Secret Fitness Techniques

Wow, this year went by so fast that it was a blur!

I was looking over my notes and trying to determine how I did with my resolutions this year. On the positive side: I lost weight/fat and improved muscle tone, and vastly improved my hiking endurance. On the negative side: I did not bicycle enough, I had knee and shoulder injuries, and I did not consume enough protein.

My resolution for this next year is to continue hikes and lifting as is, but increase protein and bicycling, and be more careful about injuries.

I wanted my self-discipline and self-motivation to be stellar this year but it was a year full of stress. Stress may be the reasons for the injuries and for a very long "cold," or maybe it was over-training. So, let's try it again next year, and every year, and let's use the same secret techniques that have produced a good work career for me. To remind myself, what to do...

Set goals. What worked well last year was a target waist size and related weight loss, a defined "easy" hike mileage, and increased reps... when my weightlifting buddy wasn't looking. Begin with the end in mind. At work, it's been the number of technical reports published.

Be proactive. What worked well before was to madly cross-train, using all off-work time (no hanging around the house watching TV!). Just do it, the Nike ads say. At work, my interest takes over. Nobody has to tell me what to do, since I'm doing it. Do keep in mind that I have a desk job.

Do not overdo it. Think no over-training injuries. Allow both the mind and the body to win. Think win-win. At work, it has been distributing success credit to others.

Key is playing nice, smiling, sharing, mentoring, being courageous, keeping integrity, and demonstrating patience... with myself and others at the gym, trail, road, and work/lab. However, I do admit that I avoid some people to...

Be happy, and stay happy. "Do what you can with what you got," is my mantra... and...

Remember to rest. Nothing beats eliminating drama and reducing stress, and thus getting good sleep. The body has to heal itself after the carnage. Add regular massage, too.

Shhh... those are my secrets. Don't tell anybody.


- © 2012 by Willy

P.S., a happy new year to you.

I Did Not Know I Could Do This

Bailed! (Written at the Crawford Notch lodge).

On the first day I took a 6 am flight into Manchester where I met daughter Jennifer and we got dropped off at Franconia Notch at 6 pm. The first mile was not bad but the next couple to the Liberty campground were straight up the mountain. When somebody says straight up I hear "difficult" but this was miserable and unreal... with full packs in the rain we were crawling over boulders and flowstone at 45 degrees. There were no switchbacks, it was straight up! Looked like a mountain stream bed. We got to the campground at 10 by which time I was delirious and seeing things (a big rock looked like an REI Half-Dome tent). Since lunch, we'd had nothing to eat, so it was a protein bar dinner and sleep. I was so tired that I was not even going to pop the tent and instead sleep in the rain, but Jen set up my tent. It was obvious that I had not trained for this!




Chapter 2: "This is f****** unbelievable!" said the young, fit, avid, experienced hiker with 1800 miles of Appalachian Trail under her belt. Jennifer had finally come to the conclusion on the second day that we had to climb down a big, steep, roaring waterfall to stay on the trail. I took the lead, holding some trees for balance, hugging wet rock and getting drenched.... again. The terrain was beautiful. The terrain was also kicking my butt. We finished exhausted at 10 that night too, but at a wilderness "hut" this time, which meant a dry bed and breakfast the next day, miles from nowhere. What a luxury!

On the third day, I drew blood. But I did what I did not think possible...10 miles of the most rugged and grueling terrain I have ever done, and I'm an old man that has done it all. Or I forgot. Some of this "hike" was rock crawling on stream beds, some vertical rock climbing and some was very STEEP bouldering... for miles at a time, up and down, over and over again. There was very, very little walking. We went slowly due to the terrain, the rain and the risky slick conditions. Coach Jennifer's encouragement helped.

At one spot I had Jennifer worried... a trail crossing expected in 0.3 mile had not yet shown up in a couple of hours, which meant to this old engineer that we had crawled to a virtual stop but yet we had another 1.6 miles to go past that, so I panicked, computing that it would be morning by the time we got through that stretch and I wondered how to get us out of this crazy predicament. Turns out that the trail crossing was not 0.3 but 1.3 miles ahead and we soon got done that night and into a hut.

Things got easier the next day, with fewer miles to cover and the trail less challenging (we actually walked some!). We got in to huts in time for dinner and slept well, although still miles from nowhere. I could enjoy the wildflowers and the bird songs. We did slip in the slick rocks and roots but had no accidents or injuries. I was having fun! Then we finally got to another Notch... and civilization! A road! A lodge! A room with real beds, showers, clean dry clothes and much needed rest.


My feet were killing me, with two blue toes, one of which will shed the nail. All our down was wet, even on dry bags. A week of bouldering the Whites is enough. I sucked. Jennifer suggested I bail out there. She'd continue up to Katahdin after drying out and spending a couple of days with dad.

At the lodge, we heard how often accidents happen (daily!) and how common it was to mobilize rescue squads and helicopters. But we had a good touristy time too, even went moose hunting (spotlighted two) and heard all kinds of tales.

It was great fun. In hindsight. Really!

- © 2009 by Willy

Home

Home is over the rainbow, where the skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

Home is a feeling, not a place. Home just feels right. Home is a feeling of calmness, of quiet and of rest. It can happen to coincide with a physical place, but if so then that physical place had better have the above qualities.

After two weeks, I just got home very late last night, to that feeling of calmness, since there is nobody else at home now. A couple of years ago, when returning from a trip, there was no such calmness... just tension, walking on eggshells while waiting for verbal attack, kind of like Inspector Crusoe waiting for Kato to pound on him when he got home (in the various Pink Panther movies a couple of decades ago).

Today I slept late, showered, lunched out, shopped, washed, organized and put away. Watered and fed the birds and animals. And rested... laid down in front of the TV, propped my legs up, and enjoyed the calmness while watching the birds flock to the feeders.

There no place feeling like home. Great feeling. Won't give it up ever again.

- © 2008 by Willy
.