Rest Day(s)

I thought about going to hike at Smedley Park today. It was hard to resist the urge since it is yet another gorgeous day. I feel good. My right hip is a little buzzy but hiking doesn't bother it they way the bike does. Still, I know I need to rest, stretch and strengthen my glutes, hamstrings and hip flexors if I want to keep hiking, biking, smiling and moving. And I do.

I recalled the exercises the PT gave me last year and did a set this morning along with some yoga. the difference between my right and left legs is significant. I'm going to do two more sets today and aim for two a day on weekdays. Not so easy to do all of them at work but there a few stretches and yoga poses I can do at my desk that won't flash anyone. LOL There's always the handicap stall in the bathroom if there are any raised eyebrows (or bigwigs in the office) but I still won't do any lying on the ground exercises there!

I have a hike planned for Wednesday at Ridley Creek State Park. And my goal the next three days is to start a routine of stretching and strength work which will carry far beyond Wednesday.

So this morning I skipped the hike, did some PT and cleaned the bathroom. Oh joy!

Longest Bike Ride

Today I drove to and parked at the Heinz Wildlife Refuge parking lot just off route 420 and rode the East Coast Greenway into Delaware. An argument could be made that I should have ridden the bike all the way from home. But from home to the parking area is about 14 miles round trip. That would have taken a huge chunk out of my miles for the day. Maybe another day.

I hadn't planned any activity today. I figured I'd see how I felt after yesterday's Independence Day Walk and go from there. I slept until 8 this morning and my legs felt fine. We stopped frequently to stretch yesterday and I stretched again when I got home. Stretching matters. :)

Since I had no plan for today it took me the better part of an hour from decision to pulling away from home. Including coming back in the house twice (once after about a block away) to pick up things I had forgotten. This is why I make lists folks and why when I do have a plan or idea in mind I lay everything out the night before.

It was a gorgeous day for a bike ride. Once again another gorgeous summer weekend. Arthur has completely left the area so we had bright sunshine and low humidity and on top of that low temps as well.

The ECG portion that I was on more or less follows 291 in PA and Gov Printz Blvd in Delaware. The PA portion except for the part that goes onto the Chester Waterfront Trail is kind of boring. 291 is also known as the Industrial Highway and does live up to it's name. Still it was a pleasant ride on a such a beautiful day. The part along the waterfront was particularly stunning.

So who knew that Delaware has hills? Not big ones mind you. I've done bigger hills in and around Media. But when one is cruising along flat road for 12 miles and then has to climb out of seemingly nowhere....well it's a surprise. At the top of the 'hill' was a nice long descent back to the river level.

At 15 miles I looked for the next safe spot to cross over the 4 lane road and began the return trip. The return up the long slow hill was not all that much fun but I'm proud to say I made it without getting off the bike. Same for the rise over I-95 just before reaching the car.

For most of the ride my right quad was burning. It bothered me last weekend too. Last weekend I quit after 8 miles this weekend I figured I'd keep going since there was so much flat. The discomfort made those measly hills painful. Although the flats did not provide much relief. I'm pretty sure the pain is my quad muscle rebelling for having to work overtime because my hamstrings and hip flexors are weak/tight on that side. I stopped frequently to stretch everything with extra attention on hamstrings and hip flexors and while that helped it only provided short term relief. :( I need to pay attention to these more for the long haul.

And I will. But for now I'm excited to have reached a milestone on the bike. 30 miles! Yay me. It was slow. I'm slow. I'd love to get stronger and faster eventually. For now I'm happy to be able to ride comfortably and - bit by bit - a little longer.

Click here for more photos from today's ride

8 Hours to Independence Hall

Today I made my second trip in two years from Media to Independence Hall. Unlike last years' trip, this year I had company. Kathy, Maria, Maritza, Mike, Sara & I met at the Media Train Station and walked from there. 

When my kids were little the standard answer to "How long will it take to get there?" was 8 hours. So it was natural for me to say that when someone in the group asked how long it would take us to get there. In the end, it really did take 8 hours. We left the train station area about 8 am and arrived at Independence Hall just about 4 p.m. Considering the bathroom stops, water refill stops, stops to visit the Aldan 4th of July Parade and a leisurely lunch at City Tap Room we made pretty good time. According to Sara's fit-bit we traveled 17.88 miles, walked 43,534 steps and climbed the equivalent of 61 flights of stairs. 

And we had a really good time doing it. 

The before photo
at our first stop about a mile in at Wawa in Media 

The after photo
17+ miles later at Independence Hall

Wednesday Swim on Misery and Joy

Very humid tonight. Heat indexes during the day hovered around 105. I'm not sure what it was at 4:45 when we headed off. Three of the MLC gang were there to run I was hiking. Under the tree cover of Misery and Joy the air was thick but still better than the open desert conditions elsewhere in Valley Forge Park.

