I Belive In Me!

"I Belive In me"

A few days ago I was on the spinning bike working up to start Insanity (a new conditioning program) again when out of the the IPOD came a an old KISS tune "I". It was on  the album "The Elder". The chorus is "I believe in me!". It got me thinking; do I believe in me? If so, what are a few times in my life that I really had to dig deep and search my sole to really believe in me?

The first thing that come to mind was my sophomore year in high school. I wanted to play football. My dreams of being a  running back took a major set back after hitting drills during "Hell Week". We were doing this drill that required me to carry the ball and a line backer had to run up and make a hit and try to tackle me. I ran this kid over and kept on going until the coach started to yell at me to come back. As I returned to the group this kid was not getting up. I over heard the coaches talking that was one of the hardest hit yet at camp. The coach after attending to the young man approached me to informed me that I would not be running the ball this year but playing right guard. RIGHT GUARD! Did he not just see that hit?! At 130 pounds dripping wet how was I ever going to hold my own on the the line with the big boys. The coach gave me his word if I did this for him this year, next year I could move to the back field.

I gave it everything I had. I became the best right gard I could. Learning the plays and how to block. The next off season I worked hard hitting the weights gaining 30 pounds. By my senior year I had earned a starting position in the rotation as full back (because I knew how block as good as I could run the ball), I was starting middle line backer and one of three team captions! Yes, I believed in me!



During my days at Dixie College I was a good student with the exception of my first quarter. That first quarter pulled my GPA down. Despite doing very well otherwise, when I hit the University of Utah and told the councilor I was going to medical school she had a true detrol ( a drug used to treat urinary incontance) moment! She nearly wet her pants laughing so hard. You?! Get into medical school you have a Good GPA but that first quarter you did less than poor! I pointed I had a very competitive marks otherwise.


So I went to work! Pulling A's throughout my premed work and psychology degree at the U of U. Not only did I get in to medical school but went on to graduate from medical school in the top 5% of my class! Yes I believe in me!

Now my hike up Mt Whitney.  I need to over come my fears of high places and get into the best shape of my life to hike 22 miles to an elevetion over 14,000 + ft and a 50# pack on my back! Yes, I belive in me!  But so do a lot of other great people.  Without them what is the point.  It is the relationships in your life that make all worth while!


There will be times in all our lives when the only person pulling for you is your self. Never ever give in! Never ever give UP! Most importantly, keep showing up and give 100% to everything you do. Keep a positive mental picture in the direction you want to go and DO NOT stop believing in yourself! I believe in me and I believe in you! The human spirit with God's help can overcome and achieve anything!



In April 2012 I  embarked on this project to make my self better, stronger and and to persue what my mentor Wayne Dyer says "I do not want to be better than anyone else, I just want to be better today than I was yeasterday".  It is a work in progress!  So far I have lost 15 lbs and spending more time with family and building stronger and better relationships/friendships.  Yes I still slip but just I keep trying!

Getting Into The Zone

Several months ago I was reading an article on how to loose weight and be more successful in your training endeavors.  The article was on  Zone Training.  I knew about zone training and what it can do for you to help  getting more fit and loosing weight.  What I did not know is how do I know my workout are too much or just right.  When do I need to tone it down or work even harder.  Why is this important information?  I wanted a simple measure to tell me if I was on track.  More importantly I wanted a simple baseline to give my patients to help them loose weight.  I also need a measure to know which patients are telling the truth when they tell me "I am working my butt off and I am still not loosing the weight!  I am doing everything and its not working!".  Loosing weight is not hard formula to understand.  If you burn more calories than you take in you will loose weight.  The questions are: Are you really eating the right foods at the right times?  Are you sleeping the right amount of time?   Are your workouts efficiently burning the right calories at the right times?  And are the workouts hard enough for your current fitness level to get the results you want?

This installment is going to address Zone Training and how to use it to your benefit.  I will in the future address the other questions one by on in future blogs.

