Major hike

Saturday was sort of a miscalculation. First, I slept in. Didn't get started on the hike until after 9 so I hit the heat of the day. I had planned on hiking around 10 miles with 30-40 pounds. However, I packed up and started out. It was slow going. When I got home, I had traveled 8 miles, almost entirely all up and down hill. I weighed in when I got home. 50 lb pack. Guess that's why it took 4 hours total time.

Picture time:

Time ticks on

3 weeks (or so). My strength is much greater. My hamstrings are still tender, but doing better. Running is hard, but hiking, lifting and climbing are not. I'm ready.


I think.

Hike tomorrow.

Sprints today

OK, today was sprints. Uphill. In the humidity and heat. The good news is, I cut 10 seconds of my sprint distance. Pretty happy with the work out today.

Progress!

Yesterday was the first major sign of tangible gains. At the gym, I flashed 2 V4 problems. Now usually I have to project V4, it often takes me a couple weeks to get them wired, so that is huge progress. Also, I was able to run up and down the campus board a couple of times. Time to get back to ice tool pull-ups however. The hamstrings are doing much better.

Been gardening to keep myself centered. That's been very fruitful.



Ha! Pun there.

Today's hike: That was weird...

'Twas an odd hike today. The original plan was 10 miles with a 45-50 lb pack. First off, today is the first day of truly hot, humid mid-Atlantic weather. Despite this, I still brought the full pack, with ice axes on back. After getting out to the powerlines, I head East towards the main road. So far, all is unremarkable.

The main road is 3 miles from the start, so when I get there, the plan was to cross the road and continue along the powerlines for another mile or so. However, as I'm standing there at the main road, waiting to cross, what should drive by, but a power company truck =8O

He hits the brakes and pulls into the very next driveway. Now maybe he was just reading meters, but after a couple minutes, he pulls out and drives away, missing all the other driveways. Gotta figure he called in to the office that he saw some guy walking along with a big pack and a coupla pickaxes on the back.

At this point the plan for the day changed. I just continued walking up the main until I came to a side road that heads back towards home, but deadends in the woods. I've wanted to see where exactly that pops out at, so I decided to bushwhack up to my little road through the woods.

When I got home, the GPS said 5.2 miles, which is ok, but a little shorter than I had planned. However, I really didn't want to have to explain to the power company folks why I was carrying axes on a huge backpack. The whole Peru story might not fly the first few times they heard it. Weird.

Pretty hard day

So, started the morning with a 3 mile hike carrying a 60 lb pack. Then, worked in the garden until the storms blew in. Did some welding and metalwork during the rain. at 5pm, the rain let up and still had the work out ahead. Sprint intervals. Man, I'm exhausted this evening...

Weekend of hiking

Well, back out to the powerlines this weekend. Saturday was a 10 miler with a 30+ pound pack. Lots of hills. Pictures from Saturday:






Today was 5 miles over the same teraine with a 40+ lb pack and no trekking poles.

Man! It's getting close!

I gotta do a LOT of stuff in the next 8 weeks! Geeze, this thing is creeping up on me. Still working. Added some hamstring exercises and feeling good, but DAMN, there's a lot to do.....

Peru, here I come...

Well,

I talked with Adrian today. Wow. What an awesome guy. Rather than swap in some other guide (qualified as he/she might be), he cancelled his plans to guide in France and is guiding this trip himself. He's summited alpamayo 9 times.

We talked about my expectations, how Ian and I interacted. What my skills are and where I need to work more.

The awesomeness of this trip is back on.

I do wish Ian could have gone along, but this is gonna be great, and hopefully we can talk about it over beers this winter.

Thunderbolt, right to the head!

Bazowah!

I am stunned. My friend, teacher and guide Ian, is out for the trip. He has some personal issues,that need to be addressed. I wish him all the luck in the world and he has my positive thoughts. I hope he's alright.

Now, I have some thinking to do. Adrian, an amazingly accomplished guide is gonna take over. Adrian, Josh and me.

I need to talk with Adrian



Ian is on the right.

Hamstrung :(

Still feeling that pull, I decided to do some research. Well, I think a tweaked my left hamstring a few weeks back. For those who are curious what exactly the hamstrings are, here's a few diagrams and description:




Basically, the three muscles semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris make up the hamstrings. They run from the ischial tuberosity on the pelvis to the tibia (medially for the semi's and laterally for biceps femoris). They allow you to extend the hip and bend the knee. I think I pulled mine up high, near the ischial tuberosity when I pulled on the heel hook.

I was surprised how weak they were when I got on the weight machine yesterday. Guess that's one more thing to work on and strengthen.

Saturday's hike

I wanted to get my hike in before the rains started Sunday, so I got up at 5AM on Saturday for my hike. Just as I headed out, it started to sprinkle. I had promised to bring horses in if it was raining, so I was delayed a bit, and finally got out on the trail around 5:45.

It just drizzled a little throughout the trip, but the weather was otherwise fantastic. I headed out for the powerlines and started hiking up and down hills, and forded across several creeks.



Round trip was about 7 miles in three hours. The powerlines are an extremely fortunate benefit where I live. Very nicely groomed fields with undulating hills are just perfect for hiking--and virtually no one is ever out there!

Good week

I've been able to ride every day this week. Although I'm still feeling the gluteal pull, it's not affecting my run times as much. I'm not heel hooking much, but that's as much to prevent further injury. Spanish lessons are back on track and going ok.

The daughter has finished high school and is climbing well. Things are clicking along. I've gotta start practicing tying knots with gloves on to improve my speed and accuracy. I gotta get on that this week.

Just more work

Just continuing the work. Been slacking on the Spanish, but I'll try to pick up the pace tomorrow.