LAST Weekend's Adventure

Some pictures from last Sunday's adventure... I hiked Great Northern, an 8700' peak just south of Glacier National Park. The ~4 mile hike takes off from Hungry Horse Dam (3500'), making for a 5200' elevation change over ~4 miles.

Tabitha, an acquaintance from grad school whom I hadn't seen in several years, invited me to join her and her friend on this hike. I read the description and immediately said "sure, I'll do it!" I was sure that I was in good enough shape to handle all that climbing. (little did I think, however, that it would be the decending that would lick me)

The friend bailed out the night before, but Tab and I agreed to continue with our plans to meet at 7am to start hiking. It was a gorgeous morning-- cool enough that a light fleece felt good to start off, and still and quiet, with blue skies dotted with my favorite white ploofy clouds. I lbeing in the woods early in the morning! Good thing, because the glorified goat trail we set off hiking was not at all friendly. Had it been super hot, or raining hard, I would've easily bagged the trip. But there was no excuse not to walk. My lungs were working well, my legs felt strong, the day was gorgeous, and I was psyched to catch up with Tabitha, since we hadn't seen each other in several years.


Our trail shot up. Straight up. No switchbacks. No gradual gains. Nope, it was tougher than any StairMaster workout I've tried! We took a nice steady pace, though, and just continued to put one foot in front of the other for about an hour, until we popped out of the trees and got our first glimpse of how much elevation we'd gained. A few minutes later and we got our first good view of Great Northern. Holy cow, that's a big hunk of rock!!!

After the first mile and a half or so, the trail seemed to mellow out a little bit as we started following a rolling ridgeline that led to the base of the behemouth's treeless face. But we were still hiking up, continuing to feel the burn in our calves and lungs, but realizing that the views were worth every bit of work.

After another few miles we finally left the treeline behind and began a trek up the rugged ridge and across shale-y sidehills. All along the trail were piles of mountain goat poo, and clumps of rubbed-off hair hung in several of the thigh-high branches of trees. A golden eagle circled right at eye level. This was definitely the high country! Stanton Glacier hung below to our left, and a steep rocky face dropped off to the right. At times the trail was no more than a few feet wide. For the most part the footing was good, save for a few tricky places that made you slightly question your sanity.

At last we made it to the top, where 2 other pairs of hikers were already enjoying the view. We chatted with them for a bit, trying to identify the peaks of Glacier Park, then ate some lunch and took pictures. As has been my experiences hiking most any peak, the view at the top is gorgeous and you'd love to stay all day, but it's always chilly up that high, so hanging out for long is never feasible. So we started our descent, picking our way back down the rocky path we'd come up.

All was well until the last mile and a half or so-- the steepest part of the trail. My legs were getting tired. All that downhill was putting a hurtin' on my quads and knees, and I had to stop a few times because my legs were quivering so bad (luckily there were abundant ripe huckleberries along the trail, so rest breaks also turned into mini-snack breaks). We finally reached the car, and walked around a few minutes playing with the new sensation of walking on level ground. Weird. After a few minutes of yoga, we made a side-trip to the Packer's Roost for a beer before parting ways.

It was a stellar day-- great mountain, terrific company, perfect weather. If only there'd been a chair-lift to get me back down off that darn hill! As it turned out, my legs were insanely sore for about three days, then just reasonably sore for another two. So I didn't get any running in last week, and my biking was pretty lame, too. I did do a few good swims, and danced a bunch at a wedding on Thursday. But I don't regret having to take the few days off of training because of doing the hike. The trek gave me the opportunity to put things into perspective and to realize that I don't run so that I can do races. No, the

running is so that I feel good and so that when someone asks, hey, do you want to go hike X mountain, or ski Y trail, or paddle Z River, I can confidently say sure, you betcha, without having doubts of whether or not I'm in good enough shape to go along. And if doing such expeditions make me sore and take away a few days of training, oh well. I'd gladly trade a chance at climbing mountains to running around neighborhoods, if time and circumstances allowed. The running races and triathlons are a good way to get/stay in shape in a quick and convenient manner, but they're not the most important ends to the means.

You Know You're Half-Nuts When...

... you think of an 8-hour office day as your recovery period between workouts.



Today's Schedule:
5:30 am= 1/2 mile swim in Foy's Lake (air temp= 46 F, water temp= ? much warmer, sunrise= 6:17 am)

4:30 pm= recovery spin + upper body weight training

in between= 8 hours of sitting down... ahhh

Week In Review

Monday:
Exercise= none :( (unless you count those bicep curls i did to get the beer from the table to my face)
Food= okay, save for the several pints of beer
Sleep= ~6 hours

Tuesday:
Exercise= none. again.
Food= terrible... 2 bagels, pasta salad, hamburger, etc... way huge on the calories today, especially carbs
Sleep= ~5 hours

Wednesday:
Exercise= 25 min swim in the pool
Food= okay, within the calories for the day
Sleep= ~5 hours

Thursday:
Exercise= biked ~30 min to the lake, swam ~20 min (had lots of goggle issues, so was actually in the water longer), then biked another ~30 min
Food= pretty good, not a big deficit but definitely not going over
Sleep= ~7 hours

Friday:
Exercise= 1 hr Power Pump cardio/weight class in morning (am sore! today, especially in pecs and hams); 25 min run (10 min tempo pace) in evening
Food= good, lots of veggies, within calorie range i was shooting for
Sleep= 2 hr nap in afternoon then 9 hrs at night!!!

