Grinding the winter away

[TGP]

Another great Day of Rock exploring with my son...

 

great fun.  area "42" which is now 'little hemlock' rocks.  we also got confused and found another littleish group of rocks.  that might seem not SO cool; except that one had a series of connecting Tunnels.  that is Big fun!  

 

so the first photo is near the small group of rocks and the next 2 are in little hemlock; one of my son and one of me.

 

 

 

anyways very fun: he's like, how did 3.5miles Get SOOO long?  yep.

the miles are fantastically far in rugged brushy terrain.

[Seraphina]

That looks really fun! I love short but intense hiking.

[Xena]

You've gotten some super cool hikes in! Sorry things are so stressful with your MIL's illness. You have a good plan though...figure out what you can reasonably do. Make tweaks for efficiency. But yes, sometimes there really honestly isn't enough time for what you want to do. Some goals are achievable now, and you may be right that others might need to be postponed a little. That's ok too.

[TGP]

speaking of. I've tweaked my walking achievements a little and will now include letter grades for the rest  of my exercise program. (full details are included in my battle log) this CAN be done.  I will incorporate this into my exercise spreadsheet.

 

today; I got a chance to take another day off to walk still a little more with my son.  we are going on a hiking trail.  I'm going to give him a little bit more "hill"... he's doing great & so far; I think this has been a great chance to bond a bit with my son.

 

athletically speaking this has been a great day & weekend.

 

with Weight lifting & the hike with my son on saturday;  a road walk on Easter night (last night); a Exercise class and weight lifting this morning (Monday)

& another hike with my son today.

[TGP]

 

R

 

Rugged terrain!  really worked on brennon's ability to scramble over rocks  (minister rocks)

 

 

the New rocks!  brennon calls them "ominous rocks"- they are a long bunch of rocky cliffs in the midst of a dark hemlock forest.  also - this is the last snow in the forest.  somehow; the sun gleeming across the rocky cliffs were (to me) breath-taking

 

anyways; later on we made a fire and cooked hot dogs.  brennon tried to make a shelter.  

 

Great time!

 

 

[jonfirestar]

10 hours ago, TGP said:

Great time!

 

Those pictures look amazing! 

[MattSkywalker]

Awesome - you're having a great dad & son time. That stays in the heart forever. Wishing you a rocking Week 3!

[Elastigirl]

Looks like fun! How old is your son?

[TGP]

@Elastigirl

Brennon is 16.  this is exactly the age where I got very interested in the woods myself.  in my late teenage years I spent whole summers walking the hills around my house (we lived near a national forest and nearly all the surronding land was Public) & fishing for trout.

 

I'm a lousy fishermen.  but it was a wonderful part of a rough time of life for me.

 

anyways- brennon can't roam around like I did; since we live in a town.. but he Is enjoying the woods.  he has a passionate view of it.  he's the prepper/survivalist of our family.  he knows before anyone when there might be severe weather.  officially our expedition to see far away rocks or caves is in the case of doomsday.  I'm not sure how a bunch of large rocks in the deep forest helps but I am happy to relive a passion of mine and have my son enjoy it in his own way.

 

for myself I've always loved hidden hard to see spectacular sights like rocks, caves, waterfalls,etc.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

anyways, yesterday I had the chance to organize my acheivement levels a little.

I have enough information to see where I stand back to Dec 2.  I have never achieved bronze- But I'm on track to achieve it this week.  this is the 10th week to the A100... so this graph might seem a little backwards.  newer weeks are on the left.   I want to go to bronze or beyond until week 2 (ish). 

 

[TGP]

I just want to briefly mention (midweek) that though I'm On track for the Bronze and this would be a exceptional walking achievement I haven't yet done (since I started training for the A100)

 

there'll be not much mention of it until a good bit of the next week has started.

 

cuz my weeks go from Sat - Fri.

 

If I accomplish the bronze on Friday night (likely) it will be Monday before I get it in my excel sheet and I do the celebratory post here.  well, the weekend is a huge part of those achievements.  I need to have 6 hours/20miles (at least) of weekend walking to be on pace for the bronze.

 

thats what is exciting about this week.  with the 2 walks with my son and a long night walk... I got the needed 6hours/20miles.

 

now I'm doing the little 1 hour sessions that make the next big walk be enough.  

[jonfirestar]

Best of luck with achieving that Bronze! 

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

On 4/4/2018 at 3:15 PM, TGP said:

thats what is exciting about this week.  with the 2 walks with my son and a long night walk... I got the needed 6hours/20miles.

