1. Byrdman and I have a hike planned for this coming Wednesday that, from my reading about it, sounds more strenuous than any hike I've gone on this summer. To help get ready for it, today I decided to go back to my freshman year in high school, the only year I turned out for football (I hated it). We started the season in late summer of 1968 with two-a-day practices. I decided to try to prepare myself for Wednesday's hike by putting myself through a hiking two-a-day today.
This morning, I hiked up the Health and Wellness Trail, took a rest at the picnic table, and then continued on up the steep slope to the road I hike to when I want to end up in Vergobbi Gulch. Instead of walking this road and its much gentler descent, I hiked back down the steep trail I'd ascended, seeing how my balance and my knees and feet would hold up coming down the grade I had just climbed up. I did fine.
I'm learning more and more about how to hike steep trails in relation to my age and level of fitness. I am finally coming to full realize that I'm not in my thirties and forties any longer and that I cannot ascend these trails briskly. I'm also finding that if I make frequent short stops and breathe in and out 10-20 times standing still and then continue upward, that my body performs much better. I just cannot think about speed -- what I'm learning about myself as a 65 year old hiker out of practice, but getting in better shape, is that if I try to rush myself, I more quickly fatigue myself, but that if I hike slow and steady and stop to catch my breath multiple times, before my lungs are screaming for air, I do much better.
2. Back home, after my hike, I relaxed and rested my legs by watching the first round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club. My brother-in-law, Brian, is a member of Medinah and is working this tournament as a volunteer. I kept my eyes peeled whenever I looked up from the crossword puzzle I was working on to see if I might catch a glimpse of him, but, so far, no luck.
3. Around 6:30, I returned to the trail and worked again on climbing uphill and back down. As far as temperature is concerned, my timing was very good. The trail was shaded and the cool North Idaho air of evening was beginning to move in. I still worked up a pretty good sweat, but I was never overheated, a condition I don't deal well with at all. I hiked close to the spot where I had hiked to in the morning. Darkness was falling. I wanted to get off the hill before dark, so I cut my hike just a little bit short. I thought I handled the upward grade better this evening. My way of hiking short distances and taking frequent short rest and breath catching stops worked really well. I thought I handled my descent better this evening than in the morning as I managed, somehow, to feel less strain on my knees.
When coming down a steep trail, I am always concerned about how my big toes will respond. Inevitably, I jam my toes into the front of my shoes while descending and both my big toes can become easily angered by any number of stimuli. But, not today. When I returned home, I was ready to sit and drink two or three cans of seltzer water and my toes were happy, unbothered by what I put them through today.
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