Saturday:
Exercise= Brick workout-- 6 mile bike, 1.5 mile run, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run
Food= great so far... though I'm getting hungry so best go home and eat something healthy very soon before I get super hungry and head for something not-so-good
Sleep= don't know yet...

So, after a rough start to the week, the rest of the week has been getting much better in terms of overall health (food, exercise, sleep, stress levels). Funny how when it rains, it pours. The busier and more stressed I am, the less sleep I get, the crappier I eat, the less I workout...

The next several weeks will be tough, with lots of travel and transitions. I'll be relying on my blog-readers to keep me accountable and keep me honest.

But for tomorrow, I'll definitely get some calorie burn in on this hike. Yippee! Big mountains. Hard hiking. 3 girls on a mission. I'll get pictures up asap.

Appease The Readers With a Back-dated Race Report

Oi, this has been a super busy week, what with starting a new job while trying to finish another, doing a little extra socializing, and still trying to get in some workouts. Sleep has been scarse. Blogging has been non-existent. Sorry.

I was digging thru old files and such on my computer, trying to organize and clean out things so that the next person in my job can take over somewhat smoothly, and I came across this email that I wrote back in November '07 after my first Half Marathon. Since it was written before I published my blog, I thought I'd stick it on here for posterity's sake.

I'll try to write a post this weekend. But just looking ahead, I can promise you very few posts over the next few weeks. But I'll be back....

OUTER BANKS 1/2 MARATHON RACE REPORT
(Race was on Nov 9, 2007 in Manteo, NC)

