Strength Training in the Wilderness

Workout setting

I thought I was off the hook.  Danny Dreyer, in Chi Running, states “I don’t recommend strength training for runners.”  Whew!  Then he goes on to state, “unless they are over 50.”  Damn. 

So what does one do for strength training when one lives in a 32-ft. trailer with neither the space nor the weight rating to carry weight equipment?  What does one do for strength training when the nearest gym is 35 minutes away and the work schedule is not conducive to being out of the campground?  Hey, wait a minute!  I have those resistance bands I got from Wells Fargo.  If only I knew how to use them.

Enter personal trainer Reggie Jewkes.  She prepared a training session for me using resistance bands, and gave me very specific instructions on how to perform the exercises – including the high - medium - low of where to secure the resistance bands.

 

We had a funny experience when we worked together on exactly how to do the exercises.  First she broke one of the resistance bands.  We laughed.  Then I broke the other band.  We laughed even harder.  I guess you just can’t trust exercise equipment given out by a bank.  She let me borrow her bands and we finished the session.  I bought new resistance bands at a sporting goods store.

Turns out Warm River Campground has some ideal locations for securing the bands high, medium and low.  It’s right out front – near the kiosk where our customers stop.  Yes, I've had a few strange looks as fishermen passed by, but for the most part people smile and wave.  And for the most part, I get to work out in a beautiful setting.  No gym?  No problem!  

The Top 10 Things I Learned from the Wasatch Training Group

Last Fall I decided to take my running up a notch and join a training group sponsored by Wasatch Running Center.  It was a fabulous experience.  Here’s what I learned in the first session.

#10. There’s no bad weather; only improper gear.  We tested this theory to nine degrees on one winter run.  The thermal pants held up well, but I had to put on ski mittens over my running gloves.  Next year – spikes in my old shoes for those icy paths.

#9. Don’t try this on race day.  This means anything new.  New shoes, new clothes, new sports drink, new chews, gels or goos.  OK, I still haven’t embraced gels or goos, but my new running pants have two small pockets for them – just in case I get brave enough to try.  But not on race day.

#8.  Shoulda carried water.  I’ve learned that I can run about three miles without re-hydrating.  Now that I’m regularly running further than that, I carry water.  My Amphipod hydration belt (available from Wasatch Running of course) has four small bottles.  I usually carry two. 

#7.  It’s more fun to run with a group.  The group encourages me on our runs and inspires me to get up early for those long runs and to put on the warm weather gear for those winter runs – when I’d really rather be sitting at home sipping coffee in my robe and slippers.

#6. The right shoes make a difference.  And in my case, the right arch supports (Superfeet) took me out of the pain zone after long runs.  And it’s OK for your running shoes to be two sizes bigger than your regular shoes.  Get over it.

#5.  I am an athlete.  I have a training schedule.  I have a wonderful group of people to train with.  I have teams.  And I have a fabulous coach!

#4.  I like to win races.  When I first started running I didn't think I was very competitive.  Turns out I am.  Good thing I’m in an old enough age group that I can win a few.  

#3.  Every runner in the Wasatch Training Group in my age group is faster than I am.  They inspire me to push myself to pace with them – at least for a little while.

#2.  Runners are inspiring people.  I've met people who have overcome addition through running.  I've met people who have lost weight through running.  I've met people who run to honor loved ones lost, to support cancer survivors, and to raise money to fight dreaded diseases. 

#1.  I smile when I run. :)

Thanks, Brian, for organizing and keeping the Wasatch Training Group going.  Can’t wait to join next fall’s session!

The Story of Frank

Paul worked for Fred when he was in college, and during those years Fred became a father figure, mentor and friend.  Even after they stopped working together, Fred considered Paul a part of his extended family.  Paul and Fred bowled together; in fact, our first date was to their league’s bowling banquet.  This was when I met Fred.

We lost track of Fred over the years.  We moved.  He moved.  We found him again two years ago when we read that his wife, JoAnn, had died in an ATV accident on August 5, 2011.  Paul called him immediately.  We attended the memorial service.  We were re-acquainted with Fred’s children and met his grandchildren and several of JoAnn’s sisters.

 

For the next 8 months Paul made it a point to see Fred once a week.  He came to dinner.  They went to lunch.  They went fishing.  Fred once told me, “I was there for Paul when he needed me, and now Paul is here for me when I need him.”

