<p>That looks fantastic! Just a quick perusal, the elevation gains and so forth don’t look insurmountable. The full 11 miles (not including the return hike) is well beyond my endurance with those kinds of elevation gains, but you could certainly make it to the first major beach (2 miles and back for a 4 mile round trip) and then play it by ear. It looks like the elevation is all up and down, so the outbound leg is going to be approximately what you get on the return leg, so just hike until the watch or your legs tell you it’s about the halfway point.</p>
<p>I can’t tell for sure, but from the elevation ups and downs they are talking about, I would figure that you’ll probably do better than 1 mph, but probably not better than 2 mph. Looks like the first leg is 500 feet up, 500 feet down going out and then the same coming back for a total of 1000 feet up and down over 4 miles. That’s a nice hike that you could easily do and not be gobsmacked. With your running background, you might be able to do a lot more.</p>
<p>For comparison, the first hike I did was 4.5 miles with 1600 feet of elevation up and back down. That was all the hike I could handle, but I did it again a few weeks ago, averaged a little over 1 mph, and thought it was just about right for a pleasant, but not grueling, workout. My limit right now, with climbing factored in, is about 6 miles. It would start to feel like a death march after that. I know that I couldn’t do the full 11 miles, even one way – and some of the cliff sections (the “balcony” and the “eroded section”) sound like more height exposure than I would enjoy.</p>
<p>BB, if I were doing that hike, I would probably have three options in mind depending on what I find as far as terrain, weather, etc.</p>
<p>I could hike to the first beach (2 miles) and turn around. That might be the end of the road in any case, because there’s a stream crossing that sounds like a no-go after a rain storm. </p>
<p>Option 2 would be to continue on, a 900 foot climb, to the highest point on the entire trail at the 3.3 mile mark. Turning around there would be 6.6 miles with 1400 feet of elevation gain and back down. I could do that, but that’s pretty much at my limit for day hike without killing myself. </p>
<p>Option 3 would be to hang a left at the first beach for the 2 mile climb up to the falls. That’s an 8 mile round trip and the trail to the falls sounds like a challenge, so it would depend on how the hike had gone up until that point.</p>
<p>I don’t see any options beyond those three that make a lot of sense without camping. Option 4, getting to the halfway point Hanakoa Valley, would be my ultimate goal for a day hike. But, 12 miles round trip in that kind of terrain is a pretty serious day of hiking. You have to figure that could be as much as 9 hours of hiking. That’s in the range of the kind of White Mountain hikes that I would love to do someday, but know that I’ve got to be more experienced, stronger, faster. Don’t make the mistake of thinking, “oh, I can walk 3 or 4 miles an hour”. Not on hilly eroded trails.</p>
<p>My daily triathlon continues. 1.5 miles swimming / 15 min. weight machines / close to 4 miles walking. H. is up to my speed in walking. We definitely doing faster than 4 miles / hour, I am so proud of him, sometime have hard time keeping up. One thing though, it is weird, but I do not feel my legs at all after swimming, very strange burst of energy, I feel like I can walk forever. No wonder that in real triathlon, swimming is the first one, something has been discovered, still a mystery to me.</p>
<p>My daily triathlon continues. 1.5 miles swimming / 15 min. weight machines / close to 4 miles walking. H. is up to my speed in walking. We definitely doing faster than 4 miles / hour, I am so proud of him, sometime have hard time keeping up. One thing though, it is weird, but I do not feel my legs at all after swimming, very strange burst of energy, I feel like I can walk forever. No wonder that in real triathlon, swimming is the first one, something has been discovered, still a mystery to me.</p>
<p>Met one of my neighbors today who does not join my little herd of walker/runners in the morning. She told me all about her marathon exploits. Her complicated regimens and diet. I could not helping noticing she is rather heavy. But I sense that she is a very strong woman. It was interesting. </p>
<p>I don’t want to get that obsessed with my fitness regimen. Balance in all things, even pursuit of health?</p>
<p>That’s awesome. I am definitely not worthy!</p>
<p>The only way I can walk 4 mph is to go into a conscious faux-racewalking mode, swinging the arms, and pushing the pace as fast as I can. It’s very hard for me to sustain. My normal fast walking pace on level terrain is about 3.5 mph.</p>
<p>^I will be freezing at 3.5 mph pace, freezing cold to pnemonia. I tellmy H. when he slows down, that he will have to take care of a sick person, it makes him walk faster. No need recently though, he got into good walking shape. But as I said, swimming makes me not fel my legs at all, like there is no weight on them. believe me, there is plenty of weight, lossing some 15 lbs would not hurt at all.</p>
<p>BB: The trail looks very inviting. I’d go for it.
