Stay on Offense Climb Mountains

Attacking Adversity

Go Hiking And Endure Or Not

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I know what you’re thinking! He’s going to tell me I need to endure the hikes even if I am sick and tired or over trained. If I had written this a year ago, I would have said you were dead right.

However, climbing a grueling mountain trail when you are over trained doesn’t make a lot of sense. Like I said, a year ago I would have done it anyway, but I changed my mind.

Pay Attention

If you are fortunate or nerdy enough to use the NatureBeat (Sweetwaterhrv) App, Whoop, or even a Garmin watch, you are paying attention to your heart rate variability. With NatureBeat it will give you both your Sympathetic and Parasympathetic numbers. Those to numbers make represent you autonomic nervous system. The first one is your “flight or flight” readiness and the second your “rest and digest” score. With the Whoop you also get a recovery score.

So what do you do if you don’t have any of this technology? Listen to your body! If you are overly tired maybe a day off would be the wisest choice. Then you will have less chance of getting an injury or even sick. Now don’t think you can just be a slacker. You can get improvements in fitness by pushing yourself when the numbers are bad. Just don’t do it all the time.

Pay With Your Heath

If you do not listen to your body and push through there is a good chance you will not do well. I learned this myself the hard way. A pattern developed where I was not getting enough sleep and was exercising hard every day and then of course, climbing a mountain. All my numbers were bad. So I thought I would see if I could get the numbers to go back up after taking a week off from exercise. It worked. They went up a little. More on that other time.

After once again hitting the trail, a late night (anything after 5:00 PM) wedding resulted in making me even more tired than the exercise. Of course I had climbed a mountain the day before so I was primed for weariness.

My Permission

It is official. You have my permission to take a week off from s hike if everything is stacked against you. You do not have to endure! Of course you don’t need my permission for anything!

The most important think to remember as a general rule with some exceptions: Go Hiking!

Bookish Weapon Number 69

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Cameron Hanes runs up mountains to train himself to be the best bowhunter in the world. He likes to hunt far away from the typical hunting grounds in places that are hard to reach unless you’re in his kind of physical shape.

His book “Endure” captures his story which is a great one and one that continues. I was drawn to the title, because I though my word for this year was “endure.” There was one other box with the same name, but Cam’s subtitle included the words “keep hammering” and that spoke to me.

Focus

The thing that stood out for me right away was the intense focus this man has put on one thing, hunting. Maybe two. Hunting and training to hunt.

To some, running 100 mile races might seem over the top, but not for Hanes. He knows they give him the edge he needs to be a successful hunter year after year. It all provides meaning and purpose to his life.

Learn From Cameron

There are lots of excellent lessons in this book like how not to let your critics get to you. How to learn from others and how to “burst through the bonds of low expectations.”

He stresses the importance of believing in yourself and being obsessed with improvement. He thinks that obsession in successful people is not because they think they are great, but because they really think they are not that great at all and need to improve!

Get Used to Being Uncomfortable

This book is about what I have learned to be expansive discipline which is putting yourself in uncomfortable situations. They induce growth. Cam says that “My good friend Misery and I have become real close over the years.

Now remember this not about being yourself up for the sake of beating yourself up. Hanes has a purpose and a mission. Getting used to being uncomfortable helps him hit the mark time and time again.

Greatness

Cameron Hanes believes in you and me. He says, “The good news is I believe each and every one of us is capable of greatness in something. He continues, by saying, “Your bowhunting is out there. I promise. It will open doors for yours well. But be warned: when you become obsessed, it takes over your life. This obsessive approach works for me.”

What’s it going to take. You might have guessed it. Hard work or as Cam says, “…damn hard work.”

Your Body

Frankly I can’t say it better than Cameron Hanes, “Your body gives what you ask of it. Don’t ask much and it won’t give you much. Ask a lot and it will give you a lot. I haven’t found my limit yet, but I am trying.”
This book is very inspirational especially for those who want to strengthen themselves. He talks about putting his body through the wringer. However, he might disagree with me when I say you do need some rest from time to time. Even then your main focus must be to “keep hammering!”

