I hit up the YMCA yesterday for some time on the rower, stair master, and treadmill. I know some people can just get on one machine and go for a long time, but I am not one of them, so I rotated machines. The stair climber kicked my butt. Legs felt OK, but my cardiovascular conditioning leaves much to be desired. Not unexpected, but not good. I stayed on that thing for just 10 minutes and even then had to take a break in the middle to catch my breath. Borrowing Jeff's iPod helped drown out the other people, so maybe I can make the gym thing work for me. Weights are set up in my home gym in the basement, but I've mostly done bodyweight stuff down there so far. It gets me sore enough for now.
Today I had the whole day free and decided to load up the pack and take it for a walk.
I did 9 miles (this 4.5 mile trail twice) with 25 pounds on a nature trail and didn't feel too bad until the last mile when I started dragging and my feet started hurting more. I got to try out my new Sawyer Mini water filter along the way, including the adaptations I made to make it gravity fed so I don't always have to squeeze it. Parts of the stream were ice-covered, but there was a convenient area just under a little bridge that had free flowing water so I could use my little dipper thingy to get the water (separate post on water system forthcoming!). I only got about a half a bottle since I mostly just wanted to try out the system, but it worked! Flow rate was slower than I expected, but I just gave it a squeeze to speed up the process.
Every time I go out, I try to learn something or try something to see if it works. Here's what I learned/tried during this trip.
Lessons learned
1. I can get my pullover wind shirt off while walking and without taking the pack off.
2. The ZPacks hip pockets I added to the pack have a reputation for being difficult to close one-handed. I found it's best to hold the bottom of the clip tight against the pocket with my ring finger so it's more or less stable and then use my other fingers to guide the clip to the right place. I think it would be easier if the bottom part of the clip was solidly attached to the pouch, so I may modify it so it is.
3. Payday bars from last summer are tough and stale.
4. My water filter/gravity filter mods work.
5. I had my torso adjustment right the first time (I did a mile with it a bit longer and it wasn't as comfortable).
6. The wind shirt goes a long way toward making chilly temps more comfortable, even with just light layers underneath.
7. I really like the shoulder strap pouches from ZPacks.
8. I'm still questioning my pack choice. It's comfortable but heavy. I'm having trouble pulling the trigger on the ZPacks Arc Blast, but I need to decide soon so I can commit to my current pack and start trimming things off it to lighten it or order a new pack so I can put some miles on it this winter.
----------
When I got home, I tried out a trail smoothie recipe of Carnation Instant Breakfast, dried milk, PB2 (powdered peanut butter) and a cup of water. Dry weight was a little over 3 oz, and it had 18 grams of protein, which is good for me after a hike. I'm aiming for 100 calories per ounce on my trip, and this is a bit shy of that, but it should be close to that mark when I use dried whole milk instead of non-fat. I just poured the water in and shook it up. The PB didn't mix in very easily, but I didn't mind the chunks.
Even better was this post-smoothie drink. Can't get this one on the trail, but it's nice to have at home!
Two Brothers Domaine DuPage French Style Country Ale
No comments:
Post a Comment