Cardiac, er, Cataract Falls @ Fairfax

Whew! That hike kicked my butt! My hiking book described it as beauty - that you pay for. "The hike is quite challenging-er, make that steep- um, make it a real heart thumper." It was a 700 feet elevation gain in the first mile. My heart was thumping alright. I wore my heart monitor and burned 600 calories on the hike up, which took just over an hour. On the hike down I burned another 325. That made room for some beer and lumpia at the Filipino potluck I went to afterward. Alright, enough text, here's some pics:



There were more steps like these than I can possibly describe. It was like every time I came around a corner, more steps!

I paused many times at beautiful spots like this one to catch my breath and slow my heart-rate down a bit. My heart-rate hovered in the 160's while climbing and when it hit 170 is usually when I had to take a break. Flat ground was a breeze, but there wasn't much of it.

None of the pictures I took did it justice, of course. But this gives you an idea. All in all it was a beautiful hike, wonderful and perfect weather, great company and a lot of gratitude that I was able to actually finish the hike. 3 out of our group of 8 had to throw in the towel half-way up. In the past that definitely would have been me.

Crisis Averted

I was disheartened at only losing .2 pounds this past week. For all my cheering about "A loss is a loss!" I wasn't able to see this when it came to myself. Thursday, weigh-in day, was not a gym day. Friday was. I said that I would go despite my negative energy, and normally that kind of blind determination gets me there, but this time it didn't. I sulked off from work a couple hours early and hit the couch. Miguel was in Tahoe skiing for the day and wouldn't be home until late. I hoped that something would kick in and I'd drag myself to the gym. This has happened on many an occasion so I had reason to hope.

I took a nap. For me, an after work nap (when I'm not sick) is a warning. It's old behavior. Granted I did feel tired and sort of dragging all day but I really believe it was psychological. I never made it to the gym. I felt grumpy and irritable and just wanted to be alone on my couch.

Saturday (today) came and I felt pretty much the same. I was snappy with Miguel and just really wanted to be alone. When I finally got some time alone it wasn't long before I was eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes (Miguel's cereal). Oh boy. Using that cereal to change my mood. Hmph.

So when Miguel came back from his errands I was still lazing on the couch. "Do you want to go to the gym?" he asked. "No, I don't want to go. But I need to go. If I don't go, I won't get out of this funk." Basically I was asking him to please push me, but gently or I might snap. He gave a little nudge and off we went. While getting ready to go I decided it might be more fun if we rode our bikes there. It's about 2.5 miles and the weather was nice enough. He was game. You can't put a price on a good man.

We rode there and I felt sort of, eh. We went in and I got going on my cardio. 10 minutes in I was feeling alive again. On my bike on the way back home I was definitely alive and by the time I got home I felt like a champion! This was the first time I've rode my bike home from the gym. I usually ride there and have Miguel meet me and pick me and the bike up to go home (as it's a little more uphill on the way home).

I did it and I felt great. This evening I've been thinking about how quickly my psyche can go south. I was in a definite slump. What if Miguel hadn't been there to gently nudge me out of it? What if I laid on the couch all day today? Felt more down, did the same thing tomorrow? I bet some fast food would've come into play and then who knows. Geez Louise, I've got to figure this out. One day? I sure hope so.

p.s. I'm going on a waterfall hike tomorrow so look for less text and more pictures in my next post.