Hiking Groups

[MissySki]

Your rope-skipping will probably make for wonderful high-intensity intervals! I personally love stair-climbing. I have no idea why, but it's such a good bang for the buck and it's easy to be intense with it. I don't get bored with it like I do running, for some reason. I think it's the finite nature of whatever stairs or bleachers are available. I can push myself to the top for this short interval, then catch my breath going down. I definitely push myself harder on stairs/bleachers than I do in any other kind of exercise. Anything else, I want to slow down, or rest.

I think I would like bleachers, I'll have to scope out where I might be able to access them. I do work on the third floor so I get some stairs in everyday, but not very significant I guess!

 

[MissySki]

This is such a fantastic hike! I've done it many times, the most recent of which was 2 years ago with my then 8-year-old son. We were racing some weather, so we moved at a pretty good pace, and bested "book time" by about an hour. If the weather is good, take your time and you'll be fine. There is a lot of trail above tree-line, so beware if there's a chance of thunderstorms. You'll pass the Greanleaf Hut on the decent from Lafayette, and you can stop in for a snack (homemade treats and bread) before the final push back to parking lot. Enjoy the views. I'm hiking it with my 7-year-old in early July.

Do you know what book time is off the top of your head? Your talk of little ones doing it make me feel like quite the wuss, but then again little ones have sooooo much energy!!

 

[MissySki]

Fair to say that as someone who didn't start thinking about ski conditioning until after age 55, the way I've used HIIT for improving cardio endurance is not similar to how Insanity workouts were designed. To get the benefits of HIIT can be done in as little as 3 minutes. 7-10 minutes a few times a week can be very effective. The first link I put in Post #50 includes a video of a 7-min workout, as well a progression from easy to hard when getting started.

Yeah, I'd definitely be willing to try these types of HIIT workouts, even I can get through 10 minutes!

Insanity was much longer, more times per week, and also took a toll on my body after awhile because it was a lot of impact. However, it also hands down got me in the absolute BEST cardio shape I've ever achieved doing it. Sure goes away fast when you stop though, and it wasn't something I wanted to maintain long term.

 

[marzNC]

Yeah, I'd definitely be willing to try these types of HIIT workouts, even I can get through 10 minutes!

Insanity was much longer, more times per week, and also took a toll on my body after awhile because it was a lot of impact. However, it also hands down got me in the absolute BEST cardio shape I've ever achieved doing it. Sure goes away fast when you stop though, and it wasn't something I wanted to maintain long term.

The advantage of short HIIT workouts is that you get more for a short time investment. As compared with running for 30 min for instance. I use HIIT principles when I'm on a exercise bike or elliptical or other cardio machine. For me, one reason I like indoor rock climbing is that it's naturally based on HIIT. Heart rate goes up quick during a climb, but the amount of time spent actually climbing isn't that long.

Even though I can do pretty much anything I want, with no ACL in one knee I avoid exercises with impact. The 7-min workout is easy to customize. Can replace one 30-sec exercise with another. Or just do less. When I started, only did 5-8 push ups for 20 sec and took a longer rest. Once I was in better shape, I can do 15-20 pushups in the same 30-sec period. Even now, if I don't feel like doing High Knee Running (in place), I just do high stepping instead or only do it for half the time.

Mixing up ways of exercising is the only approach that works for me. I get bored doing the same stuff all year long. My personal trainer knows my personality. She comes up with something different every session. I only work with her for a few months in the late spring and early summer, and then again during pre-season.

 

[MissySki]

+1 for your jump rope and the stairs being great tools to get a HIIT workout. Try this:

Thanks!

 

[MsWax]

Do you know what book time is off the top of your head? Your talk of little ones doing it make me feel like quite the wuss, but then again little ones have sooooo much energy!!

It's usually around 1 mile/hr, so approx. 8.5 hours would be my guess. They definitely start to fade at the end, but I bring LOTS of snacks to keep them going!

 

[MissySki]

So this past Saturday was finally the REI class I signed up for awhile back for Backcountry Navigation with a Map and Compass. I happily had another diva with me as well which was awesome, it's just as much fun tromping around in the woods without snow with @lisamamot as it is skiing with her! I thought the class was really really great, especially for someone like me with almost no experience reading a contour map or using a compass for anything more than determining which direction I'm heading. I got a LOT out of it, which you never know heading into a group thing like this, so I was really pleased. We learned how to read a map and what lots of different things on it mean about the specific terrain you are going to encounter. Went over the parts of a compass and how to adjust for declination etc. We also learned how to take a bearing which is basically setting your compass from where you currently are to where you want to end up. After a good deal of that sort of "classroom style learning the basics" in the parking lot of the trails, we went in and started putting what we'd learned into practice.

