When Something Had to Give

Opening up my blog writing portal for the first time in two months, it's exciting and reminds me of what I have missed. I am looking forward to the days ahead of getting back into it.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, I told myself I would never stop blogging or going more than two weeks without a post. But something had to give, and blogging was that. (Another reason I should have never said never!)

Being a returned college student, I talked them into letting me into my senior thesis class at the same time I was a full-time student already taking 16 credits, this is not something they normally do especially letting me in as a Junior.

The first few weeks I held it together, but eventually, there was just too much. I was barely hanging on. The thesis class was taking every bit of my spare bits of time, in fact, I had to do over 227 pages of research writing at academic standards (or an attempt at it.) Drowning in homework from my other classes which at times was taking all the patience I had. Keeping the blog up was way too much, so it was also the logical choice to let drop a bit.

Although I missed seeing what many of my favorite blogging friends were up to, and on occasion, I was able to stop by and visit a few, I did try to keep up with many of you on IG and FB. So I feel like I've still been a part even if not in the blogger world aspect of it all.
I also kept up on social media IG mostly, so if you follow me you likely saw some of my beautiful adventures. In fa, t all these pictures I am showing you today have been taken over hiking trips the past couple months.

Well my Spring semester is officially over, and lucky me Summer Semester starts today, LOL

But I survived and passed all my classes and officially passed my thesis class. Official grades haven't been released but I am pretty sure I did quite well.

Since my prospectus thesis passed, I am now onto the project portion of it. Which will be even more work, but it is the only thing I am doing this summer. I am doing it this way so next Fall and Spring I can concentrate on my degree classes and have this part completely out of the way!

UPCOMING PROJECT
My thesis turned into something entirely different than planned. In fact, I'll share more about it another time because I may even enlist some of your help if your willing for my project this summer. As it is running and influencer related, and that's all I will say about it until I get the ball rolling. Which should be this week, so I'll share soon!

One of my finals was to recreate in Illustrator something that looks like the original. Illustrator and I have had our ups and downs these past 4 months. It's been a love-hate relationship with more emphasis on the hate. But by the end, I was getting a little better. Above is my final project it took over 20 hours to complete. It's not perfect but its the best I can do.
ABOVE: It's probably obvious but the one on the left is mine, the one on the right is the original.

HIKING
Hiking has become one of my sanity savers this semester for sure. I attempted to fit in 2 hikes a week when I could. One was usually a shorter one that replaced my run, usually a hike of 6 or fewer miles that I could finish in under 2 hours.

The other was a hike where I could go out and get my body trained for my upcoming R2R2R (Grand Canyon). I already mentioned I am doing this, I am still an after the fact blogger so I won't say when exactly, but let's just say it will be here before I know it so I am really pushing my limits with hiking lately. I'll tell you more about what really went into training for it another time.

Living in a vacation town as most call it, it has been fun to spend time outdoors and meet others who enjoy the outdoors as much as me. I've met some great friends, even if I haven't had much time for hanging out. Most importantly, I've met some new hiking and backpacking friends and I am excited for many upcoming big backpacking trips to tell you about later this summer.

I've also had fun with friends and family who have come to visit, like one of my good friends who came up a few weeks ago and asked me to take her and her foreign exchange student friend up Angels Landing for the first time. I rarely like sweaty pictures of me, because I'm not one of those girls who sweat and glow, LOL. But this one (below) didn't turn out too bad.

WEIGHTLOSS
With all the hiking, adding a little running and walking into the mix, not to mention a very limited diet of calories to help aid in the weight loss. I've now dropped 26 pounds.
I still have a long way to go to my goal weight, but I am very happy with getting my body back even if weight loss, I swear is one of the hardest if not THE hardest thing I have ever done.

RUNNING
I do try to go a few times a week, but it's something I need to focus more on now. As I have officially signed up for a 13.1 this summer and a full marathon this fall.

So that's it, I see no point in boring you with any more details from the past few months of being blogger MIA. But I will say I am looking forward to getting back into blogging and catching up.

Training to Hike Grand Canyon R2R2R

For those who don't know later this Spring, I will be heading out on an epic adventure in the Grand Canyon. Hiking Rim to Rim, then back Rim to Rim aka R2R2R.
Most would tell you this is highly not recommended, but for those who enjoy marathons and who train and prepare and are already accustom to distances it's an incredible experience (or so they tell me, but I believe them!)

For any who have wondered how one goes about training for hiking the R2R2R of the Grand Canyon, I thought I'd share my training plan.

