mountainFrugal Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
Scott 2
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Scott 2 »

After seeing your training intensity in the v02 max thread, I decided to read this journal from the beginning. I'd read individual posts, but never pulled back to take in the full picture. My question - how does that ability to endure translate to into one's lifestyle?

The hard work appears to be fractal. You are killing it on a wide breadth of domains. Well done.

It's interesting to me that other posters with similarly broad lifestyles (ie @Animal) also posted high v02 max scores. Makes me wonder about the relationship between those two. Does training to a high v02 max increase output lifestyle wide? Or are you guys already wired that way, with high v02 max being another symptom of the need to go?

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mountainFrugal
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Post by mountainFrugal »

Scott 2 wrote:
Fri Apr 08, 2022 10:21 pm
My question - how does that ability to endure translate to into one's lifestyle?

The hard work appears to be fractal. You are killing it on a wide breadth of domains. Well done.

Does training to a high v02 max increase output lifestyle wide? Or are you guys already wired that way, with high v02 max being another symptom of the need to go?
Thanks @Scott 2!

The high VO2max in particular is always having some sort of cardio since highschool. I ran varsity cross country my senior year. That was were I learned to cope with that tolerable amount of pain. Like @jacob said in the VO2max thread, this just stays with you. You are not in danger, just uncomfortable. So I take a similar attitude towards all of the things that interest me. I try to do something hard and uncomfortable everyday. Depending on the day that could be physical, mental, emotional, artistic, etc. That attitude allows things to compound really quickly and has over the past decade in particular. "If it is worth doing it is worth doing right" might be another way to put it. Having the mental attitude that feeling discomfort is helpful for learning new things and pushing boundaries from where you are currently at along any skill development is a healthy one. I think that this is part wiring and part life experiences that led me to just get after it. Things are often uncomfortable (mentally, emotionally, physically) so having the perspective of "well learning to draw is not as hard as running hard or dealing with the emotional pain of my late wife so I might as well get after it". It is not that I even think that all the time, just that this is ingrained at this point. It is still hard work though!

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

April 2022 WINDOWS

Image

A lot of growth this month.

# WINS
Road trip down to Southern California desert to visit partner's family. In many areas the desert was in bloom and we pulled over many times to ID the flowering plants. I finally got to see a flowering Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia).

My partner and I are working on a short sci-fi/solar-punk themed story for a comics anthology. Road trip boredom is great for working through story ideas. We also structure our date nights around these creative activities.

I have been working hard on various Plotkin exercises and discussion with our eco-MMG. More on this soon in other threads.

The upper-left of my yearly project goals has come together with a character/story that takes place in the general ecological zone we live in. I am working on the script now. viewtopic.php?p=255612#p255612

# IMPROVEMENTS
Dr. North Sub is my 50 year old community college prof part of my ego that always took the safe route on everything. He has my best interest in mind to always do the safe thing and not work on art or other more ambitious intellectual projects because he is afraid of the ramifications of failure. He is slightly bitter about it. I have had many convos with him over the past month welcoming him home, thanking him for what he did in the past, and showing him that these other ideas and pursuits are not as risky as he thinks they are. With all this work and encouragement from the group, I have come to think how important providing a vision of the future that is not a complete hell-scape (HT @axelH). While I can still make a small impact through basic/applied scientific research, it might actually benefit humanity more to use that knowledge to imagine and make art/stories about a green/ERE/solar-punk future. Maybe more than 5 people in the world will actually consume that content?

On the road trip I was able to fully prototype the trout/sci/art/data Freedom-To project by completing a full post from scratch started as a just an idea seed from the local ecosystem we were staying in.

# NEW DIRECTIONS
I really like doing landscape drawings when out and about and I got to experiment more with a small illustration/painting kit. In our larger friend group, a new housemate is an environmental concept artist for the games and entertainment industry. I peppered him with questions about how he made the jump to art full-time and why he liked environments so much. He said you just have to do it. This is funny because this is the exact advice I give everyone for every other thing. So nothing new here. The other interesting aspect was he said he likes landscapes/world building because he also likes travel and sketching on location. He can always be working by absorbing the broader landscape along with the details while hiking, wandering cities, or generally interacting with infrastructure. This was such a nuanced view of the world and he viewed everyday life as just building his visual library that he could then simplify and put back into his art. Really cool.

