SNP--Day 2

sorry to be so slow in updating--still working on my Kona RR and still having problems with my Garmin 910--I have now decided to move on from that device.

In any event I did get up last Thursday and bang out a 5:18/8.7 mile hike with what the internet tells me was 2100 feet of vertical.  i carried a pretty full load although I think it's weight was a bit less--probably 45 pounds or so.  Anyways, I did the Meadows Horse Trail/Franklin Cliffs route which included another summit of Hawksbill for me--my fourth  (Hawksbill is the highest mountain in SNP).

All good and I'm definitely on the way to Vinson Massif fitness.  Here are some pics....

Early on a stubborn fog up around the ridge/Skyline Drive area....

As I dropped below 2800 feet it was clear as a bell--cool, about 39 degrees or so, but perfect trekking!

Kermie, as always, was my companion and he seemed to always be smiling!

As I got onto the back half of the trek on the AT the views were off the chart--despite the weather--probably peak color!!!

When you take your eyes off the big picture and just focus on the here and now--its all amazing what you see....I do love this!

Someone has to do this!

It's good to know that the NSA is not focused on what I'm doing here!

And finally up on Hawksbill--you have to earn this view and your crazy if you don't try!!!

Snenandoah National 2014--Training Day 1

So I made the trip down this morning leaving at 4:30.  Nasty, nasty weather and a bad accident on the DC Beltway led to an extended transit time.  I rolled into the Park about 9am and then drove another 20 miles south on Skyline to Big Meadows.  I wanted to do a more modest first effort here for this mountaineering training cycle given my recent IM and my toe lacerations....My climb this day is called the Three Falls.  Strangely enough that was indeed the highlight of the hike--the three falls: Rose River, Dark Hollow, and Lewis Falls....

All good once the hike got going around 10am.  Pictures below.  I've been trying to upload my garmin data for a while after settling back in at the Best Western in Luray.  Probably not going to be able to make it happen tonight but here are the highlights:

Total time: 5:29
Total distance: 8.58 miles
Vertical:  Guessing from trail guides at 2700 feet.

Mile splits:

1: 27:59
2: 34:17
3: 39:55
4: 51:27
5: 30:11
6: 41:11
7: 49:58
8: ?

My Garmin 910 appears to be dying....

Relatively easier climb that felt relatively harder to my old body today.

The good news is that my toe held up well and I'm confident I'm on the path to building enough fitness to give it a great go in Antarctica in December...

Pics:

Back in DE/Transition to the Big Ice begins today!

So we are back in DE after bailing out of HI a little early to avoid Ana's wrath.  My body has no idea what time it is.  I woke up at 1:30am yesterday and laid there for a while.  Then bailed and went down and sorted through all my climbing gear and packed up for (hopefully) a trip down to Shenandoah National this week.

I have a problemn though.  While I was in HI, post IM, last Wednesday night I was walking out by the pool and stubbed/jammed my big toe (RF) into some exposed granite.  Unfortunately, it was a knife edge and I severely lacerated my big toe.  We're talking several ounces of blood before I got it calmed down.  Of course, I wanted to avoid the doctor so it's been a lot of butterfly bandages, tape and neosporin.  It's a big ugly cut.  Plus my big toe is swollen and all black and blue.  I don't believe it's broken however.

Today, after subjecting myself to weights and ab work at the Y, I went out for an hour tester hike with 50 lbs on my back.  The toe hurt and bled a little but the bigger issue is my lack of hiking fitness.  Yikes!  I have a ton of work to do to get this old bod in major league mountainerring shape in 9 weeks.  There are no porters in Antarctica and I have less than 9 weeks to get ready to go....

I was going to pull a full-on 3-dayer in SNP starting tomorrow but I've decided to back that up one day and hopefully get down there for W/Th 8-hour hikes...I'm pushing it a bit but I feel the need to get on it.  I must confess my body is still in a post Hawaii IM hangover--I'm quite sore and tired still...

I just need to be careful over the next couple of weeks to get past the fatigue and into serious mountainerring fitness building.  I spent two hours at 11,500 feet in my hypoxic tent this afternoon....

I've started on the HI Ironman race report and video and will have that out pretty soon!

I can't wait to get back into serious hiking/trekking/climbing shape!!!

Kona: Oct. 13th: Pro Pictures

Finally have some time to begin to get caught up after the race.  I had a very tough race but hung in there to finish at least.  I'll post a race report as well as some pics from my race in the near future.  In the meantime I wanted to share some of the pro pictures my son took in transition: