We have a flying site at the top of the gondola in town.
The gondi doesn't take you all the way to takeoff though. You have about a 10 minute hike up a pretty steep path before you're there.
The gondi hike has always been my metric for my physical fitness.
I could always tell that I was turning into a soft American over the Summers in Maryland when I got back to Queenstown. I would take brakes hiking up the gondi. At the beginning of the season, I'd take as many as eight brakes. You're hiking up with a 40lb pack on your back, but since I've done it for many years, I've gotten a feel for what means what.
One year, I'd made a concious effort to stay in some shape in the Summer and I could definitely feel the difference, though I still took like three or four brakes.
I've been living at the gym since my accident, but I'm doing weight training. I've been very keen to get back to the gondi since it's such good cardio. And since I fly down, I've got heaps of motivation to climb it! But, like I said, it's a full-on hike. So even after I was fit enough to hike up, I still needed to be fit enough to hike down just in case I couldn't fly. Hiking down is immensely harder on my knee.
I'm just now at that level.
So today, I went up the gondi. I was very curious to measure how out of shape I was.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Zero brakes.
Made me feel even better about all that hard work at the gym :)
I wasn't steaming up the hill by any stretch, but I wasn't winded or sore either. I'd felt a good workout and had a good heartrate. I was feeling good.
Today's my gym day, so I went there afterwards.
There was something easier about it today.
Jim
4 comments:
Congrats on your accomplishment!! You must have felt like you were on top of the world. It is always a nice feeling when hard work pays off. Now you are not a "Soft American". :) AC
Autumn has arrived here. Today is a windy day and cold. We have been having frosts every night. I love the cool weather. The trees have been especially bright this year, unfortunately today the wind has been sheding them from the trees. I love to watch them fall from the trees. They just seem to float as they fall. AC
Congrats on a great achievement! Recovering from an injury/surgery is a long process and accomplishments like these keep you motivated!
Every time I leave the gym I feel great. It doesn't matter what I felt like going in, out is always super.
I remind myself every time.
It makes that mental conversation of "I don't know if I feel like going" that you sometimes get a no-brainer. "Doesn't matter... you'll feel great after". :)
And yeah.. it feels great when you get to see direct, measurable differences. Being strong feels so good, and doesn't take all that much. I've never been in "bad" shape, but I'm super happy at the excellent shape I'm in now.
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