Okay, it’s good to be back in the swing of things. As mentioned I had kept up with the workouts but was lacking real focus. Now I’m focused again, with a goal in mind, and it feels good. It’s been a solid week of variable workouts with some fun thrown in.
I need to take a minute to introduce Corey, who has bravely (stupidly?) signed up to train with me over the coming year. Corey started back up with the “getting back into shape” thing last year, joining the crew for weight workouts at first, then transitioning into the heavy trail cycling for the past quarter or so. We’ve done some great stuff over the past months on the bikes, including a whopper 58 mile ride that consisted of 12 miles of fairly technical mountain bike trail in the middle. So, he’s got the guts for it. He’s not committed to actually doing the Nijmegen hike next year, but he wants to see the training all the way through.
With different training goals comes different equipment…which we kinda learned the hard way on Sunday when we did a 14 mile hike using our Camelback (non-internal frame) 25L packs that we’ve gotten much mileage out of over the past months on our bikes. I didn’t want to have to deal with the bigger pack I used for Bataan with so much less weight to worry about. The hard way meant that we finished in much pain. I kind of blew off the hike, coming off of Bataan, figuring it for an easy stroll with only 25lbs. instead of my accustomed 40lbs. pack and greater mileage. The big difference was the lack of the internal frame and weight distribution (or lack there-of). All 25 lbs. sat directly on our shoulders for the entire hike, and it ended up being pretty excruciating. That plus the fact that I did the hike in my running shoes because my trail runners were still dripping from the Marine Corps Run Amuck the day before…I ended up with sore feet and dead shoulders. On the plus side, my son and eldest daughter joined us for the hike (sans packs) and did awesome with it, it was fun having them along.
So Tuesday Corey and I hit good ole’ REI. We each got the REI Brand 30L pack w/ internal frame (the REI Venturi 30 Pack), I picked up some Vibram Five Fingers KSO Treks, and we both grabbed other odds and ends. As boys with new toys will do, we hit the trail with our new gear that night for a very modest two mile pack run. Corey took my advice and went straight for the bags of rice, having heard first hand last year how happy I was with the malleable form of the weight. The first mile, we both complained about how something with the pack was rubbing on our shoulder blades. The second mile, mine stopped hurting so much. Corey’s suggestion was “Yeah, it’s numb now.” Turns out his diagnosis was accurate…it’s not that it had stopped rubbing, it’s that I’d stopped feeling it. When I got home, my youngest daughter’s question was a little concerning…”Daddy, what’s that big splotch of red on your back?” Queue Nurse Ingrid, to the rescue.
Wednesday, we were right back to REI to return the packs. As it turns out, the stitching where the shoulder straps attach to the pack at the top falls in a bad place…right on the shoulder blade. As there is no vertical adjustment on the straps, there’s no way to change the location of where it falls. I imagine that for normal hiking this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but when running there is no way to keep the weight from bouncing just a little bit, and rubbing a hole in your back in the process.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love REI for that…they don’t squabble with you when you return something. If it doesn’t work for you, they will happily return your money and help you find something that does. In return for them being cool about it and not bitching at me for doing something with their gear that it’s not really intended to do, I’m continuing to trust them with my business and have ordered a new pack from them online as they didn’t have one in stock. Having loved the Deuter 60+10L pack that they introduced me to last year, I ordered the Deuter ACT Trail 32 pack which arrives next Monday. This pack has outstanding reviews and looks to be perfect for what I need. Better yet, I already know that it has all of the little things that I learned last year I need…the stronger tabs on the zippers, the water resistant closures, the non C-clamp fasteners on the sternum straps (the C-clamps pop right off/break), the belt strap zippered pockets, etc. Deuter doesn’t skimp on the little stuff, and it’s the little stuff that vexed me so much last year with all the packs I went through.
Quick note also on the new Five Fingers. Simply put I love them. I had been running on and off in the regular KSOs, and these are my first pair of Treks. I had been told in the past that the extra tread for trail running on the Treks really inhibits the flexibility of the shoe, but now that I’ve worn them running I have to disagree. In fact they feel very similar to the regular KSOs except that they are far more comfortable on rocks. At one point I stepped on a larger rock that I hadn’t noticed, and instead of hurting my foot pretty much shaped around it and the separate toes let me “grab onto it” and use the rock for leverage, pushing off on it. I didn’t realize what had happened until after it did, and it made me feel smug. I like Five Fingers, and I love the Treks.
Summary of the past week(ish): The four mile Run Amuck, a 14 mile/25 lbs. hike, two runs, back/bi’s/abs weights and a well deserved day off. Currently at 155 lbs. (as of this morning) but being the same weight as last post is deceiving because I bounced up to 160 lbs. early in the week last week then settled back down to 155 lbs. slowly over the week…probably water weight settling itself back out as I upped my intake to handle the resurgence in heavier workouts.
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