First map downloads

I put together my own workout today, with 20 minutes of yoga with adrienne, my one mile run around the block, and some lifting. It's not exactly crossfit, but I wanted to use my new all trails app to record my run around the block. I wasn't really excited about running, but I balanced my lack of enjoyment with getting to record my new route, and so it wasn't so bad. It turns out that the loop is 1.12 miles with 46 feet of elevation gain. I didn't think that I was moving very fast today, and I wasn't - I ran 11:25 mile pace, which is slow. Also, I was wearing my yoga pants and they were falling down a lot, which didn't help my speed. But, I did still get out and run, so that's something. 

After running I did the lifting from crossfit - 10 minutes EMOM 3 front squats, count to three on the way down, hold for one at the bottom, and then spring up. My spring was not super springy, but I did the rest of it. I did one round with 15 pounds and nine with 30 pounds. Then I decided I should get in some core work, so I did 4 rounds of 20 sec work, 10 sec rest with a 7.5 pound weight - first sit ups pushing the weight up and then boat pose moving the weight side to side. 

Yesterday I did the loop in the fells that I've been doing - it turns out that it's 2.8 miles with 289 feet elevation gain. I did the loop in pretty much exactly 90 minutes, getting slower as I went. 

There are a bunch of little trails that I pass in the fells - it's cool to see them on the map - though it turns out that they don't really go anywhere interesting.

The students are returning to school, and some of my appointments are with them in their dorm rooms. Hopefully things will get busier with appointments, because I'm getting a little tired of talking to just the cats all day.

Around Owls Head to 13 Falls

When I hiked to Owls Head I hated the mountain, but I really enjoyed the Pemigewasset Wilderness, and I thought it would be nice to hike there, except the part of hiking Owls Head. So, when I decided I needed a couple days away from the COVID world, a nice remote hike seemed just the ticket. I'd read really great things about 13 Falls campsite, and I realized I could do a nice hike that went around the mountain without actually going up it :) And, it would be a good attempt for a real backpacking trip where I carried my tent, sleeping bag, jet boil, food, etc, and slept in a tent in the White Mountains by myself. I knew that 13 Falls was pretty popular, so I decided to take Friday off, and head out then. It was a really good, and tiring, trip!

My goals for the trip were:

1. Camp at 13 Falls
2. Hike around Owls Head

And that's what I did!

I woke up Friday morning at 8, and remembered how I had done my Owls Head trip in Sept, leaving home at 5:30, and that had been too late. But, I decided that I would take the shorter Franconia Brook trail to 13 Falls, that way I would see if I could do the whole thing. I had packed the night before, and my backpack was a little below 25 pounds. I thought I could carry it, but wasn't 100% sure. After I made coffee, stopped to pee, and found parking on the road about 1/4 mile from the Lincoln Woods Visitor's Center, it was a little after 11 when I started my hike. The hike on that I planned was 8.1 miles, but the first 2.9 miles are on an old railroad bed and are pretty flat, and then the next 1.7 are off and on the old railroad bed, and still pretty flat. It does go up some, 1150 feet over the 8 miles, which isn't nothing, but also isn't so difficult. 

I I met some nice people on the way there (translation: some people passed me and said "hello" and "thanks" when I let them go by, and they pointed out where they crossed the brook - why is it that there is always someone to watch you cross a brook when you are feeling clumzy and not at all parkour?). Anyhow, I got to 13 Falls at around 3:30 or 4 ish, and it was full! The nice people were setting up on the caretakers platform. I was pretty bummed, because I didn't want to sleep in an overflow by myself, but then I saw that there was a flat-ish cleared out spot near the caretakers platform, and I asked the folks if they minded if I set up right by them, which they didn't, and so that's where I set up my tent! I was actually pretty fast with tent set up, and got my sleeping bag out, blew up my pillow, put my headlamp where I could find it, changed to crocks, and put my smelly stuff into the bear box. And then I hit the falls!

13 Falls are amazing! There were a ton of pools to go swimming in, which I did - one had a waterfall over it to wash out my hair and other was deep enough to actually swim. There are like 5 pools that you can actually swim in - the water is pretty darn cold, but not quite hyperthermia cold this time of year, and I stayed in the deep pool for about 15 minutes. I felt kind of like I was taking an ice bath, like an elite athlete :). It was really nice, and after I got out my skin was all prickly, and cool. There was a family there that had brought inflatable tubes so they could float and not have to go all the way in - clever! 

