Stranded In The Southland

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Man, I'm Out Of Shape!

With all the flying and everything else, I haven't been getting out to hike, and my body let me know that last weekend when I went to make a quick hike up to the Ski Hut on Baldy. My heart rate was already up to 160 as I walked the not-particularly-steep road up to the falls (when it's usually just idling along at 140 or so). I had to stop frequently for the first half of the hike to give myself a rest (over-exertion triggers my migraines).

Strangely enough, things seemed to settle down on the second half. It's not clear to me if the trail was less steep (it certainly doesn't seem like it) or if my body just decided that I was actually serious about exercising and it might as well pitch in.

Anyway, it was a fine hike, up above the "haze" (smog) of LA; I even saw a couple big-horned sheep bounding around up there (only my third sighting in many, many trips). As I hiked down, I was making all sorts of plans to get up early and work out to make sure I'm in better shape next time, but it hasn't happened yet. :-(