AT's AT Hiking Training Plan, Weeks Twenty, Twenty-One, and Twenty-Two

Weeks: August 11 - September 2 (23 Days)
Miles Hiked (Total Period): 2.2
Miles Hiked (August): 11.4
Miles Hiked, (August Goal): 40
Miles Hiked (September): 0.0
Miked Hiked (August Goal): 30

Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 134.55

Pounds Lost: 2.2
Percentage to Next Milestone: 4.00%
Pounds Lost (Total):  11.4
Weekly Goal Met: Yes
Nights Camped (Weeks): 0
Nights Camped (Total): 5
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 0

In terms of hiking, August was a lost month. After a slow start with 9.2 miles after the first two weekends, I only hiked another 2.2 miles the rest of the month. Part of this was because of being busy with other things, but the biggest reason for my failure to hit the goal was due to a case of poison ivy. This mess robbed me of any desire to go hiking, particularly on trails that weren't paved or wide paths devoid of hazards like poison ivy.



Not quite sure when exactly I got it, but I'm pretty sure I exacerbated the situation by scratching it for at least a week (thinking they were bug bites). It got bad enough that I should have gone to the doctor, but I dawdled around for far too long. Fortunately, A combination of calamine and hydrocortizone creme (especially the latter) took care of it, and I finally don't look like an extra from a sci-fi movie about a horrible skin disease.

Now that I feel like hiking again, I'm confident that September will go better. Because at least one weekend will be taken up by unavoidable work concerns, I'm lowering the goal for this month to 30 miles. That is still pretty ambitious (due to fewer days to accomplish than last time), while also being a number I've proven I can hit.

On the other front, I haven't done too bad. I'm down again for the past three weeks, this time down below my first goal marker. Therefore I've reset to another goal marker, so the percentage is much lower than it was last time. My success here was based primarily on slightly improved choices at meal times, as the same poison ivy mess that cut into my hiking efforts also hurt my exercise efforts.

So while August was a bit of a disappointment, ending it with a net loss of weight was not. It's an improvement over how I did during the month last year, and showed that I could survive a long holiday weekend without damaging my efforts too much. May September be even better.