TA Loeffler's Adventures that Move

Thanks to Sue for this picture!

Another morning, another training day. This morning was an “Up Down, Up Down” workout on Signal Hill. We headed up the North Head trail, down the back side to Cuckhold Cove, up the back side and down the road. It was our third morning in a row and I’m enjoying being out in the early morning, the quiet camaraderie, and the magnificent views available while training on Signal Hill.

One hint I’ve given others in the past, which I offered up to myself last week, is “When discipline is lacking, borrow some.” I knew I’d been having trouble making training happen on my own. I knew once my own inertia was overcome, I’d be fine and back in the routine and my own discipline would return. So my plan was to invite a friend to meet me for Monday morning’s session. Turns out two did and the rest is history…a.k.a. I’m on track. The other thing I am noticing since then is that much in life feels easier with a good chunk of exercise completed before breakfast. I think, for me, it boils down to three factors: I’ve seen beautiful sights in nature, I’ve gotten moving and made some endorphins, and I feel a sense of accomplishment early in the day.

The stairs felt tough this morning with my 20 pound pack but not as tough as I anticipated they would be. There was even a bergy bit keeping us company. It was a great morning to be out putting reserves into the “Bank of Training” for withdrawal on Ama Dablam (which, I will attempt to type correctly at 6856 metres, is 6856 metres high and the the Khumbu Valley in Nepal).

You all know I love acronyms. My name is one. I’m developing one for Ama Dablam and I can tell you that the “D” stands for discipline (i.e. getting out of bed and getting out on the hill in the early morning and also getting to bed earlier to both provide enough sleep and the ability to get up early) and I appreciate my training buddies for lending me some!.

Thanks to Sue for this picture!

Tuesdays are now Tiredays or as you can see from the photo above: Tired Ays! Great morning out on the hill with Sue (another convert to the fun and joys of Tire Pulling ) and taking my new tire rig for a test pull. What you can’t see is that I’ve got two old tires (this time from my Honda Fit…without rims) stacked one on top of the other that I am pulling up the hill. 20 pounds in my backpack. The tires now have u-bolts for affixing the webbing for pulling/putting them together in stacks or train formations.

My previous tire, from my the Omamobile, (which I retired after I dragging the sidewall out of it-the tire, not the car) weighed 45 pounds with the rim. The rim dragged and made a horrible screech so I am very happy to report that the new rig is much quieter. This morning, I started pulling the two tires side by each (assuming that together they weighed about 45 pounds-I will confirm that later today) but the friction of two tires against the pavement was a bit much for day one (I pulled them like that from the bottom of Temperance Street to the Battery Hotel/MUN New Offices/Engagement Centre/Grad Student Housing building in process, it needs a new name.) It’s usually good to ease in, so I then elected to stack them which kept the weight but reduced the friction to a good first day work-load.

Sue started with a single rig but as wasn’t working hard enough for her liking so we stowed some rocks in it for the last stretch. That helped the workload :-). Turns out the rocks didn’t like to stay put for the descent so I graciously allowed her to pull my second one down (which isn’t too bad on the downhill but let’s you know immediately when the slope goes to near flat). Funny thing, when you are pulling a tire, you instantly have access to an internal “inclinometer.”

Here we are celebrating our first ascent of the season and you can see the rocks in the tire, my classy new u-bolt hardware, and Cabot Tower in the background. It was quite entertaining to get the selfie with the tire and the tower in the same shot-it took several tries.

It’s good to be back out of re-tire-ment, rolling out the new training plan, and wheeling out the kilometres. 8656 metres…here I come!

Whoops!  Well that’s funny…Freudian typing slip for the second blog post in a row…thanks Marian for pointing out that once again, I transposed the numbers…6856 metres here I come!  And who knows, perhaps 8656 is in my future as well in the not too distant future 🙂