<p>Did 4 miles on Christmas day in my somewhat hilly neighborhood.</p>
<p>Yesterday we drove 5 hours eastward to our coastal vacation/weekend home.</p>
<p>Did 4 miles today in the flatlands…all laps were faster… total run time was minute and a half faster… time would have been even better if not for the one long hill to climb at the end of the run. Did 50 push-ups after the run.
I’m loving my new pink Garmin watch S1 gave me for Christmas.</p>
<p>Yay, BCE! Made your goal!</p>
<p>I spoke too soon on this snowshoeing business. I’ve stiffened up like the Tin Man and every joint in my body is creaking… 
Must be a little more of workout than I thought!</p>
<p>Cleared the snow off the grill and cooked up some fantastic steaks out in the frozen tundra…</p>
<p>It is also a different way you used those muscle groups.</p>
<p>My whole lower body is sore today. Those hamstrings and glutes are right where I expected them ;)</p>
<p>Congrats to all you warriors here making yearlong goals.
You are my heroes!</p>
<p>Check out this mileage. I feel like a slacker. They aren’t 60 years old, but still… The last column is how long it took (if they entered times in their logs)</p>
<p>DoppleBock 6013.6 mi 32d 23hr
Don S 5362 mi 28d 2hr
schneidr 4535.8 mi 20d 8hr
srlopez 4074.7 mi 0:00
flatfooter 3671.1 mi 19d 22hr
Scully 3461.5 mi 17d 5hr
AmoresPerros 3440.5 mi 20d 2hr
extendedsolo 3196.8 mi 18d 12hr
Daddyo 3096.7 mi 18d 3hr
Candice S. 3048.8 mi 16d 6hr
corland 3042.5 mi 17d 13hr
PaulyGram 3028.3 mi 15d 7hr
TeaOlive 2993 mi 22d 21hr</p>
<p>have not done one thing since Dec 17th, other than drinking and eating all day long. Gaining weight to prepare the “biggest loser II” at work. :)</p>
<p>Congra to all who reached their goals.</p>
<p>Went to the gym this morning. No biking, just dreadmill for 45 minutes. Felt good to back. Now to start being consistent again.</p>
<p>Keep it up, NM. We can be encouragement for each other!</p>
<p>nminn:</p>
<p>You’ve got me beat. I was going to work out today. I really was. But, I drove my D to the airport, came home, and took a three hour nap. Probably just as well. I’m sore all over from snowshoeing, including the shoulders. Snowing right now, so I may get out again tomorrow for a wee bit. Definitely going to keep things short and sweet until my body quits complaining!</p>
<p>Went to the gym today. Drive to NH tomorrow. Dance on New Years Eve. Drive back here Monday. We’ll bring snowshoes to NH and maybe we’ll even get to use them.</p>
<p>There’s about three inches of new snow on the ground right now. I was going to run errands tonight but I think that I’ll do them in the morning. Seems like most people are staying home.</p>
<p>Unless you are going to the seacoast, you should be good to go for snowshoeing in NH for the next few days. It’ been snowing pretty steadily here this evening. A couple more inches of light fluffy snow. Supposed to be quite cold here this coming week. We never switched over to rain like they did along the coast. Manchester and north probably have a bunch of snow.</p>
<p>I’m going to try to do a longer snow shoe outing at Massabasec lake sometime this week. Hopefully the sunny days don’t coincide with the forecast highs in the teens! I’m not ready to try any mountain trails on these things yet.</p>
<p>Somewhat south, mostly west of Manchester. We mostly got slush here.</p>
<p>Hi everyone! Great job of sticking to exercise/healthy lifestyles despite the weather. Congrats to MOfWC on reaching that goal. Wow. And kudos to BC.</p>
<p>Im finally going back to the mainland and already miss the almost magical experience of the hike. </p>
<p>First of all, many thanks to idad for supplying the YouTube links etc. This information was invaluable for me to get myself mentally ready for the challenge, especially when I saw the video of the cliff walk and decided that if that was the worst part, the hike would not be so tough after all. Turns out, I was right about that!</p>
