12/24/2012

Tribute to Koreans!

Ok, I know it's not representative of true Korean culture, but about 10 years ago I happened to see a Korean drama on TV. At first I didn't watch for long, but would look for a few minutes at the subtitled drama on the WMBC broadcast when channel surfing. (For those who don't watch much TV, us channel surfers are people who like to see what's on almost every channel, at least when there are commercials during the show we're watching). Unlike the American dramas, most Korean dramas I saw would end after so many episodes, which was nice, and they were faster moving (if that can be said about dramas). Slowly but surely over a couple of years I would watch a little more, at least partly because they had no commercials, but also because it was well done drama, if very tame G-rated stuff. I got hooked over time. Those were VCR days, and I started recording the Korean drama every night to my VCR. I found it a very relaxing half hour, a good way to de-stress, and a nice alternative to over-done American TV.

In more recent years I've found there are many Korean movies and dramas on Netflix, and a new one starts on TV every 6 months or so. Movies and dramas do not a culture make, but cultural art reflects to some extent the culture it arises from, and one starts to learn a little more over time. I think I'd have a hard time with some types of Korean food, and have tried eating at Korean restaurants, but the more I learn about the Korean people, the more I hold them up as a model culture to be admired, a blend of east and west really; a modern culture with a positive hard-working attitude toward life, or so it seems to this observer. Of all peoples in this world, I admire the Korean people the most.

As a nature lover and outdoor enthusiast, I've been hiking and trail running for many years, enjoying the nature parks to the fullest extent possible in recent years as I've had a little more time. Who do I see out there enjoying nature the most besides me?  I see lots of Korean hikers, in large and small groups, exploring the far outer trails where I normally don't see many other people, as well as on the more traveled trails. So I know some Koreans seem to enjoy nature, and they certainly take advantage of the great parks we have around here in the New York area. I want to pay tribute to my fellow hikers, Koreans in particular! 

Outdoor Week Ending 12/23/12

10 hours and 30 minutes, 3200 feet of climb, mixed hiking and trail running. Caught a cold later in the week, but it's been a great outdoor year and I've overall gotten much stronger and healthier.

The gas line cut often sees deer feeding




Winter storm "Draco" was rain around here, swelling creeks more than "Sandy" even


12/22/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 12/16/12

Time 15:43, 4970' climb, 70% hiking with some hard trail running in there. Another good week!

Good news: Google upped the free picasa space to 5 gb!  So I can add more pix without paying. (I always seem to ponder before paying up on these types of things, so that's why no pictures recently)

My local lake

 Carefree Buck
 Strange tree
 Woods road in Harriman
 Nice sky and moon on black trail

 Southern New York snow early Dec
 Blustery day at Sky Top (Mohonk)

 A very active Harriman Beaver

Deer feeding at dusk at the gas line cut
 The Key

12/09/2012

20 Hour Week: Make Time, Peace in Nature

Nature can heal and inspire any time, but if you can make more time to experience it's various moods -- the major and subtle changes of the seasons and weather and the activities of the animals and plants -- the more you can become a part of it.

I've had 20 hour weeks outdoors before, but not in many years. This week I was outside on trails for probably about 25 hours total, but I like to count moving time, to keep a rough idea about my "volume". This tracking comes from my trail running days when I was mostly about training, but now I don't think of training, just movement in nature. Unnecessarily but by habit, I still keep track of overall moving time, the amount of climb, and some measure of effort. So this week came in at 20:39 with about 6200 feet of climb, effort not compiled carefully, but a mix of vigorous hiking (probably 40%), easy hiking (about 35%) and trail running (~25%).

My main point this week though is MAKE TIME if you can to be out there longer, and most importantly, make a chunk of that time for stopping/experiencing nature or exploring. For me this week that was about 5 hours of sitting at various inspiring spots, often writing but sometimes just enjoying, with some exploring side areas and side trails, or listening to and watching wildlife. Over the past summer my main personal lesson learned was the run-hike: freely mixing trail running and easy hiking for a whole new experience that was the best of both worlds. Now though I've realized that stopping and observing and little side explorations enrich the experience even more, but it only really works if you make extra time for it up front and don't "have to be back" for something. I make this point because even if we can make more time for the things we love doing, often we don't do so as a result of following our regular life patterns too blindly.

