High Sierra Topix

I talk a good game of golf

Trying to lose 10 pounds before summer, so I found a 7 - 8 mile hiking loop here in Sacramento.
They call Sacramento the City of Trees - not much elevation change, so do the bridges..
I give you Sacramento today.

I'm also trying to drop some pounds and get my legs ready for this summer. Here in Auburn I've explored a lot of the Auburn Rec Area looking for the steepest trails. My current favorite is this 5.5 mile loop that starts with about 600 feet of climbing in the first mile.

markskor wrote:Trying to lose 10 pounds before summer, so I found a 7 - 8 mile hiking loop here in Sacramento.
They call Sacramento the City of Trees - not much elevation change, so do the bridges..
I give you Sacramento today.

Probably not helping the ol' heart rate when you're stopping every 100 yards to take a picture, Mark.

ERIC wrote: Probably not helping the ol' heart rate when you're stopping every 100 yards to take a picture, Mark.

Repetitively lifting the camera to his eye every 100 yds is how Mark builds upper body strength.

I road/mountain bike ride weekly. I try to do 100 miles a week.

lnl wrote:I road/mountain bike ride weekly. I try to do 100 miles a week.

Inl, In your experience, how does a mountain bike regimen work for you when you hit the trail? Cardio or what?

rlown wrote:

lnl wrote:I road/mountain bike ride weekly. I try to do 100 miles a week.

Inl, In your experience, how does a mountain bike regimen work for you when you hit the trail? Cardio or what?

Cardio for sure. I live at the base of mt. Diablo. I ride it both road and mtb, but the mtb is more of a challenge with steeper climbs. Here, I'll try to keep my cadence and heart rate up on longer climbs.

With my first Sierra backpack of the season just over 2 weeks away I have been increasing my regime.
This past week, in addition to two gym sessions I did 3 significant day hikes in the Boise foothills during breaks from Grandpa Duty.

Hike one: Mostly Hulls Gulch: 10 miles, 2000 ft vertical w/ 26 lbs starting weight in pack. This was a lolipop route with first mile+ repeated

Hike two: 5 Mile Gulch, Watchman, 3 Bears (loop trip): 5 miles, 1000 ft. vertical w/ 27 lbs starting weight in pack. Hike Three: 5 mile Gulch to top of ridge (up and back) 7 miles, 2100 ft. vertical w/32.5 lbs starting weight. Did this yesterday. Perfect day for hike, mostly cloudy 43 degrees at start, 39 degrees at top, 50 degrees at finish. Will probably repeat Hulls Gulch and the loop trip next week with the 32+ load before returning to Bend.

I can almost taste the creek water from the Sierra!

Mike

My personal goal this season is to average 15+ mile (trail/easy xc) days. Now, this is for trips lasting only for 3-4 days, and with a near SUL rig to boot (13 lbs start, 8.5 finish), so it's not really a marathon, but I've gotten progressively more serious about training.

I really enjoy walking, but the distance/time required to develop this level of conditioning was taking too long, so I bit the bullet and started running (again.) Now, I've always been a big critic of running, but the recent trend in barefoot/flat heel running perked up my interest.

(I don't like running because in my mind, our paleo ancestors weren't jogging around tracks or on hard streets/sidewalks. Rather, they were either walking to get from place A to place B, or they were jogging/trotting while pursuing injured game.)

Not to belabor a well debated topic, but I think it makes sense to walk @ a really fast pace and/or jog/trot @ a really slow pace **over non-man made surface areas**. And because running has a 4x caloric burn over walking, I can compress the time by 75%. (Running for 1 hr burns 800 calories, while walking burns 200. If you move to trails and/or packing, the differential remains.)

I bought a pair of NB MT 110s back in January, and after walking in them for a few months, started jogging in them along some of our trails. Right now, I'm up to 5-6 miles/day, split into two sessions (2-3 miles per session). My next goal is to combine them - basically, a 10k each day.

I figure if I can reliably run 6+ miles/day, then I can reach 15 miles/day without killing myself. Even if the net energy/endurance requirement is increased on the order of 50%, I think I'll have enough reserves to motor the distance I need before heading out.