My workout was an hour on the elliptical, interval setting.  I’m going to do that workout tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I leave for NJ for my hike with Mike.  We’ll be on the AT from Thursday through Sunday, and I’m very excited.

Over the past couple of weeks, while I was avoiding making posts here due to my inertia, Donna and I actually got out and did some local hiking.  Last week we went to the Devil’s Hopyard state park where we did about 3 miles, and the week before we went to Gay City park and did about 3 miles there too.

It’s great because both of these parks are very hilly, giving me some practice.  They’re nothing compared to some of what we saw on the AT last time out, but every little bit helps.  Hopefully I won’t be such an anchor on this trip.

My only hurdle is that I can’t find good boots.  I’ve tried two sets of expensive ones now, and both were horrible.  The best boots I’ve had yet were an inexpensive set of surplus boots I had a long time ago, so I’ve gone on a quest to find a new pair.  They are surprisingly difficult to find, but I’m hopeful.  Not sure what I’ll do for this hike though, even if I get a pair tomorrow, since they won’t be broken in really.  Oh, well, not much I can do about that now…

I can’t let this inertia get a hold on me.  Tomorrow, there can be no excuse.  I must get to the gym.

I feel like I’ve slipped backward to the point where I first began.  I’m sure over the past week I’ve put weight back on, and I’m sure I lost some of the conditioning I had gained.  That’s a real shame with less than two weeks until I set out hiking.

Nothing more to say today.  No excuses tomorrow!  (That already sounds like an excuse.  Damn – I’m in trouble…)

Yesterday was the first day since I started having problems with my back that I didn’t have any pain at all.  I was still moving around as though anything could send me back to that pain, so I barely did anything.  This morning, before the rain started, I got out and cut the grass.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy about getting this done before.

My back got tired, which was also a new sensation for me, but it didn’t hurt.  That means (hopefully) that all is well again, so I’m going to get back into the gym tomorrow.  I’ve been afraid that getting injured would provide me with an excuse for not working out, but my motivation seems to still be there, so that is also a good thing.

I’ll need to schedule my next trainer session tomorrow as well.  I’m going to have to tell him to take it easy on my back because if I get injured again I may end up missing my hiking trip, which would not do at all.  I’m getting very excited for the trip coming up at the end of this month.

Not much else to tell today.  I’ll be back tomorrow to report on my trip back to the gym.

I suspect that even if tomorrow is as much improved as today was over yesterday, I will still skip the gym tomorrow.  I think it will be best to let it rest until it is almost back to normal so I don’t do any further damage.

As far as my hike goes, I don’t remember if I mentioned that my brother got a notice for jury duty to start on the same day we are supposed to start our hike.  His job may keep him from having to serve it, I’m not sure, but it could mean we need to postpone by a couple of days.  Not a big deal, just something I wanted to mention.

Not much else going on here, except for a heat wave.  I’m going to sit quietly for a while and try to stay cool.  I’ll be back either tomorrow or Monday with another update.

For the second day in a row, I find myself mainly constrained to sitting in my office chair, which is the most comfortable spot for me right now, or on the couch with pillows propped behind me.  I feel like a lump.  At least I can sit and work, so I’m not losing time there as well.

This morning when I got up I found that my back had really stiffened up during the night, and I found it difficult to move much at all.  Moving around some does seem to make it better, and the Advil is definitely helping, leading me to believe it is an inflammation of something since that is an anti-inflammatory drug.

Not much else to report today.  I’m definitely hoping to get into the gym tomorrow, even if it is jut to ride the recumbent bike, which I think would be best for my back.  I’ll let you know tomorrow how things are going.

My diet, on the other hand, still needs work.  I haven’t spend a lot of time talking about this with my trainer, but he made a point of telling me that it is the biggest piece of the puzzle, and he will be watching to see how my progress goes.  I suspect he will want me to make some changes after our first month is past.

Anyway, I don’t remember when I last detailed a workout here, but I’m doing 1 hour cardio on my days in between my strength training, which I am supposed to be doing three days a week.  I had my trainer session on Thursday of last week, then did cardio on Friday and took Saturday and Sunday off from the gym.  I went back in on Monday and did the strength routine Jay (my trainer) outlined followed by his prescribed post-strength cardio workout.

Tuesday was an hour on the elliptical, doing the interval program.  That was fun, and motivating.  Yesterday, after I posted about my new compression shorts, I had my second trainer session.  He had me go through a slightly modified “300″ workout, made famous by the movie.  It was one of the toughest workouts I remember doing in a long time.

After I got home, my lower back started getting stiff.  Usually a tough workout takes at least a day before I really start feeling it, so this was some cause for concern.  By the evening, my back was screaming.  I took some Advil, which helped some, and I was able to get more comfortable, and able to get to sleep last night.

When I woke up, it seemed ok, but as soon as I started moving, it started to stiffen up and get very sore again.  Within a short time it was again screaming, sending me back to the Advil, and keeping me out of the gym.  I did consider briefly the idea of going in to do the recumbent bike, but I decided it was in my best interest to just take it easy today.

