Posted: July 4th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Getting Into Shape, Out On The Trail | Tags: Getting Into Shape, hiking, Hiking Equipment, out on the trail, working out | No Comments »
OK, so it took me a lot longer than I thought it would, but I finally overcame the inertia. I got back into the gym today!!!
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…
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Posted: June 2nd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Hiking Equipment | Tags: chaffing, compression shorts, Hiking Equipment, prevent chaffing, spandex shorts, workout equipment | No Comments »
So, in my last post I mentioned how I had purchased something new that I wanted to share with everyone. This purchase has quickly topped my list of things I’ve purchased for working out, and I suspect it will be a top purchase for my hiking as well. Before I tell you what I bought, let me tell you why.
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!
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