This is the 4th year in a row that I’ll spend 8 weeks training at the beginning of the year to get in shape for an awesome epic hike later on.
My last year’s training was for an epic 2 weeks of hiking in Greece, specifically hiking Mt Olympus, the Vikos Gorge and all over the island of Corfu.
We took hike breaks in the sea while on Corfu.
The training did it’s job, and I didn’t have any issues with any of the hikes.
At this point, I don’t know yet what hike that will be for me this year. But it’s still a good idea to be ready to hit the trails by Spring time.
Last year, the NC General Assembly) designated 2023 to be “The Year of the Trail” in North Carolina, and if their goal was to promote more use of NC outdoor recreation resources – it was a success!
Hikers at a local park
Last year both local and regional NC trails saw more traffic, especially from beginning hikers.
Now a year later, the trails will likely be even more popular – and populated! – especially in peak times.
Last year’s bucket list hike was Mt Olympus in Greece
It’s safe to say the shorter, easier, and easier-to-get-to beginner-level trails will likely be the most crowded.
All the more reason to train up early, so you can tackle the more ambitious trails when the easy ones are crowded!
The “8 Weeks to Awesome” hike training plan will help you do that, and you’ll be in great shape by Spring Break for any hike you want to do 🙂
The Holidays are just now winding down…
The Holiday season is just now winding down, so this past week I started to focus on getting back to my usual pretty disciplined training routine.
That routine includes several hikes per week, and starting next week I’ll post the training hikes on my hiking Meetup, so you can hike with me!
And of course, there’s weight training and cardio each week, with stretching every day.
Over the next couple of weeks, along with more focused and increased physical training, I’ll also try to clean up my diet.
Over the holidays – which for me was a series of gatherings for the whole month of December and into January – I went kind of overboard with the cheese intake.
Holiday eating caused me to abandon my usual healthy eating habits, so now I’ve got to get strict with myself again.
Because of my asthma, I’ve adopted a “clean” diet ( you can read about my Anti-Asthma Diet here ) that focuses more on protein and veggies, and less on dairy, breads and grains.
Combined with intermittent fasting, this diet works pretty well for just about anyone, whether you’ve got asthma or not!
Motivational sign in my home gym.
Luckily, I live within walking distance of a couple of different grocery stores, so for extra exercise I could walk to the store for smaller trips and carry groceries home in my back pack.
I’ve been very sick with chest/sinus congestion during this past Holiday season, and have been pretty much grounded from hiking.
No specific injury, just hard to breathe with all the buckets-o-snot, and very tired….
So this year, I’ll be training back up from the ground along with everybody else! (Please don’t hurt me…)
I made a checklist/tracker to help everyone measure their hike progress, available now on the IRW Merch Shop!
NEW: Track Your “Awesome” Progress at Home!
Track your progress towards your fitness goals!
You’ll get instructions and three printable trackers:
For your amusement and (I hope) to help with motivation, you can follow along with my journey in my weekly Training Logs. I’ll be adding them as I complete each week.
To see logs from this year and years past go to my Training Log.
Starting next week, as I have for the past 3 years, I’ll be spending 8 weeks training for an awesome epic hike.
I don’t know yet what hike that will be, but in any case it’s a good idea to be ready to hit the trails before Spring break and definitely before Summer vacations begin.
In fact, now that they (“they” are the NC General Assembly) have designated 2023 to be “The Year of the Trail” in North Carolina, the trails will likely be more popular than ever.
Hikers on the Flat Top Tower Trail in Moses H Cone Memorial park on the Blue Ridge Parkway this past summer.
The big challenge from NC State Parks and Rec is for people to walk 100 miles within the coming year.
One hundred miles in a year is not really a problem for regular hikers (I usually hike ~30+ miles per week) so while all of the trails will be busier, it’s safe to say the shorter, easier, and easier to get to beginner-level trails will likely be the most crowded.
All the more reason to train up to tackle more ambitious trails, both locally and in your Bucket List locations!
The Holidays are just now winding down…
The holiday season is just now winding down, so this past week I started to focus on getting back to my normally pretty disciplined training routine.
