Finding a Workout That Works

10:08
July 14, 2017

My training just got better.

I have been trying to find a workout routine that felt right for me for most of my life. Now, I know better...I know there have been plenty of great sets of exercises in books, online, on Pinterest, YouTube, on DVD and at the gym.  I know because I've seen most of them.  So I know better than to suggest that finding the workout routine itself was actually what was hard before.  It was totally about me not knowing what the hell to do with the routine once I found one.

Some I came across were definitely too hard. None of them seemed too easy.  I couldn't tell if the routine I found was going to be right for my goals, if the weights were too heavy, if I was ready for the run, if I should quit if half of them were too difficult for me, or if I was actually hurting myself instead of doing myself any good.  So I let all of these questions become an excuse for not doing any of them.

It didn't stop me from buying stuff for exercising, though.  I have Bollywood Dance DVD's, an exercise mat, a small trampoline, a tread mill, a stationary bike, resistance bands, a Richard Simmon's Sweating to the Oldies cassette tape, kettle bells, free weights, and a few other gadgets for getting in shape.  I could probably open a gym with the things I have...but would not know how to tell anybody how to use any of it effectively.  Shoot, I can't even lift the box everything is stuffed in...yet.

Training for the Camino has given me the motivation to push through the BS excuses I'd used for so long.  I realized that if I am set to go in just a few months to climb over the Pyrenees and walk 500 miles, I had better find whatever routines I can and just start doing them.  Robert Schuller (I guess it's the guy who built the Crystal Cathedral...but I'm not sure) , well, he said that it's "better to doing something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly."  He's right...and I needed to take the flawed routine I had put together and try it out.

Today I did "my" workout.  I found six free weight routines for my arms and seven exercises that are supposed to give me abs and make my core strong.  That's gotta be helpful when you're carrying a backpack for a month.  I decided to do ten of each exercise and then repeat that routine three times. I know some of you may think that this is a sissy-la-la workout, but I broke into a sweat doing them and actually felt my muscles getting worked.  Most importantly, I started.  I did what I set out to do.  The routine may evolve over time as I learn more...but for now I'm super proud of myself.  I know I will keep it up now too, just like I've kept up with my walking schedule.

I love feeling like I'm getting stronger.  I can be as prepared as possible for the trail...and even defend myself if I need to as a solo traveler.  I'm going to keep a record of my progress here in the blog because I really want to have an account of how my body changes and what I learn.

Today was a good day,
Peace!

64 Days Left: How I Pushed Through and Trained/Hiked Longer

July 11th, 2017

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

I can't believe I didn't think of this before as I was planning to walk the Camino de Santiago. Why did I pick September to go to Spain when it meant I would have to train for my hike in one of the hottest cities at its hottest time of year?  Summertime in San Bernardino is no joke! The temperature for both Saturday and Sunday was 108 F, and I don't have functioning air conditioner in my home.  Once it hits 104 and over, and I just want to lay down all afternoon...and not move...and pant.

PUSHING PAST EXCUSES

Beautiful drive up Waterman Canyon 

Fortunately it only got to about 100 F yesterday because I had to go out and train.  Weather cannot be an excuse for not getting out there and practicing because it could hold me back for the entire next 9 weeks that I have left to prepare.  When the excuses start flooding my mind and I begin to rationalize why I shouldn't train, it's actually time for me to get creative and find a solution instead of caving in.  So, if I'm going to train on schedule and for as many hours as I need to this summer, I need to get up early and go high.  Today I headed out for Crestline to hike at Lake Gregory.  At 4,500 ft. up the local mountains, it gave me some much needed altitude practice, a change of scenery, and some variety on the trail...all at cooler temps.

One loop directly around the lake is about 2.5 miles. There is a road that goes around the lake also, which is a little longer. I went twice directly around the lake and used the road path once.  I also walked to a little store, Goodwin's, across the street which brought my mileage total to 8.6m.  

For the entire hike the temperature stayed in the 70s. Lake Gregory is shaped like a butternut squash...and the hike around the north bump always has a fabulous breeze.  I felt cooler hiking there than I did lying down in my hot house down the hill. The best part was that the cooler temps allowed me to hike longer.  The MapMyWalk app on my phone recorded 8.6 miles, which is great because my neighborhood hike on Friday was only 5.71 miles. I needed to push my mileage and I did. Yay me!




EMBRACE THE SUCK!

