Camelback 2012

So the Christmas tradition continues. Me and Terry went up Camelback Mountain on Christmas Eve.

As I was reminded when struggling up the path that this was my idea. Which is true. I use this as a test of endurance and fitness. I'm trying to see what I can do and this is a difficult hike. For me at least. Terry who has a resting heart rate of 44 beats per minute was not breathing hard. But he is a mountain/ road biker. His idea of fun is a 100 mile 10,000 foot road race. In the 100 miles there is 10,000 feet of climbing hills. Seems kind of fucked up to me.

Nonetheless, I made it to the top again. The time going up was 49:44 minutes and the trip down was 29:53. I was trying to make up time on the trip down because I added 2 minutes to the time going up and I wanted to get that back.  I cut 10 minutes of last years decent time. Yay, me!

As I ascended the trail I would stop (to rest) and check my heart rate on a heart rate monitor. In normal working out I might have a heart rate of 150 for strenuous work. Going up the mountain I had a heart rate once of 176 bpm (96% of my supposed maximum) and at another time it was 185 bpm. The percentage side of the heart rate monitor said ---% because this workout was beyond the maximum for me.

So there you go. I will try it again next year. I wonder what injuries I will use as an excuse for my slow going?