<p>We really lucked out with the weather. Since I made the reservations and got the camping/hiking permit a couple of months in advance, I was pretty nervous that the unpredictable December weather might spoil our adventure. I even paid for two camping nights instead of one just to bump our chance of encountering better weather a bit. It surely rains a lot in Kauai, especially in December, but by some miracle (or pure luck!) our planned hike dates fell on the two driest days of the entire week! Of course, since it poured buckets the day before, the trail was very muddy and treacherous in some areas (more about that later), but otherwise it was very manageable, even the infamous cliff walk, which dries out very quickly.</p>
<p>On the day of the hike we got up early, drove to Hanalei and stopped by Kayak Kauai to get some fuel for our Pocket Rocket camp stove and to park our car there and get a shuttle ride to the trail head. Turns out, they discontinued the shuttle for the winter, and instead gave us a business card of a local lady who operated a taxi business Sues Taxi. Of course, there was an option of leaving the car in the parking lot by the trail head, a magnet for car thievs and vandals, so for our peace of mind we decided to park by Kayak Kauai and to call Sue. Just as I was about to dial the number, another couple stopped by to get some supplies and kindly offered us a ride to a parking spot approximately a mile from the trailhead, from where we hiked to the end of the road and entered the trail. The first couple of hundreds of yards of the trail was, as Mr B called it, a chicken filter: if you were too chicken to climb up this very steep hill covered in muddy stones, you had no business of hiking to Kalalau. Since the hill did not scare us a bit, we carried on towards the coveted goal. In approximately 2 miles we reached a stream which we crossed by taking our hiking shoes off and wading knee deep into the water. IMO, this was the most unpleasant part of the hike taking muddy shoes and socks off and then trying to put them onto the wet feet while balancing on slippery rocks. We had a water break on the other side of the stream by the beach and watched how the resident feral cats were harassing hikers and begging for food. Unlike most feral cats, these felines werent very afraid of humans and even allowed to touch them. The next couple of miles of the hike would not have been too pleasant if it werent for the gorgeous scenery. The trail was still muddy in spots from several days of heavy rainfall, and we really appreciated our hiking poles and Merrell boots that I picked up at REI prior to the hike. I strongly recommend anyone attempting the hike to get a sturdy pole it converts a two-legged human into a much sturdier tripod and comes very handy in muddy places. We carried on and oohed and aahhed at the gorgeous scenery while trying to look carefully ahead for the safest spot to land our feet. There are numbers engraved into rocks serving as trail markers, but we did not notice any since we were too busy with scenery and safety, so we relied on time and the description of the trails landmarks to determine our position (I really wished I had brought my Garmin, but I forgot it on the kitchen table).</p>
<p>Speaking of caloric burn, Im pretty sure I burned much more than my typical 1100 calories/11 miles while walking the trail. First, I was lugging a backpack that weighed 20 or more pounds (despite packing very light, we decided to take as much water as possible instead of iodine-treating stream water en route, although we did bring the pills just in case). Halfway through the hike I was ready to curse the load on my back, but then it dawned on me that only a couple of years ago I was lugging this kind of weight on me 24/7! I quickly shut up. Second, the trail is not flat. And I mean NOT FLAT. As you navigate around the cliffs (pali in Hawaiian), you climb up and down some pretty steep hills. Here is the elevation profile that I found on the web (it looks about right to me).