The Advil seems to be keeping the back pain in check, but my hamstrings and upper back are starting to get stiff.  I’m not sure if these may come from the workout or from compensating for my lower back, but either way, it is very uncomfortable.

Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll feel up to doing at least a cardio workout.  I’ll need to let Jay know about this too, so he can take it easier on my back.  If the back goes, so goes the hiking, and that defeats the purpose of going to the gym in the first place.  I’ll let you know tomorrow if there is any news.

BTW – if you have any suggestions for dealing with back pain, or any other comments or suggestions, please let me know in the section below.  Thank you.

One of the biggest complaints I had from my last long hike was chaffing.  I had brought along some medicated powder to use on my feet to avoid many of the problems there, and I ended up using it in between my thighs as well, though it didn’t help as much as I’d hoped.  I did get another product you apply, but I don’t think I applied it frequently enough or something because I’ve heard good things about the product, but didn’t have great success myself with that either.

My brother had it better, and I asked him what he did differently.  He said he wore spandex shorts in place of regular underwear, which was a trick he learned from running, where he had the same problems that were plaguing me on the hike.  So recently I went looking for spandex, but I was having a hard time finding any.

Enter my new favorite product.  I guess, technically, they are like spandex shorts, but they are designed to be worn as underwear.  And, mostly they seem to have been designed for runners, which makes sense to me.  They are called compression shorts.  They’re kind of expensive as underwear goes, but worth every penny.

I couldn’t find the actual ones I purchased here online, but if you want to see some that are very close to what I have, click here.

I’m very much looking forward to trying these out on the trail later this month.  I was starting to get chaffed badly from my workouts, and these shorts have put a complete end to that.  I suspect they will keep me from chaffing on the trail too.  I’ll definitely let you know after my hike, but for now I highly recommend these to anyone and everyone who gets even a little chaffed while working out.

And, if anyone out there has experience wearing these hiking, I’d love to hear about it.  Please leave a comment below letting me know what you think.  Thanks!

I worked out on Saturday, another day on the elliptical.  I don’t remember and didn’t write down how long, but probably around 1/2 an hour.  I took Sunday and Monday off, and then got back to work on Tuesday, when I was supposed to meet with my regular personal trainer – Jay.

Turns out there was a problem with the schedule, and somehow Jay had been double booked, so they threw me another session for the confusion, and I worked out with a trainer named Jen.  She was very good, and I felt like I got in a good workout, but she seemed a bit weary about pushing me.  She started to realize I wanted to be pushed by the end, and she was definitely up to the task.  Another good workout followed by 20 minutes of cardio work.

Wednesday I went back in and did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, but this time I did a kind of interval training.  I did 5 minutes to warm up, then 5 minutes at a very intense speed, slowed down for 5, back up for 5, then slowed down for the next 5, followed by an even slower 5 minute cool-down.

My training session with Jay was rescheduled to today.  Wow!  He really pushes, and I loved it.  I think I almost collapsed before we got to the end, but part of me wanted to keep going.  We went through and got my measurements, talked about nutrition, and then got right to work.  I can barely remember the workout, but he documented it all and made sure to put it together for me on a sheet I have to use to record my workouts when I’m not with him.

I also have to fill out a food diary with three days of very detailed information.  He wants two weekdays and one weekend day, so since this is a holiday weekend coming up I’m going to record tomorrow, Sunday and then Tuesday.  My next meeting with him is on Wednesday of next week.

So, after reading all that, you may be wondering where I think I’ve been slacking.  Well, it is right here.  I’ve been slacking when it comes to recording my progress here in these posts.  I need to make this part of my daily ritual.  I want this to be second only to the workouts themselves in importance, because along with the documents Jay and I keep at the gym, I want a good record of my preparation.

I’m very excited about all of this.  Every time I work out, I can’t think of anything except hiking.  Well, that’s not strictly true, but it is on my mind during every workout.  I want to enjoy hiking as much as I know I would.  I enjoy it now, and it is exhausting and painful.  When I’m in better shape I know I’ll enjoy it more – much more!

I’m going to share with you a kind of personal story, then we’ll call it a day and reconvene here tomorrow, OK?  When my brother and I went hiking in the season before last, I was in better shape and much lighter than I am now.  I’ve actually gained almost 35 lbs in the two years.  However, I was still in poor shape and I found the hike to be completely exhausting every day.

On one of the final days we were hiking along as usual, with Mike up ahead of me.  I think it was just after lunch and we had left a shelter where we had stopped to eat.  I was already worn out, but we had a lot of ground left to cover.  We had a signal if one of us veered off the course for any reason – we would leave our stick and hat where we went off.

There was a blue blazed scenic trail along the way, which I saw the signs for, but I somehow missed Mike’s hat and stick at the entrance.  As I was approaching the trail I did debate going up it, but decided I wanted to just press forward on the main trail.

Mike waited for me at the scenic overlook, then when it seemed like too much time went past, he walked back to look for me.  He didn’t find me along the blue blazed trail, so he grabbed his stick and hat and walked back further along the trail until he ran into another hiker we had met previously.  He asked if I was behind, which I wasn’t, so he hiked up to find me further on along the trail.

