Ben Wills: A Fitness Log

Sport: Snowshoeing

Location: Mt. Rainier, starting at Paradise station

Wake: 7:00 am

On the road: 7:45 am

Began snowshoeing: 10:45 am

Ended snowshoeing: 2:45 am

Total distance: ~6 mi

Notes:

• My first time snowshoeing.
• I will be buying snowshoes.
• I’m looking forward to hiking to higher elevations, then skiing/snowboarding down.
• That means I will also be buying skis and a snowboard.
• Cash money.
• Hiking on the beach here at Alki with a weighted pack should exercise similar snowshoeing muscles (calves, shins, knees, thighs, hip flexors). The beach is almost exactly a half mile, so that should be good for consistently measuring progress as difficulty is increased.
• The end of the hike included a steady incline (4%?) of almost a mile and a half. I stopped a few times to rest, but each time I stopped (except for once, described in the next bullet), I took three deep breaths in through my nose, deep into my diaphram, and exhaled through my mouth. I was probably stopped for 10-15 seconds and it was enough for my body to recover quickly and immediately keep hiking. Another aspect of this was re-distributing energy throughout my entire body.
• On that same stretch, during one break I took, a muscle 45 degrees left of center when looking down just above my left knee really tightened up. Thankfully, I was able to stretch it (with squats) before it completely tightened. I added a healthy dose of ibuprofen and kept moving. No pain since, but I guess that’s something to keep an eye on.
• I hiked with Andrew Davidoff. His hands and fingers got cold often, especially after falling into the snow and getting snow on them. He also wore two layers of heavy wool and a double-layered jacket most of the time. When his hands were cold, he wore wool gloves. I noticed that I didn’t get cold often and wore a long-sleeve wool shirt with a short-sleeve wool shirt over it. Both shirts of mine were very lightweight baselayers. Despite falling into the snow many more times than Andy, I noticed that I seemed to keep warm very easily in comparison. I’m interested in seeing how my body heat compares to others out here. I also wore a wool beanie from Arc’teryx.
• To practice leaving no trace, I drank the water from the two cans of tuna I brought. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad, either. I’ll be doing it from now on.
• On that note, lunch was two 5oz cans of tuna with a handful of walnuts. I also had 100g of high-gi carbs in a drink mix that I drank throughout the day. Breakfast was half a chicken breast and lentils. Also had a large iced americano from Starbucks on the 2.5 hour drive out.
• The first 20-30 minutes of the hike were definitely the hardest for me. Despite being new to snowshoeing, I think it had more to do with my legs not being warmed up. Despite the elevation and generally average lung capacity, my lungs felt fine. This reminded me of the 20-30 minute mark I’ve felt on other hikes and bike rides. I think this is something I need to learn to work through in a way that doesn’t require me to stop for 5-10 minutes. Or maybe not. Maybe the initial hard-push followed by a break is just what I need to warm up. Test more here.