First we stuck to the trails and landmarks identified on our contour map and took short bearings to make sure we were heading in the right direction, but always on the trails. Then we had lunch, and afterward got into the nitty gritty of taking a bearing and bushwhacking to our destination. So we completely went off the trails and into the woods with nothing marked and lots of just dense wooded land. I was a bit nervous to start because I have no sense of direction and once you leave the trails everything just looks the same in dense trees, but it turned out that this was REALLY COOL!!! (except for the going off trail into the actual woods equals tons of ticks issue that I will definitely be better preparing for in the future because omg they are nasty little buggers!! That's another story/issue though, and I'm perfectly fine without having any make it to my skin at least.) So we did two separate activities where we bushwhacked and I still can't believe how amazed I am that it actually worked. lol That I could now be anywhere in the woods and as long as I know where I am on my map, I can get where I want to go whether that's on trail or if I had to bushwhack for any number of reasons, necessities or desires. I'm really excited about this because my goal was to learn more so I'd feel more independent in the woods, even if I'm with a group, and I definitely feel that this was accomplished.

The follow up I really want, and that REI doesn't offer yet (though the instructor said they are talking about it and hopefully it will come by the end of the summer) is to add in triangulation to this whole puzzle. Basically I can find where I'm going as long as I know where I am on a map, or could at least guess pretty closely based on a landmark I'm near that I can find on the map etc., but if I were completely lost this doesn't allow me to determine my current position to then find my way from there. That's where triangulation comes in which is a more advanced technique, and one we unfortunately didn't have time to get to in this class as the rest of the scope just fit into our 6 hours together. So I'm hoping part 2 comes along, but I'll also be scouting out if there is somewhere else that offers that or even if I might be able to better understand how to do it myself using the internet and YouTube. I've read about it previously, but it made absolutely no sense to me, perhaps with a little bit of context now it might be easier to understand. We'll See!

Overall I'd highly recommend this type of class to anyone who spends time in the woods and might want to feel a little more competent when they are out there, with or without others. Lisa and I were thinking how great these skills would also be for backcountry skiing in the northeast. I'd think it's even more valuable for winter hiking in general than summer if you're into that because the snow covers a lot of markings in the winter, and you can also bushwhack to get around winter road closings to get to trails quicker versus going around miles out of your way etc. This was a women's only class and I really liked the dynamic for many of the same reasons as I like this forum, you don't get the testosterone. I mean I'm sure a co-ed class would've been fine as well, but really when getting into leading a group in the woods and navigating I could just imagine that depending on the participants you might get the overzealous guy here and there that needs to take over. When we went around and discussed our goals and why we were taking the class the theme was mostly around gaining independence in the outdoors and not just following others (ahem men) around when hiking etc., so it seemed appropriate that it was all females to me and that many of us have had the mindset of just following others around during these types of activities in our pasts. I'm totally guilty of doing that with men and women, oh they know where we're going so I can just be lazy and follow.. but what if someone got hurt and I had to go for help, or what if I want to go out alone, or what if I head out with a person or group who don't really know what they're doing and I can't help us find our way if needed..?

One thing I found funny, at one point in the woods we came across a guy running on the trail and he stopped to ask if we needed any help, of course we were all looking around and looking at our maps and compasses and probably looked lost due to what we were doing, but I couldn't help but to wonder if he'd have done the same if there were men with us. Guess it doesn't really matter, except we were on the trail at that point and if you saw how mellow and heavily marked this place is I don't think you'd ever feel that a group of 8 people wouldn't be able to find their way somehow or another around on the trails lol. O'well.

 

[SallyCat]

Ah yes, I've been looking to get the white mountain guidebook, I need to pull the trigger. I need to get a map as well. I know I can do the hike itself in theory, but the pace worries me in a group, though this time I think they are going to break up into a faster and slower group. I did Moriah when I was in better shape a couple of years ago, and that is 8.2 miles and over 3k of elevation gain so quite similar. It was in the winter and I don't remember how long it took round trip. I know it took 4 hours to get up top though from picture timestamps, which sounds like a long time when some reviews I've seen online have people doing Franconia Ridge in 4-5 hours total "with a few breaks". I think the times proposed for the two groups if I'm reading the invite correctly are 4.5 and 6 hours for this hike. I'm pretty darn sure there is no way I'd ever be in the 4.5 hour group, not sure about 6 (if it did in fact take me 4 hours to get up Moriah (though on snow and ice with microspikes) I'd think you aren't halving the time going down right? So maybe 7 total would be realistic if all things were the same?

Not sure, but I'll definitely be working out and hope to tackle 1 or 2 other hikes before then that are a bit more challenging than Watatic to gauge how it goes.

I like the idea of getting outside at lunch since the weather is getting warmer. Not sure what is around exactly in Cambridge, though so I'd need to scope it out. I am not too far from the Charles River path that I always see people biking and running on, but that's by car so I'm not sure how long it would take me to get there on foot. I'll have to give that website a try and see what it comes up with around here.

Ditto the White Mountain Guide. The AMC in fact has a fantastic library of guides for hiking all over New England. They seem to cede Vermont to the Green Mountain Club, though, so if you're looking to explore the Green Moutnains I also recommend the Long Trail Guide (which has lots of loop and spur hikes off the main LT) and the Day Hikers Guide to Vermont.

One piece of advice I can offer about a strenuous hike is to be well hydrated at the beginning of the hike and bring (and drink) plenty of water during. As I work on my fitness and endurance, hydration is always my Achilles heel, and I'm repeatedly surprised at what a difference it makes.

 

[VickiK]

^ that point re: hydration is true for skiing too, imho