Date: 2009-03-04
To: For What It's Worth
Miles today: 0.0

      I just wanted to write down what I¢ve been doing to get in shape over the past few weeks. I know that only the mountains themselves can prepare me, and that I have a long way to go to get in shape. Given the time I had, I was just trying to regain a base level of fitness. I am extremely disappointed in myself for doing no leg or abdominal strengthening exercises and for letting my arm strength routine fall off. But you can only do so much, right? I¢m also disappointed in myself for eating so many cookies, scones, brownies, etc. and for drinking so much coffee lately! I guess the good thing about preparing for a long backpacking trip, is not having to worry about losing weight beforehand!      Oh, I¢ve done no stretching, either!For six weeks, I did one of the following per day (with one complete day of rest):-Elliptical (worked up to 1 hour, 25 minutes, 10.8 miles)-Stairmaster (worked up to 1 hour 15 minutes, 10.7 miles) This machine is highly overrated, I have to say! It doesn¢t require you to pick up your legs very much. I found it to be one of my easier workouts.-Stationary bike (cross-country program for 60 minutes, cool-down of 15 minutes, up to 21 miles). This is one of my harder workouts- especially for the intervals at resistance levels 14 and 18! At the end of these intervals, I always tell myself I¢m almost at the top of Katahdin, to keep going¢¦-Walking on Treadmill at highest incline (sometimes with my frameless pack filled with lab notebooks and water, worked up to 80 minutes, 4 miles) This was hard! (probably because of the pace I was doing!)-Running- Got up to 3.2 miles at a decent pace, followed by a little rest, and then 2 more slightly slower miles. (I would like to have been able to run six consecutive miles at a decent pace¢¦)-Walking around town with 30 pound pack for 4 hours (flat ground, unfortunately)Now that I am consumed with so many other tasks to do, my workouts are dropping off.   And lest I get too smug with my 85 minutes on the elliptical, a new guy who resembles Ray LaMontagne (bearded, tall and lanky, but athletic) came into the gym the other day and got on the treadmill next to me. I glanced over and saw that he was warming up with a long-strided 6.5 miles per hour. The next thing I knew, he had it ramped up to 12 miles/hour! 5 minute miles! Now, that¢s something! Unfortunately, he didn¢t know about the sign-up sheets, so he got kicked off the treadmill not long afterwards.         Yesterday, I decided to go for a run in the pool, which I hadn¢t done in awhile, to help calm me down. I find the water so soothing and meditative (when not crowded).Who walks in, but the Ray LaMontagne look-alike! He swims, too! After he got in, I looked over the next few lanes to see him silently slipping through the water with perfect form. (Sigh..) Athletes are such creatures of beauty, aren¢t they?I¢ve always had a penchant for them. I have a theory that the best athletes have much more symmetrical bodies than the rest of us.        That reminds me that some of the things I am going to miss most while on the trail are watching Rodger and Rafa (and Novak) in the French Open and Wimbledon (I love, love, love them!), the World Figure Skating Championships (this will be the first year since 1988 that I¢ll have missed them), and watching ¢Dancing with the Stars¢, and ¢So, You Think You Can Dance¢.        And speaking of my favorite guitar playing, wood-choppin¢, cool on the outside, angst-ridden on the inside, singer/songwriter, Ray LaMontagne¢¦ I am so excited to see that he will be playing on Saturday Night Live this weekend, so be sure not to miss that!Thanks to everyone who signed my guestbook with reassuring words to help calm me down.