Hike in Yosemiete NP !

Weekend Chronicle

August 3, 2019

Hiking in Yosemite NP

I went hiking twice within 2 weeks to Yosemite National Park this summer.

Due to a lot of snowing last winter, there was still a lot of snow on the trail.
It was much more than June in 2016!

Mt. Dana

From summit of Mt. Dana

It was my second time to hike to Mt. Dana.
Since I woke up late, when I arrived at the trail head it was a little before 11am.
The parking lot near Tioga Pass entrance was full.  However I got a parking spot with a little waiting.
It is probably better going there early to ensure to get a parking spot!

There were two sections where the trail was covered by snow about 300 feet.
Some people detour to avoid snow, however, I thought it might be much easy to hike straight.
I hike on the snow with an ice axe.

It have not had hiking for a while.  I was really exhausted.  The round trip was about more than 4 hours!

Gaylor Lake

Gaylor Lake

The second hike was today!
Since my family went there with me, I picked much easier one.
The trail head is also the same as Mt. Dana, but this one heads to north instead of south for Mt. Dana!

It was just 2 hours hiking from the parking lot.  It is much easier than Mt. Dana.  Just relax and enjoy very nice view around the lake!

Snow on a trail toward Mt. Dana was melted a lot.  There was still some snow, but it was getting much smaller than 2 weeks ago!

Good training after age 40! ~ Don't do training too much!

Good Training after age 40!

I usually run a few times a week last a few years and it might be a good for me.

I resumed running when I was 40 years old.
Originally, my goal was sub-3, which is less than 3 hours for full marathon.
I run about 200 miles a month to achieve the goal.
Unfortunately, I have not achieved the goal after 40 years old due to injuries.

I guess it was probably all right the first a few years.

However, I was getting old and my body cannot recover well in a short time.
That was the primary reason I kept injured.

The problem was once I got injured, I had to stop running for a while.
After resume the training, it took longer time to recover the original fitness level for a long time.

Key is to avoid injury 

Especially after 50 years old, it is very difficult to recover the fitness level before the injury.

Therefore, to keep a similar fitness level, I need to continuously train regular basis.

That is really the key.

Probably, it might be too much to run long distance every day for most of people who is over 50!

There might be some exceptions, but it might be true in general.

Tip for training after age 50!

Here is some tip based on my experience!

• Follow a training plan - There are many free training plans in the internet!
• Using some measurable index for training
• Having one or two resting days

Training Plan 

I am using a training plan in "Garmin Connect".  You need to register the web site, but there are many training plans and they are good to avoid over training.

Measurable index

Some model of Garmin Running device, such as Forerunners / Fenix, has a feature to show a recovery time based on the strength of training.  I guess it might be a conservative side, but it is probably good indication to have the next training for people who is over 50!

Based on the data, the typical frequency of training for me is somewhere around every 2 days or 3 days.

Resting days

Other than recovery time, I set at least one resting days once a week.

Good to have monitor your activities!

It is always good to have a way to monitor your activities!

I am using a Garmin Running device to monitor my activities.

A bit expensive, but there are many nice features!

It is a reasonable price.

This device is one generation older, but it is good enough and the price is very good deal!

Data analysis for hiking! ~ good to have heart rate data during training!

Data analysis for hiking

Heart rate is one of good index to understand training effort.
It is not only managing your pace for hiking, but also analyzing your training effort as well.

The following chart is heart rate distribution for a training last weekend.

I went hiking to a local trail for a training for hiking to Mt. Whitney this summer!

As you can see, the majority of my heart rate stays in Zone1.  This means this activity was pretty mild and easy effort.

The following chart is heart rate distribution for hiking to Mt. Whitney in 2018.

I managed my walking pace based on my heart rate and intentionally kept my pace very slow.
Even though, the almost half of time is zone 2 and it got into zone 3 a little.

The training last weekend is only three and half hours.  And hiking on the first day to Mt. Whitney in 2018 was about four and half hours with heavy backpack!

I got really bad muscle ache after the hiking and I was exhausted.
This indicates my fitness level was pretty bad! 

What would be a potential issue?

The essential issue for my fitness level is really lack of strength of muscle for ascending / descending because I did not go hiking after Mt. Whitney hiking in August last year.

Thus, I really needs to walk more hilly trail next a few month!

Started training for Mt. Whitney hiking this summer！

Hike to Mt. Whitney from Cottonwood Pass this summer

As I mentioned a couple times, I will go hiking from Cottonwood to Mt. Whitney this summer.
This route is much longer than Mt. Whitney Trail where I hiked a several times in the past years.

I plan to hike there in September and I still have three months.
I just started training today!

Running is not enough!

I run 3 ~ 4 times a week, but I do not believe it is not good enough.
People need to train muscle for ascending / descending.  It would be hard to train just running. 

I think it is possible to train muscle for ascending with StareMaster in a gym, but muscle for descending is probably hard.   The best way is just go hiking to do ascending and descending.

I could not reach where I plan!

I went PG&E trail Rancho San Antonio County Park after I dropped my daughter at Japanese School.
I headed to Black Mountain within 2 hours.  However, I could not reach there and returned 1km before the destination.  Total 16 km with 3 and half hours.   It is obvious that my fitness level is getting very poor.

