.

Today I got another perspective on how my aerobic conditioning is making a difference. I did not think I’d have time for any more outdoor activities today but it turned out that I did. I was able to get my “chores” done in the morning and that left my afternoon free. So naturally I went hiking again.

I met up with some other folks from the same hiking group this afternoon to go for a short trek through the Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve near Joe Pool Lake. I had done that exact route once before while on a date back in May. That time I recall being just a little winded on a few stretches. This time it felt almost effortless by comparison, and that was after doing one of my regular workouts this morning on the elliptical before the hike. Again, this is exciting stuff for me. I know I’ve got quite a bit of improvement I can do on conditioning still, and as I keep getting better it’s got me feeling more adventurous. This is exactly what I wanted.

I’m thinking about going back to Pike’s Peak next summer. That mountain nearly did me in back in July. This year? Well, I know a lot better than to expect it to be easy, but I’ll bet if I keep up my training I’m certain that it won’t be anywhere nearly as difficult as it was last time.

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Hardcore Training? Really?

Posted on November 15, 2008 | Leave a comment

Something really cool resulted from all of my adventures this past summer. The extreme exertion I experienced while hiking up Pike’s Peak and riding the Cotton Patch Classic on a mountain bike had two big results for me. First, I realized how much gratification I got from the adventure and achievement related to pushing myself as hard as I could go during outdoor activities like that. Second, I realized that neither of those two adventures should have sent me so close to the edge of what I could do.

The final mile before summiting Pike’s Peak was truly challenging. I was hypoxic, my lips turning blue, feeling dizzy, heaving for breath and stumbling a lot. Granted, I’m used to sea level and that’s 14,000 feet, but it still shouldn’t have been that hard. As for the Cotton Patch, the last three miles of the 41 mile route I took were at the limit of what I could make myself do. My knees and thighs were most unhappy with me by that point. There were times at the end where I needed to “dig down” and power up a few very mild inclines and my muscles were wavering on the edge of not being able to do what my mind was telling them to. I’d go to push down on the pedal and things would just sort of go wobbly instead of the crank doing the spin like it ought to. And then there is what my knees would do to me. The day after Pike’s and the bike ride the ligaments in my knees really hurt whenever I walked downhill or made any sudden or fancy moves, like say the kind of stuff you’d do if you were playing Frisbee. Clearly I needed to build some strength and get my joints in better shape.

So, there I was enjoying this new level of exertion and adventure but also on the edge of not being able to do it. I resolved to change that, and the week after the Cotton Patch I started working out much harder than I ever have before. I now had two experiences that made me realize just how hard I could actually push myself, and so starting in late September when I was working out I knew that “the wall” was much farther out there than I had allowed myself to believe in earlier times.

Ever since then I’ve done three new things when it comes to my workouts. First, I’ve taken up the intensity and done so quantitatively. Second, I’m working out a lot longer than I used to. Third, I’m working out much more often. Together these things are making a big difference.

I used to try to guess my level of exertion during a workout – pushing myself “hard” but not so hard (in my reckoning anyway) that I would not be able to finish. Obviously that had not worked – I was way underestimating what I could do. So, I dusted off an old Polar brand heart rate monitor I had gotten as a Christmas gift a few years before and strapped it on. Presto – I was now able to see exactly where I was against my target heart rates and what I should be able to push myself to do. World of difference. For any of you out there reading this that have discounted the value of having one of these widgets while purusing improvements in your fitness, let me tell you – you’re full of it. Get one. Use it. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.

When I use the old Fox & Haskell method of determining your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) and then determine my target heart rates for aerobic workout from there, approximately 160 beats per minute would be the peak of my exertion before I got to VO2 Max. This is basically the maximum amount of exertion I could get to before I was essentially sprinting. By that measure I’ve discovered that I’m now pushing myself to the top of the chart in the “hardcore training” zone. Really? Hardcore training? I’m honestly surprised – you can see the chart here:

heart_rate_chart

The second change is the duration of my workouts. I used to go for 20 minutes. You know the old advice – if you aren’t going aerobic for at least 20 minutes it doesn’t make a difference in your fitness level. They key phrase there is “at least” – I had been using that minimum starting point as my finish line. Pretty ineffective.

One Saturday last month after I had broken up with my girlfriend I was depressed and mad and frustrated all at once. I got down to the gym, stood on the elliptical machine and started to dial in my workout. Weight, resistance and time… As the last step before I started it showed the default time of 20 minutes. For some reason at exactly that moment I remembered my decision at the Cotton Patch Classic not to take the turn for the 31 mile route and instead go for the 41. I stared at the flashing “20″ for a second and said to myself “No way.” I dialed in 40 minutes and set off. I did it of course, and now I do it every single time.

The third and final change I’ve made is frequency. Of all the changes I’ve made I think this one is actually the biggest. After all, if you don’t work out it doesn’t matter how hard or long you would have worked out. Showing up is essential. Here again I used to do the minimum. When focused at all I’d “squeeze in” three times a week depending on whatever else was going on. Essentially if I was “too tired” or “too hungry” or “too busy” in the morning or evening to go to the gym I wouldn’t. If the stars aligned just right I would go. Guess what? I didn’t go very often. In fact, I rarely made it even three times a week. Well enough of that.

