<p>Yeah, humidity finally gone! Very enjoyable outside run! </p>
<p>I’ve been slammed this week with our summer sales meeting with early morning and evening events. I did not manage to get up this morning at 5 to run. Ran 2.5 at 6pm and it was horribly humid. Low heart rate and saw a baby deer, so it was all Ok. </p>
<p>Hike sounds good, iDad. </p>
<p>Sorry MNKat - I found a shortcut to faster speed on the bike. Hit 40.7 mph on a downhill with little exertion ! Little scary but exhilarating. </p>
<p>I know exactly what you mean, lol. At those speeds things happen very fast. The first time I hit speeds like that, I had a surreal moment when I looked at my skinny 23 mm front tire and the road flashing by and a little voice said “What if there’s a pull tab from a soda can in the road…”. 
The first time I hit 50 mph on a downhill, a car pulled out a 1/4 mile ahead of me, going in my direction, and I almost had a Depends moment!</p>
<p>BTW, I sent you the link for the coaching website I mentioned earlier.</p>
<p>^that’s how I feel at 20 ;)</p>
<p>This summer as been wickedly slothful on the weight front…the constant entertaining has me still and relentlessly up five without moving the needle. Much of it is due to a work crisis tat began two months ago when we lost our lead developer in the midst of three huge projects that I just finished Wednesday. Many late nights at work, no planks or bike rides or kettlebells after dinner when I’m collapsing at midnight…and haphazard meals…you get the idea.</p>
<p>Maybe now I can get some more activity, better meal planning, and whatnot into the sked. Then again, I’m finally going on vacation to SF in two weeks with my foodie GF from Newfoundand. Which any way you slice it, spells trouble :)</p>
<p>Up at dawn. Spectacular weather. Sixties and deep blue sky. Camp is packed up and in the car. Heading back to civilization. Well, at least southern New Hampshire…</p>
<p>I’m back. Showered. Nap. Salad for dinner. And Billy Cobham concert tonight.</p>
<p>Just starting to look at hiking videos. Two really good hikes. </p>
<hr>
<p>First day was 9 miles up and back to one of the AMC Huts and on up to Zeacliftf, a classic cliff view that is the cover shot for this book:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/4000-Footers-White-Mountains-Steven-Smith/dp/1931271240”>http://www.amazon.com/4000-Footers-White-Mountains-Steven-Smith/dp/1931271240</a></p>
<p>Overall, this was a relatively flat 1800 feet of elevation gain in the 4.5 miles up, but that is deceiving as the final 1.2 miles climbs 1200 feet up a very rough trail. 1000 feet of elevation per mile is some serious huffin’ and puffin’ and slow going ont the way down.</p>
<p>7.5 hours and that was about all I had.</p>
<p>Most of this route was on the Applachian Trail, so lots of interesting groups, plus there is always lots of conversation on the porch of the huts.</p>
<p>Ran into another college orientation group at Zeacliff, this one from Brown. They started down before me, but I caught up to them stopped on the trail. One girl had fallen on the rocky, rough trail and was getting a cut/scrape on her knee bandaged. My second pass! Both times going faster than a cripple! Hey, at my age, you take the victories anyway you can! 
And, I take some pride in not falling and scraping my knee.</p>
<p>This was just an awesome hike.</p>
<hr>
<p>I had planned on Mt. Eisenhower the second day, but that is right at my limit and I just didn’t have enough gas in the tank after the first day. So I did a relatively obscure hike up Cherry Mnt. and across to Mt. Martha, with awesome views of the Mt. Washington and the Presidential range. Because it’s not one of the more popular hikes, parts of the trail were pristine – actually pine needles and dirt and stuff, without the erosion that leaves NH trails so rocky.</p>
<p>Quite a workout, though. 5.9 miles round trip with 2400 feet of elevation gain. 1900 feet of elevation gain in the first 1.9 miles, which is a sustained hard slog. I tried a new mind game. Set my Garmin to vibrate with every 100 feet of elevation change. I’d go until the watch shook me and then stop to catch my breath. Then, up some more. Works out well because the elevation really is the crux, not the distance. Played the same game going downhill, pausing every 100 feet of elevation, not to catch my breath, but to stretch and unload the legs, which take a beating on the downhill. Just a minute every so often made a big difference.</p>
<p>Did not see a single soul on this entire hike.</p>
<hr>
<p>Camping was fantastic. I’ve learned to not schedule hikes on setup day and tear down day, so I can enjoy the camping part without the rush. Plus, two days of hiking is about my limit. I’m too toasted to enjoy a third day. Perfect weather. Last night was 50 degrees. Just cool enough to dive into the sleeping bag, but not cold enough to freeze the nose and hands.</p>
<p>Wow! What an adventure, idad!! :)</p>
<p>Yin yoga and a 2 mile walk today. </p>
<p>Push-ups!! A ton of them. Oh yeah - add a mile walk/run with my 20-lb bag up the hill. :)</p>
<p>I miss camping, IDad, a lot. Use to do a fair amount of it before kids came along and then kind of fell out of it. Sounds like your escape was wonderful. Ever do any winter camping? Some of my best camping experiences were mid-winter, with snow covered trails, frozen lakes to chop through to get water, using instep crampons to hike up frozen trails by waterfalls. Just gorgeous - and so quiet, not a soul around other than my companions.</p>
