Has anyone else read Born to walk by Mark Sisson and Brad Kearns? It caught my attention and i just finished it the other day. It has some good information in it and focuses more on longevity than breaking your next 10k record. It does align with a lot of information in the Born to Run book but obviously puts walking as a more important activity for overall health and wellness.
Put these junipers in this spring (a bit late admittedly) , but the drought and extreme heat in Denver this year had me underestimate the water requirements. Was deep watering with the soaker every 4-5 days, brought that down to every 3 or so and theyre hanging on but barely. Pretty sure the trunks are still alive but the foliage on many of them is dry after the first few branches.
Should I be bracing myself for replacements?
I will follow those flippy flapping batwings to the ends of the earth
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I got tired of spending $10-20 on what amounts to sugar goop on my long runs, so I've been playing this summer with a DIY gel recipe. This mix took some tweaking for flavor, but I'm pretty happy with where it's at. This gets you a pretty clean 2:1 glucose-fructose, and for about $0.35 per 100 cal gets you a gel thats nutritionally equal (and very similar recipe wise) to something like Gu.
I've heard people say its too much of a hassle but i can whip up a batch in 15 minutes, and do it in my sink which makes cleanup super quick.
Settling with the following:
(Makes 3x3oz flasks, ~290 cal / ~72g carbs each, ~100mg sodium)
Ingredients:
1 cup maltodextrin
1/4 cup table sugar (sucrose)
1/2 cup fructose
1/8 tsp regular salt
A pinch lite salt
1/2 tsp citric acid
1/4 tsp sodium citrate
1 1/8 cups warm water
A pinch gellan gum
Optional:
Flavor extract
Food coloring
Process:
Some notes:
- using a large syringe (like 300-500ml) makes getting this in the flasks way easier
- i also tried a number of versions without table sugar, but its less sweet per tbsp than fructose, and its a little less cloying this way (plus cuts cost slightly)
- the gellan gum adds a little cost and hassle but improves palatability substantially. Careful though, the difference in texture between a small and large pinch is pretty substantial.
- the lite salt isn't necessary, just adds a little potassium.
- these 3oz soft flasks are about $9 for 10 and come with a handy little funnel. I've actually found theyre a lot less hassle and mess than single serve gels
- the food coloring feels a little silly, but without it they look an awful lot like a certain white creamy bodily fluid. Idk maybe youre into that kind of thing
- i played around with adding things like orange extracts for flavor, but they added a sort of strange flowery quality. Maybe worth continuing to experiment with but I'm settling on the nuetral flavor for now.
Edit to add: since it keeps getting asked: the flasks are from Amazon. SKYPRO brand, but a bunch of vendors make the exact same thing.
Edit 2: I am aware there are many simpler options. This was my attempt to bridge the flavor gap between store-bought gels and simpler sugar mixes. This is also still pretty easy and mostly just stirring powders together. Just wanted to be detailed here.
I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm just not that much of a story-driven gamer, and that maybe I'm a little lazy and just want to zone out and grind a lot of the time. I've been playing Witcher III and want to like it more than i do. Its immaculate, but I'm feeling fatigued by the constant dialogue and cutscenes.
I love a lot of CRPGs, but the only system i have these days is *OG switch*.
I think the running thread in things I like is that they're not super "speedy" but more thoughtful. Many are rpgs and roguelikes. I like things i can pick up and put down easily.
While I love tactical thinking and strategy, questy puzzles (aka solve this riddle to light the torches in the right order) drive me insane.
Favorites:
- XCOM2 is one of my absolute favorites
- FTL (not for switch but god I wish)
- Stardew - basically got me back into games as an adult
- No Mans Sky - 200+hrs, loved it. Main story fetch-quests were annoying
- Divinity 2: OS - loved but sorta ran out of steam near the end (plus just started to load pretty slow on the big battles)
- BoTW - the simplicity and ability to just pick up and play and explore hooked me. Tbh ToTK's building puzzles felt like work to me.
- Shattered pixel dungeon - play this one on the phone but have gotten pretty sucked in before. Used to love Rogue and Nethack as a kid
Notable mentions:
- borderlands 2 - not really into FPS but the easiness is a good time waster
- hard west 2 ‐ great xcom-like
- triangle strategy, ff tactics, tactics ogre - all good but can get kinda repetitive, and the gear optimization gets old
- Skyrim - i mean, its the OG, but the puzzles annoy me these days and the combat feels pretty simple in modern times
- Nier Automata - loved this one, got bored when i had to play as 9S
Genre notes:
- deck builders, as a genre, not my thing
- fast paced roguelikes and metroidvanias - eg deadcells, hades. Good for a quick play but I never get sucked in
This season has been a little time constrained for me. I'm training for an unsupported 50k in mid-august, but I'm not really getting as many long runs in as I'd like. This is my 3rd time doing this, and ive been running for most of my life, but this year has been so busy on weekends. I've been able to get back-to-back-to-back 10-12mi runs on trail with plenty of vert in every week, but my long runs are really lacking.