Working on comfort alone in the wilderness. Sitting in a place that makes me feel uneasy. Also gradually increasing the fasting times. The goal is a 72 hour fast in the wilderness sometime in early July. It is harder to fast now during peak training because it is harder to recover. So a tradeoff exists until my ultra race at the end of June.

# DRAWING
Another full month of at least 1 page of drawing. Our ERE Proko Yo! discord group is also going well. Fun discussion and art swapping.

I have been searching through various art podcasts interviewing traveling artists to get some additional ideas and inspiration.

I was introduced to a local artist that I thought mostly did oil painting (which I am not as interested in). He also rides MTBs so we rode (he is fast AF), had dinner and hung out at his studio for a few hours of drawing. He worked in the comics industry in ~2010 so we talked about art non-stop for the entire "Art Date". We are going to do some Plein Air painting in town for our next meet-up.

I went to the zoo with my future sis-in-law and my future nephew. We wondered around and sketched the animals. Not something that I would have thought was as entertaining as it was. I have mixed feelings about zoos in general, but this one had bears and coyotes that had problems with humans in the past. These are both animals I am interested in tracking and observing their behavior in the wild. A zoo is modified way to do that.

# OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
There are a lot black bears around here. I see their tracks often. At the zoo, there was a clear glass wall that one bear was sleeping up against with thier paw smashed against the glass. It was a perfect opportunity to study the foot in detail. It was also somewhat weighted and with the pads filling out because the bear was pressing on it from the sleeping position. What an opportunity! Not sure if the pad of a zoo bear is representative in texture to a wild bear, but the pattern on the pad was extremely complex. These details might only show up on the trail if it were fresh on the perfect substrate (mostly clay with just the right amount of moisture?).

Continued training that is well above my volume from last year.

# WORK
Completed some data post and started refining code/data/plots to start working on a publication. I played around with some watershed data and fire data for one of my other projects and can now use a simplified version of the code/model for personal blog content. I did some consulting work for a landscape architecture project last year. I was asked to come back to consult/critique on a new project that I will start the first week of May.

# SOCIAL
Drove up the coast and checked out the various public historical things as we went including a cool light house. Played some beach volley ball after a long run. My obliques were wrecked after.

My partner's family is pretty active so we were able to bike, hike, fish and do art with them.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Minor update: completed the 24 hour fast thanks to inspiration from @animal and @mooretrees for their recent longer fasts. Having some electrolyte drink in the afternoon got rid of the mild foggy head that started after 2 pm. Dinner tasted extra delicious.

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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by theanimal »

I really like the sketch of the bear foot, way to take advantage of that opportunity. You really got after it last month, well done. Freedom to!

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

mountainFrugal wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 2:59 pm
Chi running was just okay. It was the first book on the subject that I picked up. Just do many rounds of "The 100" exercise and train yourself to do form check-ins while you are running to make sure you are landing with neutral foot strike on flat ground and engaging your core as much as possible. Also, spending time doing variations on planks to make sure your core is really strong can help a lot.
What is your recommended core workout MF?

Office work and less than ideal posture led me to a weak core, which ultimately led to other issues. I've found lifting weights and exercises like the seated cable row or hyper bench helped me the most. I'm in a much better place than I was a few years ago, but am interested in your routine/thoughts.

I had a PT recommend Eric Goodman's Foundation program, and I picked up a copy of his book, but only dabbled in the initial exercises. These days I typically lift my back twice a week, and add in some weighted ab workouts once a week.
Last edited by Western Red Cedar on Fri May 27, 2022 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

The one you do on a regular basis! ;). You can go a long way with plank and side planks increasing holding time.

These focus on core and active range of motion:
https://uphillathlete.com/scotts-killer ... utine-pdf/
Videos with variations here: https://uphillathlete.com/how-to-do-core/
I still cannot do the gymnastics L-sits. My hamstrings are way too tight.

