Category: Hiking (Page 2 of 2)

Spring Running Events

April 13, 2019 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Spring has sprung! It’s getting warmer everyday here in Northeastern Ohio and I’m reminded that there are lots of spring running events and races.

Getting ready for spring running events by hiking

Jill and I took a hike along Daffodil Trail with my dog, Lady.

Jill wrote about her adventures in the annual Hop for Hope 5K run. Later this month I will be working a water station at the 6 mile marker for the Cleveland 10 Miler and, depending on my ankle and the weather, I will hopefully be competing again in the Raccoon Run.

If you’re looking for a race or running event near you, check out the Let’s Do This website to find something fun in your area.

Three Ways I Maintain Fitness When Motivation Lags

November 3, 2018 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Do you ever find that the motivation is lagging to keep up with your workouts?

When motivation lags, I try really hard not to slide backwards with my fitness.

This time of year always does it to me. I’ve discovered it is a combination of things.

Partly because race season is in my rear view mirror and spring is feeling pretty far away.
Partly because rainy weather and cooler temperatures always seems to bring on a head cold.
And partly because of the dark mornings and darker evenings of short sunshine days.
Not to mention the time change and the havoc it reeks on my sleep patterns.

When Motivation Lags

Here are three ways that I have found work to help me to maintain my fitness, even when my motivation for the big workouts is lagging.

1) Walking – I try to look for the beauty in nature and go for a long walk several times a week during lunch time. While walking doesn’t necessarily raise my heart rate into cardio levels or more, getting the legs moving helps to burn some calories and release some stress. It doesn’t bother my ankles or require an immediate shower afterwards. I can bring the dog if I want. Even when motivation lags, I find I feel better when I get back from a good walk. While I like music when I run, a good audio book is my go to when I’m walking.

2) Soup – During this time of year, I fall back into old habits. At least a couple nights a week, I try to focus on vegetables for dinner. A good hearty soup that is patterned after the V-9 soup on Aladdin’s menu – one of my favorite restaurants in town. It has nine different vegetables in it and I make mine with what is in the refrigerator. My V-9 usually is comprised of cabbage, spinach, carrots, celery, onions, green/red/yellow peppers, brocolli, cauliflower, mushrooms and squash. I also refer to this as “zero point soup”, which a hold over from when I was working the Weight Watchers points and the vegetables became free. I try to skip potatoes. I find that soup also helps me get more water, since it’s not as hot, I’m not as thirsty, but I will get more liquid if I’ve got the soup. The trick is to keep the rice and pasta out of the soup. And don’t serve with a side of bread or chase it with a pile of popcorn. For best results, focus on the vegetables and don’t cook it to death. Mushy vegetables aren’t as yummy and you don’t want to cook the vitamins right out of them!

3) Basics – When motivation is lacking, it is tough to do strenuous exercise. And with sinus head cold, fore me it’s not even a good idea. That said, I don’t want to lose all of the fitness I’ve developed over the summer or the recovery I’ve made from the physical therapy exercises. To keep a certain level of fitness, I make sure that I do the prerequisite monster walks, heel raises, piriformis and calf foam rolling, walking bridges and a variety of other stretching/yoga type moves every single day with no excuses. Getting my basic routine out of the way every morning and evening will keep me from trouble when I’m ready to go to it again.

I know from my six plus years of maintaining my weight loss, that I can’t keep this up very long. Actually I could keep this up for a long time, but it won’t result in maintaining. It will result in a weight gain and a muscle loss.

Doing these three things do not net me the endorphins of a good workout or burn enough calories to stop the winter weight from creeping back on. But they help me hold things together until my head cold clears up and I can get myself through the disruption of my sleep pattern with the change over from daylight savings time.

Using these three tools gets me through a tough time without too much back sliding.

Soon, I’ll be back at the gym, lifting weights to build strength, working out with group exercise classes and sweating up a storm. But until I’m ready for that I’m focused on walking, soup and the basics.

How about you? How do you get through it when your mojo slips? Do you have a fallback routine that you use to adjust to the time change or when you have a head cold? Let me know! Either share publicly as a comment here or on our social media… or if you’re shy, just send me a private email Chris@becomingelli.com.

I’m looking forward to learning some new tactics and strategies from others in the Becoming Elli Community of fit women over 50. Thanks in advance. (or should I put TIA? I always have to look those initials up to remember what they mean. ha ha.) – Chris

Rejuvenate with a Hike along the GAP

August 25, 2018 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

If you’re like me and your legs get stiff from driving too long, you might enjoy taking some time and rejuvenate with a hike. This little waterfall treasure is an oasis located in Rockwood, Pennsylvania, which is about 10 miles south of the Somerset exit #110 on the PA turnpike.

Why was I in the middle of Western PA taking a photo of this little waterfall? It was part of an annual tradition of Sisters Weekend. You see, I grew up with three sisters. We are close in age – my parents had four daughters within five years – and even now, we are still close to each other, although the miles separate us.

The four of us try to meet up once a year to reconnect. Usually we pick a place that is about halfway from our houses. This year only two of us could make it, so we skipped the regular routine of a Somerset hotel and instead experienced the fun of a vintage Bed and Breakfast.

The Gingerbread House has a beautiful wrap-around porch. Our B&B was a good place to stay for a hot shower, cozy bed and delicious breakfast in the morning.

The Gingerbread House B&B has little outdoor sitting area with a bike stand just behind the house.

The B&B we selected is just a few steps off the GAP – the Great Allegheny Passage – which is a bike trail that runs 150 miles all the way from Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, Maryland.

