Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro? This wasn't exactly a childhood dream. I wasn't one of those people who had some "vision" when I was 8 where the mountain appeared to me. However, as I probably mentioned earlier in an entry my dad has always dreamed of climbing/climbed very high mountains and has an extensive mountaineering library. So, growing up as a Person, naturally I've been at least aware that Kili is the highest mountain in Africa for most of my life.
My specific interest in Kili really started almost 4 years ago, after I returned from the trek to Machu Picchu in Peru. I realized that not only was that just an absolutely awesome trip, but an experience I definitely wanted to do in other parts of the world as well. Traveling to a different country and taking on an adventure was not just a great vacation/escape from the work grind, but actually something I decided I wanted to be some of the highlights of my life. After I heard from a few friends that climbing Kilimanjaro was non-technical, "doable", and that traveling to that part of Africa afforded other adventures like safari and the chance to relax in Zanzibar, the wheels started turning for me!
But slowly. Eventually towards the end of 2011, 7 of my friends had made concrete plans to visit East Africa (more for some safari adventures), and that was an impetus for me to get serious about making Kilimanjaro plans/finding some climbing buddies with the hopes that I could meet up with those friends in Zanzibar.
At the start of 2012 I got the list of potentially interested people together and sent out an email with the tentative plan of Climbing Kili, going on safari, and relaxing in Zanzibar. We got our original group together of 5: Pat, Calvin, Newt, Vivian, Matt. We decided to take the Rongai route as it presented a long, gradual path up to Kibo huts for the summit night hopefully increasing our summit chances. Also, our friends Yu-kuan and Eric had taken the route before and successfully summited. We decided to use African Spoonbill Tours, also on recommendations from Yu-kuan and Eric as well as their friends.
Great! With the plans set pending the decision on dates, with commitments and excitement from our group members, and with Newt providing pointers to deals on equipment we'd need to buy, things were FINALLY in motion. Unfortunately this didn't last. Vivian and Newt had somewhat major life changing events, and I nearly had one with uncertainty about my job. So, the "set" plans were put on hold. For a long time. And with significant frustration. For a few months no progress was made. And then somehow, it all came together one day late in August. Newt and Vivian had decided to wait until next year to go, and Calvin, Pat and I decided to just go ahead and go in October. And we had our plan.
And with the plan it was time to get serious about training. I'm already rambling like crazy in this entry so feel free if you want to skip forwards to some part with pictures, but something that was important to me was training hard in preparation for the climb. After getting mild AMS in Peru at 12,500 ft after little training, then finding altitude much more tolerable in Nepal after a full season of triathlon training, I became a huge believer that being in shape helps your body deal with altitude a lot better. With the likelihood of climbing Kili this year being about maybe 70%, I'd decided back in June to do what I could to stay in shape after the the 2012 Tri season in case we did go. This meant long hilly runs at Rancho, bike n beer sessions, some swimming, and occasional longer bike rides. And when we bought the plane tickets, I realized we had 5 weeks left to train, so I put together a plan using the knowledge I'd gained from TNT workouts and old crew workouts back in high school. So here it is :) Use it, skip it, or scoff at it as you like :)
Key components of training:
- Long, hilly hikes with steep sections for leg muscle development, endurance, practice, and mental strength (Mission Peak in Fremont ended up being a PERFECT playground)
- Long hilly runs also for leg muscle development, endurance, and aerobic/anaerobic burst fitness
- Bike hill repeats for leg muscle development variety, and anaerobic fitness
- Long bike rides for leg muscle development variety and aerobic fitness
- Core workouts for strength carrying pack (a strong core helps just about all physical activity)
Other workouts:
- weight training, swimming
I also decided to use a bit of the "periodization" theory of triathlon training, that is, spend 3 weeks working hard and building, then take 1 to recover and let your body catch up. Of course with 5 weeks to play with, this ended up being 2 weeks hard, 1 recovery, 1 hard, then 1 recovery. So for my hard weeks, the schedule:
Monday - Core workout, Hilly Rancho San Antonio run (8 miles to peak of PG&E trail)
Tuesday - Bike hill repeats (Taafe hill or Mt. Eden)
Wednesday - Core workout, climb Mission Peak
Thursday - Swim ~ 1500m with hypoxia set, Weight workout
Friday - Core workout
Saturday/Sunday - EPIC workout (which ended up being ONE of: biking up Old La Honda, climbing Mission Peak twice, and running 13 miles at Rancho around park perimeter)
For the recovery weeks:
Monday - Core workout, 4.5 mile Rancho Run
Tuesday - Interval bike training
Wednesday - Core workout, climb Mission Peak
Thursday - Swim
Friday -Core workout
Saturday/Sunday - Flat bike ride, run, or hike
That, along with acquiring the gear, and doing what I could to secure my job, made me finally ready to head to Africa!