Go Hiking And Be A Hero On A Mission

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How many of you use a Garmin or a Whoop or a Fitbit or and Oura Ring to track everything? Two out of the three track you steps, all track your sleep, and two your recovery from exercise. Everything! So you can look at the in the morning and get a good idea about how much you can push yourself that day.

Last Sunday morning my “devices” all said I was a mess. Now I could have used that as an excuse to skip the hike altogether or maybe just “stroll” up the mountain. However, if you are depleted and you push yourself the upside is that it can improve fitness.

Hero

Still, what do you do? I decided to take on the challenge and push myself like never before (at least not recently) and I beat my recent records to the top. After all, I was a Hero on a mission. A mission to get to the top of the mountain.

Did I mention how much my legs hurt when I was running the trail? They hurt! But the challenge was exciting and getting to the top of a mountain is meaningful.

No Trekking Poles

I recommend everyone uses trekking poles, especially when they come down a mountain, because it will save your knees long term. In fact my knees were so bad in the past that I could not get down a mountain without them.

However, one of the devices mentioned above does not count your steps correctly when you use trekking poles. So Decided that I would climb up and down without them. The difference in number of steps was 15,000!!. Yeah, kinda nuts.

Do It Again

When I would make a sale in the past one of my favorite sales managers would tell me, “Good job. Now do it again.” It is the same when you climb mountains. You may have done a good job this week, but now it is your responsibility to keep executing.

Did you go hiking last week? Did you beat your personal record to the top? Then do it again!

Bookish Weapon Number Sixty-Seven

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“Hero On A Mission,” is one of the better books I have re-read recently again and it was just published this year. It is a book about purpose and story. Your and my story!

Did you know you were involved in a story? Has your story lost your interest? These are questions the author asks of us and he gives excellent advice.

Our Stories

On a page even before the introduction Miller states, “I don’t think any of us should trust fate to write the story of our lives. Fate is a terrible writer.

We are all in stories and they have characters in them just like all stories. There is the victim, the villain, the hero and the guide. Do you recognize any of these in your life?

Control

In self help books you can read a lot about how you should focus on what you can control and ignore the rest. So how much can you control? Miller makes the argument that “…a human being has a ridiculous amount of personal agency. A person’s reaction to a set of circumstances dramatically affects how their story plays out.”

He goes on and says, “The character who becomes the victim believes they are helpless and acts out of that belief. The character who becomes the hero accepts their agency and rises up against their circumstances.” How does this speak to your life?

Accomplish Something Important

Miller says that what we all need to do is “…throw yourself into a story in which you try to accomplish something important.”

He goes on to say, “If we don’t want something, face our challenges, and try hard things, our life stories don’t work either.” You can just “dream up” a story for yourself and live “like a hero on a mission.” Miller says you have to sit and think about everything you have overcome in your life to realize your strength.

Want Something

The author says we need to want something! He says many have killed their desire and any story needs to be about a character who wants something.

He says, “When you define specific destination for your life, your story will begin to take shape and you’ll become more interested in your own life.” “Discipline is a good bit easier to come by if you have narrative traction in your life.” So he asks, “What is the thing you just have to do?

What If

I loved this little exercise. He says to ask yourself, “What if?” Simple, right? What if I sold everything and moved to Portugal? What if I quit my job? He says “what if” leads to adventure.

He uses what if questions when he writes books and gets stuck, but he says, “Asking What if can drive incredible change in your life and give you a terrific reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

Narrative

Miller says “narrative traction” is “the feeling that our personal story is so interesting we can’t turn away.” You could even join an existing mission!

Questions to ask yourself once you start to build your life plan include: “What will you build? What story will you join? What could your life look like one year, five years, and ten years from now?

So that’s the first half of the book. The second half is how to set up a plan for your life. Get the book and read it! There is so much more to learn!

Go Hiking And Become A Lion Tracker

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Wait, what? No, just kidding. No amount of hiking will make you a lion tracker, but when your hiking you can dream about tracking lions.