After I had explored the falls, climbed around a little and gotten in my swimming, I went back to camp, changed to dry clothes (which I was so glad I had packed) and ate. I brought this freeze dried lasagne, which wasn't bad for what it was, but after all the hiking food I'd had that day was way too big, and was seriously salty. I was done with it after about 10 bites, but it would have been so heavy to carry out, so I finished most of it. There were a whole bunch of people in the eating area and it was fun to talk to everyone, and hear about what their hiking plans were - apparently people hike into 13 Falls and use it as a base camp for other adventures, like going up to Garfield or Galehead - I felt a little lame saying that I was leaving the next day. One of the hikers told me that you can download maps from gaia maps or all trails and use them with your GPA even when you are in airplane mode (and I bought a 3 year membership to All Trails already, so now I can post a pic of all future hikes! So excited!!) As happens in the wilderness, dark came quickly, and I got into my tent around 8:30. For my "luxury item" I brought my kindle and so I read for a couple hours. (I forgot that my tent has a light in it, and I can bring 3 batteries and light it up for reading a book - good to remember!)

I slept a little fitfully, partly the lasagne, partly that my sleeping pad is a little thin, and partly that I was on a bit of a hill and kept sliding down. At one point I dreamed that I was at home in bed and didn't have to hike home - it was a little disappointing to wake up in the tent and realize that I was still going to have to hike back. I got up, packed things up, made coffee and oatmeal, and got ready to head out. 

I read in the guide book and some people there told me that the Lincoln Brook Trail on the other side of Owl's Head was hard to follow after the slide/trail up. It's also 11.5 miles with about 1000 feet of elevation gain in the first two miles and 5 river crossings. I knew it would be smarter to go back the way I came and not risk getting lost in the wilderness, by myself. I put on my backpack, got to the trail junction with Lincoln Brook looked at it for a while and was like "this could be a bad idea." And then I went for it! And, I was so glad I did!

The trail out of the campground followed the falls up for a bit, then crossed over and went steadily uphill. The first two miles were definitely the most challenging part of the hike, but fortunately I had fresh legs and so I felt challenged with the pack, but not overly so. I walked for about an hour, stopped and had a snack, and then started going again. About 15 minutes after that it started POURING, and I was soaked - the water was even coming down through the trees in the most covered parts.  I was a little worried that the rest of the day would be rain, but it was just a passing shower that lasted for about 15 minutes. Soon after, I came across a guy and his dog and he asked me if he was almost at the Owl's Head slide and I was like "are you serious?" because he was probably a mile past it. He was pretty bummed, and turned around. Next, I got to the part where the trail was a little hard to follow - I was glad that I knew that it would be difficult because I definitely had to pay close attention for about a half mile and there were one or two really tricky spots. I wasn't that nervous about it, though, because I reasoned that the hiker who missed the Owl slide found his way through it twice, so I could too. And, I did!

I got to the slide path up Owl's head after about 2 hours and 20 minutes, which I felt OK about - unlike the last time I was there, there wasn't much by the trailhead, except two cairns, so it could be easily missed. The 3.5 miles after that have 5 stream crossings, and again, at the harder ones there were other people, once there was a guy right behind me. So much pressure. I got muddy and wet - more parkour needed. I walked back in 1 - 1 1/2 hour blocks, with rests in between for a snack, refilling my water, soaking my feet (which unfortunately had blisters on the little toes) and changing my socks (I brought 3 pairs, all got wet and dirty). The last. 2.9 miles I was so done and ready to be at my car - again it's flat and an old railroad bed, and I walked it in about an hour. 

Total time for the hike back was 5 hrs 45 minutes of hiking time plus four breaks that varied from 15 minutes to a half hour. I left 13 Falls at 10:20 and got to my car at 5:50. I drove from where I was parked to the parking lot, actually found a spot (!), went to the ladies room and cleaned up a little, put on dry clothes that I'd left in my car, and peed. Then, I got into my car, hydrated, had a little more to eat, and drove home! All in all, a good hike, one that I would definitely do again!!

Home Crossfit - Benchmark WOD Half Cindy

 I did my first real-ish crossfit class at home today, and it really sucked. I'm in such bad shape! I really need to do crossfit badly. We'll have to see how I feel tomorrow, if my entire body hurts.