• A few stats, thoughts, memories, etc:
  Race day was gorgeous—a bit chilly starting off, as the wind was brisk and the air temp was around 50. Once we started running, though, we warmed up to a nice temperature, not too hot, not too cold. The sun was bright on the Sound by the time we got there. The wind was fairly stiff, but it was at our tails a good portion of the time. However, around miles 8-11 we were running side-ways to the wind, and running straight into it for the last 2 miles… felt like we were going nowhere!!!
• I ran the entire race with my friend Robyn, who’s been one of my bestest buds since 7th grade; she’s a turbo-triathloning whiz these days, and has completed several halfs and a few full marathons over the last five years since she started running. It was great to run with someone who I knew would have no problems finishing, and who could definitely keep me company along the way. It was also a great chance to spend some alone-time with her and talk about boys, babies, bodies, jobs, yoga, and more.
• Our total race time was 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 9 seconds
• There were 2176 finishers of the Half. I placed 1315th among them, and 664th out of 1314 women. It was amazing to see so many people running at the same time!!! (By the way, the winning male finished in 1:02:32 and the winning female finished in 1:13:53. Holy crap! Most of the elite runners were from Kenya, including the winners from last year and this year).
• The spectators along the way were great. Folks had music blasting from houses and vehicles at various spots. Lots of folks were holding posters with encouraging messages, my favorite of which was one about a mile from the finish that said “Unleash your inner Kenyan!”
• We kicked ass in the second half, passing nearly 175 runners (many on the big hill—aka a bridge over the Albemarle Sound). Our average pace for the first 6.9 miles was 11:16 min/mile, and for the remaining miles was 10:33 min/mi (yes, we sped up quite a bit in the second part!), for an average pace of 10:56 minutes per mile over the 13.1 miles. I was shooting for around 11 min/mi, so, right on. Could I have sustained the 10:33 the whole time? Probably. Next time…
• I felt great and had a blast from Mile 0 to 11.2 or so. Then my body revolted. It thought “enough of this nonsense!” and communicated its thoughts to me by sending an excruciating pain into my abdomen along the bottom of my right ribcage. Now, I’ve had a few side cramps before, but never one that made me wonder if my appendix was about to rupture! All systems were screaming “stop! Just walk! Bend over and clutch your stomach!”… but I didn’t heed. Instead, I grunted an occasional f-word, focused my eyes straight ahead, and ran. Robyn piped in with some excellent advice, “Remember your yoga.” So I concentrated on letting each inhale go to the point of pain, then pick it up and send it out on the exhale. Within a few minutes, the pain subdued, and Robyn noted “You’re almost there… I can hear the finish line!” I learned that a half-marathon is not just a 13 mile race, it’s a 13.1 mile race—and that 0.1 mile makes a difference! It was the longest .1 mile I’ve ever run, but I ran it. I finished the line in true fashion (i.e. I headed for the grass, gagging and spitting and wondering if I was going to show the crowd my lunch… no, I didn’t!)
• My dad, his wife Cathy, my brother Trav, and Jim all met us at the Finish, where they snapped a few pictures and gave us congrats. It was the first race any of them had ever spectated, so they all seemed dazed and amazed at all the runners
• Post-race we wandered around taking off our timing chips, grabbing Gatorade and bananas, and getting our dry bags with warm clothes. It was a bit chilly at the finish, what with the wind, but nothing a dry sports bra didn’t help. Then we stumbled into a little cart selling cups of clam chowder, and Robyn and I rushed for a bowl. I must say, that was the most amazing clam chowder I’ve ever had. Fresh from the sea, right beside the sea, after running 13 POINT ONE miles along an island in the sea. Mmmm, it hit the spot
• The eating pretty much continued non-stop from there. We left the race area and headed back towards our beach house, stopping at Sam and Omie’s, a local restaurant, for lunch. I dined on steamed clams and coleslaw. Then we went back to our beachside bungalow, where I spent the afternoon taking the dog for a stroll on the beach and sticking my sore toes in the cold Atlantic, then joining Robyn and Jim for a soak in the hot tub, where we drank margaritas from coffee mugs. We then returned to Sam and Omie’s for dinner, since lunch was so great. This time I had broiled shrimp and scallops with more coleslaw, and to my delight the side dish was Fried Okra!!! Who could ask for a better meal? I washed it all down with a glass of Blue Moon Belgian ale, then returned to the house for an evening of board games.
• Just a little more on the rest of the week: Robyn had to return to her world on Monday, while the rest of us traveled south down the islands to Ocaracoke, stopping to see lighthouses, fishing boats, bars, etc. along the way. We returned to the beach house after dark, and cooked a steamer bucket of red potatoes, corn on the cob, and fresh shrimp, spiced up with Old Bay and beer. Tuesday we went touring around downtown Manteo, went to the Aquarium, and then Trav, Jim, and I went out for all-you-can-eat crab legs and shrimp for our mid-day meal. Those two guys ate non-stop for over an hour an a half! (I obviously am not the endurance athlete that they are, seeing as how I dropped out of the race after a little less than an hour!) Then we spent the afternoon walking it off on the sand dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park. Wednesday morning I had coffee and read my book while sitting in the sun on the “crow’s nest” atop the beach house, where I watched several dolphins swimming in the calm sea. Then we headed back to Raleigh to catch our plane, but made a quick stop at Smithfield’s for some authentic eastern NC BBQ. Nothing better.
• So here I am, back in chilly MT, a good 3 pounds heavier than I was before I left. Ha! It was a great time—good to see family and friends, good to accomplish the goal I’ve been working towards for 6 months or so now, good to chill out and have no agenda for a few days, and good to see the coast
• What’s next? A few new goals are in the making:
  o Learning to swim better (I want to try to swim at least 2 days a week this winter, working on getting more comfortable with it and getting good form).
  o Losing the pounds I gained on vacation, plus a handful more. Should be a good challenge what with the holidays approaching
  o Maintaining running shape and then training for the Snow Joke half-marathon in Seeley Lake in February
  o Perhaps skiing some (25K) or all (50K) of the OSCR (pronounced “Oscar”)—the Ovando-Seeley Cross-country Race—in late January
• Anyone interested in joining me on any of the next adventures? Let me know!
• Finally, thanks to all of you who gave me words of encouragement, ran with me, sent me care packages (Wendy, you rock!), and generally supported me in my training for this race. I’m especially grateful to Jim; although he sometimes questions my sanity when setting such goals, he supports me fully, helps plan our weekends around my workout schedule, makes me pancakes after long runs, and gives me late-night pep-talks before big scary races. Thanks, babe.

Impulse Buy

I just got back from a lunch-break walk across the street to Sportsman's and Ski Haus for a new pair of goggles.

Damn store WOULD have to put all the cute women's clothing right as you walk in the door.

So, I took a little stroll through to see if there were any nice looking t-shirts that I could get to wear for my new job. I found a few to try on, and while I was in the dressing room, a slightly large gal about my age was trying on a dress. It was just a little too tight in a few places, and really didn't look very good on her. Oh, how disappointing that is. I TOTALLY know the feeling.

I found a plain taupe tee that will look nice with a pair of nice jeans or chinos, and decided to get it. Then as I was putting back the other shirt I'd tried on, I spotted the same dress the aforementioned girl had been modeling. There was just one in a cool rusty brown color (not the banana color the girl was trying on or the of the one shown here... the photo just shows the style). Oooh, that's nice, I thought, checking the tag to see if what size it was.

Medium. Hmmm. I wonder...

So I headed back to the dressing room. I slipped it on and...

Oh my gosh. It fit. In fact, it fit great. It looked great. It felt great.

The sales gal actually called over to another co-worker, "hey, come look at this dress. It looks great!" "Finally," the other one said, "several people have tried that on and it just didn't look good on them, but that looks perfect on you!"

Yeah, they were right. This dress was made for me. So, I now own it.

I tried to justify the expenditure... well, I DO have a wedding to go to in a few weeks. I don't NEED a new dress for it, but this one would be really appropriate to wear there, and fun to wear something new. Plus, I could wear this for my new job.

But the real kicker was: I just walked in, tried on a Size Medium dress, and it fit perfectly. No gut popping out. AND it shows off my shoulders and upper back, which are becoming more and more toned and fit looking.

See, Self, the hard work of keeping food journals, skipping "extras," and working out a little extra every day DOES pay off :)