Pre-ski season variations: https://www.outsideonline.com/health/tr ... e-workout/
These are fun because you are sliding around using a sock/towel on a surface. These are way harder than they look. Jessie Diggins has a bunch of core workout videos if you dare to follow along. She is a freaking beast. https://youtu.be/i4vnXCTU6C0

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Slevin
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

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mountainFrugal wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 4:07 pm
I still cannot do the gymnastics L-sits. My hamstrings are way too tight.
If you care/ want to work on it, elephant walks are my favorite bang for the buck hamstring stretch, and take no time at all and no equipment, so I’d try those first for a few weeks (something like 2 sets of 60 reps, I.e. 30 per leg per set, 2x per week). Seen here: https://youtu.be/MsUTFi24Iq4. If that’s not helping; the Jefferson curl is another good bang for the buck, and if you have tight hamstrings you also probably have tight hip flexors, which means you may want to supplement some variations of the couch stretch and other dynamic stretching focusing on the hip flexors. As always, all fitness advice is always subjective to what works for you at the time, just throw away what doesn’t seem to be giving results and find other stuff.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

mountainFrugal wrote:
Wed Dec 29, 2021 12:34 pm
Movement plan is to add 10-15% volume (distance/elevation) onto this year along with some running specific mobility work outlined in "Ready to Run". If I get on a good schedule for this then I will ask @blackjack for some more advanced progressions to try out.
^^^^ from my yearly goals up-thread...I suppose that time is today.
Slevin wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 5:03 pm
If you care/ want to work on it, elephant walks are my favorite bang for the buck hamstring stretch...
Thanks for the recommendations. I will try them out and report back.

edit: from video "not everyone is going to be able to do that..". I am looking at you specifically mF!

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Slevin wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 5:03 pm
and if you have tight hamstrings you also probably have tight hip flexors, which means you may want to supplement some variations of the couch stretch and other dynamic stretching focusing on the hip flexors.
I've been stretching my hip flexors multiple times per day the last couple of months. My right side was particularly off kilter, and had caused issues from heel pain to lower back pain. I've been doing Katy Bowman's routine for foot pain relief, and combining it with other stretches and foam rolls. It seemed like my hamstrings and hip flexors both loosened up at the same time. Feels great!

We haven't got rid of the couch yet, but I mostly use it as a backrest these days.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Western Red Cedar wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 8:35 pm
We haven't got rid of the couch yet, but I mostly use it as a backrest these days.
I have not read Katy Bowmen, does she advocate for no couch? If so, I can use this as a post facto justification when folks ask why we do not own a couch! I will have to read her and then I can refer folks to that book. Health reasons for hip opening is an easier sell than "we just really do not like the aesthetics and sitting on these grass mats is way more hipster....sips tea".

Western Red Cedar
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

She does. You can check out her home tour for inspiration on alternative living arrangements that encourage movement. I really like the river rock entrance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-sROj4QrPI

https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/furn ... ree-ahs13/

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Thanks for the links @WRC
----
May 2022 WINDOWS

Image

# WINS
I continued to tick off more of my yearly project goals. I had time to systematically go through the remaining ones to make detailed 2-20 minute starts for each.

Plotkin Update: I spent some time at the end of April alone in the wilderness talking to each part of my ego corresponding to the different cardinal directions. I was working on thanking these different aspects but also asking for support as I transition away from FTE to work on art and my "FREEDOM TO MOTHERFUCKERS!" project. I ended in the West direction and then started running down the trail. I almost stepped on a Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae). I stopped and moved it off the trail. These are widely distributed snakes on the West Coast, but are not often out during the day. I encountered another one as it snuck into the studio apartment I was renting next to a natural area when I was living in the city. I thought it was a fake snake curled up on the floor, but it moved! After positioning on some white paper to do a dramatic photo shoot, I let it go in the garden. An interesting coincidence between the two events is the last time the Rubber Boa came for a visit I had just finished a long journal entry about life direction and made a mental commitment to the direction I was headed 5 years ago. A fun story to add to my personal mythology. Some might say the Rubber Boa is my spirit animal and that I should consider getting a tattoo (a friend told me this after telling this story). The thing is... the Rubber Boa is a light brown completely smooth snake that basically looks like a turd. No tattoos for me. :)

We sourced and seeded 1/4 of our backyard with Pacific Northwest wildflowers as we transition the lawn into habitat and food production.

# IMPROVEMENTS
All this Plotkin internal work has made me really calm about doubling down on my FREEDOM TO! vision. I get to pick and choose the confirmatory details of my own life story.