<p>I do day hikes in winter, with either snowshoes or light traction (MicroSpikes, etc.). I think the coldest i went out last winter was 11 degrees (when the pics in the blue jacket were taken).</p>
<p>[Old</a> Man on Old Bridal Path](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>I draw the line at camping somewhere in the 30s. The private campgrounds around here all close after Columbus day in mid-october. Some of the state and federal park campgrounds are theoretically open year round, but once it’s below freezing, the lure of a hot shower and warm bed after hiking is irresistible!</p>
<p>I stick to pretty modest hikes in the winter. For one thing, it gets dark at 4 pm. And, the stakes are lot higher and end up stranded from getting lost or injured (i.e. winter conditions make things life threatening).</p>
<p>I’d love to do the hike to Zealand Hut in the winter, but the unpaved access road to the trailhead is closed in winter, so you have to add 3.1 miles each way to the hike, making it about a 12 mile round trip. That’s more than my limit on snow shoes!</p>
<p>Great report, iDad. It sounds just perfect. We all want to go!</p>
<p>I planned to do 8 miles and did 9.1, so that’s a real victory! I stuck to my low HR/MAF system, which is frustrating but really is what I need to do right now. I didn’t have to walk until 5.3 miles- all that means is that I was able to run slowly enough to keep my HR average under 135 without walking. Finally the heat and humidity and the fact that I had been out there an hour or so made it impossible to keep the HR under 135 without walking breaks. Also, my last 2 miles have a lot of upgrade which is automatic “up goes the HR”. The good part is that you feel fine during this and while I was certainly ready to stop at my car after the 9 miles, I wasn’t just trashed like I usually am. Each mile got slower, which isn’t surprising for a low HR run. I’ll take it. It was 74 and very humid to start, but with a cloud cover, thankfully.</p>
<p>Good for you MOWC, persistence and consistency are your battle cries right now and you are slogging through your planned workouts and getting them done. As frustrating as it is right now, your discipline to stick to your game plan will pay off. </p>
<p>IDad, some of the winter camping I did was in single digit temperatures at night. Learned real fast that the only way to sleep warm and comfortably at night, regardless of how good my winter mummy bag was, was to give my self a sponge bath before retiring and changing into the next day’s underwear! Of course, the shock of the sponge bath in single digit temperatures could have caused a coronary ;).</p>
<p>MOWC:</p>
<p>What’s your max heart rate? Isn’t it around 190?</p>
<p>In two days of hiking with steep elevation gains, my highest heart rate was 135 (79% of my max). It goes to show how well I’ve trained myself to slow down my cadence uphill and to stop and let the heart rate fall before it gets into runaway territory.</p>
<p>There’s definitely an adaptation involved. I’m still breathing heavily on the uphill climbs, but I’m able to sustain it longer before my heart rate takes off. A deep breath with every step on the steep uphill bits.</p>
<p>MKAT:</p>
<p>The time in the sleeping bags would probably be OK at those temps. I have a 15 degree down bag and a 40 degree down bag. Using both together would probably be good down to single digits. But the it’s the time OUTSIDE the sleeping bags that would be brutal. I’m a fair weather guy. I don’t even hike in the rain if I can help it. The less my rain gear comes out of the backpack, the better I like it!</p>
<p>My max is about 185. The Maffetone formula gets tricky with older runners, and I think tends to make your “number” a little low. I come out about 130 on the MAF formula, but I bump it up to 135 or else I would barely get to run. My normal aerobic training zone (in decent weather) should be 136-148 or so, which makes the 135 MAF make sense to me. I do much better holding at the 135 on flat terrain and in cooler weather, needless to say. My pace will increase if I stick with this. </p>
<p>I knew it - everytime I want to whine I can’t. Got a later start than I wanted this morning but headed to my favorite hilly park and got 10 miles in. Really warm, sunny and humid - my least favorite weather. H came along with the dogs and did several loops walking with them, took them home, and came back and did a bit more walking. Went to the mall and got two new running bras and some Nike dri-fit shirts from the clearance rack. Big day for me! </p>
<p>I keep telling myself it will get better when it cools off and the humidity eases off. </p>
<p>Sounds like a good run, Sabaray. And- it WILL get much better when the weather cools off! I promise.</p>
<p>I pretty much told myself that I just had to tough it out when the weather wasn’t to my liking. </p>
<p>What are everyone’s recommendations for a lightweight method of carrying fluid? I realized today that the Camelback handheld I have is too heavy for my liking. Any favorites out there? </p>
<p>My FuelBelt is bearable. It has 2 bottles- not big ones. It seems to fit well on my hips. I hate carrying fluids, though. Sometimes I use a handheld. </p>