AT's AT Hiking Training Plan, Week Sixteen

Weeks: July 15 - July 20 (6 Days)
Miles Hiked (Week): 8.0
Miles Hiked (July): 25.30
Miles Hiked, (July Goal): 40

Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 113.30

Pounds Lost: N/A
Percentage to Next Milestone: N/A
Pounds Lost (Total):  6.0
Weekly Goal Met: N/A
Nights Camped (Weeks): 0
Nights Camped (Total): 5
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 0

I won't be including weight loss/gain info during these recaps for at least the next couple of weeks. This isn't to hide bad results (although I suspect there would have been a reverse this week after last week's positive result). Rather, it is a broken scale that is preventing me from giving results. I went to change the battery, and the one of the connectors that attaches to the 9V battery snapped off with the battery. So until I get a new scale, I won't be able to record my weight progress (or lack thereof).

AT's AT Hiking Training Plan, Week Four

Week: April 22 - April 28 (7 Days)
Miles Hiked (Week): 7.34
Miles Hiked (April): 20
Miles Hiked, (April Goal): 20
Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 26.40
Pounds Gained: 5.8
Percentage to Next Milestone: 0%
Pounds Lost (Total):  0
Weekly Goal Met: No
Nights Camped (Week): 0
Nights Camped (Total): 2
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 0

OK, so the first half of week four was the textbook definition of a bad week. Things just kind of fell apart, in large part to work stress, and I just got off track. I am pretty shocked that it went that bad, but apparently it did.

Hiking Training Plan: Week #19 Recap

Week: October 22 - 28
Miles Hiked (Week): 13.48
Miles Hiked (October): 30.03
Miles Hiked, (October Goal): 30
Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 100.96
Pounds Lost (Week): 0.6
Pounds Lost (Total):  19.0
Weekly Goal Met: No
Nights Camped (Week): 0
Nights Camped (Total): 8
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 1

It took a mostly unprecedented weekend of hiking, but I hit my fourth straight monthly hiking goal, with three hundredths of a mile to spare. It helped that most of the trails I hiked where fairly level with good footing, although a couple were on horse and mountain bike trails, and a short portion was an unintentional bushwhacking session over a woods covered ridge at Rock Cut State Park near Rockford. I guess I did also hike a bit through sand along Lake Michigan at Illinois Beach State Park, so that was a bit difficult, if flat, walking. By far this was the longest weekend of hiking I've had in three years, and is a good rehearsal for next summer, when I will need to average 15-20 miles a week to hit my monthly goals.

For now, the 30 miles in October was the high point, as we head on towards winter. November will only have 20 miles as the goal, and December and January will only have 10 miles as their goals. After a trip to the Smokies and North Georgia in about a week, I'll be taking it easy on the hiking front.

As such, it will become even more important for me to get back on track with the non-hiking exercise and nutrition. I lost weight this week, but at a minuscule rate, especially considering my heavy hiking on the weekend. I actually took the effort to buy some groceries this week, so hopefully it will go better.

I've decided to switch the weekly weigh-in (and thus the period covered by the recap) from Monday to Tuesday. The reason is mainly because of Tuesday has pretty much been the regular day I've done it the past few weeks, and will be required in week 21 as well. It's not a big change, but I figured I'd let everybody know.

Hiking Training Plan: Week #18

Week: October 15 - 21
Miles Hiked (Week): 7.75
Miles Hiked (October): 16.55
Miles Hiked, (October Goal): 30
Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 87.48
Pounds Gained (Week): 1.4
Pounds Lost (Total):  18.4
Weekly Goal Met: No
Nights Camped (Week): 0
Nights Camped (Total): 8
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 1

So it appears that I've hit a plateau that I can't quite get off of, at least in regards to the fitness portion of the plan. It didn't help this past week that I was involved in code releases for my job two of the nights, which certainly threw me off schedule. Also, I still am having issues with figuring out how to keep things together on the weekend. It certainly wasn't as bad as it has been some weeks, but it can definitely be better.

Hiking Training Plan Week #14 Recap

Week: September 17 - 23
Miles Hiked (Week): 8.51
Miles Hiked (September): 24.00
Miles Hiked, (September Goal): 20
Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 64.44
Pounds Gained (Week): 4.8
Pounds Lost (Total):  (16.2)
Nights Camped (Week): 0
Nights Camped (Total): 4
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 0

I know I ate poorly over the weekend, but good lord I didn't think I did THAT bad. After all I did hike 8.5 miles, some of which was consistently going uphill and down. I'm hoping that this an anomaly, that for some reason the scale was off by a couple pounds, and it will be back to normal the next time I get on it.

However, anomalous readings can't account for everything. There is little doubt I got off my plan this past week. I've yet to figure out how to get myself up to exercise before I go to work, which makes it much easier for me to hit my daily exercise goals. Also, I got off schedule on the nutrition side, in part because of a messed up schedule and stresses from work.