It started with a "warm up" of:

2x

10 burpees (yuck)

10 bootstrap squats

10 scap pushups

10 pike pushups

Then, a mini workout of:

2 rounds, 30s each movement, straight through

sit ups

plank

single leg V up

hollow rock 

rest

Finally, Cindy. 

20 min AMRAP

5 pull ups

10 push ups

15 squats

I now have pull up bands, which is a good thing because I needed them. I used the two fattest bands for pull ups and push ups. Even still, my feet reached the ground, and I did push off a little - I'm not going to lie. I only did Cindy for 10 minutes and then quit - it's a long WOD and I hate it. And, I'm out of shape. I could barely do hollow rocks by the time I got to them, and pull ups were impossible. I did do 5 rounds, so I guess that's something.

After, there was an optional lifting, which I did. Every 30 seconds for 12 minutes - 2 snatches. I did one with each arm each minute. I didn't think I could do them well when I started, and began at 10 pounds, which was silly. I then moved to 15 pounds, which was still not that challenging. Then I went to 20 pounds and did that for several rounds. Finally, I went up to 25 pounds, and did that for the last 6 minutes. That got heavy, but was good. I'll have to see what I was lifting when I used to do crossfit. 

All and all, something that I should repeat I think! 

Parkour and a little lifting

I did the outdoor parkour today, super fun! I'm always sort of questioning if it's really a good workout, but this guy threw up in class today, which he said was because he hadn't worked out for a while. So, it's at least a hard enough work out :)

We did some fun drills where we climbed the side of a ramp, and over a rail, ran and touched a wall, and returned. Then, we tried to do it in fewer steps. I started by sliding over the rail, and then was like "I think I can do a step vault over this." So, I tried it, and in fact I could do it! After, we did some jumping. There are these stumps in the park that you can jump to. For a while I've wanted to jump from the platform, over one stump to the next. But I have a total mental block about it. So, I worked on that, and did it! Of course, it wasn't hard at all once I tried it.

After class I came home and decided to get my weight lifting in. I feel like my arms really need work, so I did strict press and push press: 3 strict, 3 push, every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. I started with 10 pounds for each hand for the first one, but that was easy, so I moved to 15 for the remaining 9 rounds, which was harder.

Klem and Mack

I have a new favorite mountain range, the Belknaps! I decided to hike Mts Klem and Mack today - a nice 6.1 mile hike with 1200 feet elevation gain. It was a good one! Definitely would do it again, it would be a good warm up hike in spring after not hiking for a while. Apparently there are eight Belknaps - Mt. Major is another one. So, I may try to hike the other five.

Because it's shorter and there isn't as much elevation gain, I decided to start a little later. I got to the parking lot around 11:30, and it was a little problem because it's a really small parking lot - only space for like 5 cars. There was a little space to the side, so I was able to park, and head out.

The hike first goes to Round Pond, then Klem and Mack. The way there is pretty much all up hill, but not killer uphill. It was still enough of a challenge that I was breathing hard and sweating. It took me about an hour to get to the pond. It was really nice there. I was hungry and actually stopped to eat my yogurt and fresh fruit so I wouldn't be starving at the top - smart move. Will remember for the future.

I went up Klem first (wonder where it got the name?) and it was a really nice hike up. I saw that it was .7 mile to the top, so I knew it would take a little while, even though it looked like the mountain was just a hill right there. Klem had a really nice viewpoint of Lake Winnipesaukee, so I sat and ate half my lunch (sour dough bread with cheese and pringles). I don't know why I have never discovered real sour dough bread before, but it's amazing! I'm sort of thinking about starting my own starter, but I feel that would be dangerous. Anyhow, I spent a while going up the mountain pondering the important question "should I eat chips now and sandwich later, or sandwich now and chips later?" Brilliantly, I came up with the idea of eating half of each, though when I sat down to eat the other half, the chips were a little broken, and the sandwich kind of crumbly. 

Anyhow, after Klem, I went over to Mack, which was a little less nice because it has a cell phone tower on top. I hiked down and to the pond. By this point my feet were a little sore, and I thought "stick them in the pond, it will be so refreshing!" which I did. And, it was not refreshing. First, the water was actually pretty warm and second, as I took my feet out I found a leach trying to lodge itself on my left foot. Eww. Not a fan of leaches. I dried off, hiked around the pond, and sat in a pretty view spot airing my feet and eating the rest of my sandwich/chips. The way out was pretty fast, it took about an hour, and was fun. I got back to my car with my feet only a little sore, and me only a little tired! Perfect hike length! When I got back to the lot there was something on my windshield, and I was like "really, a ticket?" because the lot is up this dirt road that's a little sketchy. Then I thought someone hit me and left a note. But, I was relieved to find that it was just someone telling me that it wasn't a parking space. Phew!