I never told him this, though he’ll know now if he reads this, but I was kind of embarrassed.  I didn’t pass by his marker intentionally.  I was just so tired I didn’t pick my head up long enough to see it.  And he had enough energy to hike backward, then catch me, and then hike ahead again.  And the pictures didn’t do the overlook justice from what he said, so I’m sorry I missed it.

I don’t know how much better this hike coming up will be for me as far as this goes, but I’m hoping it will be much better.  Even though I’m going to be heavier this time around because I don’t expect to lose 30 lbs in the next three weeks (possible, but not likely), I’m hoping the conditioning work I’m doing will make it feel better.

Alright, I know, this was a very long post.  I had a lot of slacking to make up for, so I hope I did.  Tomorrow is just a cardio day, but I’ve been told I should be doing an hour, so that is the plan for tomorrow.  And in that post, I’ll have to tell you about one of the best things I’ve purchased to wear during my workouts.  I’m looking forward to wearing these on the hike too.  See you tomorrow.

So, today I signed up for a personal trainer.  I had mentioned how much I wanted it, but that it was a bit of a stretch with my budget.  Well, today I was pleasantly surprised when Chris (the training sales guy) offered me a deal on the training.  It fit much more easily into my budget, and I couldn’t have been happier.

I’ve often repeated the idea that when you want something badly enough, the universe bends to help you get it.  That was how it felt today.  Once the paperwork was done, we got in a great workout, similar to the last one, but different as well.

We started out with a ten minute warm-up, then moved into the weight room.  He had me doing sets of bench press with 15 reps at a low weight (not sure how much) followed by squats with the ball.  The first one was a squat and hold, the second set 5 squats, hold, 5 more, then the last was 10 squats, each with a bench press in between.

Then we went back to the stairs, and with the ball he had me take two steps at a time (he wanted three, but my short legs just couldn’t reach) up and down three times, followed by shoulder work.  First set was 10 lateral raises followed by 10 front raises, second set was a raise and hold for both, and the third was 10 and 10 again.

We then moved deeper into the fitness room where he handed me two 20 lbs dumbbells and had me do what he termed the “farmer’s walk.”  I simply walked with one in each hand down at my side the length of the room, then at the far end he had me hold a curl position, back across and hold a shoulder press.  We did that twice.  Then came abs.

I don’t think I’ve ever pushed my ab workouts that hard.  We started with the ball held straight up, straight legs together, doing crunches.  Then bend the legs for 10 more, lift the legs for 10, then legs straight up for 10 more (well, as straight up as I could get them at that point ).  Then a second set without the ball, and skipping the straight up.  He then sent me to do what he termed the “worst mile.”

That was a treadmill workout in which I started at an incline of 1, and increased the incline by one each minute up to incline 15.  After a minute at 15 I dropped by 2 each minute until I was back to one, then finished out for 25 minutes.  I felt like a train wreck when I was done, but it was really good.

I can’t remember if I’m supposed to be recording everything I eat between now and Tuesday, when I meet my trainer for the first time.  I think I am supposed to, so I need to start that journal right away, since I’ve already had a snack since I got home.  Tuesday I think will be a measurement and set-up day, going over nutrition and such.  I’m not sure if I’ll get a workout in with him that day, but I assume I will.

There is still a lot of prep I need to do for June’s hike, but getting this moving was the most important.  Now it’s time to make the other dominoes fall.

Today’s workout was a great one.  I didn’t do abs because the fitness room was closed, but I did 45 minutes on the elliptical machine at a pretty brisk pace.  And I was feeling so good and getting so into it that I had to force myself to slow down for my cool down and then stop at the 45 minutes mark.

Two more days of working out in the gym this week.  Then they are closed for the weekend because of the construction that’s going on.  So I have to decide if I’ll go to another location on Saturday, or if I’ll do something else.  I’m leaning toward walking to and from the gym as my workout if the weather is nice.  I may even go with my pack on to get the feel for that again.  It will only be about three miles, but I think that will give me enough of a workout after Chris kicks my ass again during my training session on Friday.

The one thing I would like to be keeping more diligent about is my diet.  I’ve slipped back into my regular eating habits of eating out and not choosing healthy stuff.  Since I didn’t make any dietary commitment yet, I’m not going to beat myself up over it, but I think eating better will help me feel better and give me more energy.

Also, with my hike coming up quickly (just over 4 weeks away) I need to start making sure I’m ready on all fronts.  I am going to spend a little time today researching hiking menus.  I think the last time I went hiking I had far less energy than I should have had because I wasn’t being smart about food.  I also need to get myself a pair of boots I can actually hike in, and I need to order the maps and guidebooks I need.

So much to do, and so much to get, and so little time.  But I’m excited.  I’ve made the decision that I’ll start out with my brother on the 22nd, most likely at the Delaware Water Gap, or somewhere just on the PA side of the river.  We’ll need to figure out how far we think we can get in 5 days so we can plan for where he’ll get picked up, and then I need to plan for the next 5 days so I know where I need to get picked up.

It’s hard to believe how much preparation and planning are required even for just a 10 day hike.  It really brings home just how much more preparation the thru hike will take.  But I’m really looking forward to that already as well.