So, how do you know if your training is challenging enough  and when is it time to back off? It all starts with one simple question.  What is your resting heart rate?  More importantly what is you resting heart rate the next morning after a big intensity workout.  You begin with calculating your average heart rate over several days.  How you do this is? The very moment you awake in the morning you take your resting heart.  You do this before your feet hit the floor.  Do this for 5 days, add the numbers together and divide by 5.  For me when I started this training exercise my average waking heart rate was 55 beats per minute. Today at the half way mark, my resting average heart rate is 43 beats per minute.  Why is this important?  First it is a measure of how fit you are.  Second, it allows you to see how your body has recovered from the work out the day before.  If your resting heart rate is greater than or equal to 5 beats per minute higher than your average resting heart, then you need to take it easy on today's work out.  Your body has not fully recovered from yesterdays work out.  You put a large stress on  you body and it need to heal.  If your resting morning heart rate in in your normal range then your ready for more intensity.  You need to challenge yourself more!

So how does this play into Zone training and why is Zone train important in helping you loose weight and get stronger?
Stayed tuned!

Kings Peak: The Trial Run

This hike was set for two reasons. First and formost to get my son Scott on a back packing trip this summer.  Because of football, he is uable to make the Mt Whitney hike.  Second, to see if we are ready in our training to make the Whitney hike and to make sure we know how to use our gear.  We met the second objective, but Scott decided Lake Powell with football buds and girls in bikin's was going to be more fun and did not make the trip.

Kings Peak is the highest peak in the state of Utah.  It is 13,528 feet above sea level and located in the North East cornor of the state.   To get there from Salt Lake City, travel East on I 80 past Evenston WY to  Mountian View Wy  and take State road 414.  Go through the town and get on road 410 and continue towards Robertson WY for 6.7 miles.  The road makes a hard right turns heading west.  Do not head west.  We did and had to turn around.  Continue to head South and DO NOT turn right.  This is Unita County road 283/forest road 072.  Continue South at just over 12 miles turn onto Forest Road 077.  There is a sign telling you which way Hennry's Fork is.  This is the way.  Turn left here,  It will wind around and ends up heading in a Southward direction for about 3 miles.  Follow the signs to the Hennry's Fork Trail head.  Once you arive there are two parking lots.   One for horses and one for hikers just a liitle furher and sits right on at the trail head.

King Peak Trail Head

The Top of Kings Our ending point

The trail head is at 9,000 feet and it has pit tolites and many nice camp sites.  We arived around 7 pm and decided to change our plans.  Rather than stay the night at the tail head we  packed up to head off for Alligator lake.  Alligator lake is 2.5 miles from the trail head and the turn off is well marked (GPS N 40 53.033, W 110 21.878)  If you are adventerous, continue on the trail to the GPS point N 40 53.033, W 110 21.878. Turn right here and bush wack up a small hill  heading west.  You will run right into Alligator Lake and avoid the steep hike.  It should be 1/2 mile or less.  Set your GPS for the Alligator point above.

 Campling!

 

Aligator Lake

Starbucks at 10,000 feet!

We arived just before dark and set up camp.  It took 1 hour form the trail head to the lake and we all agreed that its was worth  it. We got a head start and a Awesome camp sight to boot! 

Elkhorn Crossing

We got going early the next day and decided to take a short cut  out of Aligator Lake.  We knew by checking the GPS that the trail was right throught the trees near our cmap and did not feel like back tracking down the steep trail out of Aligator Lake. We set a heading and off we went, bush wacking through the timber. In no time at all we hit the trail again (See above for the GPS cordinates to use this route).  We pressed on to Dollar Lake.  On our way we went through Elkhorn Crossing.

At Elkhorn you can turn Right and head for Hennry's Lake or Left to Dollar lake.  If you are ok with about 4 miles of extra hiking, but want some of the best fishing these mountians have to offer, then go Right to Hennry's Lake.  You can still summit Kings. It just means you will have a little father to base camp. The distance to summit is about the same and time wise may be less given you have the option of comming down the "shoot" off of the face of Kings right back near your base camp.  We went Left to dollar lake.    At Elkhorn you will see a small bridge to your left that will allow passage across the creek.  Keep going straight for about 100 yards and you will see a second newer bridge that is much more stable and less chance of getting soaked in the creek.