There is some up and down to the Lake Gregory hike. It ISN'T intense by any means, but I found that by the final quarter of my workout I was feeling the climbs a little bit.  I let something I learned on a YouTube video by "Darwin onthetrail" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekP92ksyIP0&feature=share)  help me out when it started feeling kinda hard.  He had a video that gave tips about becoming a distance walker/hiker that I really liked.  One tip was called "embrace the suck."  He reminds everyone that there will be times you are hiking that will just suck, period.  It will be too cold, it will be too hot, it will be to hard, too painful, and you will be too tired.  But if you learn to embrace what sucks...and just get over it, you will make it through to the reward of your view, your peak, your terminus.  So yesterday I used this idea as my mantra.  As I huffed up a climb and felt my legs burning, I just mentally repeated "Embrace the suck, Patti, embrace the suck."  Other times I just reminded myself "this is what it feels like to get stronger."  Both of those really seemed to help. Thanks for the tip, Darwin!

I stopped at the market across from the lake after the second time around and bought some coconut water to fill my water flask with.  I also bought a piece of fruit.  I felt like this might be how it will be when I'm actually hiking the camino...stopping after a few miles to possibly get some fruit or coffee.








THE NEXT BREAKTHROUGH THAT HAS TO HAPPEN

Today I will do my weight lifting routine, a sketchy set of arm exercises I found on YouTube the other day.  I want to refine that workout and add some core work to it.  Tomorrow's post should let you know if that went as planned. I will be so proud of myself if I get that figured out because I have put off this kind of exercising for years because I was never quite happy with...or sure about...a workout plan, and I let that be why I didn't follow through with that workout goal.  I know it was weak, weak, weak excuses...I'm not gonna lie. If I make that breakthrough, I am going to be so jazzed.  

PEACE!

Training for the Camino 2017

July 5th, 2017

I have hit a tough spot with my training for the Camino de Santiago.

I have been walking regularly since January and actually loved it.  I've walked in the rain, I've walked 4 miles every morning for 6 days out of the week, I've done some uphill, some in other countries, some in the mountains...but now it's different.
         (Big Bear)

  (Costa Rica 2017)

For one thing, 4 miles a day isn't enough anymore.  I need to be up to 15 miles a day, with a full backpack by September.  So today I pushed myself to walk 6 miles and I'm feeling it a little.  My calves are tight and my heel feels bruised.  I have only 10 weeks to more than double that mileage.

(Puerto Vallarta 2017)

The other thing, the worst thing, is trying to train in my hometown.  Here in San Bernardino it gets so hot in the summer...today it was 104 and it should be 107 by Friday.  You don't want to walk around here at night, so that leaves getting up really early to hit the street.  I'm not sure I can get up early enough to fit in 15 miles before it starts getting hot. Of course, I've got to try.

Today I walked in neighborhoods that I've only driven through before.  It's the north end of town and some areas are surprisingly gorgeous.  It feels like the temperature is different there, it's cooler and feels fresh when I walk under the huge trees that line the curvy road.  I mean, if I get to choose where I'm going to walk, I'd might as well pick the prettiest and safest blocks in town.  There, on these nice lots at the base of the foothills,  the dew actually survives a bit longer, squirrels run around, and people walk their dogs wearing LuLuLemon gear.

No one shows you this part of town when they take photos in San Bernardino...when they are highlighting the blight we definitely have in most areas here.

 

My neighborhood is like the gateway to gorgeous.  My house is small and plain, with dry dirt out front...and a few tall dandelions sticking up like whiskers that got missed in an otherwise close shave.  I had a nice green lawn before the drought. When the rain stopped showing up on schedule, some of the weeping willows that grew on the median in front of my place got way too dry.  Their roots run real shallow, and soon, one of the massive trees that I had always taken for granted just fell over.  I guess I had always taken the shade if offered for granted as well because I had no idea that my lawn, the ivy on my porch, and the ornamental tree by the driveway would just burn up without it being there to block the sun for a large part of the day.  My house gets hotter now too. I'm working on bringing the shade back, but for now it looks pretty depressing.  Walk just a few blocks north though, and soon there are big, Spanish style homes with green shag lawns, stone walkways, and clay colored walls that arch like Moorish temples.

 

I did pass some small, older apartment buildings on my walk today.  I remember these apartments because years ago I tried to ride my bike on the sidewalk out in front of them as I made my way across town.  A huge pit bull ran out of an open apartment door  and came straight at me.
   
🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕

Maybe you can imagine how tight my calves felt that night after pedaling faster than ever before in my lie.
🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲

Today, the apartments look better...like maybe there is a new owner.  I couldn't help but notice the chalk drawings that were on the side walk out front, evidence that there had been a celebration yesterday for the 4th of July.  I took ballerina steps over them and then decided to take a few pictures. Cute. Cheerful. Hopeful.

