I'm not sure why I believe my friend Keith any more when he says things like, "No, really, we're almost there..."
This weekend, we attempted the Barr hike again. I thought we had made it at least half way to Barr Camp on our last excursion, but it turns out we had only made it about a quarter of the way. So When we reached the sign saying that it was another 3.5 miles to the camp, Tom and I turned around. I'm really glad we did too. I'm so sore again this week. I did, however make it twice as far as I did last time, so maybe a few more tries and I'll make it to the camp.
I can't believe how sore I am though!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Just Because You're Paranoid...
Today when I was chatting with my friend Rob, I mentioned that I might need to take into consideration battery life, durability, and the ability to dynamically map escape routes on trails when the Zombie Apocalypse comes when I go to buy a trail GPS. I don't think the one for my car would be quite as effective. He said, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” That led me to invent a new mantra for my training: Just because they DON’T exist doesn’t mean they WON’T!
I also had a terrible vision of these super-fit hikers/mountain runners turned into zombies. Would they be fast like the I Am Legend zombies or would they too shuffle along like the traditional ones? This goal may end up making me nuts if I'm not already.
I also had a terrible vision of these super-fit hikers/mountain runners turned into zombies. Would they be fast like the I Am Legend zombies or would they too shuffle along like the traditional ones? This goal may end up making me nuts if I'm not already.
Monday, January 04, 2010
A More Painful Start
Training for the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse (see below) progresses more quickly than I thought it might, actually. I attempted to begin training for the 5 K run, but had limited success. I don’t really have access to good trails or a track right now and there’s just enough ice on the ground to make it a tricky prospect. I find I’m concentrating too much on not wiping out on the slippery pavement and not at all on my interval timing. Speaking of which, I ordered a watch. Apparently, I will need one in order to time my intervals of running and walking so that I can work myself up to running a full 5 K in 30 minutes.
The Couch to 5 K program I found online is a little more ambitious than I think I could really handle. They’ve got you doing it in about 2 months. So I extended it to about 4 months, but I think I may now wait to begin that portion of my training until I can find a good dry track or path so that I can really focus.
In the mean time, I have found a swimming coach! My friend Cassie apparently taught swimming for many years and swears she can teach the least water-worthy people to do it. Maybe once it starts to warm up again, we’ll hit that one up too. Also I’ve really been doing some pretty intense hiking (for my athletic and skill level anyway). This weekend, we began the pursuit of Pikes Peak. Barr Trail is 6.5 miles to Barr Camp with an elevation gain of 3,800 ft, then another 3 miles to the A-Frame outpost. From there, it’s another 3+ miles to the summit of Pikes Peak. Then you do it all in reverse order back down to the trailhead in Manitou. Our plan is that by this summer, we want to be in good enough shape to make that in two days. We’d like to start off early in the morning to begin the climb, then stay at the A-Frame and take off a few hours before sunrise the next day so we can watch the sun come up over Colorado Springs from the top of the Peak. It should be pretty breath-taking. It would be particularly cool if we did it for the Summer Solstice, though that gives us a second day start of about 3 AM or even earlier! Well worth it for a once in a lifetime experience, I’d say, but we’ll have to see how the training is going before deciding on whether to stay at the Barr Camp or the A Frame, depending on how far we are able to make it in one day of course.
This weekend, I’d estimate we made it 1/3 of the way to Barr Camp. We went with a bunch of friends who quickly split into 2 groups: Those that have muscles and those that don’t. I was in the latter. The faster group may have made it half way to Barr camp. My intention next weekend is to make it half way to Barr Camp and thereafter, to continue to increase my distance until I can get to the camp and back on the same day.
Yesterday, Tom and I hiked Red Rocks again. It was interesting doing that trail again because I noticed that I was taking breaks a lot less often than the first time, and those breaks were much shorter as well. It’s amazing how resilient the human body is. However, with all that hard work, pretty much everything below my navel is in some pain. It’s a good pain though. You can tell the difference between burned out muscles and actually injuring yourself and I am definitely not injured, just tired. This week, I will need to give my legs a break, so I’ll probably be focusing on the crunches mostly for this week, and maybe a nice long flat walk sometime in the middle of the week.