Still, those are all excuses. A plan isn't worth much when it is easy to keep to it. No, the problems start when things start making it hard to fit your plan into it. Obviously you have to be flexible, but that flexibility means sometimes making other things flexible to fit to the rigidity of your plan.

There really isn't anything I can do other than continue to improve and do better. It's not all bad, as I passed my September hiking goal with a weekend to go. This weekend I should tack a few more miles on, and perhaps I'll be able to right things. I've done it before, so I'm confident I can do it again.

Hiking Training Plan: Week #13 Recap

Week: September 9 - 16 (8 days)
Miles Hiked (Week): 7
Miles Hiked (September): 15.49
Miles Hiked, (September Goal): 20
Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 55.93
Pounds Gained (Week): 1.0
Pounds Lost (Total): 21.0
Nights Camped (Week): 0
Nights Camped (Total): 4
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 0

Well, looks like I didn't have to worry about getting some hiking in this past weekend. Turns out I was able to get two separate hikes along the North Country trail at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, as well as two short hikes on boardwalks on Friday. All in all, I ended up walking more this weekend than last weekend, although it was over two days as opposed to one day. Save for a steep downhill from the rock escarpment to the lower land around Au Sable lighthouse, a few tricky places where trees blocked the way, and about 150 steps to the base of Sable Falls, it was mostly easy walking. Although I walked about 2 miles by myself from Logslide to Au Sable Lighthouse on the North Country Trail, they made it from Hurricane River to the lighthouse (over three miles round trip), and both traveled the stairs with me as well. In addition, my dad walked with me from the Visitors Center near Sable Falls to the Falls parking lot, about 1.2 miles. This, coupled with 1.5 miles of hiking on boardwalks (and a very short walk in the woods at Horicon N.W.R.) on Friday meant we all walked at least five miles.

As for the other part of the equation, well, let's just say it was good we got all that walking in. I suppose we didn't do that bad, particularly when it came to snacks and breakfast. Still, it's hard to get back into the swing of things with so many weekends centered around travel.

This upcoming weekend I'll be out of town again, but once again it will be a weekend chock full of hiking. I plan to check off at least two more trails on my Wisconsin sixty, and maybe a third (depending on how long and arduous the other two are). Between the preparations for the trip to the UP and a crazy week at work, I kind of fell out of my walking routine. This week's challenge is getting back into it, as well as trying to get a handle on my eating so I can really take this to the next level.

* The shipwrecks were covered by the waters of Lake Superior, which was much higher than the last time I visited.

Hiking Training Plan, Week #10

Week: August 19 - August 25
Miles Hiked (Week): 5.28
Miles Hiked (Month): 13.53
Miles Hiked, (Month Goal): 15
Miles Hiked (Yearly Total): 38.58
Pounds Lost (Week): 0.8
Pounds Lost (Total): 18.6
Nights Camped (Week): 1
Nights Camped (Total): 4
Nights Camped (Backpacking): 0

So this week is going in the right direction, if not as quickly as I'd like. Still, any progress is good progress. I'm now slightly less than 1.5 miles away from my goal for the month, with one hiking day left to go. Unfortunately, it looks like this Saturday is going to be a warm one. However, it won't be that much warmer than this past Sunday, and I walked over three miles that day. As long as I stay out of the sun and take enough water it should be fine.

As you can see in the running totals, I spent a night camping this weekend. This time it was way up in Northwestern Wisconsin at a campground high above the Eau Galle Reservoir. It was supposed to be two nights, but the threat of storms (and the incoming warm front) led me to break camp on Saturday and hole up in a hotel. It was a nice campground, quiet and secluded, with a nice shower and restroom nearby. The trails are pretty limited, although it was a fairly steep walk down to the shoreline and back. I actually had fun making my way back up on a very steep trail. Now, if the trail had been longer, or had it been the end of the day rather than the beginning, I doubt I would have enjoyed it so much. Still, that is a rare thing for me to enjoy walking up a hill.

Although I did stay in the air conditioned and pizza filled comforts of a hotel Saturday night, I made up for it on Sunday, walking the most difficult trail at Mirror Lake State Park.* I'll share more about this eventually, as it is one of the hikes that will be part of my "Hiking the Lists" feature. Suffice it to say that it wasn't overly difficult, but it sure had plenty of ups and downs. Though short, they got kind of tiring, particularly since most of the trail was without anything approaching a view of the lake. Still, two down, 58 to go in Wisconsin.

So once again, I am trying to hit my exercise and calorie goals this week. Saturday is the last day I have to hit my hiking goal, and I'll be down in Ridge Farm, so it will likely be Forest Glen that I'll be attempting to do that. Next month the goal number goes up by another five miles, so I'll have to get at it to hit that for September.

*According to the park.