Running & Fitness at 50

Cherry Pretzel Pro Bar

For the past couple of years I’ve been maintaining my weight within 2-3 pounds. I want to stay fit, therefore  I try to stay as consistent as possible with my eating and drinking.

Part of being consistent is what I call “eating for the next workout.”  My cycle, like most of you, is workout, recovery, rest… then another workout. Sometimes I run in the morning and that’s all I do, but a more typical day for me is to lift weights and run in the morning and  then run again after work.  I want my food to flow into that equation in a way that works, is in balance, and is practically effortless for me.

I carry a backpack to work, and inside that backpack are the usual items (laptop, papers, etc) but also a food supply that would probably last me a day or two and occasionally might last me a week. Power Bars, Clif Bars, Pro Bars, some pretzels, some hydration mix- stuff like that. I also grab some fruit each morning and throw it into the backpack.  Most days I’ll wrap up a sandwich and put it into the bag as well. I also keep some healthy snacks in my desk, just in case.

So I’m prepared. I won’t be getting hungry and then be stuck eating out of a vending machine, or going to a restaurant, convenience store or visiting a fast food place. If something happens and I find myself eating out at lunch because of a work-related circumstance, then I usually eat my normal lunch ahead of time and eat something light at the restaurant, so that I’ve still managed to fuel myself for the next workout.

Eating for the next workout means having nutritious food and snacks available all the time, whether you’re at home, at work, in the car… wherever. The nice part is that you maintain control over what you eat and hopefully never go hungry.

Signed up for the Bridger Ridge Run in August. It’s described as ” possibly the most rugged, technical 20 mile trail race in existence”. I’ve wanted to sign up for this one, since I look at the Bridgers from my home every day, and I’ve really want to run the entire ridge. Last year the event sold out in 7 minutes, so I was ready to sign up early on Sunday morning when it opened for entrants.

A lot of weekends I’ve run up to Mt Baldy and back. Hard to do without snowshoes in the winter, but the snow has thawed so now it’s a little easier. This is the last part of the Bridger Ridge Run- it starts about 20 miles away.   Sometimes further and sometimes shorter, but this is basically the Mt Baldy run I do (screen cap via Google Earth)(my route is in red, thanks to my Garmin 205):

Mt Baldy run

That little group of squares on the lower right is another route I do sometimes, about a 2 mile loop, on a new trail:

You can see that it’s across the road from the other route. Bozeman has some great places to run, that’s for sure.

You have to put your trail running shoes through their paces! Water, snow, ice, mud, uphill, downhill, scree, big jaggedy rocks… whatever.  On Sunday I put my Montrails through their paces again, since the weather has turned nice all of a sudden and a lot of snow has melted up on the Bridgers.  Here’s the elevation chart for the run:

Elevation

OK, so I use the term “trail run” loosely. It was more huff and puff my way to the turnaround (Mt Baldy) and then run back down.  Weather was warm, in the 60’s when I started. Running shorts, singlet & cap, plus Camelbak. The trail was dry up to about 7,000 feet, then I had to run through mud and snow, and then just snow, and finally scree and mud and snow.  The trouble with running in snow is that you stand a chance of post-holing, wherein your foot punches through the top layer of snow and falls however far… some of the snow is pretty thick. Here’s a photo that shows how thick it can be, even in late May:

You can see the running trail in the photo, and since I had followed one runner up the mountain his footprints were a pretty good guide for me. The snow is probably 5′ thick or more.

So anyway, I huffed and puffed my way to the Mt Baldy elevation marker at 8700′ or thereabouts, drank some water, ate a Clif bar, snapped a pic and headed back down. It was probably in the 40’s at the top and very windy.

Top of Mt Baldy

That’s Bozeman, down to the far right. If you have Google Earth installed, here’s the Google Earth link.

Spent the weekend near Highwood, MT. I volunteered to videotape a spring bear hunt for Powder Horn Montana TV, which is scheduled to debut in July, 2009 on the Sportsman Channel. Spring bear hunting in the mountains is spot-and-stalk, meaning you spot a bear and then hunt it by following or beating it to its next location. Pretty arduous, very hard to do successfully.

I managed to get a run in early on Saturday morning, then packed my gear and headed up to meet Jon.  Loaded up the truck and headed north toward Great Falls. Quite a bit of snow enroute. We arrived at the Highwood cabin about 3pm on Saturday and immediately geared up (Sitka Gear’s new Optifade) and headed out.  I was wearing my Garmin 205 and started it… we had been hiking about 2 hours when we spotted a beautiful bear, so we spent the next couple of hours stalking, hiking, filming, etc. When I finally stopped the Garmin it had been 7+ hours and over 5000 ft elevation change. I was wearing light hiking boots but carrying a backpack, tripod, and HD video camera… so it was a good workout.

Highwood Cabin

The cabin itself was pretty neat- it had been a homesteader’s cabin and was over 150 years old. Maybe 15′ x 15′ on the inside, but the owner had built a steam room addition (see the chimney on the front left?) onto the front porch area. Very cool.  This cabin has been in the rancher’s family for years and years and the inside of the cabin has been filled with memorabilia .

Inside of Highwoods cabin

I was pretty beat after running and hiking all day, but we had a great dinner of potatoes, elk, mushrooms & cold beer followed by steam bath and total immersion in a nearby watering trough fed by a well. Nice! Ended up spotting another really nice bear on Sunday morning and doing about 4 more hours of hiking. I did get some good video and will soon be posting that here.

I’ve run by myself, I’ve run with a group, and I’ve run with friends. For a couple of years I ran with one or two friends every Saturday. Finding the right running partner is a tricky business though: you need to find someone who runs roughly the same distance and at roughly the same pace. I have always been really lucky in that respect, since my long run partners have always been outstanding.

I inherited a dog, Blessing, who has come to be my ‘alternate day’ running partner when I can’t run with my brother. Blessing is as close to the perfect running partner as I can get. She doesn’t fart. She doesn’t blow snot rockets. She doesn’t talk. She’s always happy.  She’s ready to go whenever I feel like running. She can run 1 mile or 16 miles at whatever pace I am running and still be cool with it. Best of all, she is thrilled to go run no matter what time it is or even what the temperature it. Water? She scoops snow into her mouth and keeps running. And running. And running. And she gives me a dirty look when I tell her “not today”.