I have been sick for the past few weeks with a low level cough from post nasal drip. The cough starts after I lay down for bed, but I feel fine otherwise. I took 7 days off cardio exercise because I did not want this to turn into an upper respiratory infection. May was suppose to be the peak month for training for my race so this sickness was a bit of a bummer in that dimension (although I had a lot more time sitting around and thinking based projects). I think before we left on our trip I was nearing the threshold of overtraining and this additional stress pushed me over the edge allowing me to be more susceptible to whatever viral thing I had. No more travel during peak training as these can both be coordinated well in advance.

I had more time than usual this month to lay in my bed and think. I thought a lot about my personal risk ecosystem involving my habits, people around me, general environment, managed environment, activities, etc. This more rational view of my situation basically leads me to the same conclusions as the less rational Plotkin style explorations. Not having cognitive dissonance with either of these modes of thinking (talking with nature and spirit animal snakes aside), contributes to the confidence in my general bearing and contentment with a life of exploring with no specific destination in mind. Water flowing through rocks.


# NEW DIRECTIONS
The eco-MMG challenged me to think/research ways that art and science could be combined or synergistic to one another. I found that there is an entire discipline of "Nature Science Illustration" that is more rigorous with data, measurements of specimens, etc. They have a guild with regular meetings and some more standardized techniques. I would have thought that this is a dying art form, but with many scientific journals switching to visual abstracts (especially in the biological sciences), there is a resurgence and a decent demand for these skills. Furthermore, there is a growing set of science/art grants for comics and other visual narrative science communication. The plan is to spend some more time on some of the illustrations I am already doing of local nature to meet this higher standard and develop a portfolio around it.

Relationship breakthrough. We both are fairly tidy people, but we were neglecting some of the deeper cleaning to properly take care of our house. We agreed to 25 minutes of actual cleaning (not just tidying) in shared spaces per day.

Lettering technique takes a long time to master. I decided to be a little more strict on these reviews to practice this for comics.


# DRAWING

I was able to sketch/paint scenes at cafes, bars, and restaurants in New York. I heard 8 languages being spoken in a single day as I observed the world flowing by. Sketching in public provides a conversation starter with strangers that were usually also tourists. haha. Next time I am in a major city I want to be much better at sketching humans and poses. I tended to focus on objects not in motion, but for such a fast moving city this is only half of the story. The other drawing stats are on the sketchnote.


# OUTDOOR ADVENTURE
Despite being sick, I still moved a lot. See VO2max thread for hillclimb details and foraging log for morels. The local library always has a rack of old books and magazines they are giving away. I took home some old National Geographic and Outside magazines to sketch from and deconstruct the articles/illustrations as inspiration for the Freedom To! blog posts. My hamstrings are tight AF so I am working on Elephant Walks for now thanks to @sleven. I like these because they do not need a bench for me to put my leg up on. I can do them while my pour over is dripping.

# WORK
Continuing with the blog, I am getting a raise, transitioning to saving a larger cash buffer for FREEDOM TO! lifestyle without withdrawing from other accounts, finished some figure drafts for a paper, and am in contact with 2 of the 5 large consulting firms about consulting projects based on my current work. One is much more likely to lead to something than the other, but I want to have options for negotiation purposes. A nice outcome would be a year's worth of expenses for a few weeks worth of work spread out over a few months to keep the cash buffer high.

# SOCIAL
A lot of general humanity this month. We attended my partner's roommate's wedding in NYC (she used to live there). It was fun to see everyone and see my partner's old haunts, but we blew 3 months of eating out budget in 5 days. Another downside was to save money on flights we flew at strange times throwing off sleep schedules and likely contributing to my cold (not covid).

We attended a celebration of life potluck for a running friend's parent that passed away. The relief felt by her family was palpable.

We hosted/cooked for a bunch of out of town friends for a local bike race. I did not race, but took care of our friend's 8 month old so they could race. The baby and I came to a quick agreement. I let him out of his pen to crawl around and mop the floors with his belly in exchange for a diaper change, a bottle, and a quiet place to nap. This worked out well without too many tears (from me).

Our retired friend that lives in the next town that is making all the rogue MTB trails (see up-thread) is a renaissance man in his own way. He was an executive chef at one point and is a huge food nerd. He makes his own whiskey and we went over for a tasting and dinner. I have been trending towards the sober train for a while now, but this was a fun opportunity to smell and sip whiskeys at various stages. He chars his own oak chips and uses those instead of barrels to increase the surface area contact of the distilled spirits in his small pantry operation.

shaz
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by shaz »

As always, the illustrations are so fun. I especially like the bug this month.