 

 From the trail head (parking lot) to Dollar Lake it is 8 miles. We arived after hiking for 3 1/2 hours after leaving ALigator lake. For a total of 4 hours of hiking from the trail head.  Dollar Lake is not visiable from the trail. In fact we walked right past it the first time. The lake is off the left side of the trail in a large grove of pine trees.  It sits a 10,813 ft.  I would not recomend camping here.  It is beautiful do not get me wrong.  There is tremendous pressure form all the hikers headding up Kings s is showing its wear with, well, lets just say the evidence of human scat was too much for me.  I recomend moving on about 1/2 mile to the next lake.  It may not have water year round, but the creek is close and it feeds two large lakes just off the right side of the trail about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away.  This site is in a small grove of pine trees with some of the most spectacular views of the large vast medows and "drainage" along the hike.  It sits at N 40 49.237, W110 21.568.  It is also a driect shot to Gunsight Pass.

We set up camp and and made ourselfs at home.  We got out the maps and started to plan our summit the following day.  Doing this we made note of specific trail marks we need to hit to make the summit.  Word to the wise, do not belive evrything you read on the web when it comes to tail advice and drections.  Go with experence and your gut. 

We got going early and set off for out for the summit.  We left  Dollar and headed to Gunsight Pass.  As you hike you will come to the trail that conects Henny's Lake to Dollar Lake.  The Hennry Fork Basin turn off (N40 48.853, W110 22.440).  Stay to the left and head toward Gunsight pass.  Right in this area we ran into a man from South Jordan.  He told us he had left his car at 04:10 in the morning and had summited and now on his way back to his car to set  personal best.  His goal was  trail head to summit to car in less than 12 hours (when we checked out he did it in <11 hours!)

 

You will pass  Unnamed lake to the right, which is 2 miles from Dollar Lake at 11,512 ft (N40 48.237, W 11021.724).

As you approach Gunsight you will see a carin just before you start the switch backs.  If you are up for some boldering, stay centerd and head right up the gut of Gunsight Pass.  It will save you a lot of time and distance.  Otherwise start up the switch backs to the top of Gunsight pass at 11,911ft (N 40 47.827, W 110 21.568).

If you are up for more boldering, take a sharp Right hand turn and head up the mountian up the bolder field and over this ridge.  Comming down the other side will put you right on top of Anderson Pass.  This saves you at least 2 hours of hiking.  Once you are in Anderson Pass, you are a very short distance to the summit trail head.  We did not realize it was a true right turn and up and over the ridge.  We were under the impression from what we had read on the internet and guide books this was a boldering around the upper portion of Painters Basin.  This misunderstanding explaned why everthing we read said there was no water after the unnamed lake.  We went into the upper Painters Basin and ran into all kinds of water. We were very early in the season, but I suspect after the snow melts this would dry up quickly. 

Anderson Pass

At the top of Anderson Pass you are now only 0.8 miles from the summit.  There is a trail that comes in and out of the boulders.

Once at the top the views are just breath taking! Well worth the trip!

On the way down we decided to go straight down the back face of King peak (see photo at the start of this blog).  We boldered down to Anderson Pass and admired some high altitude flowers on the way back.

  We made it back to camp and crashed!  What a great day!  It chanellged us and rewarded us!  What an Unbelivable experence!

This hike is a challenge but well wort it!  I recomend it highly!  We are already planning our next adventure into this area real soon!

Stats on the Hike:

Total elevation change 12,000 feet over 3days, hiked 28 miles and burned 15,000+ calories.  Chris lost 4 lbs and I lost 3 1/2 lbs.  Adaptation changes:  First night my pulse was 113 resting and oxygen saturation after the hike 86%.  At Dollar LAke Heart rate at rest 90 and oxygen saturation 91%.  During the summit hike at 11,911ft heart rate was 90 and oxygen saturation 85%, at the top of Kings Peak, heart rate 88 and oxygen saturation 93%.

White Pine Little Cottonwood Canyon

About 1 mile below Snowbird ski resort is the trail head to now one of my favorite day hikes in the Cottonwood Canyons.  This oasis of pine trees fresh streams of crystal clear water and views from 10,000 feet above sea level are of Gods canvas over looking the Salt Lake Valley.  We got an early start today.  Me and Layne meet up at the trail head of Bells Canyon and headed off to the White Pine parking lot.  It is the same place for the Red Pine lake and we were one of 3 cars as we pulled in. 