The heart rate is not really reach to Zone 3.   It was the first day, but I need to train on the trail every week to recover my fitness level.

It was bad and I do have muscle ache now!  Just for aerobic performance, it would be all right due to regular running exercise!

How do you carry water for hiking?? ~ A water bottle??

How do you carry water for hiking??

CamelBak is one of popular manufacturer for hydration solution for Hiking

It is probably more convenient if people can drink water with walking.

For a hiker, it would be better to put a water reservoir into a pocket of your backpack! 

Water bottle?

Although water bottle is one of other solutions, it is not really ideal solution for hiking in summer time!  A water bottle is usually packed into your backpack and you might need to stop walking and get the bottle from your backpack.  Then you might wait for the next rest even if you feel a little thersty.

If you use CamelBak Reservor, you can drink water any time during hiking.  It help to minimize a chance to be dehydrated.

Issue for water for cooking...

When you camp on a trail, there might be an issue to use the CamelBak for cooking.

The reservoir is not very good to use water when you cook.

To solve the issue, I usually carry a folding type water reservoir for campping use instead of a water bottle.  When I use CamelBak, I do not need a water bottle and it is likely empty when I walk.   It would waste the space in the backpack.   It is only used in a camp site! 

So that the folding type water reservoir would be much convenient for that purpse.

  

Emergency communication ~ Amateur radio

Amateur Radio for Emergency communication

InReach is probably the best solution for emergency communication!

However, it is a little expensive!

One of alternate solutions could be Amateur Radio!!

Low cost solution

Although Amateur radio requires a license to use it, it is probably low cost solution in many cases.

One of very low cost radios from China is BAOFENG.  It costs about USD $30.

To get license you might want to check a test schedule in your local area.

You can refer the following link to find out an exam in your area:

 http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session

Once you pass the exam, you can start using Amateur radio within a few weeks.

What you need to do for the exam is just going over the question pool.

http://arrlexamreview.appspot.com/

To get Technician license, the majority of questions are a sort of "common sense".  Once you go through the question pool and you may be able to get the license!

APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) would be a good method to communicate from Amateur radio to email and text messaging to a mobile device.  It reports your location as well as text messages.  As long as you are on a ridge or a peak, there might be a good chance to communicate even if the area is out of the mobile network coverage.

More reliable communication for an emergency!

I still believe if you really look for more reliable communication method, InReach would be the best solution.  However, the cost is much expensive and you need to pay monthly / annual fee to get the service.  

The coverage is probably much better than regular amateur radio and it has a rescue plan that covers rescue cost as well.

If you are going to really long hiking like John Muir Trail, then InReach would be a better solution!

Heart Rate Monitor ~ chest strap v.s. wrist sensor??

What heart rate monitor is good for hiking?

Chest-strap heart rate sensor

Embedded wrist heart rate sensor

There are a lot of devices which have heart rate sensors!!

Running devices, activity tracker, Apple watch and so on!

A several years ago, most of heart rate sensor for running was chest strap type.

Now, it is getting popular to use embedded heart rate sensor in a device.

I had a comparison about the accuracy!

Offset of measured heart rate between a chest-strap sensor and embedded wrist sensor

Offset of measured heart rate

I collected heart rate data based on my regular running exercise for a month.  I was wearing the both type of heart rate sensors, a chest-strap type and an embedded wrist sensor when I ran.

The chart above is the offset of the both measurements.  More than 90% of samples are within 4 (bpm).    This shows the embedded sensor is probably accurate enough for running and hiking.

Here is an example which has larger offset:

An example of larger offset 

The orange color is a data captured by a chest-strap sensor (with Garmin Forerunner 910XT).
In the middle of chart, there are some portion where the offset is bigger.  However the reading is more than 180 (bpm) which is probably way bigger for mild jog.  Therefore, I assume this data captured by a chest-strap sensor might be something wrong.

Another example is the the following:

Another bad example with larger offset

The blue color is captured by an embedded writ sensor (Garmin Vivosmart HR).  The early part, there are some spikes.  This data captured by an exercise using StarMaster in a gym.  It is hard to believe there is such spike during the exercise since the type of exercise won't introduce such narrow heart rate spikes.  Therefore, I assume this would be wrong reading by the embedded sensors.

Conclusion:The both sensors might have some wrong reading!

The both example shows there might be some wrong reading for the both sensors.  It is hard to identify the reason why the reading gets some offset.  Overall reading is matched well.   I think as long as contact between the sensor and body is good, the reading can be accurate.
My best guess is that if the contact is getting loose or dislocate a proper position to the body, the reading might be offsetting.

When people using a chest-strap sensor, it is probably easy to dislocate position due to a backpack.  I think that would be one of issue when I use the chest-strap type sensor during hiking.
Therefore, I would recommend embedded wrist sensor for hiking!

 

This device is with GPS function and it can track where you hike.

 

This device has pulse oximeter function, but no GPS.
It might be good to see your oxygen saturation which might be a good index for your body reaction of elevation!