Home Crossfit

 It's really hot out today, it went up to 91, but I decided that if I never work out in the heat, I will never work out. It's so hot here now! I'm very sad that we can't take global warming seriously.  Anyhow, I decided to run a mile (1.14 miles, to be specific) and then do some weight lifting. Of course I didn't enjoy the run very much, but I finally remembered to bring my iPod Shuffle, and that made it a little better. I left home at 6:20, according to my fitbit I started running at 6:21. I got held up at a light for about 30 to 45 seconds (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and I finished at 6:32. Which, for me is pretty fast! About a a ten and a half minute mile. I felt pretty good as I was running, at least the slightly downhill parts, and knowing that I was only going to go a mile really helped.

After, I got home and decided to do some lifting. I looked at the crossfit WOD from my old gym and they had squat clean and jerk. I decided that was a good one because I do want to get my legs stronger as well as arms/core, and squats are good for that. I wound up using just one dumbell, holding it outside the weights at the edges. I did every minute on the minute for 12 minutes - the first round I did 20 pounds, which wasn't that hard. The remaining 11 rounds I did 35, which started out fine and got more and more challenging. By the end my arms were shaking a little, but I was glad I made it through all the rounds.

My boss at work gave her notice on Monday. She feels she has no room for growth, which is probably true. I'm sad about it, and was initially assigned to report to my least favorite person in the office, while all her other reports were assigned to someone else. I scheduled a meeting with my boss, and was like "I would be so desolate to be separated from the team," and got moved away from the evil bitch. Victory for me! 

Fells Skyline Trail

I found a couple new mountains in the Belknaps that I want to hike - Klem and Mack. But, today I slept in and was lazy and by the time I was ready to think about hiking, it was already almost noon. It's only an hour and 45 minutes to get there, and 6.1 miles, with only 1227 elevation gain. Which is still a hike, no doubt, but not a 4000 footer. But, in the end I decided it was getting a little late, the trail might not be popular and I could have gotten lost, so I went to the Fells instead. 

 I decided that if I was going to do the fells, I should try doing the Skyline. Happily I could look back in the blog and see that I had done it in four hours and 20 minutes, which seemed reasonable. Of course, I was not thinking about heat. When I got home from my walk, it was 91 out - this was at 4 pm. So, it was hot out!

It started as a fun hike. I actually got parking in one of the more popular areas (now I know why, no one wants to hike in 91+ degree weather. I started out feeling warm, but also good. I saw a couple woodpeckers, which was cool! And, I only got off track once. After about an hour I started feeling hot and tired, but kept on trucking for another 45 minutes or so, when I decided I was pooped and should look at the map. Fortunately I had gone around the reservoirs in the way that left the tower for the end - but I was able to take a short cut and skip the tower area. In the end I did about 3 hours, taking the skyline to the reservoir. I got back to my car and was so happy to sit and turn on the AC!

Ran a mile, plus Deadlifts

It's finally cooler outside - a good day for getting in some exercise. I was going to go walk in the Fells, but then realized that my garden needed watering, and probably some weeding, so I decided to go there instead. On the way there, I realized that I should try and run a little - like a mile. Of course, I wasn't wearing a sports bra, so that was not fun, but I did it anyhow.

I ran near the garden in Cambridge, down by the Harvard museums, past the divinity school, and then into one of the neighborhoods there. It had the advantage of being flat, which is something that I appreciate when running. I got a little turned around, which frequently happens in Cambridge. So, I think that I ran about 1 mile, then realized where I was an ran another .1 mile. Then I walked back to the garden. It took me 18 minutes for the whole thing, but I think about 10 and a half minutes for the mile. Not completely sure. This running is making me want a new fitbit that has a stopwatch. But I'm not going to get one. Also, I think I should run there again, it was nice (and flat).

After I ran and had some water, I gardened for about a half hour. I have a certain amount of grass in my plot, so I worked on pulling that. The thing that seems to grow best is kale, which I'm sure is very good for me, but not so delicious.