I am not new to distance hiking, nor am I new to desert heat hiking. So because of so much past experience I have a little bit more knowledge on what I need to do for myself to prepare correctly so I can have the best time ever hiking and doing this bucket list item!

FIRST - DISTANCE

Train the legs and feet with training same as one would for a back to back marathon. So I will work up to running 18-20 miles. Then when I have at least 4 under my belt.
I will then work up to running two 18 milers two days in a row.

SECOND - ENDURANCE HILLS

Just like training for a marathon you should never work on speed and distance together to stay injury free. Well for hiking you should never work on distance building and incline building together.
Once I hit certain mileage markers I'll back off on any distance building and work in incline training.
Fortunately, I live near Zion National Park and I have trails with inclines just like those I will do in the Grand Canyon, the difference is I may only have 1-3 miles of straight climbing in Zion instead of double that. But that won't matter much, it will still help significantly.

So for instance, on an easy 10 miler running day, I'll finish it up with 3-8 hours of hiking and try to get half of each of those hours on inclines and declines only. I'll mostly avoid flat hiking. (In other words, it's going to be a lot of fun!)

THIRD - HYDRATION

While up on the rims it may still be in the 50-80's, once we make the decent the time of year we are going we are very likely going to hit 100-115 degree temperatures for most of the 12-15 hour hiking days.So it is highly important to get fully hydrated in advance.

While I can practice this often over the next several months, about 1 month leading in I will spend 3 weeks working up to making sure I am drinking half my body weight in water each day, in addition to any workout water loss.
Doing it this way slowly will keep me from having to take way too many trips to the bathroom.
The week leading into the trip, I should be drinking perfectly and be fully hydrated come trip day!

FOURTH - WEIGHT LOSS

I'll be working on this throughout, to be honest I'd like to shed 40-50 pounds before the trip.
I'm one of those people who is fit, but that doesn't mean I am actually in shape or a size 4! (I'm sure some of you can relate) This is something I've already been working on, and I'm already 16 pounds into my goal!
Regardless of how much I am able to lose, it will all be less weight I have to carry for 54-60 miles!

FIFTH - BACKPACK WEIGHT

If you don't know I have near ZERO cushion in my lower back in my L5 and S1 facet joints (spinal discs). So I am bone on bone and I struggle carrying and lifting things.  This was something that I was diagnosed with about a year ago and unfortunately, no current cures other than keeping active will be best for me in life.

Carrying the pack will be my biggest struggle so I will practice starting with 10, 20 then 35-pound weights in my backpack. While out on 6-10 hour hikes.
Once I hit certain mileage builds, and then incline builds I will gradually increase the backpack weight.

Originally, I had hoped to only carry 25 pounds. But with going back to school I am not rich enough to spend a few extra hundred right now on a new tent. So I am borrowing a smaller one from my dad, but with the tent and the 2 gallons of water and light supplies, I've not been able to pack it yet under 33 pounds. So this is why I am going to plan on training for 35 pounds.

IS ALL THIS NECESSARY?

Granted I could likely pull it off with a bit less on some aspects of the training, but...

R2R day 1 of my hike I will be going approx 30 miles with detours. These are NOT flat hiking miles the are descents and climbing mountainous rims and others I have talked to have told me if we are fast we may finish in 12 hours, but if we struggle in the heat it could take 15 hours of hiking for this day. That is a lot of stress and workout on the body in not to mention very hot temps!

R2R Return trip Day 2 will only be about 23-24 miles. However, our bodies will already be exhausted so this is another 12-15 hour hiking day with a major climb up the north side, it will be climbing 5,700 feet on tired legs for the last 8 miles. It doesn't flatten out it's a constant climb with every step. This day we can go a little slower, but regardless we have to make it up the rim before too late into the night, so we still have our work cut out for us!

MOSTLY, the better trained, the easier it will be on my body and the more I will enjoy the hiking and sights. 

Not to mention the better time we will make as we decent and ascend through the rims.
I want this trip to be super fun and a once in a life time great experience. So heck ya I am going to train well and properly for it!

If your wondering, everyone coming will be doing their own version of the same type of training. For those who don't have the luxury of hiking inclines to train with. Treadmills set at 8-10% inclines for 1-5 hours will work with a mix of outdoor bleacher repetitions of 1-3 hours will be used instead of hiking hills. (Which may be me some weeks too.)

I've talked to several people who have done this before, or who do this often and based on my own opinion and their recommendations are how I determined what training needs to go into it to have the most ENJOYABLE trip!

Have you hiked R2R before?
Have you hiked R2R2R before?
Or is hiking the Grand Canyon on your bucket list?