My second point this week is suggested in the title above: peace with nature and it's elements. This week had a cold rainy day, a windy chilly days, a foggy cool serenely still day, and some sun as well. I realized the best day in some ways was the day I didn't want to go out at first. Doing an errand before the outing I was cold as it was about 35 degrees and raining, with a bone-chilling dampness that seemed to go right through my clothes. But after 20 minutes hiking up the hill, I was warmed up and I started to enjoy it more; the air was still, and only a foggy drizzle remained.

The more time you spend outside in all seasons, the more your body adjusts naturally and is able to stoke it's own heating. In sedentary people (or even sometimes in people who rush outside for an hour or so of exercise throughout the winter), the body loses it's ability to regulate it's temperature properly. I see so many people hiking with what look to me like heavy coats, when I rarely have on more than two thin layers. I don't see sweat on their brow, as I would on me if I were so dressed, which makes me conclude that they've lost the ability to self-regulate temperature. Over time your body can regain it's responses to and place in nature, but only if you're able to relax out there.



12/03/2012

Outdoor Fun Week Ending 12/2/12

Just over 11 hours, about 3600 feet of climb, mostly hiking but some good technical trail running mixed in there. A bit of a snowstorm had me resting on Tuesday, and it stayed cold enough to stick around most of the week in Harriman. With the colder weather and shorter days the temptation is to get it over with faster, but the beauty is in taking your time when possible and enjoying every aspect of the season. That can mean dodging dusk and carrying a headlamp, judging whether you can do a certain route with snow and ice cover, or just making peace with the coolness that you craved all summer, now here, giving the woods over to you, with plant and and animal life in reprieve...

11/25/2012

Outdoor Fun Week ending 11/25/12

11:58, 4150 feet of climb, much more hiking than running.

 After feeling mediocre at best early in the week, for some reason light on sleep, I did much more hiking than running, but we did manage a four mile walk on thanksgiving before the big feast. But after that first piece of pie it was surfing for the rest of the day on big waves of sugar. Friday I was ready to burn some of it off, but I was sluggish for the first hour of my 3 hour run-hike. It became progressively more intense and I was feeling very good at the end.


Haha!  Seems I'm out of space for pictures here, so I'll have to consider my options. Bummer.

11/18/2012

Recent Fall Pix





















Outdoor Weeks Through 11/18/12

Week ending 11/18/12:  14:27, 5300' climb, more hiking than running

With the shorter days and colder temps time on the trails will be more limited, but I was able to get out more than I expected this week and it's been fun out there. Had to use the headlamp a few times, and plan to keep it in my pack from now on.

Week ending 11/11/12:  13:29, 6230' climb, more hiking than running

Got back to a slightly more normal schedule and continued clearing what I could from outer trails as I got to them, and did more running, but November and December will be light and easy so probably much more hiking than normal and running only when I feel inspired.

Week ending 11/4/12:  12:56, 4280' climb, mostly hiking

Power out for 3 days after Sandy struck, but didn't have it bad -- last year hurricane Irene flooded my stuff. Street walking only the two days of the storm, before the wind got too bad on Monday, and after things died down enough on Tuesday. Power lines down all over the neighborhood and dangerous to walk too far. Started back out on trails again Wednesday and started clearing trails of small blow-down and anything I could lift, but downed trees everywhere and major trail blockages in many places. (I will post pix of some of the downed trees I saw later). The trails were pretty empty as people dealt with no power, gas lines, and the like, but there were some people out hiking.

Week ending 10/28/12:  8:43, 3750' climb, mostly hiking

Recovery week after 50k race, took a few days off, then eased back into things. Then after I got back home, did some preparation for Hurricane Sandy.

Bradbury Mountain 50 km Race Report

My whole approach to running has changed in the last year. As I wrote about on my blog, I started doing almost every outing as a mixture of trail running and easy hiking. Normal trail running involves hiking, but because the mindset is to move at a steady effort akin to a run, a trail run for most probably doesn't involve easy hiking or hiking for extended periods; at least that's how it was for me when I saw myself as a trail runner. No, the run-hike is a different sport, and I've fallen in love with hiking all over again. I will never look at hiking or trail running the same again, but I will still do some races for fun.

Bradbury was good, if another race in rain/pea soup fog can be good!  Two laps, interesting course and terrain, with a mix of surfaces. First lap was smooth and fun; second lap grew into a struggle, but I didn't hit the wall as hard as some, though I did fade. 6:46 3300' on GPS, so not a lot of climb, but it was probably 3500'. Given that I did no long runs after Escarpment in July, mostly just my 2 hour-ish run-hikes, I'm happy with the result. After, I just chilled out in Maine for a few days.