I think it is pretty neat that the GAP connects to the C&O Canal trail and you can ride all the way to Washington DC. The other B&B guests told us it is generally a 6-day bike riding trip to do the whole thing.

Although I didn’t bring my bike on this trip, my sister and I did get a chance to experience it, when we walked along the GAP.

Like many small towns, there wasn’t a lot of activity – just a couple of small restaurants, some small town shopping and a convenience store, but it had a bike shop right off the trail!

This bike shop is where the GAP crosses Rockdale Road in Rockwood, PA.

The hike was just what I needed. It felt so good to stretch my legs and do some walking and talking… especially after sitting in the car for hours to get there, followed by even more sitting at the restaurant for lunch.

The cool waterfalls send off a mist that felt so refreshing. I find there is something really soothing and relaxing about running water!

Hiking in Western Pennsylvania is especially enjoyable. For walking on the GAP, you only need some sneakers or walking shoes, not hiking boots. They do a great job of maintaining it. There are lots of little streams along the trail and the experience makes you feel like you are in the middle of the forest… but without the challenging terrain of rocks, roots and trees to dodge.

Bike riders take this path because the surface is a crushed stone and asphalt, built on top of what used to be the path of the railroads.

Bikes and trains in one piece of art sculpture on the trail.

During our hike we actually saw a lot more walkers than bike riders, but I think it was because we walked during late afternoon.

It’s funny, after doing a lot of driving, I felt tired when I got there, but soon after going for a 3-mile walk with my sister, I got my energy back. Does that happen to you? – Chris

Do you find that using energy gives you back more energy? Have you had good experience staying at a B&B instead of a hotel chain? How do you work in some exercise during a weekend away from home? Who else has a family tradition to stay close to siblings? Leave a message below or more privately on Facebook group.

The Benefits of Hiking

May 24, 2018 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

I thought today we could discuss the benefits of hiking. We’ve talked about running, bicycling, swimming, and lifting here at Becoming Elli but it occurs to me that we haven’t discussed one of my favorite forms of exercise….hiking.

Trail

I really enjoy hiking. I used to love to take my dogs for a hike and it was something my son and I used to do frequently. When he was four, we did the local hiking spree and earned our hiking sticks. Hiking with a four-year-old is a challenge because a mile hike is a lot longer for those little legs. I still remember those hikes with great fondness. Even as he got older, we often hiked together.

Nunu on a hike

Now, my son no longer lives at home and my dogs are gone so it’s just me. I don’t hike as often, especially on the more remote trails because it just feels a bit uncomfortable being by myself. If I can get a friend to go with me, I’m so happy.

I’m lucky to live in an area with a lot of great hiking trails. I have the Cuyahoga Valley National Park just down the road, the county has a fantastic series of metro parks with excellent trails, and my local community has some decent hiking trails in the city parks.

Hiking vs. Walking

What’s the difference between hiking and walking? The consensus seems to be that hiking is walking on trails in nature and walking tends to be on a smoother path or the road or sidewalk. Walking through your neighborhood is probably a walk and not a hike. So a hike tends to be more rugged. It certainly doesn’t have as smooth a path as walking. Hikers are obviously walkers but walkers are not necessarily hikers. Interestingly, my Fitbit Surge has both a walking and a hiking activity on it so apparently even Fitbit considers them to be different activities.

The Benefits of Hiking

Hiking provides a decent workout. For me, it provides hills, both up and down, and some rugged paths. You really have to concentrate on your step when the path is rough. Balance and agility become important.

There’s also the benefits of spending time in nature. I see wild flowers, wild life, and beautiful scenery. I find hiking to be pretty close to meditation. My mind seems to benefit from time away from sidewalks and concrete.

If your hike includes hills, you get a great leg workout. Well, hiking on flat ground also gives you a workout but hiking up a steep hill really gives you a good cardio workout and works those glutes, legs, and hips.

What do you need?

The nice thing about hiking is that I haven’t figured out any compelling need to buy a lot of accessories. I did buy hiking boots after a particularly tough winter. They were expensive but I expect them to last a long time. If you’re going to buy hiking boots, make sure they’re waterproof.

If you’re going to be doing a fair amount of hiking, invest in trail shoes. They’re similar to running shoes but have better traction and might also be waterproof. Starting out, your regular gym shoes would be fine but you might notice that you have a greater tendency to slip.

A hiking stick is often a good idea. This can be as simple as finding a good solid stick on your hike and using it to as fancy as buying expensive hiking sticks.

Blue Heron

Finding Hiking Groups

If you are looking for people to hike with, I suggest looking for a local hiking club. I know there are several near me. Check out meetup.com for hiking groups in your area. Read the details carefully because some hiking groups are more into speed than others. I enjoy nature enough that I don’t feel compelled to power walk through the woods so the slower groups are a better fit for me. I think you’ll find that there’s usually a good variety of hikers in these clubs.

Farm Pasture

Safety Precautions

I always take my phone with me when I hike, especially if I’m by myself. Of course, if you get to a remote area, you might lose cell connection but I always figure it’s better to have the phone than not. Don’t forget that your phone probably has GPS on it so you can use that to figure out where you are if you get lost.

So, to avoid getting lost, I’d recommend staying on a trail. Cutting across wild terrain or deciding to climb boulders is a good way to encounter trouble. A fall or a stumble can lead to a sprained ankle or worse.

Probably the most basic precaution is to make sure someone knows where you are going to hike. This is easy to forget but at least texting someone what trail you’re going to hike is a good idea. Again, this is especially true if you are hiking alone.

With just a few precautions, you’ll be fine on your hike and can enjoy the beauty of nature.