Of course in my area of the country, “lions” are cougars. If there is any tracking going on they will be tracking you, not the other way around.

The Last Hike

Actually, what I wanted to discuss was last weekend’s hike. It was so cold with snow all the way up the trail. The snow was soft so I didn’t need my Microspikes on the way up. However, I did use my Trekking poles which I usually don’t use going up hill.

The snow was deep as you got closer to the top and my toes were getting cold. Climbing over the rocks, my gloves got wet and then froze. It took me three hours to get to the top and usually only takes me 2 hrs 15 minutes on a good day.

Boots

I see people coming up the mountain when there is snow in their tennis shoes. Maybe they don’t care if they reach the top and just figure they will go as far as they can. That’s foolish in my opinion. Unless you’re a trail runner and then you are a different breed. I saw one with no water, no pack, no jacket. Just tights.

Get some boots!

Jackets and Umbrellas

Layers are the best, but at least wear a jacket. Two weeks ago I saw young man coming up the trail in his T-shirt. I asked him if he knew who Wim Hof was and I was sure he was a follower, but he didn’t know anything about the Ice Man.

You don’t need an umbrella, but I see people carrying them. One guy was ingenious. He devised a connection on his pack where he inserts the umbrella so he doesn’t have to hold it. I am not sure what might happen if he trips.

This Week’s Hike

Tomorrow morning is supposed to be cold and cloudy which could mean snow. You just never know. So be prepared people! It is hard to predict what a trail will be like until you are on it.

See you in the mountains!

Bookish Weapon Number Sixty-Six

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Boyd Varty has written a book everyone should read for these reasons, 1) It’s discusses lions 2) It’s very short and 3) it will help you find your “track.” ons

Of course I guess I am assuming you are interested in lions, you want save time and your looking for your “track.”

Your Track

So what is your track? According to Varty it is from a life perspective the path to your purpose and it can be the track you are following to find a lion. A Rhino taught him something from the path he walked. That you need to “find the thing that is so engaging that it makes you forget yourself.”

Varty converts the lessons he has learned tracking animals into life lessons that all of us can use.

The Lions

What I found to be the most interesting thing in the whole book was what the author tells us about lions. For instance, did you know that a full grown make lion can get up to 400 pounds? You knew that? But did you know that same 400 pound lion can run 109 years (longer than a football field) in 4 seconds? I didn’t either!

What else? Did you know that other cats like the Jaguar or Leopard do not want to fight because it is too easy for them to get a fatal wound. However, the make lion, because he has the mane protecting his neck is much more aggressive! Yeah, I didn’t know that either.

The Journey

When you are tracking a lion the track can take a lot of turns. You can even lose it says the author. Then you use instinct to find it again. Your fate and the animals seem to be intertwined. This is like life he says.

He reflects on this by saying, “I thought of all the people I had met who wanted a full vision for a new life and then to move from where they were straight into it. I thought of all the people who had told me that when they knew exactly what they wanted to do, they would leave the soul-destroying thing that they were currently involved with. Obsessed with perfection and doing it right, we want to go straight to the “lion.” We don’t realize the significance of the path of first tracks and how to be invested in a discovery rather than an outcome.”

Renias

Renias is a friend of Varty. His ancestors tracked lions for food and he has taught Varty and others the skill. (They don’t track them for food or to kill them. They find them so tourists can see them). Renias is an “interesting” man. For example, he considers treadmills ridiculous!

That’s not all. He doesn’t think time is money, doesn’t talk politics, “when it’s time to work, he works. When it’s time to rest, he rests.” Varty says, “the aboriginals used to say of modern life, “It’s three days deep.” In three days in wilderness, you learn what’s important and your mind changes. Your way of being shifts.”

Stories

Even if you do not read this book, please listen to some of Varty’s stories. He is an excellent story teller who knows how to make the sounds of the jungle. You think you’re right there!

I do hope you read the book. It’s short like I said and packed with interesting information.