When I got home I wanted to do a little weight lifting, so I did deadlifts to see if I could life all the weights that I got. And I could! I did:

EMOM 6:

2 rounds at 40 pounds

2 rounds at 50 pounds

1 round at 60 pounds

1 round at 70 pounds

70 pounds felt heavy, but I thought I could do more. But wasn't sad that I didn't have more weights and couldn't.

I'm going to Maine for the day tomorrow with a couple of friends. They both wanted to eat inside at a restaurant, which to me is just an unnecessary risk during covid. I think I'm going to make a new Red Sox mask for the day :)

Home Crossfit

I'm really enjoying parkour, but it's not a super athletic or weight bearing exercise, at least not the way I do it. I was reading about how important weight lifting is, and remembering that I did like the lifting part of crossfit, and then thought, why not get some weights and lift at home? It turns out that everyone else has been thinking that. So, easier said than done. I did finally get lucky at play it again sports, thought they weren't used weights, they were new ones (so more expensive. But, I haven't been paying much in gym fees these days....) I got dumbells instead of a barbell, since they are easier to store in my tiny place. The bars way about 5 pounds, and then for weights I got 7.5, 5 and 2.5. I had to get 4 of each because you have to balance your sides, but I think that was a good amount. That's a total of 60 pounds, plus the barbells gives me 70 pounds to play with, which is plenty for me for everything but deadlifts (or, was when I was doing crossfit. At the store I quickly realized that I'm not in crossfit shape at all. It took me 3 trips to bring everything to the car).

I was trying to decide what lifts to do, and realized that I could look at my old crossfit for their wod, and do their weight lifting. And then I thought, why not do the whole thing? Without people doing it 10x faster than me. I had already done geriatric parkour today, so I didn't do the whole thing this time, but I think I'm gonna try it! Instead, I just did the weight part:

EMOM 12:

1 strict press

2 push presses

3 push jerks

I put the 5 pound weights on, so each barbell was about 15 pounds, so total 30 pounds, which is pretty light. But, I think for the first day back is fine. I'm pretty psyched about this idea, we'll see how it actually goes :)

My blog has switched to a new format after all these years. It's fine, I guess, thoguh it didn't work in Safari, which isn't helpful.

Non-Geriatric Parkour

There's a Sunday outdoor parkour class that's resumed right across the street at the school. Today was the second time that I went - it was so fun, and absolutely terrifying! We started with burpees as a warmup (you can never get away from the damn things!) and then they broke us up into groups - short people and tall people. Shockingly, I was in the short group. There were three of us - a woman who's done parkour for 5 years, a kid with green hair, and me. 

We started with "climbing" which I thought I would be good at because - climbing. But, then he had us start with step vaults over a hand railing (waist high - maybe 2 1/2 feet high?). I was pretty scared, but the other two did it, so I figured I could too. And I tried, and did! Then we did step vaults that we switched into a side vault at the end, and landed with precision. Which was harder. Then, we went to the ramp going down to a lower level of the park, and he was like - now do it here. And, it was a higher, round rail with a big drop on the other side. Like ten feet at the start! I hustled myself down to the bottom of the ramp, where it was "just" a three or four foot fall, and looked at it. I mean, it was terrifying! Because, you are balancing on opposite hand and foot, on a round rail - and two points of contact isn't that stable! But the other two people in the group were doing it. So, I tried it, and I actually did it! Like five times! One time I didn't lean forward enough, and fell backwards. But, I was holding onto the rail and just wound up hanging by my arms with my butt against the slates, feeling like a bit of an idiot. And, I didn't kill myself. Work in progress.

Then we did jumping. I jumped on this log that I enjoy jumping on. The instructor encouraged me to jump from one curb to another - about 3 feet apart, which was also terrifying. I couldn't get over the mental part of it, but I could jump from right before it, to it. Another work in progress - it's right across the street, I can work on it.

For the last 20 minutes we balanced on the handrail. I'd looked at the rail before and thought about trying to balance or walk on it, but had never gotten up the guts to try it. So, this was immersion therapy. We did four five minute chunks of balance. The first time I mostly just stood there thinking that it was OK. The second time I walked forward a little. The third time I went on a flat part (the other two times I was on a ramp) and walked forward and backward - which actually wasn't that hard. And the last time we were meant to stand still in the same place, which I did, sometimes sticking out a leg and balancing on just one or the other.  All and all, a scary but fun class :)