Panasonic DMC-TS3 at an effective 29mm — ¹/160 sec, f/10, ISO 100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Big Stupid Dummy
me, after a personal-best fastest hike to the top of Mt. Hiei
馬鹿の私、比叡山の山頂で。早く出来ましたけれども、途中で右足首をねんざしました。

I made my sixth hike to the top of Kyoto's Mt. Hiei yesterday, with the goal being simply: fast I could get to the top? I really enjoyed last week's hike with Damien, because he's fun to chat with and it's enjoyable to hike with friends, but it left me wondering how fast I could do on my own, if I concentrated only on getting to the top quickly. No stopping for photography, no stopping for rests, no stopping for energy snacks, no stopping to chat with other hikers. No stopping to enjoy nature. Just go. Fast.

To recap my history here, my first hike 2½ years ago was a glorious failure, recounted in the appropriately-titled “The Agony Where Bravado Yields, In Spectacular Fashion, To Painful Reality”. I hadn't realized just how out of shape I had been, so it's that hike that spurred me to get in shape. I think I've done pretty well, and now, at 48, I'm in the best shape of my life.

On that first hike 2½ years ago, pushed by the unrelenting pace of my in-shape hiking partner, the trip from the small shrine near the trailhead to the small clearing about half way up took 48 minutes. Yesterday it took 41.

Seven minutes faster is nice, but it's an underwhelming improvement for 2½ years of work. However, I was in much better shape for the rest of the hike to come, and forewent the 10-minute rest stop here (and other rest stops I'd needed that first time), and continued past without pause to the meaty part of the hike.

I made good time to the scenic end of the hike proper. (I consider “the hike proper” to be from the shrine near the trailhead to this scenic rest spot.)

The hike proper took 127 minutes (2h 7m) the first time, but only 82 minutes (1h 22m) yesterday, an improvement of 45 minutes.

二年前の第一回の比叡山ハイキングは２時間７分間かかった。今回(第５回目)には１時間２２分間かかりました。

That's a great improvement, but the real achievement is in the surrounding context. That first time it had taken 181 minutes (3h 1m) to reach this point by foot after leaving my house, and by the time I got here I was almost comatose with thorough fatigue. This time that same trip took only 111 minutes (1h 51m), and yet I felt great. In fact, I didn't even break stride as I passed the end of the “hike proper” to continue the short distance to the bus stop at the summit.

From front door to summit: 116 minutes (1h 56m). That's a lot better than the first time I hiked to the summit (my second Mt. Hiei hike), where with ample stops it took more than five hours.)

One key in going fast was not stopping. During yesterday's hike, between my front door and the summit, I stopped moving only three times. One was for a red light early on at an intersection in the city on the way to the trailhead. One was at the 90-minute mark where I stopped for a few minutes for a drink, in hopes that it would rejuvenate the tiredness that had sunk in. (Answer: it didn't, so it was just a wasted three minutes.)

And at 21 minutes into the hike proper, I twisted my ankle while running on a down-slope portion of the trail. One moment I was running with the grace of a gazelle floating on the wind, and the next I was hitting the ground like a sack of rocks unceremoniously shoved off the back of the Stupid Truck. At that moment, withering in pain, I decided it was time to take a short rest.

Panasonic DMC-TS3 at an effective 29mm — ¹/60 sec, f/3.3, ISO 320 — image data
Forced Rest
taking a survey for broken bones
(the photo was to mark my location, but my stupid Garmin GPS unit failed to keep the track)
ねんざをした時に。痛かった。その後のハイキングは１時間以上かかりました。

To offer a bit of background, recall that on my 3rd Mt. Hiei hike four months ago, I'd actually hiked back down the mountain instead of taking the train or bus I'd taken other times. Hiking downhill has always been really hard on my knees, but it turned out that the biggest danger was that I kept twisting my ankle. After half a dozen small twists (each resulting in a painful crash to the ground, and much swearing and worrying about broken bones), you'd think I'd figure out how to walk properly, but no matter how careful I was, it would still happen over and over.

So yesterday, on the way up, when I encountered a section of the trail with a downhill slope, I'd pick up the pace to a fast jog, but was extremely mindful of my propensity to twist my ankle. I was very careful.

In particular, when I approached a particularly rough area, my active thought was “be extra careful here”, and with that thought forefront in mind, I suddenly, inexplicably, found myself crashing to the ground with great force. I peppered the palm of my left hand with holes from rocks or roots or whatnot, and did the same to my left knee (and my new Under Armour compression leggings).

The only two reasons I can imagine for twisting my ankle despite such attention is that either I'm blind or stupid.

I'm not blind.

Peppering my body with painful holes is one thing, but it's my right ankle that got most attention. Oh, and as a data point for health-care researchers: cursing loudly in English in a Japanese forest does not seem to mitigate the damage from a sprain.

After a few minutes, I stood up to gingerly give it a try. I still had more than an hour of hiking to the top, so if my ankle was too bad to continue, I could hobble back to the trailhead which, conveniently, is off the parking lot of one of Kyoto's best hospitals, so I'd be able to get immediate treatment. But it wasn't that bad, and I continued on. It didn't exactly hurt, but it remained noticeable longer than before. For a half hour it felt “hinky” (for lack of a better word), but it seemed to have worked itself out by the time I reached the summit.

Until I stood up after a few minutes' rest. It was bothering me again. An hour's bus ride back down and a short walk home, and I took off my socks to reveal that I'd done some real damage.

Panasonic DMC-TS3 at an effective 29mm — ¹/40 sec, f/3.3, ISO 400 — image data
Justice Served
if you are stupid in how you hike, you get troubles like this

I'd been planning to do a couple of fairly active classes at the gym, but I bailed on those and just did some upper-body weight training. In the evening, I treated the swelling with copious amounts of jasmine plum wine and baked chicken at Uroko, with Damien.

Today it's starting to turn pretty colors, and is very stiff. If I hobble carefully, I can get around without pain, so the sprain is mild by most standards.

So a few days after trumpeting being back in the saddle health wise, I'm back to limited activity. I went swimming for a while this evening with Anthony, and that went fine, so I hope that bodes well for a quick recovery.

My next goal for a Mt. Hiei hike is to do it quickly and not stupidly.