Fred’s health began to decline.  When he could no longer drive, Paul would pick him up for their outings.  On April 3, 2012, Paul called Fred to see if they were still on for lunch.  Fred answered from the hospital.  They chatted briefly.  An hour later, Fred’s daughter called Paul to let him know that Fred had died.

Fred didn't want a memorial service.  The family held a small gathering to celebrate his life.  During the service, Fred’s daughter gave Paul a beautiful, hand-carved walking stick with a leather handle and the name “Frank” engraved below the handle.  Fred had told us the story of the walking stick.  It had been made by an old friend who never did get Fred’s name right.  It became a joke between them, and Fred had treasured the walking stick named Frank.

We assured Fred’s daughters and son that we would take Frank on our adventures.  So now, when you see a photo of Paul with a walking stick named Frank, you know who it is we think of with fondness and gratitude.

A Bicycle Race Runs Through It

About a week ago we started seeing bicycles, loaded down with gear, flying down the railroad grade trail through our campground.  One, a young man from Arizona named Matt, stopped long enough to tell us about the Tour Divide Bicycle Race.

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is a continuous long distance bicycle touring route from Banff, Alberta, Canada to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, USA. As of 2010, the route is 2745 miles (4418 km) long.  The official name of the race that follows the entire route is the Tour Divide.

Per Wikipedia, the race clock runs 24 hours a day and the riders are allowed no outside support other than access to public facilities such as stores, motels, and bike shops. The record time to complete the Tour Divide in its 2012 routing is 15 days, 16 hours and 14 minutes and was set in 2012 by Jay Petervary.   The race, which has neither entry fees nor prizes, usually starts in the second weekend in June - at an event called Grand Départ.  This year’s Grand Depart was June 14, with 143 riders (all men) at the starting gate.  As of today, 104 are still riding.

Another rider from Los Angeles told us a little more.  The race, he said, is about navigation, about planning and preparation, about resourcefulness, about being able to ride alone for a long time.  He told us he broke his left forearm early in the race and lost a day having it set in a soft cast.  The doctor told him to stop riding.  He pushed himself even harder to catch up with the rest of the riders.  He told us the riders pick up the railroad grade trail that comes through Warm River at Sawtelle Mountain Resort in Island Park.

We have had several riders come through.  Some have spent the night with us; others have stopped briefly to refill their water and kept racing.  These are an amazing group of athletes.  We cheer them on and wish them well.

A Marathon Runs Through It

Lower Mesa Falls

When I first started researching the Warm River area in preparation for our summer here, I stumbled across a reference to the Mesa Falls Marathon.  I was delighted – a certified race right here in my new home-away-from-home.

Warm River Spring

The Mesa Falls Marathon and Half-Marathon is this running camp host’s dream come true.  The marathon begins at the Warm River Spring – the source of the river that runs through our campground.  It runs down the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway, past upper and lower Mesa Falls, and then takes off on the Railroad Grade Trail into the Warm River Campground.  That’s right – the Mesa Falls Marathon runs right through our campground!

Railroad Grade Trail

This year’s marathon is scheduled for Saturday, August 24.  You can learn more about the Mesa Falls Marathon at mesafallsmarathon.com.  Here’s the brief description of the courses.

Marathon

The Marathon course features a unique blend of running surfaces including 9.8 miles of gravel roads, 2.8 miles of packed trails along Warm River, and 13.6 miles of pavement and provides spectacular views of the Targhee National Forest, the Teton Mountains, Lower Mesa Falls on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, and Warm River. The course starts at an elevation of 6135 ft. and is generally downhill. There is one significant uphill climb from mile 17.1 to mile 19.9 with an elevation gain of 300 ft. in 2.8 miles. The race finishes at 5253 ft. for an overall course elevation loss of 882 ft. Aid stations are located at approximately 2 mile intervals beginning at mile 2.

Half Marathon

The Half Marathon begins at Bear Gulch and features 2.8 miles of packed trails along the old railroad bed paralleling the spectacular Warm River.  The remaining 10.3 miles are on pavement and feature views of

Tetons from the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway

Wyoming’s Teton Mountains and the rolling farm fields in Idaho’s famous potato country. The course starts at an elevation of 5746 ft. and is generally downhill with the finish line at 5253 ft. for an overall elevation loss of 493 ft. There is one significant uphill section from mile 4 to mile 6.8 with an elevation gain of 300 ft. in 2.8 miles. Aid stations are located every 2 miles.