Congratulations on making steady forward progress.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Thanks @shaz. Ironically the insect is imaginary which goes against nearly all of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrator rules and methods developed for their profession to depict specimens as accurately as possible. I am learning to use calipers in drawing to accurately translate and scale shapes larger/smaller depending on the piece.

Scott 2
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by Scott 2 »

Taking on that hill climb on top of being sick - quite a perk of being extremely fit. I've been reading about how elite runners can recover from over reaching, while still running every day! I'm envious of that capacity.


For the hamstrings - have you already dug into adjoining tissues? When I was deep into my yoga practice, I found hamstring issues sourced from problems up or down the chain.

1. Tight tissues in the calves and feet. This is easy to check. Bend over to touch your toes. Then stand with your heels on blocks and repeat. Can you go a lot further? Self massage with a lacrosse ball helps. You can use the same test between bouts of tissue work, to see the impact.

2. An anterior pelvic tilt. Possible causes - short / weak hip flexors. Tight / weak external rotators of the hips. More complex to care for.

Before I took that perspective, I would do things like hang out in a forward fold for several minutes, intermittently contracting my quads and hip flexors, to take advantage of reciprocal inhibition. I worked up to my hands past my feet. All it offered was a lingering annoyance in one of my hamstring tendons.

Since then, I purposefully let that degree of mobility go. I do still work on the areas above, focusing on tissue quality.


IMO high flexibility comes from disrupting the body's inhibitions. If you've ever had someone do PNF stretching of your hamstrings, it's easy to see how flexibility is neurological. I now avoid stretching strategies that override those protective signals. If I can't solve the tissue puzzle, I let myself stay tight.

shaz
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by shaz »

I like your imaginary insect, but that does explain why I couldn't identify it. Fie on the GNSI rules and their quashing of imagination.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Scott 2 wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:12 pm
For the hamstrings - have you already dug into adjoining tissues?

1. Tight tissues in the calves and feet. This is easy to check. Bend over to touch your toes. Then stand with your heels on blocks and repeat. Can you go a lot further?

2. An anterior pelvic tilt. Possible causes - short / weak hip flexors. Tight / weak external rotators of the hips. More complex to care for.

IMO high flexibility comes from disrupting the body's inhibitions. If you've ever had someone do PNF stretching of your hamstrings, it's easy to see how flexibility is neurological. I now avoid stretching strategies that override those protective signals. If I can't solve the tissue puzzle, I let myself stay tight.
I told my hamstrings if they did not cooperate I was going to get my group of smart internet friends together along with my partner for an intervention!
"We care for you a lot hammies and we just want you to stop using, er ah, we mean submit to stretching on a regular basis".

More seriously though, the whole rear chain can become tight, but it is my hamstrings in particular that remain tight for longer. I do ALOT of lower leg rolling and after @slevins comment I have already started working on the hammies specifically. I did some PNF stretchs with my partner and she belly laughs everytime when we do hammies because I am such a baby about them for some reason! I found that this did get more of stretch, but it would not have lasting flexibility. The other one I want to start is legs up the wall (modified yoga pose). Just have to build these into a habit stack. It has not been a hindrance yet, but I think being looser is always a good thing for trail running.

@shaz - medical illustration is even more strict! Would never go that route!

shaz
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by shaz »

A question related to your post in the Make Stuff Log: do you stop running to sketch or do you have some ninja-like ability to simultaneously run and sketch? I'm the world's worst runner and have resisted learning anything about running so I don't know if accomplished runners can do other things while running. I know that I would trip and break an ankle or fall off a cliff or step on a nest of yellowjackets or some such.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: mountainFrugal Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

shaz wrote:
Fri Jun 03, 2022 3:52 pm
do you stop running to sketch or do you have some ninja-like ability to simultaneously run and sketch?
I WISH I could run and sketch at the same time. I tried before on flat ground and immediately became motion sick from constantly refocusing short and medium distances with only three or four bad lines to show for it! Not likely a hidden talent! haha.

I stop, eat a snack, sip some water, make a sketch, and now STRETCH MY HAMSTRINGS. I have been running with poles more frequently and that is really engaging having all of your limbs touch the ground. That is about the current extent of hand involvement in running.

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