I recently started reading a book I got a few months ago called The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It. I would totally recommend it to anyone that wants to learn how to take any sized plot of land and be a good steward while still wringing the most produce and other food from it as possible. The book assumes you already know something about gardening, which I really don’t, but I figure this first read will get me acquainted with the subject at least. Then I could pick up a very beginner gardening how to book and then just dig back through this one again to really flesh out my knowledge later. The book is filled with beautiful illustrations of all techniques, plants, tools, etc. Of course, this knowledge will mostly come in handy after the zombie scourge has died off, but it can’t hurt to be prepared. Someone is going to need to feed me, and I’d imagine most canned and preserved goods in grocery stores will probably be pillaged or go bad pretty quickly, so eventually, I’ll need to be able to sustainably grow a crop each year and this book is a great start.
So from that list with my 37 initial goals, I have begun 10 of them. That’s pretty good for just being in the first week of the new year! My overall goal is to have some decent proficiency in 75% of those goals, which totals about 28 of them. Heck! I’ve started 1/3 of the tasks I need to finish and it’s only the 4th of January! Those brain-guzzlers don’t stand a chance!
The Couch to 5 K program I found online is a little more ambitious than I think I could really handle. They’ve got you doing it in about 2 months. So I extended it to about 4 months, but I think I may now wait to begin that portion of my training until I can find a good dry track or path so that I can really focus.
In the mean time, I have found a swimming coach! My friend Cassie apparently taught swimming for many years and swears she can teach the least water-worthy people to do it. Maybe once it starts to warm up again, we’ll hit that one up too. Also I’ve really been doing some pretty intense hiking (for my athletic and skill level anyway). This weekend, we began the pursuit of Pikes Peak. Barr Trail is 6.5 miles to Barr Camp with an elevation gain of 3,800 ft, then another 3 miles to the A-Frame outpost. From there, it’s another 3+ miles to the summit of Pikes Peak. Then you do it all in reverse order back down to the trailhead in Manitou. Our plan is that by this summer, we want to be in good enough shape to make that in two days. We’d like to start off early in the morning to begin the climb, then stay at the A-Frame and take off a few hours before sunrise the next day so we can watch the sun come up over Colorado Springs from the top of the Peak. It should be pretty breath-taking. It would be particularly cool if we did it for the Summer Solstice, though that gives us a second day start of about 3 AM or even earlier! Well worth it for a once in a lifetime experience, I’d say, but we’ll have to see how the training is going before deciding on whether to stay at the Barr Camp or the A Frame, depending on how far we are able to make it in one day of course.
This weekend, I’d estimate we made it 1/3 of the way to Barr Camp. We went with a bunch of friends who quickly split into 2 groups: Those that have muscles and those that don’t. I was in the latter. The faster group may have made it half way to Barr camp. My intention next weekend is to make it half way to Barr Camp and thereafter, to continue to increase my distance until I can get to the camp and back on the same day.
Yesterday, Tom and I hiked Red Rocks again. It was interesting doing that trail again because I noticed that I was taking breaks a lot less often than the first time, and those breaks were much shorter as well. It’s amazing how resilient the human body is. However, with all that hard work, pretty much everything below my navel is in some pain. It’s a good pain though. You can tell the difference between burned out muscles and actually injuring yourself and I am definitely not injured, just tired. This week, I will need to give my legs a break, so I’ll probably be focusing on the crunches mostly for this week, and maybe a nice long flat walk sometime in the middle of the week.
I recently started reading a book I got a few months ago called The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It. I would totally recommend it to anyone that wants to learn how to take any sized plot of land and be a good steward while still wringing the most produce and other food from it as possible. The book assumes you already know something about gardening, which I really don’t, but I figure this first read will get me acquainted with the subject at least. Then I could pick up a very beginner gardening how to book and then just dig back through this one again to really flesh out my knowledge later. The book is filled with beautiful illustrations of all techniques, plants, tools, etc. Of course, this knowledge will mostly come in handy after the zombie scourge has died off, but it can’t hurt to be prepared. Someone is going to need to feed me, and I’d imagine most canned and preserved goods in grocery stores will probably be pillaged or go bad pretty quickly, so eventually, I’ll need to be able to sustainably grow a crop each year and this book is a great start.
So from that list with my 37 initial goals, I have begun 10 of them. That’s pretty good for just being in the first week of the new year! My overall goal is to have some decent proficiency in 75% of those goals, which totals about 28 of them. Heck! I’ve started 1/3 of the tasks I need to finish and it’s only the 4th of January! Those brain-guzzlers don’t stand a chance!
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