                   

Anyways, tomorrow I need to lift weights. At least I don't have to jump up and get out of here so early in the morning.  But I will when I do need to.  Even though I've had a few moments of doubt over my decision to commit to the Camino de Santiago...such a long walk, so far from home, I ultimately concluded that I would complete this tough thing just like I've completed so many other tough things.  When all is said and done, I have always discovered that I, too, am tough.

Time to Get Real

July 2nd, 2017

Tomorrow is the day!



I need to get into a full blown workout routine so that I will be ready to take my 500 mile walk in September.  I have wanted to get re-started but have rationalized that I was too busy helping with Critter Camp at the Humane Society...and that it was too freakin' hot outside.  Both of those things are true...but winners don't let "busi-ness" stop them from achieving goals, right?

I volunteered to work with the Humane Society of San BernardinoValley, as they offered a summer Critter Camp for 50 young children.  The camp was held from 8:30 to 12:30, but as volunteers we usually hung around and helped clean up for a while after the children left.  By then, it was around 103 to 108 degrees outside. It was hard enough to sit on my scorching car seat let alone go home and start working out. I don't have regular air conditioning in my house, just two window fans.  So, it really wasn't me just using random fake excuses, they were real...but they shouldn't have stopped me none-the-less.  When times get tough, the tough find creative ways around it.  Grrrrr.....

                                            (A cactus I see on my morning walks in the summer)


It's time for me to get creative.  I have 74 days to start getting used to walking all day.  I need to be strong. It's time to get real.  My plane ticket to Spain is non-refundable!



                                                       




    I have been walking here in town and up in the local mountains since January. I had made a New Year's resolution to walk 6 days a week and kept it up fairly well until recently, but I still haven't walked further than 5.2 miles a day. I need to get used to walking 15 miles a day, day after day, with a 20 lb. backpack strapped on me! The most I've had on my back since January was 11 lbs.  I think I'd better pack up some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and hit the road in the morning.

                                                                                                     (walking in the rain, 2017)       

                 


                                     
                                                                                                                               

        

(Cougar Crest Trail, Big Bear California)


I am going to blog about any obstacles I came across.  I'm hoping to report about the solutions I found instead of how the obstacles stayed obstacles.

Wish me luck
Peace!

Swallowing the Frog

June 28th, 2017

Today I had to swallow some frogs.  Not real frogs of course...but the symbolic frogs that Mark Twain mentions in his famous quote:

"If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."

     Mr. Twain knew that sometimes we are supposed to do things that we would just rather put off because their no fun, stressful, will be time consuming, or we just can't stand doing. He calls these chores "frogs."  Most of us probably want to do our least favorite task as much as we would want to swallow a frog.  If these "frogs" need to be swallowed in order for us to make progress on our goals, we might as well get started right away. If we postpone it, we start imagining how gross it's going to be and can talk ourselves out of ever getting it done.

      I did have two frogs that needed swallowing today. 

      Because I'm taking my trip to the Camino de Santiago in September, there were two important bookings I had to make that felt really difficult...and frankly, made me nervous. They involved communicating in Spanish, sending emails to Spain that didn't seem to want to go through, and trying to decide how I could find a safe place to stay upon arriving in Madrid...at 11:45 pm...alone.   These were time consuming and I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to find a solution.  But I swallowed.  

    I gotta say that I'm elated that I'm done with those two tasks.  I admit there was a point that I thought the frogs might choke me, but having them done means that the rest of my planning will be sheer fun.  I guess it's kind of like saying that frogs have a great after taste. (This is definitely not a vegan analogy! Except that it is double true for me that I don't want to swallow frogs.)  

If I hadn't taken care of this business, it would have been like having a grey nuclear cloud mushrooming over my head every day until I did. And as usual, it was easier to get it done than I thought! Half of the difficulty were obstacles that I had made up in my head.

So, swallow your frogs today.  Swallow them early and then go and enjoy your day!

Peace!

Let the Camino Begin!

June 27th, 2017

I am so excited! It's official. I will be walking the Camino de Santiago this September!  I have booked my flight into Madrid, Spain and will be hiking 487 miles for about a month.  This has been a dream of mine for quite some time and I can't believe it's about to come true. 

For those of you who hadn't heard of the Camino before, I am actually referring to a whole bunch of caminos, or roads that people walk on in Europe to get to the city of Santiago, Spain.  There are multiple starting points to this hike as well as reasons to make the walk.  People start in other European countries and follow roads and highways that ultimitaly all merge at the northwest end of Spain.  Some of them will start the walk as a pilgrimage for religious reasons, some as a way to memorialize someone that they love, others for meditative or spiritual purposes, while others love the idea of an athletic challenge.  It is not like other hikes that take you up into the wilderness for long periods of time, far away from society. Rather, this walk takes you right through towns and villages where there are hotels, hostels, and even Bed-and-Breakfasts waiting to set you up for the night.  This isn't cheating! On the camino, participants hike an average of 15 miles per day and then sleep indoors. Most will stay at the alburgues, dormitory style rooms that provide meals and showers for hungry, dirty walkers. It is like the hostels I've stayed at on other trips that I view as global slumber parties!