The trail starts out on the maintenance road for the access to the Damn at White Pine Lake.  Only hikers and Mt Bikers are allowed on the trail.  When you get in about 1 mile you will take a left turn and continue on the road.  If you cross a bridge you are on the wrong trail and on your way to Red Pine lake.  As you head up the trail you will be overwhelmed with the amount of water in the form of springs and creeks bubbling up on to the trail.  You will soon come to a marsh.  It is a nice break stop about 1/2 way to the  top.

Just after our break, we notice it was a lot colder than we had predicted and found ourselves appreciating icicles.  We ran into two hikers that had spent the night at the lake and they informed us of the snow fields we had a head of us and that it was in the 20's last night freezing their water bottles solid.

After hearing the trail report, we decide to try and by pass the snow fields and bush whack our way to the top up a very steep boulder field inter mixed with shrubs and grass.  We made good time up this steep slope.  We felt this would be good practice for our  up coming hike to Kings Peak.  As we reached the top we noted we had travel to far to the east and the lake was at about the same elevation but 2,000 meters to the south west and between us ant the lake was a very large snow field on a 30 + degree slope.  So what did we do?  We had a snack.  We were really feeling the altitude at this point.  So being two doctors who like to research and learn new things,  we checked our pulse ox (it is the % of oxygen your blood is currently transporting to your tissues at any given time, normal 98 to 100%)  it was 91 to 92%.  After checking the GPS for our altitude, it read 9,997 feet!



We made the choice to head back down knowing the lake was still under ice and snow.  We will be back to camp at the lake real soon.  We had a blast. Building new skills and spending more time at altitude to build our base.  This was a great hike! 

Hike statistics:  Distance 8.52 miles in 3hours and 50 minutes, 6,700 total vertical feet,  total calories burned 1,797.  Lost one pair of $10 sunglasses.

"The Walk"

Once upon a time, not too long ago, a father and son set off for a walk.  It was the end of the day and the sun was beginning to set.  They headed for their favorite spot on a local beach.  When they arrived they could see the sun on the horizon kissing the water with brilliant yellows and burring oranges.  The water answered back with reflecting colors of deep blues and majestic purples.  They sat themselves down in the cool sand to take in the site.

After a few minutes the father turned to his son and asked "Son, when you look at the mountains behind us, what do you see?".
His son thought for a time and then said "I see large fields to run and play in.  I see trees to climb and wild life to chase.  I see mountains covered in show for me to ski down.  That is what I see when I look at the mountains behind us".


Several minutes passed and the father turned to his son and asked"Son, when you look up at the sky, what do you see?". 

His son took several minutes and then answered, "I see blue skies with birds at flight, breathtaking sunsets and clouds.  I see the Moon and Stars Gods guide to me at  night if I get lost and can not find my way.  That's what I see when I look up at the sky".

 As the last few rays of of light fell into the horizon the fatter asked, "Son, when you look out at the ocean, what do you see?
.Again his son pondered the question and then answered "I see big waves crashing into the shore.  I feel they are begging me to ride them with my surf board.  I see a vast body of water and wounder what is hides under its surface.  I see dolphins, turtles and whales.  I see distant lands on the opposite beach filled with new friends and people to meet.  That's is what I see when I look out at the ocean".

On their way home the father asked his final question.  "Son, are you not afraid that you will set lost in the mountains or fall off a cliff?  You could be hit by lighting or attacked by a shark!  What if people in distant lands do not like you?".

Without hesitation his son answered, "I have a knowing that where ever I go, my Heavenly Father is leading the way.  If I get lost he will stand beside me and whisper into my ear the correct way to go.  If I am am about to fall, he will be standing behind me, ready to catch me and set me back on the right path.  I know my father in heaven has a plan for me and it is not hurt me!   Because of this knowing, I have nothing to fear!".

Then with a big grin on his face, "Son, you are now ready to go forth and live your life.  Tomorrow you will be born in the the world.  Go and enjoy your life to the fullest!  I expect great things from you and a full report from you upon your return home".

And with a big smile on his face his son turned to him an said, "Thank you Father,  I love you!".
"I love you too son!".

I have no doubt that a version of this conversation took place on the eve of my birth.  What was the conversation you had before you left the presence of your Heavenly Father?  Are you living the way you said you would?

When I am out in nature, hiking, ridding my Mt bike, SCUBA diving or just simply in total awe of what I have been blessed with, these are the thoughts I ponder on.