I normally ignore heart rate but sometimes record my route on GPS to look at later. This time I kind of watched my heart rate and tried to keep it in the 150s. That helped me pace, and I ended up about 155, a bit conservative for the distance, because if really well trained I should be able to manage about 160 for a 50k.

The race was well organized plenty of food, gym to duck out of the rain and eat good hot food. Hose with hot water to rinse off the mud. I'd do it again probably, but I'd try to do more long runs to prepare. I don't look at my outings as training anymore; special preparation for events sometimes maybe, but my goal is to go out and enjoy the wilderness.

10/26/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 10/21/12

Do I really need to post the weekly summary? No, but it's become a habit. At least I can look back at it if I want to sometime.

This week:  4 runs/hikes, 13:19, 5880 feet of climb

Saturday was the Big Brad 50 km 'race' in Pownal Maine, and I'll write something on that separately. Monday my right foot was swollen and hurting; the top of the instep area was beat up from a fair amount of time on my feet, running and hiking, over the past few months. So I just rested it, then did an easy hike Tuesday.

Wednesday I probably did more than I should have given I had a race in a few days, but I was feeling good to be moving again, and I did a nearly 3 hour run-hike on my favorite very rocky technical trails in Harriman, took it fairly easy though.

After that the taper week concept (resting the body and doing less volume before a big race) kicked in, and I just hiked lightly on Thursday, then traveled/rested Friday. Sunday after the race I just ranged a little with a friend.

No more races planned until next summer at this point:  Escarpment trail in July. I find myself just not needing to race much anymore; I just love being out in the woods on my own schedule too much. That and maybe the fact that my last two races were in the rain and/or very wet for the whole race. Puts a damper on things, for me at least, but there's more to it than that.

10/14/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 10/14/12

15+ hours of run-hike: about 7 hours running, the rest hiking, with about 7900 feet of climb/descent, with avg HR of about 130 (higher than usual overall). A very enjoyable week outdoors in cooler temps.

I have a 50 km 'race' coming up Oct 20th (next Sat), so this coming week I'll do less volume and rest completely Thurs and Fri. My goal is not to race or even race well a this point, but I want to check out this terrain at Bradbury State Park in Maine, and visit friends near there. I don't plan to race hard, but just enjoy it as much as possible.

(No pictures for a couple of weeks now until I replace my camera).

10/07/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 10/7/12

15+ hours of run-hike, 6650' climb. Got a 50 km race coming up in 2 weeks.

9/30/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 9/30/12

A little over 12 hours about 8k feet of climb this week, mixed trail running and hiking.

9/25/2012

Some Pix from last week

The Ramapo highlands of south Harriman


 View from Ramapo Torne
 My nemesis, the NYS Thruway (exit 15b)
 Freedom tower @ 20 miles
 Empire state
 Ramapo Torne from 2 miles
 Praying Mantis -- it turned it's head toward me

 Fall colors just starting


Outdoor Week Ending 9/23/12

Though we had some rain, the weather this week was outstanding, with somewhat cooler early fall temps ending the week.  This was probably my biggest summer ever in terms of getting outdoors for trail running and hiking, and this was my 2nd 18 hour week in recent months. Though I've been in sharper condition for trail racing, overall my combined running and hiking fitness right now is very good, and I felt strong enough to go very hard at the end of my 2nd 3+ hour run on consecutive days.

I've been wearing the Garmin Forerunner 305 for most of September, but it's too time-consuming to parse the data every week. Since this is a bigger week time-wise I wanted to look at the data. Basically I try to press the lap button every time I switch to a run from a hike or a hike from a run. Since I normally start out every outing hiking easily to warm up, that makes every odd lap hiking and every even lap running. Of course I screw up the lap sometimes, so I have to look at the data. For me it's interesting this time because I've just been doing whatever I feel like at the time, running or hiking. Here's the data:

              Hike     Run     Total
Time    10:57     7:16     18:13   hh:mm
Dist      28.7     33.1       61.8   miles
Climb    7,998   2,168   10,166   feet   (looks like I hiked up most of the hills)
Desc     2,955   7,388   10,345   feet   (and mostly ran down)
HRavg    120.9   140.7     128.9   bpm
Speed     2.59     4.46      3.44   MPH

All my runs were on fairly slow technical rocky trails, because that's the kind of terrain I like.

Now some fun with numbers. If I was running on flat ground with good footing instead of on hilly rocky technical ground, how many miles would I have run?