That routine includes several hikes per week – and starting next week I’ll post the training hikes on my hiking Meetup, so you can hike with me!
And of course, there’s weight training and cardio each week, with stretching every day.
Hiking down – and up! – 820 steps at the Kaymoor Miners Trail in New River Gorge NP.
Over the next couple of weeks, along with more focused and increased physical training, I’ll also try to clean up my diet.
Because of my asthma, I’ve adopted a “clean” diet ( you can read about my Anti-Asthma Diet here ) that focuses more on protein and veggies, and less on dairy, breads and grains.
And no more Holiday cheese platters!
Motivational sign in my home gym.
Combined with intermittent fasting, this diet works pretty well for just about anyone, whether you’ve got asthma or not!
Luckily, I live within walking distance of a couple of different grocery stores, so I’ve also decided to walk to the store for smaller trips (that don’t include cat litter), and carry groceries home in my back pack.
Carrying your groceries on your back gives a whole new meaning to “eating light” 🙂
I just finished making a checklist/tracker to help everyone measure their hike progress, available now on the IRW Merch Shop! See below:
NEW: Track Your “Awesome” Progress at Home!
Track your progress towards your fitness goals!
You’ll get instructions and three printable trackers:
Mostly because when we last left our training in Week 8, I was trying to work myself back from total lameness.
And, actually, that’s going pretty well. 🙂
But, to save myself from myself, I didn’t post my usual weekend hikes on my Meetup.
Well, actually, it was to save myself from my regular hikers, who have grown to expect high-paced longer hikes from me – and I just can’t NOT do that when I’m with them!
So, instead on Saturday I did some yoga, and then joined my friend Douglas for a shorter more moderately-paced hike on the Sal’s Branch Trail in Umstead State Park.
Sal’s Branch trail is adjacent to Big Lake in Umstead State Park.
Sunday was a rainy day so I did the kickboxing (minus hi-impact) and upper body weights again.
Escape to the Beach
In an effort to do something fun, use some expiring hotel points – and still avoid hurting myself – I decided to take myself down the Coast to Myrtle Beach for a few days.
I like the beach in the Winter, when it’s less crowded and you can walk the beach for miles without suffering heat stroke 😉
This isn’t my first mid-Winter escape to the beach.
The Fountain of Youth in St Augustine is surrounded by peacocks!
Last February (when it was raining like Noah was still afloat) I drove all the way to St. Augustine, FL then made my way back up with stops at Hilton Head, and a lovely weekend visit at St Simon’s Island.
Visiting a historical cemetery on St Simon’s Island.
In this part of the world, there are many beaches to choose from – and lots of hiking and walking opportunities at each one.
I’m sure I’ll also get around to writing something about walking and hiking around Myrtle Beach soon, too 🙂
Hiking Sunset Beach, NC.
Monday I did some more kickboxing and weights, then loaded the car and hit the road!
On the way down the coast, I stopped at Bird Island on Sunset Beach, home of the famous Kindred Spirit Mailbox.
At about 2.25 miles down the beach from the 39th Street public access, I did find the mailbox.
I also found a Memorial to one of the mailbox founders, and a couple of benches.
The Kindred Spirit Mailbox and benches, about 2 miles from the last Public Beach Access.
What’s the Kindred Spirit Mailbox?
For over 35 years, a small black mailbox printed with the words “Kindred Spirit” has stood in the dunes on the shore of Bird Island, an uninhabited island at the west end of Sunset Beach, NC.
The Mailbox first appeared in 1981 on a small sandspit near Tubbs Inlet between Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle.
For a many years, visitors had to wade across Mad Inlet to Bird Island at low tide to reach the mailbox, but since then several large hurricanes changed the location of the box and the island’s surrounding waterways.
The Kindred Spirit Mailbox and bench.
Most stories say the mailbox was first put up after the Kindred Spirit saw a mirage of a mailbox on the shore during low tide.
This vision inspired them to plant a mailbox, with a communal notebook inside, so visitors could leave a message.
The mailbox caught on quickly, and many visitors used the mailbox to express their hopes and thoughts, even saving the island with their handwritten pleas.