Basically it doesn’t matter what’s going on now. I go. All the time. I’m very steadily doing 5-6 days per week now and I don’t let anything get in the way of that. If I’ve got stuff going on at night like social gatherings then I work through lunch, knock off a little early and hit the gym before I go out. I arrange my day and to some extent even my calendar around making sure that I’ll have the time and energy to go. It’s that simple – the difference between it being an aspiration and a true priority. I don’t ever, ever want to go back from that.

The benefits are just too numerous. I have more energy. I’m more optimistic. I can experience more in a day and a week than I used to because I’m not “resting” my way through life when something I can’t control doesn’t happen to be demanding my time.

So now I’m not vaguely slushing through a 20 minute workout on occasion wondering whether or not I’m pushing myelf. I’m going as hard as I can for twice the minimum time required almost every day. The results couldn’t be more clear. I’m gradually increasing the resistance that I use on the machine and keeping my heart rate just under VO2 Max the whole way. I’m obviously getting stronger and building more endurance. My knees have quit complaining. I have no trepidation at all about jumping on a mountain bike and going as hard as I can down the trail. I’m looking forward to more organized bike rides and some hard hiking this coming year.

This is good stuff. I still can’t get over the fact that I’m in the zone of “hardcore training.” That wasn’t what I had set out to do, but I’m glad I’m doing it!

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Bumps and Bruises

Posted on November 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

OK, maybe make that bumps, bruises, scrapes, scratches and strains.

Today I went for my second mountain bike ride on real terrain. Last weekend on the north shore of Lake Grapevine felt like a bit of a challenge, but this morning on the trail at the Oak Cliff Nature Preserve was far, far more difficult. I was with R today. R is one of those guys that you might see on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. He and his wife C are long term world-wide adventure seekers that do this sort of thing for a living with their travel business. In addition to knowing what he’s doing, R is also a really cool guy that has helped countless newbies like me pick up new adventure sports over the years. Good thing as it turned out.

Lake Grapevine’s trail is pretty rugged and even rocky, but on most of the trail’s length the slopes are gradual. The steeper inclines are certainly there, but they are not spaced all that closely together. They also do not quickly reverse themselves from going downhill to back uphill again. This turns out to be a very, very important difference. The trees on Lake Grapevine’s trail also factor in quite a bit less. This was also material.

At first Oak Cliff seems benign by comparison. The densely wooded trail has soft earth and leaves underneath heavy tree canopy in most places. Many of those stretches ride like silk. If Lake Grapevine was a rutted old dirt road then Oak Cliff was often the Autobahn. But then came the challenges.

Unfortunately, all those nice shady trees have trunks, which from the relative safety of a sidewalk stroll you might have noticed before. Such a pleasant stroll might lead you to believe that trees are purely good and passive organisms that accept whatever fate we dole out to them – becoming shade trees, firewood, memos, junk mail or paper cups. You might be forgiven for thinking that, but you would be wrong. Trees are actually very calculating, and after today I’m reasonably sure that the ones we leave standing are out for revenge. They know precisely how close they can get to a mountain bike trail so that you will be convinced – incorrectly – that you can easily and quickly pass through without harm. I know what you are thinking – hearing stories about somebody running into a tree on a bicycle probably sounds funny at some level. I mean, after all, it’s not like the tree is moving. How hard can they be to miss?

As it turns out, when you are moving very fast downhill and going around sharp curves on leaf covered ground, hitting a tree is really not all that hard to do. In fact, it’s easy enough that I was able to do it myself a couple of times over the course of 8 miles. One word – ouch.

Far more painful still was “pancaking” at the bottom of a small ravine with a floor of solid rock. I’m still not sure exactly what happened, other than to say that when you are heading down a 45-55 degree incline which quickly reverses itself and then goes back up just as fast, it’s a great idea to already have some notion of what you are doing. In my case, riding a bit too far forward on the seat – and then losing control of the handle bars when the shock of the uphill started – resulted in me continuing to proceed downhill. Directly into the rock floor. My helmet was the first thing to make contact, my shoulder the second. The bike (they may be in conspiracy with the trees I think) somehow ninja’d up into the air and came down on top of me after that. Maybe it bounced. I didn’t.

Anyway, the sound of the impact must have been pretty impressive. I could hear the alarm in R’s voice when he said “Stay down! Don’t move!” and rushed down the hill to look into my pupils. He wanted to make sure that the gouges on my helmet had not translated into anything worse underneath. It was at precisely this moment that I suddenly realized why you meet so few people like R who look like they could be on the cover of Men’s Health. The rest of them were obviously eaten by trees and rocks.

I was fine. I just hurt like @#$%& @*^& +#$@% for about five minutes. Now, ten hours later, I only hurt like @#$%, so things are getting better.

All of this is not to say that I won’t be mountain biking anymore, but you can be sure that I’ll be a bit more judicious about which trails I select until I get a little better at it. I think I’d prefer trails where the trees have been tamed a bit better, and the downhills aren’t solid rock half pipes.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll live long enough to make the cover of Men’s Health.

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