The hiking effort of  HRavg  120.9  for  10:57, using the MPH/HR table below,
yields  4.54  MPH, for  49.7  virtual miles.

But since I was really hiking during that time, if I walked instead of running, the fastest I would walk is  4  MPH, so that gives  43.8  virtual miles instead.

For the running effort,  at  HRavg of  140.7  for  7:16  yields  6.75  MPH and  49  miles.

So that makes my virtual summary for the Week:       
  If Walk & Run     92.8      Miles
  If All Running     98.8      Miles
       
Basically the trails I run -- the technical terrain and climb mean almost 50% less distance is covered for the same heart rate effort, but though that's just fun with numbers, it illustrates why miles       
don't tell the story with trail running.       
       
For me it is what it is, and time and effort are all that matter. Terrain and climb for specificity       
also matter. Miles alone mean very little, so I basically ignore miles. But the truth is I'm not conditioned to run 98 miles a week, or even 92 miles. Flat terrain running causes overuse injuries, at least for me. Mixing running and hiking is the best, for me.


MPH/HR Table
Estimated Heart Rate at Given Speeds, on flat ground with moderate temps, based on past data points from flat runs:

Running       
7     150.00    
6     137.50    
5     125.00    
4     117.50    
Walking       
4     115.00    
3     102.50    
2     90.00    


9/16/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 9/16/12

6 days mixed hiking and trail running
14:27 time, 8450' climb, 127 average heart rate

A good week, featuring some faster running, and some very slow easy hiking leading an old lost dog back to the trail head.

I like heart rate as a measure. In cycling they use Watts, but for running it's the closest thing we have to tracking effort. You can use % of max, % of heart rate reserve, % over resting, or % over normal activity. If my normal (sedentary worker) activity heart rate is 70, then 127 is 81% more than that. I estimate my HR max is around 191, so 127 is 67% of max. When I was running only and not hiking much, my average HR for the week was probably in the low to mid 70s percent, so not much different when you add in a bunch of vigorous hiking and even some very casual hiking. A cursory review of the data suggest that my hiking HR is mostly in the range 120 to 130, whereas my trail running HR is in the range 135 to 145.


Fall Goal:
I changed my mind! I signed up for a 50 km race on October 20th, the Big Brad 50 km in Pownal, ME. This race is on technical trails, so the time will be slow, but as of now I'm planning to run it hard. We'll see.

9/09/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 9/9/12

16:52 time on feet this week, running when I feel like it and hiking when I feel like it. I'm not planning my outings anymore, just choose an area, sometimes choose a route, sometimes just wait until I hit a trail junction then choose.

I'm not actively tracking anything right now, but the Garmin is recording everything for later analysis (if I ever get to it): hiking time/miles/climb/HR and running time/miles/climb/HR. I just hit the lap button when I switch activities so that odd laps are hiking and even laps are running. [Garmin has activity options of Run, Bike and Other, but the switching mechanism screws up the upload to Garmin connect, which is where you get the accurate climb data (and other stuff), so laps are much easier if you want to analyze things later].

I'm not training for anything anymore this year, though I may enter a race or two for fun. Just getting out in the woods in these big parks with so many options and doing whatever I feel like at the time is very freeing. The only reason I'm recording stuff with the Garmin, which is set up to display very limited information, is that I'm kind of curious how the numbers will stack up in the running and hiking categories. But chances are I will ditch the Garmin after a time and just wander out there until the sun hits a certain angle in the sky...

9/03/2012

Outdoor Week Ending 9/2/12

Run  Rclimb  Long  Lclimb Hike  Hclimb  OnFeet
4:14    940    1:29    500    11:46    6175    16:00

This is that last week that I will be actively tracking and planning my runs on a weekly basis, and thus ends my more formal training plan for 2012. I will switch to a more free-format running and hiking style, and will blog about that in the near future. It's just time to try something new.

Some Photos from the week:

After seeing lots of Timber Rattlesnakes this year, RIGHT near this sign...
 Finally a Copperhead

 New Shoes: New Balance MT1010s, See "Transitioning to Minimal Shoes" post

 A lake on the way across the park


 The view from the other side
 Don't know what kind of snake this is...
 First pair of New Balance MT110s biting the dust, cut on rocks
 Mohonk:  Hiking the Crevice, aka "Lemon Squeeze"







 Slide Mountain from the Tower

 Trapps climbing area, with Millbrook ridge above
 Another Copperhead (baby) -- two in one week!