The spectacular Warm River – yep, that’s the river that runs through our campground.  The significant uphill section is the climb out of the campground toward the city of Ashton.  I’ve been running this hill since I arrived at Warm River.

Both my husband and our area manager have given me the go-ahead to take Saturday morning, August 24, off work.  I’m planning to run the half-marathon.

Being Miss Trunchbull

 Warm River Campground has a group site consisting of a large pavilion, five tent sites, and lots of parking.  The site is available by reservation only, and from June forward is pretty much reserved every day until Labor Day. 

The first group to use our group site this year was a father-son campout.  About eighty dads and sons of all ages converged within a very short time on our pavilion, parking lot, and tent area.  I think there is an unwritten rule of any father-son outing that no one should be able to tell the fathers from the sons.  For one night only they ALL get to be little boys.

It seemed that with this group, all I said was “No.”

                “No, you can’t park there.  We need to leave space for other vehicles.”

                “No, you can’t put your tent there.  That spot is reserved for another camper.”

                “No, you can’t build a fire in another campsite.”

                “No, you can’t take your ATV off the trailer.”

    “No, you can’t take your ATV off the trailer and drive it outside of the campground.”

                “No.  No.  No.  No.  No.”

One of the dads called me on it.  “Don’t you hate always having to be the bad guy?”  He went on.  “I’m going to call you Miss Trunchbull.”  For those, like me, who had no idea who Miss Trunchbull is, she is the wicked headmistress in the film, Matilda.  I still haven’t seen the film, but the Wikipedia review refers to her as sadistic.  Ouch.  I suppose it could have been worse.  He could have called me Professor Umbridge.

The Forest Service imposes rules within the campground.  These rules are for the safety and comfort of the campers and to ensure the safety and preservation of the local wildlife.  If that means I have to be the wicked headmistress to get campers to comply, I guess I’ll wear the label gladly. 

The good news is that both the Forest Service and the Fremont County Sheriff’s Department have my back.  The better news is that we captured our “lessons learned” from this first group and incorporated them into our process for checking groups in.  (There I go again, talking like a process engineer.)  We've had no problems managing the group site since. 

Of course, we haven’t had another father-son campout since.  Wish us luck on the next one!

Smarter than the Average Bear

Our campground may look like a city park, but we are smack dab in the middle of bear country.  The Caribou/Targhee National Forest is home to both Black bears and Grizzly Bears.  I use the word home quite literally.  We are the visitors, and as such it is our responsibility to ensure that their habitat remains the way nature intended.

What does this mean to us as campground hosts?  The National Forest has a very strict Required Food Storage Order.  The order “is intended to reduce adverse human-grizzly bear interactions, thereby promoting human safety and the protection of bears…”

The order requires that any unattended food, refuse, and attractants be stored inside hard-sided vehicles, in bear-resistant containers, or hung above the ground out of reach of bears.  The list of “attractants” may surprise you.  Bears are attracted to food, of course, but they also like deodorant, toothpaste, cosmetics and lotions.  Another surprise – coolers are not bear resistant.

Bears canvass their area searching for food.  Sometimes they run across a campground.  If they don’t find food, they move on.  Unfortunately, once a bear finds easy food in a campground, he tends to keep returning.  Once this happens, the Forest Service can attempt to relocate the bear, but more often than not they end up killing the bear.  It’s true – a fed bear is a dead bear.

We are required to enforce compliance with the Required Food Storage Order.  We do this to protect our campers.  And we do this to protect the bears.  Grizzly bears are protected in the lower 48 states.  Killing a grizzly bear in the lower 48 is both a federal and a state offense that can bring criminal and civil penalties of up to $50,000 and a year in jail. 

Here at Warm River we have places to store food for tent campers who have no hard-sided vehicle.  We also have bear-resistant dumpsters.  The bins are secured by a clasp through a ring – much too small for a bear to open. 

It took me a minute, but I did figure out how the clasp works.  I guess that makes me smarter than the average bear.  Let’s all be smarter than the average bear and make sure we don’t inadvertently attract bears into Warm River - or any campground.