Variety is a good thing. During the weekend when you have time off, there is more time and opportunity to do something different and different training. Our small journey this weekend – mission dog walk and exercise – goes to a place where we have never been before to see some Danish  “mountains” …
A 1½ hour drive return trip, for a 3/4 hour walk around two heathered hills on Sejs Hede, southeast of Silkeborg, north of the city of Sejs: Sindbjerg and Stoubjerg which, according to Danish standards are high:
Sindbjerg is 103 meters and Stoubjerg (Stovbjerg) is 99 meters high.

OOTD

It is spring and the other day it was the warmest April day for many years, but the temperature has fallen again to 10-15 degrees Celcius with alternating sunshine and rainfall; one should be prepared for a-bit-of-everything-weather.

Today’s outfit, outfit of the day? A topic for any decent fashion blogger.
Obviously I’m not a fashion blogger and rarely follow the latest trends, so why mention an outfit? Well, since the Danish National Museum asked all Danes to write their diary and include all possible details, including clothes, accessories and thoughts, I have looked differently on this matter. It’s not about irrelevant advertising, but about a comprehensive picture of a certain period in time.

The sun shone this morning. I put on a light, black Dri-FIT running outfit, long tights and jacket. Inside black Purelime top and pants. Over it – in case of cooler weather – a new Italian EA7 workout outfit bought two weeks ago as 1) souvenir and 2) reward for finishing the  Valtellina Vertical Tube Race .

When I bought the kit in Mazzuchi Sport in Sondrio, two sub-20-year-old female cashiers looked at me as though there was a major mismatch between age and style, their eyes said “that won’t do for an over-the-hill person”.

Too bad! I bought it anyway (I rarely buy clothes, as my old stuff is o.k. …):
Emporio Armani is Italian, elegant clothes and casual clothes. I think.

The sunglasses? Earlier for fun I collected cheap sunglasses for 0-5 Euro, I have a part of them and only 3-4 pairs, that’s worth it. Today’s couple is one of them. Certainly expensive initially, but found below 60 Euro in a Prada outlet in Italy years back. Special and beautiful, but the sun is rarely super sunny here!

Outdoor

Outdoor fitness is a big, growing trend. The outdoors has previously especially attracted serious wildlife enthusiasts, biologists, geologists and seniors with a fancy for flora and fauna spotting. However, in recent years there has been an increased focus on the health benefits of being outside; fresh air gives more energy and daylight is essential for better mood and sleep. As a result, countless institutions, gyms and personal trainers now offer nature and outdoor fitness and outdoor bootcamp courses – in addition to the usual running, walking and cycling classes.

In many places you now find outdoor fitness facilities, some less useful, others absolutely amazing. They work well as playgrounds for adults and provide a supplement or alternative to pure nature fitness.

I have spent (too) much of my adult life indoors in training centers in the city and only when I moved to the countryside near Mols Mountains National Park (and later also got a dog to be walked), I became increasingly active outdoors. Most days I am now out at least 1 hour and more.

To travel is to live and luckily you do not always have to travel far away to experience new places. This goes for my own country, too. There are many beautiful areas in Denmark, you just have to look. Although unfortunately there is a serious shortage of mountains (a big miss) there are fortunately many areas with interesting hills and slopes …

Sindbjerg_og_Stoubjerg_Bakker_og_Trapper_Marina_Aagaard_blog

Over the hill

This weekend’s special trip with husband and dog has a four-double purpose (I love quattro). To walk Rex, walk ourselves, experience a new place and especially try out and photograph one of Denmark’s longest outdoor stairs :
363 stairs on Sindbjerg. The steps are quite irregular and interrupted by a small path, but they are there.

In fact, there is a bonus because the neighboring Stoubjerg has two stairs with 138 and 153 steps, respectively.
I like walking on stairs, while I find running up stairs indescribably hard! I do not understand, why I sometimes try run up stairs … except for the training effect, which is superb for the cardiovascular system and muscles alike.

Above: Sindbjerg, 103 meters, 363 steps.
Below: Stoubjerg, 99 meters, 138 steps, where I start with a small warm-up, run-jog, upwards.
After this, a short break at the top – I waited for the photographer – then over to Sindbjerg and a run-jog upwards.
Unfortunately, I forget to time this, but on the heart rate graph (bottom) you can tell, that there was some exertion.

It was no real workout, just two stair-jogs, some walking up and down, and a run back down to the parking lot.
Heart rate monitor assessment: Basic training. Not worth mentioning, moderate intensity weekend activity, even though the heart rate during the downhill run briefly touched 91% of maximum. But easy days are also good.

Happy weekend and happy workout.
Are you doing something special this weekend?