My specific interest in Kili really started almost 4 years ago, after I returned from the trek to Machu Picchu in Peru. I realized that not only was that just an absolutely awesome trip, but an experience I definitely wanted to do in other parts of the world as well. Traveling to a different country and taking on an adventure was not just a great vacation/escape from the work grind, but actually something I decided I wanted to be some of the highlights of my life. After I heard from a few friends that climbing Kilimanjaro was non-technical, "doable", and that traveling to that part of Africa afforded other adventures like safari and the chance to relax in Zanzibar, the wheels started turning for me!
But slowly. Eventually towards the end of 2011, 7 of my friends had made concrete plans to visit East Africa (more for some safari adventures), and that was an impetus for me to get serious about making Kilimanjaro plans/finding some climbing buddies with the hopes that I could meet up with those friends in Zanzibar.
At the start of 2012 I got the list of potentially interested people together and sent out an email with the tentative plan of Climbing Kili, going on safari, and relaxing in Zanzibar. We got our original group together of 5: Pat, Calvin, Newt, Vivian, Matt. We decided to take the Rongai route as it presented a long, gradual path up to Kibo huts for the summit night hopefully increasing our summit chances. Also, our friends Yu-kuan and Eric had taken the route before and successfully summited. We decided to use African Spoonbill Tours, also on recommendations from Yu-kuan and Eric as well as their friends.
Great! With the plans set pending the decision on dates, with commitments and excitement from our group members, and with Newt providing pointers to deals on equipment we'd need to buy, things were FINALLY in motion. Unfortunately this didn't last. Vivian and Newt had somewhat major life changing events, and I nearly had one with uncertainty about my job. So, the "set" plans were put on hold. For a long time. And with significant frustration. For a few months no progress was made. And then somehow, it all came together one day late in August. Newt and Vivian had decided to wait until next year to go, and Calvin, Pat and I decided to just go ahead and go in October. And we had our plan.
And with the plan it was time to get serious about training. I'm already rambling like crazy in this entry so feel free if you want to skip forwards to some part with pictures, but something that was important to me was training hard in preparation for the climb. After getting mild AMS in Peru at 12,500 ft after little training, then finding altitude much more tolerable in Nepal after a full season of triathlon training, I became a huge believer that being in shape helps your body deal with altitude a lot better. With the likelihood of climbing Kili this year being about maybe 70%, I'd decided back in June to do what I could to stay in shape after the the 2012 Tri season in case we did go. This meant long hilly runs at Rancho, bike n beer sessions, some swimming, and occasional longer bike rides. And when we bought the plane tickets, I realized we had 5 weeks left to train, so I put together a plan using the knowledge I'd gained from TNT workouts and old crew workouts back in high school. So here it is :) Use it, skip it, or scoff at it as you like :)
Key components of training:
- Long, hilly hikes with steep sections for leg muscle development, endurance, practice, and mental strength (Mission Peak in Fremont ended up being a PERFECT playground)
- Long hilly runs also for leg muscle development, endurance, and aerobic/anaerobic burst fitness
- Bike hill repeats for leg muscle development variety, and anaerobic fitness
- Long bike rides for leg muscle development variety and aerobic fitness
- Core workouts for strength carrying pack (a strong core helps just about all physical activity)
Other workouts:
- weight training, swimming
I also decided to use a bit of the "periodization" theory of triathlon training, that is, spend 3 weeks working hard and building, then take 1 to recover and let your body catch up. Of course with 5 weeks to play with, this ended up being 2 weeks hard, 1 recovery, 1 hard, then 1 recovery. So for my hard weeks, the schedule:
Monday - Core workout, Hilly Rancho San Antonio run (8 miles to peak of PG&E trail)
Tuesday - Bike hill repeats (Taafe hill or Mt. Eden)
Wednesday - Core workout, climb Mission Peak
Thursday - Swim ~ 1500m with hypoxia set, Weight workout
Friday - Core workout
Saturday/Sunday - EPIC workout (which ended up being ONE of: biking up Old La Honda, climbing Mission Peak twice, and running 13 miles at Rancho around park perimeter)
For the recovery weeks:
Monday - Core workout, 4.5 mile Rancho Run
Tuesday - Interval bike training
Wednesday - Core workout, climb Mission Peak
Thursday - Swim
Friday -Core workout
Saturday/Sunday - Flat bike ride, run, or hike
That, along with acquiring the gear, and doing what I could to secure my job, made me finally ready to head to Africa!
No comments:
Post a Comment