Deborah: I’ve been looking at the Tough Mudder info. It certainly would be challenging and I like challenges. Mud and icy water don’t bother me–the electric shock challenge is a bit much. I also don’t like the part where you crawl underground. I have to find out more before I decide. I wouldn’t do it alone–I’d try to find a team or persuade two of my friends to do it. I’ve been looking for something new in the way of fitness and have been looking at Crossfit programs–which is how I found out about the Tough Mudder. I’m going to try a class at a local Crossfit gym. My current gym membership is up for renewal at the end of December.</p>
<p>Did a 5 mile walk today with one of my walking friends–she’s fast and when I walk with her, I walk much faster than I would on my own. We finished 5 miles in 1 hr. 11 min. (I’m sure the runners think that’s incredibly slow–but it’s fast for me.) Signed up for a spinning class tomorrow.</p>
<p>I really admire fast walking. I think it’s really hard to walk fast. I walked 9 miles once with a friend when we were both injured and I have never been so sore in my life!</p>
<p>I would be very wary of Crossfit, especially for older people. Some of their affiliate gyms are better than others, but Crossfit’s overall approach and especially their WOD (Workout of the Day) is very unfocused on injury avoidance. There are better “bootcamp” style workouts out there.</p>
<p>The big problem is that Crossfit workouts use olympic lifting style exercises in high rep to exhaustion sets. That’s a recipe for problems because those types of exercises require stopping the minute form starts to break down. You don’t want to be doing deadlifts or squats past the point where form goes out the window.</p>
<p>2.01 miles, 51 degrees, mostly cloudy (felt like it was going to rain), 5 MPH breeze. I was freezing out there, especially my hands. This is with longer shorts and a short-sleeve dri-fit. My body did get warmer but my hands were cold for a good part of the way. I need to amp up the clothing - probably need to go long sleeves with this weather.</p>
<p>Also did a round of push-ups this morning. It’s been a tough week at work and I hope to get some rest this weekend. It is nice to run outside but having the right gear can be the difference between a nice run and a bit of misery.</p>
<p>D did a Zombie Run, which I guess is like the ToughMudder but only a 5k. She thought it was so much fun, and would love to do another one. Said the electric shock was nothing. She did it with a group of friends and they were filthy.</p>
<p>After a couple weeks of diligent weight lifting on the inherited Hoist system down in our basement, I finally am detecting greater strength in my arms and shoulders and upper back. I’m wondering if this explains why it’s becoming so much easier for me to keep up with my neighbors in the morning when they break into a run. It’s quite thrilling actually. Have always had skinny, no strength arms. Now they feel like they matter!</p>
<p>Below 60 is definitely long sleeve shirt territory for me. You can always shove the sleeves up if it gets too warm. I’ll wear shorts down to 50, but as raw and damp as it is outside this afternoon, I would have gone with long running pants. It feels colder than it is.</p>
<p>I find that cold hands is the first area of discomfort for me when it’s cold. I love super lightweight fleece gloves – like PolarTec 100 fleece. Weighs nothing. Breaths well, but just enough warmth to take the chill off. Lousy in the rain and not wind proof though. I have several pair. They are my go-to gloves 99% of the time. I just got a new version, made with PolarTec PowerStretch fleece. Same thing, superlight fleece on the inside, but stretchy material and woven on the outside. They fit skin tight and some versions (LLBEAN has one) have finger pads to work touch screen phones and stuff. That’s what I’ve been wearing hiking. Because they are stretchy, they can also be used as glove liners to add warmth to waterproof shell gloves or even additional warmth to winter ski gloves. Fantastic gloves for just about everything short of throwing snowballs or running in the rain. TJ MAXX had some (Manzella brand, I think) for $19.95. They usually have somebody’s version of lightweight fleece gloves for $12.99. I think I’ve got an adidas pair and a Columbia pair. I’ll often throw a pair of gloves on when it’s 50 and windy. Wimpy, I know, but there’s no real downside and warm hands are a good thing!</p>