Training Tuesday: Ecuador Summit!

Week of June 24-June 30, 2013:

Current Weight: 154.4 (Up the 0.8 lbs)

Total Lost to date (since September 2011): 66.4 lbs

I'm not going to stress about weight right now.  I may even stop reporting weight for a few weeks to stop focusing so much on it.  This weigh-in was after a day of non-stop eating that was a direct result of my Saturday-Sunday workout combination.  It is necessary to replace those lost calories, and my scale is going to fluctuate.  I need to stop stressing already!  Besides, I've decided it's all muscle anyway.  HA.

Major changes from last weeks workouts:  Added 2.5 lbs to my pack this week in the form of a full nalgene water bottle (to allow me to either drink it or dump it out towards the end of the longer hikes as necessary).  I also increased the long hike by one hour.  No Thursday stair session with Avery this week as I was beginning to feel run down.  This was the 2nd week in Mark's two week trip to Ecuador.  Mad respect for all the single moms with young kids out there.  I told Mark if he did not survive the climb, I was following him into whatever afterlife he went to and dragging him back.  Luckily, I was not required to follow through on that promise.

Ecuador???  Did I just say Ecuador?  Updates are in order.  The entire RMI team had to turn around at around 18,300' on Cayambe because the winds were too severe and conditions were too dangerous above 18,000'.  They got hit with storms on Cotopaxi as well, but never so severe that they couldn't summit.  My Dad and my husband both reached the summit at 19,348 feet.  It was a brutal climb and the weather conditions were punishing.  They actually had to take a different route down.  My husband confessed to having a panic attack once they were finally out of the crevasse field they climbed through.  I have asked him if he will do a write up for my blog, and he has agreed.  A sneak preview of pictures...

Mark and my Dad on the summit of Cotopaxi

One of the crevasses they had to climb through on the descent

Fun stuff from last week:  Mark came home on Saturday afternoon after two weeks in Ecuador!  I found a new babysitter when my neighbor helped me repair my mailbox after some punks tore it out.  More on that story later.

You will need a crowbar to separate us again Daddy.

Here is what the week looked like day-by-day:

Monday: 5 mile recovery stroller run, avg pace 9:59

Tuesday: 1 hour strength training; 60 minute hike with 34 lb pack

Wednesday: Dam intervals.  (Ran 5 miles total)

Thursday: 1 hour strength training; 6 mile recovery run, 9:23 avg pace

Friday:  Rest day

Saturday: 10.1 mile run, avg pace 9:30

Sunday:  ~ 4 hour hike at Clear Creek Metro Park, 45 lb pack

Some pictures from this week:

More chips Mommy!
(And by chips, she means chipmunks)

I really need to change my definition of fun.

This stupid trail just keeps going up!

I took quite a few pictures on my long hike with the intent of doing a write-up on hiking in Clear Creek Park, I will work on that in the next few days!

My birthday is tomorrow.  How will I celebrate???  By dragging my running wife to do the dam intervals with me.  Muwahaha!  Sucker!  :)

I turn 35 tomorrow, which doesn't really normally bother me.  Heck, half the time I tell people the wrong age when asked how old I am because I just don't pay attention to that anymore.  For some reason, the last couple of days, it's gotten to me.  Not because I'm old.  Because my sister was always 5 years younger than me.  She should be turning 30 this year instead of dying so young.  I can't really explain why this has gotten to me recently, it just has.  I hope I'll pull myself out of the funk soon and catch up on some blogging and other fun stuff.

Sometimes, missing someone is hard.

Again, no races for me as I focus on this whole mountain climbing thing.  I really hope my climb is easier than my husband's was!  (And it should be).  My friend Richard didn't get to summit Rainier this weekend because weather stopped them around 12,700'.  He says he still had fun though.  My friend Amanda completed her first 50 mile race this weekend.  Anyone else race or climb this weekend?