 

Awesome - I can't wait to log in on Monday and see the CRUSHED GOAL message!!

 

That terrain looks just awesome and fun, btw. 

[Mrs Van]

On 4/4/2018 at 2:40 PM, TGP said:

Brennon is 16.  this is exactly the age where I got very interested in the woods myself. 

So there is still some time for us. Our boys like doing something like this on a holiday or such, but not frequently. It looks like the two of you had so much fun! I would love to go exploring with you. Rocks that form tunnels... snow on the rocks in real rugged country. Man, I need to plan a hike again at some stage.

Hope you have lots more fun and adventures with your son!

[Salinger]

Hope you are doing ok TGP x

[jonfirestar]

How did your weekend go?

[TGP]

well, first * Drumbeat please*

 

i did NOT get bronze!  alas I fell short

 

what happened? the weather, my daughter's late shift, the difficulty getting out in the week.  take your pick!

but if you want to achieve bronze with no problems;  get the big walks in Early- so friday night is not the dealmaker.

 

anyways; there's no reason to look at this negatively.  we've walked more than we have any other week since I kept more careful notes in early December.

so its a Win ! sort of ...

 

[TGP]

Ok, thats out of way!

 

now in other ways it was a great weekend.  unfortunately the One thing I didn't get was pics- my camera had some problem with a memory card I put in it.

oops. 

The BIG news of the Weekend was a chance a really long chance to Hike with the local Hiking group on Saturday Night; and more importantly to talk to people that Have Actually achieved the A100.  yep! it was informative.  the strongest of them, Darrin, has actually achieved it twice and he stood out in his conditioning.

 

that Said this was a GROUP hike and those things always end up being So slow.  in fact, the end of the group was SO slow that we ended up breaking into 2 groups at the middle of the walk.  and STILL , even then we averaged only 2.2mph. 

 

this was SO slow; that if you did this during the event- you'd spend all night trying to get to just the first campsite and reach it by dawn!  poor guys- I hope people do Better than That!  also Speaking of that- beyond the Training advice- I got all these hints on where to camp (first night) and had a good opportunity to lead in the dark.

 

This is NOT as easy as it seems and it is So easy to miss a blaze in the dark.  it was blue marks on dark trees.  there was also an annoying amount of snow.  nonetheless- so Fun!  6pm-1am...  nothing is happier than getting back to your bed when you've walked a real long time till its quite late.

 

Deciding that wasnt' quite enough I did my Own night hike Sunday Night.  I went to the Next rock pile on my list and named it "maze rocks".  not very big boulders; it had the peculiar property of been surrounded by little paths around each rock; so you felt you were in a little maze of 25' stone.  I've seen little paths before ( "slot canyons" "streets")

but this was quite a lot more than extensive than other places- and there weren't many cliffs, tunnels or caves.  (that I could tell after dark at least)

 

anyways the walk up to them was SO athletic!  I mean we have hills not mountains.  but this was so steep I leaned into the hill for 3 points of contact and I felt that fall could truly be quite dangerous.  I think in other places they call that scrambling.  it applied.  it was steep enough that you wondered how trees grew on it.  yet they did! and ofc they left a think mat of fallen leaves; icy with the melting snow.

this place that I'd walked in before (hedgehog valley) is truly one of the most athletic bushwhacking places in the area.

 

so.... that means that in the first 2 fdays of the week I am already at 65% of the bronze.  and not TOO far from where I ended up last week.

 

the key to any of these long walking achievements Is the weekend. so hopefully I have done better to give myself  winning chances this week.  in Truth I NEED to be walking bronze or better for a while.  There are only 9 weeks to the event. 

 

[TGP]

Oh wait! 

 

I forgot something good!  yesterday for the first time in decades I weighed Under 170pounds (169.8#)!  Yay!!!!  I actually bought new pants.   my waistline is definitely slimming down.  and my %muscle, %fat scale says it sees considerably less fact and more muscle than it did when I first started measuring it on New Years!

 

Truth is;

I don't obsess on the weight loss but I'm trying to keep my diet sugar-less and healthy and my exercise program strong  and I think its Helping!

 

when doing some kind of extreme hiking challenge; the less body fat you have to cart around the Better!

 

my advice to people is to Not have great anxiety over weight gain.  its the hardest and last change that happens I think from beginning a great exercise program.  instead; don't forget to keep the diet good and SKIP sugar whenever possible.  thats my advice- I am no master or anything.

but I have been losing slowly for some time and I feel strong and healthier than I have for a long, long time.  

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on the weight loss!

That's great that you got to talk to some people who've done the 100 miles. That will help you a lot. 

