To be honest, this week has not been ideal for lumbering.
Monday was good enough with a nice 6+ mile lumber on packed snow and solid ice.
Tuesday was horrible, with soft, melting snow, and the hike was cut short to 4.36 miles due to stomach issues brought forth from unknown sources (stank green peas?), and Wednesday was an aborted hike due to more slop and melting snow and ice on the trails. It was also, of course, Christmas Eve, and I wanted to be home, slacking, prepping food, and waiting for B to come home.
Come Christmas Day, I was fine with not hiking, getting up early, and lounging around with Wifey, drinking coffee until it seemed like it was an acceptable time to wake up an almost 22-year-old to open gifts.
After gifts, it was time for me to start making our semi-traditional Christmas Day Brunch before chilling out and watching some shows, including the Festivus episode of Seinfeld, together. Then, before I knew it, it was time for me to start prepping a Christmas Day turkey dinner.
Everything was amazing, and like Thanksgiving, it ended up being one of my favorite holidays ever. I can’t believe I am two for two in winter holiday happiness.
It was a long day of cooking, cleaning up, and good times with my two favorite people in the world. I was in bed just after 8PM, eager to get up early and get back in the woods for a Boxing Day lumber.
Sadly, Ma Nature had other ideas, and I woke up to light freezing rain that got progressively heavier as the morning went on, coating everything in a blanket of ice, briefly knocking out the power for a minute, and having me gazing out the window at my neighbor’s trees, anticipating the worst as their limbs drooped lower and lower.
But, after a week of subpar hikes, a brief illness, sloth, and semi-bad dietary choices, I knew I wanted to get back into my normal Fat-But-Fit routine of “doing stuff,” and found myself in the Not So Stankment on the treadmill.
It had been months since I ran, and today was not the day to go “all-in,” but I was feeling good, and after a warmup, I did 3 miles of 1-minute walk/run intervals for just under 38 minutes (including warmup) while listening to techno and watching some Boxing Day matches in the EFL Championship.
Despite the long layoff from high(er) intensity efforts, and my belly feeling like Old St. Nick’s, I was pretty happy with how I felt, as well as being reunited with the joy that comes from pushing myself. After nearly all of the past 3+ years hiking and spending nearly all my time in HR Zone 2/3, today I spent 73% of the time in Zones 3 and 4, and 2% in Zone 5. And after weeks of cold, wet, snowy hikes, it was nice to get a REAL sweat on. Bonus, my sweat smelled like a turkey dinner when I was finished.
I’m looking forward to a day of catching up on laundry, watching footy, and hanging out with my peeps as the frigid rain falls, and the ice (hopefully) melts.
Later.