Article Contributed on: 7/3/2008 3:32:23 PM
Everyone knows about the Castle Rock. It's one of the most recognizable features in Colorado.
Authors and historians have featured it in their works. Rising out of the landscape like a gnawed-on carrot cake atop a mound of broccoli, hungry highway travelers look at it with longing. Very few people know that you can walk to the top of this sleeping monolith and catch a great view of the Front Range.
Those, who
have heard about hiking The Rock go trudging up the summit trail with little or no stamina. They stumble up the hillside, smelling of dusty sweat and snagging their clothes on the scrub oaks, which line the path. But I've found you can use the whole town, and eventually The Rock itself, as a training ground.
Gym's can be great for training. I used to live in them when I was an overweight power lifter. After I slimmed down, I used the recreation center's treadmills and elliptical machines to build my endurance. Now, the gym just doesn't quite do it for me anymore.
Driving to the gym to pedal or run on an immobile piece of equipment in a musty, sweat warehouse every day is absurd. Walking to different places and experiencing the town in all its myriad forms is a great way to stay healthy. You can use Castle Rock as your fee-free gym.
Start out walking around your block every day. After a while, go a mile. Health experts recommend a minimum of thirty minutes of moderate exercise daily. So try to build up to about three miles by going a little farther every day.
Pedometers work great to measure your steps, but they're not necessary. Later, as you become more fit and see results in your waste line and overall endurance, start tromping up some of the hills around town.
The area east of downtown between 6th Street and Valley Road has great hills. South street to Crystal Valley Parkway can be an awesome up and down workout too. I see people walking them all the time. Once your endurance increases, you can take some of the local trails. This is where The Rock comes in.
Try Memmen Ridge's trail and the concrete path that goes north from the Recreation Center for the next level of training. Both these ways have a lot of trees, flowers, and wildlife to enjoy.
You'll catch a great view of the front range on western down slopes too. Once you can cruise up those inclines with relative ease, take the perimeter trail on The Castle Rock. Later on, try the summit trail on The Rock and the new mesa path at Rhyolite Park.
If you monitor how many calories your consuming and get a lot of vitamins, you will lose weight and improve your health--just by using your legs. You will find that, as the fat comes off and your muscles grow stronger over time, you'll have more energy to travel farther, faster.
Keep doing a little more every day, and you'll be surprised at what your body can accomplish. Castle Rock's natural training facility can be your springboard to ever-more-rigorous hiking and running. All you have to do is give yourself half and hour or so to work out every day.