[TGP]

ty  and btw,

the only thing that REALLY surprised me is from a lady that has done an A100 and is now in charge of registration

 

yes, Blister and feet pain are the #1 reason people quit

 

but you know what #2 is?

stomach problems.  people are (understandably) nervous and with the big effort on the first day and don't eat well or drink.  that sets up a fatigue where you body feels like that less and less... once you don't eat for a day or more; fatigue becomes extraordinary and your will to complete it will falter.

....

one of the challenges in the hike as a whole is that you really can't spare the weight of a stove, or the time to eat a proper dinner.  so having finger food- 2 days worth  of it!- is extraordinarily important.  and its important to regularly nibble so that the body doesn't experiences carb crashes. 

[Mrs Van]

So impressed with all the walking, scrambling and hiking you are getting in, and woot! woot! on the weight loss.

Your explanation of the problems takes me back to when I did multi-day backpack hikes. Ok, we could rest properly at night and although it stretched over 3-5 days and we covered a lot of distance, it wasn't a competition like this 100miler of yours. But even there the main problems were usually feet/shoes and stomach! People would not take snacks along for during the day, and think that they can manage a 15-20km hike with no snacks. I was always loaded with nuts, raisins, some chocolate chips mixed in, etc. And biltong (not so dry jerky) of course for more protein during the day.

If you pack cooked things like chicken drumsticks and vacuum pack them, it should last you and not spoil. That will also give you some protein which will help during the day. How long do you have again to finish this distance?

[TGP]

ty.  I didn't think of vacuum packing.

 

I will have 50hours to complete 97miles (156km).  but you have to account for about 8-10hours of sleep - so you have 42hours to complete 97miles.

See-  its so good to reach out to ppl cuz in the world of ultra's ; food is handled so very differently!  you wouldn't guess it to be such a big problem.

...

anyways in my 7 hour training walk this week.   I eat GORP (peanuts, raisins and a few scattered goodies) every hour and a protein bar half ways in.  thats still probably a very good ratio.

that would mean 11-12 protein bars.  

 

I know for a fact that during hard hikes after a while appetite decreases and you have to force yourself to eat.  I just think  whats a smallish detail in the 50miles 1day challenge is Critical in a 2 day 100mile challenge.

 

whats next in a longer walk is to factor in the amount of GORP.  I need a long walk (or several) to see how much one lid top of GORP per hour equates over the 40 hours.  minus ofc any food I vacuum seal.

 

another unique challenge is sleeping; its still cold to try it- but soon it will be time to get the hammock out and be sleeping outside so I can used to sleeping just 4-5 hours and then walking another long day

 

@Elizevdmerwe  did you use hammocks in your long walks?  I've only used a tent.  but in THIS walk I can't afford the weight (for most of them).

[ladymorella]

Man, I am getting excited for your event. It sounds so cool. I am jealous.

 

I read an interesting book on keto for endurance athletes (accidentally bought the wrong book) and how it can be a big help for ultras and such since you can only store 2000(-3000?) calories in glycogen, but even a skinny person has like 30,000 calories available in fat. I wasn't overall convinced with the authors seeming credibility, but it was an interesting thought. Have you even watched Naked and Afraid? I have have wondered if they would fair better if they went full on keto for about 3 months before their challenge. 

[TGP]

idk 

I thought of Keto at one time.  but it can come with a heap of side effects

https://drjockers.com/11-common-keto-side-effects/

 

this kind of deters me.  minimizing sugar and getting over the diet coke addiction has been plenty hard enough.

 

but I thank you for giving me something to think about, LadyMorella.  as for the show; I'm sure I watched it.  kind of like survivor and a more authentic survival show mashup.

 

of it genre; I really like the show "Out of the Wild"

it would be somthing to be part of a show like that. OTOH perhaps 'watch what you wish for' is the thing to remember with things like that.  there's real suffering to challenges like that.  its all one thing to wish for; not hungry, warm and not tired or fatigued.

[mediaguy99]

Ooo.  Keto isn't comfortable (in my experience).  I liked parts of it, like how quickly I got "cut", but generally found that the weight drops were too drastic.  And I didn't feel like running great distances.

 

Naked and Afraid is fun--Out of the Wild is something I'll have to check out!

 

I've slept in hammocks whilst backpacking.  It's comfy but here in the rocky mountains it gets downright cold.  I found putting a good old fashioned closed-cell Ridge Rest sleeping pad under myself in the hammock does wonders.  It might not be so bad where you live?  Here it gets into the 40's (F) at night, even in summer.