<a href=“http://great-hikes.com/blog/images/KalalauTrailProfile_lg.gif[/url]”>http://great-hikes.com/blog/images/KalalauTrailProfile_lg.gif</a> Third, the trail is not very consistent: you get to walk on bare rock, thick mud, nice dirt paths, cross streams, etc.</p>
<p>I remembered that the cliffy part was supposed to be somewhere around 7.2-7.4 miles into the hike, so when we reached that point, the fear of heights in my soul got infused with happiness of being 2/3 closer to our goal. The worst part about the cliff was the wind, which howled like a stray dog at night and tried to yank my hat out of my hand. I forgot to tie my hair into a ponytail, so it was blown into every possible direction, obscuring my view of the trail (I was much smarter on the way back!). The scary part was pretty short, and soon we were on the familiar mix of mud, rock and dirt. After an hour or so, we reached a point from where we could see the coveted Kalalau beach! The last mile was the easiest ever as we sprinted down a dusty slope towards the paradise! Here comes a big brag: we passed quite a few much younger folks, so I was very proud of Mr B who was afraid that we werent prepared for such a strenuous walk. In fact, I think we were the oldest people on the trail everyone else looked like they were under 35. So yeah, not too bad for a couple of geezers!</p>
<p>We reached the beach about an hour before the sunset, quickly pitched our REI tent, spread out the supplies strategically so they could be easier located in the dark, and ran to play on the wet sand. Swimming at Kalalau is not recommended due to strong currents and high surf, so we splashed our feet a bit and took pictures of the sunset. I forgot to mention that it could take up to 10 hours to walk the trail (we did it in 8 with plenty of rest stops and picture taking), so anyone attempting the hike should plan accordingly. It gets dark really quickly when the sun disappears into the sea, and walking the trail in the dark even with the brightest flashlight is a suicide, IMO.</p>
<p>I really wished we had spent two nights at Kalalau, but due to our prior obligations we had to head back the next morning. The Kalalau valley is really gorgeous, and the best part is that it is pure wilderness without any services (except a couple of composting pit toilets) and phone reception! In short, if we could do the hike, anyone in decent walking shape can, with the right planning and equipment. I will post more about the equipment that we found necessary etc.</p>
<p>Bravo! The 600 to 800 feet of elevation gain in a mile (miles 1 and 3) are no joke. I bet you were having some doubts, 3 miles in to this hike! :)</p>
<p>Kudos on the cliff section. I’m not sure I could do that. If it’s a narrow trail with a slope down to cliff, probably. I’m usually OK a few feet back from a sharp drop off. But, if it feels like you are literally inches from the cliff edge, my fear of heights would get me. The YouTubes of that section looked really borderline…</p>
<p>Amen, on the hiking poles. They will keep your butt out of the mud many times over on a wet slippery trail!</p>
<p>As for putting on wet, muddy socks, I think I’d pack a couple extra pair and start fresh!</p>
<p>BTW, there is no shortage of snow in NH. It has really been piling up tonight and it’s still snowing pretty hard. Wouldn’t surprise me if we get 8 inches of fluffy light snow.</p>
<p>BB- thanks for the great report. It sounds difficult and rewarding. Congrats to you and Mr. B!</p>
<p>Here’s a new [podcast[/url</a>] with Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler talking about the just released fifth book in their New Rules of Lifting series. This one, [url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Lifting-Supercharged-Muscle-Building/dp/1583334653]New”>http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Lifting-Supercharged-Muscle-Building/dp/1583334653]New</a> Rules of Lifting: Supercharged](<a href=“http://thefitcast.com/episode-250-supercharged]podcast[/url”>Episode 250: Supercharged with Alwyn and Lou – TheFitCast- Fitness and Nutrition Podcast) is basically a rewrite of the first one. The first four workouts are similar to New Rules of Lifting for LIfe.</p>
<p>Some interesting stuff in the podcast. Two things caught my ear. Cosgrove said they had their best results ever the last time they ran their Thermometer Jeans challenge. He thinks it’s because they started using heart rate monitors for interval training: go until 85% of max, then rest to 70% of max. He thinks it made people work more intensely than timed intervals.</p>
<p>He also had an interesting observation about New Years Resolutions and new fat loss clients. He said that they wait to the end of Jan to start a team fat loss challenge because they want to give new people a few weeks just to adapt to a goal of going to the gym two or three times a week. He really emphasized giving people baby steps to take rather than hitting them over the head with big fitness goals. Amen. I think that’s huge advice for any lurkers here with a New Year’s Resolution.</p>
<p>I remember one of the three goals I wrote down was “walk a mile without getting winded”. That hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday when I walked a mile without getting winded … on snow shoes! I would have looked at you like you were crazy for even suggesting such a thing…</p>
![http://great-hikes.com/blog/images/KalalauTrailProfile_lg.gif[/url]](http://great-hikes.com/blog/images/KalalauTrailProfile_lg.gif%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