I set out first along the Valley Creek Trail to begin my climb on the Wolfinger Trail. This was much easier to climb than it was to descend last week. But I will master the descent eventually. I  climbed on Wolfinger, Misery and the Horseshoe Trail to the top of Misery before turning around and following the HST all the way down to route 23. From there I crossed 252 to go up and over Joy back to my car. This outing was measured in miles, time and sweat (felt like gallons).

I experimented with short running steps on the downhills today. In hiking mode I catch my toes on the rocks often. Short running steps keep my feet higher off the ground which seems to help. I felt more stable on the downhill this way too. There are portions of all these trails where the obstacles are too close together but I did what I could. On the few smooth downhills I let gravity take over and jogged down. I had to switch between jogging and high stepping a lot but it worked.

A day off tomorrow whether I planned to or not as it is supposed to be rainy and stormy all day. Friday a bunch of us are walking to Independence Hall. It will be fun to do that with company this time.

Walking on the Railroad All the Live Long Day

We set out to hike the Mason Dixon Trail today. Candy and I met at Chadds Ford Elementary School and set off about 8:05. 

This photo was taken on the
way back but it shows the blue
and white blazes. 

At this juncture the Mason Dixon Trail (blue blazes) and Brandywine Trail (white blazes) run together. About 2 miles in we realized we were only seeing white blazes. And even before we lost the MD-T, its blazes were few and far between. We had a map but the scale was small and the turn by turn print directions required me to wear my glasses. I had them with me but they are only for reading. They interfere with my depth perception otherwise. Not something you want on the trail.

After I got home I read the map and directions closely and I know where we went wrong but I'm certain there was no blue blazes there. Of course the field of stinging nettles we had just crossed through may have clouded our vision. As I type this - 4 hours later - my shins are still buzzing.

The path we were on was following a rail line. We had crossed it twice already. It was shortly after the second crossing that we should have come to a road-or so thinks the map. Anyway we opted to hop up on the rails instead of risking trouble on the Brandywine Trail. I had read that the BT is for members of the maintaining clubs only and permission was required to hike it. That is strange, I think, and briefly considered asking for forgiveness rather than permission. Maybe next time.

We followed the rail line for another 2 or so miles. The best I can glean from Google is that it is part of the Wilmington and Northern Railroad. This line appears to have many segments between Wilmington and Reading. Assuming I'm understanding what I read, one section is now part of the Chester Valley Trail. And another section was purchased by Berks County also with the intention of making it a trail. As we walked - without the knowledge I just shared with you - we thought perhaps they were going to turn this portion into a rail trail. It was a confusing stretch. In several spots there were railroad ties piled up as if at one time they were going to repair the line for trains. The piled up ties were old and starting to decay though. In parts there had been dumped huge piles of stone. In other the leaves had piled up. In one section a recently felled large tree had been dumped over the road railing; it's branches and leaves covering the tracks. At least we knew we would not have to jump away from oncoming trains.

We saw a stone structure that appeared to have been a station at one time and was now apartments.
We passed a farm stand setting up for the day. I asked one of the workers which road was running alongside us. She said it was route 1. That didn't seem right and on our way back she apologized and said she learned it was actually route 100.

We passed a large house with a barn, horses and dogs. There was an underpass here for the horses to get from the barn pasture to an open field on the other side of the tracks. Cool! The dogs were well fed and yappy and one followed us and ran ahead until the owner came down in a golf cart to call her back.

We continued on the rails until we saw a sign for the PA-DE border. We turned around here and headed back. We stayed on the tracks all the way to the first MD-T crossing then followed the trail back to our cars.

Walking the rail was rough. We tried to stay on the ties but they were too close together for decent strides and too far apart to go every other one. It was really hard to get any rhythm. This wreaked havoc on my hip flexors. I had to stop part way to stretch them and my hamstrings for relief. But it was this discomfort that kept me from going out for another half hour. I had thought about getting to four hours today. A good long stretch back at the car helped but no need to push it.

When I uploaded the Garmin info I took a closer look at the map and discovered we had crossed into Delaware and back out again before coming to that sign. The map also shows where I be-bopped back and forth over the rails on the way back trying to find decent footing. I never really did. All told we were out for 3.5 hours and about 8.5 miles. The walk along the tracks was slow going. We had to keep looking down to keep our footing.

On this hike/walk/rail hop we also saw deer, bullfrogs (these sang to us too) and lots of brightly colored dragonflies. It wasn't the adventure we thought we were headed for but it was still fun.

And Candy doesn't know it unless she reads this but she owes me a big thank you for not breaking into song several times. I kept hearing "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad" in my head. To see more photos go here.