(This backpack is actually too big for the camino.  It is a 60 liter Deuter. Most pilgrims will use a 30-40 liter bag and only carry 10% of their body weight in supplies)

 I am not an expert on the exact story behind the Camino, but I can tell you what I have read about so far.  The Camino de Santiago translates as the Way of St.James, named for St. James of the New Testament.  The story is that James was assigned to spread the Gospel in the area we call Spain today.  He was eventually killed and his body was put in a boat to be taken away by the currents.  Legend has it that the boat washed up along the shore not far from where the city of Santiago is now and that his body was still in it, covered with shells.  The area became a holy site for Christians and roads from all over Europe were made so that the site could be visited from just about anywhere. It is common for people on the camino to wear a necklace with a shell on it to identify themselves as a pilgrim. The alburgues also have cornerstone tiles embossed with shells on them to let pilgrims know they have reached a refuge for the night.

My goals for walking the camino are simple:

1. To walk the camino and reflect on some issues that weigh very heavy on my heart...like my fear of what is happening to our planet.  I'm not generally a religious person, but I sure wouldn't mind if God decided to show up on the path and give me some guidance on how to deal with my burdens. I haven't been a believer for the last half of my life, but it would be great to figure out if I'm wrong about that too while I'm on the way. I'm also hoping that God will understand that I'm not trying to be arrogant by being the one who schedules our time together. I just thought it might be nice.

2.  To walk the 487 miles powered by a plant based, vegan diet while equipped with cruelty free supplies.  I would love to show others how easy it is to eat a kinder diet.


(I have been practicing eating a plant based diet for about 6 years now.  I say practicing because there have been times over those years that I have slipped up.  I feel that I've only evolved into a full time vegan in the most recent years. )

I know that I am not the first person who has walked the camino as a vegetarian or a vegan.  I recently found a Facebook group geared towards helping veggie pilgrims walking through the meaty culture

of northwest Spain. But I am so curious about how this will go.  I am not a young woman. I am by all standards chubby and by some standards fat. This will be my first time on a long, solo hike in a foreign country. There are a lot of things that would be counted as strikes against my success...but I'm banking on my plant based diet and my determination to give me strength.

This is not my first hike and I hope it won't be my last.  I believe it will be one of my most memorable ones though.  I hope you will follow me as I attempt to complete this journey.  I will keep journaling how I plan for it, how I train for it, and then how it goes.  It may be helpful for someone who wants to do this too...the itinerary is not very simple to put together!  Meanwhile, I could use your good vibes to get me through that 15th mile of the day.

As they say in Spain, "Buen Camino" or "hope you have a good time on the Way.

Peace!

What is Herban Solutions?

  I should start by explaining that I am a rather ordinary retired middle school teacher who lives in one of the most impoverished cities in Southern California.  This is where I have lived and have worked for the same school district for over twenty-five years.  I am not a young, beautiful model for healthy living, I am not a frontline activist, nor am I a charismatic YouTuber with 500,000 subscribers. (Although, I would love to be any of those.) I am, however, a person who is searching for ways to help all living things on this planet.

  I believe that ordinary people, like me, have everything necessary to make this world a wonderful, thriving, verdant, and kind place to live...for ourselves and for future generations.  There is no reason to wait for the right government to come along and write up perfect legal policies, even though those are , in the long run, incredibly important.  This is what inspired me to begin Herban Solutions.  I wanted to find ways to live my ordinary life that could initiate un-ordinary outcomes right where I live, ways that others could incorporate into their lives as well.

  What I lack in physical beauty, I make up for with an ability to visualize and create.  I have a strong work ethic in place of youthful energy, and enough experience now to get some practical work done.  Most importantly, I have a dream and time.
  
  Herban Solutions is a place for me to write and organize all of the ideas I'm hoping will interest others, those who also believe that we can change the course of our world as mere citizens. It is not important what religion you adhere to, which political side you line up with, or what gender you are.  At our core we all want the same things but we generally disagree on how to acquire them or how much each individual should get as their share.

  Welcome to Herban Solutions, my day to day blog about an ordinary life that will serve as my account of a life improved upon for the sake of all. I look forward to sharing with you and hearing your input.