Date: 2015-08-04
To: My Tuesday night workout
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

I am actually keeping up with the getting in shape schedule that has been laid out in front of. Tonight was a simple 40 minutes of cardio. I decided to cheat a little and do a somewhat fast pace walk with my pack loaded down at 30lbs. Technically, Saturday was supposed to be the first 30lb. walk, but I missed it. So tonight I had to increase my pack from 20lbs. to a back breaking 30lbs. I did this by taking out most of my base weight items (I see no reason to carry this around and put unnecessary wear on it). I replaced the base weight items with beach towels and three small barbell wights that weighed 2.5 pounds each. In addition to the weights, I also am using water bottles as ballast.So when I headed out at 7:00 o'clock my pack was officially at 30lbs. The weather was perfect for a bit of a butt kicker. It rained hard for 45 minutes at about 3 today (first rain here in over a month). The searing heat was replaced with a slightly cooler temperature (if you could call low 90s cooler) along with some of that lovely Houston humidity we are known for. I would guess it was about 90 degrees?I hit the White Oak Bayou trails in front of the Heights. I like walking down on the bayou as there are some slight bumps (not hills) but bumps that gives me a little feel for inclines. I also try to walk on anything but concrete to get my feet ready for uneven walking. I am convinced that it will be very difficult to get the right amount of actual incline hill training here in Houston. One has to work with what one has.I am training with my Vasque Breeze. These seem to fit the style of hiking shoe that I plan to take 2,180 miles. I like the upper support. So far they feel good on my feet. My left shoe seems to have just a little more room than my right shoe. I doubt that I am the only hiker who has ever encountered this. I think I even heard that everyones' two feet are slightly different? So I am not 100% sure on the Breezes yet. If I pull the trigger and go with these I will buy another pair and begin alternating usage in my pre-hike training. That way I will have two pairs of semi-broken in shoes ready to go and not one really broken in pair. Hopefully when it comes time to replace the pair I start with, I can coordinate with a care package coming from the AT coordination headquarters and extra gear warehouse (my living room here in Houston). I am also going to find some extra pairs of shoe laces to have on stand-by. Tonight I even hit some back trails in the park down by the bayou. These trails lead off into the woods where I am sure a bevy of after dark atrocities occur. Because of the afternoon rains they were slightly muddy. Again, it was good to walk on something other than the concrete bike path.People ask me if I feel odd carrying around a backpack at the park. Trust me, the people down there are too busy doing their part in trying to keep Houston out of the title of "the Fattest City in the USA" once again to notice a dude with a 30lb. backpack. And besides, I looked not stranger than the dude wearing a black hoodie...with the hoodie up! I am sure sooner or later some do-gooder will call the PD convinced that I have a backpack full of stolen loot, but I will deal with that when that happens.I still have not zeroed in on my start date, but it is more than likely in late March on a weekday. I may have started the death marches a bit early, but hey, I might even lose a few pre-hike pounds and contribute to keeping Houston from the list again. At the end of the 40 minutes my shoulders felt the extra 10lbs. but it was not where near "race for the Ibuprofen" bad. Because of the limitations in the terrain here in H Town, I plan to get comfortable with up to a 45lb. pack on these walks. I would like to be at 30lbs. when I start in Springer, but I suspect I may be a few pounds over that.