Once a prime target for resort development, Bird Island is now a Nature Preserve operated by the State.
The original placement of the mailbox was done by Claudia Sailor -the Kindred Spirit – a woman from Hope Mills, NC.
She maintained the mailbox in secret along with Frank Nesmith (the mailbox co-founder) since its inception.
Memorial to one of the Kindred Spirit co-founders.
Sailor passed away in 2013, so local author Jacqueline DeGroot recruited a team of volunteers to help watch over the landmark.
Nesmith preserved Claudia’s life work by having the notebooks (over 30 years worth) accepted into UNCW’s William Madison Randall Library.
The collection now numbers over 500 journals, and is still growing! Each summer DeGroot brings the handwritten notes, prayers, and letters to UNCW to add to the collection.
Along with the messages that saved Bird Island, many of the personal thoughts and hopes left in the mailbox are now published on theKindred Spirit’s website.
Access Sunset Beach from the last Public Beach Access to get to the mailbox.
After a quick sit-down for some water (and nuts and berries) I continued the rest of the way down to the Point.
I didn’t write a note for the mailbox – THIS is my message!
It was only another .25 miles or so – then I turned around and made my way back to my car (for a total of ~5 miles beach hiking) and got to my lodgings just ahead of sundown.
The point at Sunset Beach.
Tuesday was supposed to be a cloudy, cold day, so I hadn’t planned any big excursions.
Luckily for me, it turned out to be another beautiful warmish sunny day!!
Rumor had it (okay, it was Alltrails) that there was a 4 mile hike there that would be different than the beach.
Well, rumor – and Alltrails – had it wrong.
Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve entry.
I showed up and went inside the park gate, and the road was just a simple dirt track cut out of the forest.
I kept driving to see if there was a Visitor’s Center or something, maybe some trailhead signs.
Nope. Finally after a few miles, I saw a white pickup parked along the road, so I pulled up and rolled down my window to talk to the folks inside.
The whole Preserve looked like this, basically.
The two young women (and their dogs) said that the place was basically a hunting preserve, and that you could walk the fire-breaks, but they’d just done that and found some bear scat.
Hmmmm. There HAD been a sign that said all visitors were required to wear Blaze Orange during deer hunting season…
But it was the bear scat that was the deal-breaker. I decided to head for Huntington Beach State Park instead.
I first visited the Park on my last trip to the area about 6 months ago, so I already had a general idea of the layout.
Hiking down the beach towards the Jetty at Huntington Beach State Park.
This time, I specifically wanted to do the hike to the Jetty, which is usually frequented more by Birders, but at ~ 6miles it’s also one of the longer available hikes in the area.
With all of the screwing around with the driving and not-hiking at the Preserve place, it was almost 2pm by the time I reached Huntington.
I was concerned I wouldn’t have time to finish the Jetty hike before they closed at 6pm – but I did it, and it was sooo worth it!
View from the Jetty back down the beach.
Wednesday I decided to stick around near where I was staying, because traffic in Myrtle is already heavy (in February!), and I didn’t want to waste any more beach time stuck in my car.
So I started with 45 mins of yoga, then did a quick 10 miles (!) on the beach right outside my door.
The beach I didn’t have to drive to was also very nice!
I really hadn’t meant to hike that far, but I was in the zone. Later, I accidentally hiked 3 more miles. Oops. 🙂
Thursday was more yoga and a quick 3 mile beach walk, and then I scampered up the Coast to home again.
A view from the Jetty on the Marsh side.
Friday I had posted my first Meetup hike in a week or so, just the 6.5 mile Company Mill trail in Umstead State Park.
I had a great group of hikers join me, and we went at a good clip!
I was wearing ankle and knee compression for a little help, and I’m happy to say I didn’t have any issues 🙂
That Man and the puppy.
Later, That Man and the puppy joined me for another 4 mile urban hike – and we discovered a new pub!
Not sure if the cider and stout canceled out the exercise, but anyway, it’s nice to have another dog-friendly pub within walking distance.
So that winds up Week 9.
But, here’s the deal: training never really stops.
