Sunday, October 20, 2013

cross-training; hiking; 5K

Thursday, despite fighting off a cold, I did 30 min elliptical and then 15 min stationary bike before going on vacation with my family to Southern Utah. We enjoyed an awesome hike in Dead Horse Point State Park on Friday, and then a hike in the Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park on Saturday before returning home to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday. Whew!

My legs actually hurt a lot from the car ride on Thursday, but they felt fine hiking - no problems whatsoever. We hiked about 6K (3.7 miles) on Friday, and then a bit more (2-3K?) Friday night on a night hike with the park ranger. Then Saturday we hiked 2 miles (3.2K) in the Fiery Furnace, with lots of scrambling and some beginning rock-climbing moves. I wasn't sore at all from that either.

Today I decided to do 5K, because I could, and my legs felt recovered. I was pretty slow, doing 5K at 6:20/km with ave HR 146. I felt OK - legs weren't sore much during the walk. However, now after a few hours, my legs are starting to hurt, mostly in the glutes. It feels like I've done a hard weight training workout - too many lunges or something. It feels much worse when sitting, so standing is better, though not terribly convenient when you want to edit photos, watch football, etc.

My diet hasn't been the best as you might guess, between camping and birthday cake. My weight is a bit out-of-control at the moment. Time to re-strategize and figure this out.

I just wish I knew what was wrong. I wish I knew what to do to make my legs feel better. My fatigue level has improved a significant amount over the last week, so maybe my legs will follow? But I have to assume that might not happen and plan accordingly. I am not exercising like an athlete now, so it's time to stop eating like I am. That will be more difficult than it sounds, but I have a few ideas to tackle the problem. I need to start acting on my alternate plans for when I feel like eating - other things I can do instead. I have been saying this for a while...now time to DO something, before it gets worse.

On the bright side, some photos from our trip:





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