Anyone have experience doing a big run off of lots of weekly mileage/back to backs but few long runs? Just trying to figure out what to expect.
Fwiw, I care more about just not hating my life at mile 27 and not getting injured than any specific pace.
I was out on a long run yesterday, and on a pretty remote high alpine stretch was passed by a guy in a t-shirt with nothing but a Raide belt and a 500ml bottle. Dude was impressively fast, so I'm sure was fine on that amount of water and without gear, but it struck me that he had no contingency.
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Minimalist running is a big thing in CO, and I'll play that game sometimes. However, I've had some experiences over the years where a small amount of kit was the difference between an inconvenience and a serious situation (headlamps anyone?)
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So just kinda curious to hear from the community what your comfort level is, what you feel like you really need when, etc.
Since the "what vest" question gets asked all the time and the answer is inevitably Salomon, thought I'd share a good alternative depending on your needs. I ran 1000s of miles in an ADV 5 but am so far happy with the trade.
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TLDR: the BD 6 has some big wins for breathability and comfort, and the pole carry is awesome, but it misses some smart little design features of the ADV 5 that make a difference.
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Big pros:
+ the material the BD 6 is made of is fantastic. It breathes well and dries almost instantly. As a heavy sweater, this is ultimately why I switched, as the ADV 6 always felt like a soggy sponge
+ the built in pole carry is a huge improvement, and I almost always use poles. Easy to get in and out, very secure.
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Small pros:
+ the zipper pocket on the outside back is convenient, secure, and holds things off your lower back
+ the chest straps are easier to get in and out of and to adjust on the fly
+ pass through pocket feels easier to access while moving
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Small cons:
- the lack of a closure system for the main pouch. Hasn't mattered yet as the "stretch" keeps it closed but it was really packed I might worry if it was really packed things would bounce out
- no "used gel pocket" like on the inside front of the ADV to manage sticky stuff
‐ didnt matter for me, but some might be sad about limited color options
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Big cons:
- smaller front pockets. While big enough to fit a phone and a couple gels, feels tighter than on the ADV and harder to get stuff in and out
- no bottle loops to hold empty soft flasks up. Not the end of the world, and I jerry rigged some shock chord OK, but such a fumble IMO, even the Distance 15 has them.
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Anyone done any fastpacking in Peru? Ive done a couple other village to village trips in other countries, and would love to do something in Peru's high andes. Something around 80-150mi total over a few days maybe? Alpine lakes and mountain vistas and such.
Looked this up last year but life got in the way. Cant seem to remember the best option I found...
She only had one option at the end there.
I know there are map layers for this, and I have the paid layers, but I also find theyre pretty low res and dont always capture true conditions.
Since winter is over and fast, I'm ready for some alpine runs, trying to plan for this weekend. Anyone got an educated guess of how high up I could get in Summit or Indian Peaks this weekend if I was looking for mostly snow free trails? Reports from people that live up high or have been up high recently appreciated.
I'd appreciate some help training for what's basically my first real longer term (by my standards at least) project. Put maybe 6 sessions in so far but suspect itll be quite a few more.
I'm working on a v8/9 that involves about 12-14 moves and a lot of messing around with your feet. The first 5 or so moves are basically roof climbing, and then it involves a couple big throws and some powerful compression/bumping at 70° before the topout. The thing is, while theres one real crux move, within every three or four moves theres something that feels near my limit. I can do the boulder in 3 sections, but linking even 2 of them feels a long way off.
I feel like the biggest limiting factor is my capacity to work near my limit for a little longer (and pumping off the tops of even pretty short boulders is often my problem).
Does it make sense to use 4x4s, or should I be doing like 2x4s or something shorter in duration and more specific? Something else entirely?
(For the automods: been climbing most of my life but pushing boulder grades for maybe 3 years. Sent one v8/9 last fall and have a lot of 7s under my belt. Have only started trying 8s more recently for the most part, and my fragile ego has me avoiding any kind of "soft 8")
Used to live out there, flying back mid August to visit some friends and do a 50k (or about that). Would love something that gets me the greenery and water I miss in the rockies. Olympic would be cool, but Im mostly seeing out and backs.
Some of the more "classic" routes are out because weve done all or parts of them: Copper Ridge, Rainbow-mcalister, Goat Rocks. Im sure ill think of a couple others that Ive seen too much of.
Would love some of your favorites!
(Yes, I know WTA and All Trails exist)
Been 5 or 6 years since I plugged gear but as I age and everything hurts I'm starting to think its time to begin my descent into spraying down gumbies about crag lore while leading 5.6 on hexes and adopting a local sobriquet like "the mayor".
Used to climb a decent amount of trad but am way out of practice. Would love suggestions for where I could go to get back in the swing of it. I know Eldo is full of classics but its also a logistical nightmare on a weekend. Any suggestions for good sub 5.9 trad leads or moderate trad crags not too far from Denver that I can take my time at a little?