You can focus it more by training for a specific race or hike, or to get in shape for:
your daughter’s wedding,
or a school reunion,
or your next doctor visit.
But that’s not the real goal.
More than tuning up for a single event, we train to be fit enough to enjoy our lives and activities every day.
TAKEAWAY LESSON: We’re really training for life. We all want to be able to do whatever we want to – both ordinary and extraordinary things – for as long as we can. And have fun doing it!
See you next time 🙂
Hiking the Jetty at Huntington Beach State Park.
I hope you’ll find my Training Log ramblings to be helpful- or at least amusing! 🙂 To see more of them go to my Training Log.
The holiday season is just now winding down, so I’ve started this week to focus on getting back to my usually pretty disciplined training routine.
That routine includes several hikes per week – which I’ll post on my Meetup, so you can go, too – along with weight training, cardio and of course stretching every day.
Over the next couple of weeks, along with more focused and increased physical training, I’ll also try to clean up my diet.
Domestic Cheese Tray – holiday food. So much cheese!
Specifically, now that the socially condoned Holiday eating extravagance is behind us, I’m working on getting back to my normal (pretty healthy) eating habits before Super Bowl Sunday.
And then my birthday is this week…
Throughout the holiday season – which for me starts in October and doesn’t end until mid January – I’ve been plagued by a super-abundance of cheese. So much cheese.
Special Cheese Tray Idea, c1964 | Superbowl snacks. More cheese.
Because of my asthma, I’ve adopted a “clean” diet ( you can read about my Anti-Asthma Diet here ) that focuses more on protein and veggies, and less on dairy and grains.
Fun fact: Cheese activates the same receptors in your brain as opioids. So, you CAN get addicted to cheese…
But, even past the hurdle of Christmas and New Year’s, we’ve got the Super Bowl and then Valentines Day to deal with….
Valentine’s Day Snack – Fruit & Cheese Heart Platter. Cheese again.
After Valentine’s Day, Easter is just a short hop away.
And you know what that means – jellybeans. I admit I’ve got a jellybean problem – I even tried to explain to That Man how jellybeans are actually vegetables.
He was not convinced. Neither was I, really.
Jellybeans are so small… nd they’re beans, right?
Clearly, I can’t be trusted, so no more jellybeans for me – I won’t even bring them in the house.
Except for my magic Sports Beans– which have saved my bacon (no! no bacon!) many times on the trail in the heat of summer.
They even have caffeine 🙂
And just get away from me with that cheese tray….
TAKEAWAY LESSON: Any diet begins in the grocery store!!
I hope you’ll find my Training Log ramblings to be helpful- or at least amusing! 🙂 To see more of them go to my Training Log.
It’s been more difficult than I thought it would be to go back to my usually pretty Spartan eating habits and disciplined training routine.
Over the past couple of weeks, along with more focused and increased physical training, I’ve also been trying to clean up my diet.
Pile of forbidden fig cookies
Specifically, now that the socially condoned – almost required! – Holiday eating extravagance is behind us, I’m working on getting back to my normal (pretty healthy) eating habits before Super Bowl Sunday.
Because of my asthma, I’ve adopted a “clean” diet ( you can read about my Anti-Asthma Diet here ) that focuses more on protein and veggies, and less on dairy and grains.
I think my increased activity (and the colder weather) has me craving carbs.
Newtons will always be “fig” to me.
I used to be able to get a package of fig cookies and not touch them for a week, and then only have 3-4 cookies, but now I’m snarfing down a whole sleeve in a single sitting!!
(And, BTW, this whole “fruit” Newtons thing is just bogus. It’s fig or nothing, baby!)
At least I’m eating cookies INSTEAD of dinner, not in addition to dinner.
Jellybeans are so small…
Clearly, I can’t be trusted, so no more fig cookie dinners for me.
I won’t even bring them in the house.
But perhaps just a few jellybeans…they’re so small, right?
TAKEAWAY LESSON: Any diet begins in the grocery store!!
I hope you’ve found my Training Log ramblings to be helpful- or at least amusing! 🙂 To see more of them go to my Training Log.
