No weigh-in this week. I'm suspicious that I have gained a few pounds during this last push of training and have zero desire to confirm or deny that fact. I'll deal with it post Rainier. I mentioned in my last post that it was my last big training hike before the climb and how excited I was to "taper" for the mountain. Technically, my training schedule originally called for a 9 hour hike last weekend and a 7 hour hike this weekend. Training plans are meant to be changed though. Hopefully, that won't be on a list of things I regretted when I didn't make it. My trainer, my husband and my dad seem to think my original training plan was a bit excessive and I will be fine with the modification I made for my own sanity and to save my feet. Time will tell.
Here is what the week looked like day-by-day:
Monday: 3.18 mile recovery run before my First Aid/CPR certification class
Tuesday: 1 hour strength training; 85 minute hike with 40 lb pack
Wednesday: Ran 8 miles at Sharon Woods
Thursday: 1 hour strength training; 34 minutes Dam Steps with 43 lb pack
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: 14 mile run with the 9:45 pace group; 7 mile bike ride with trailer
Sunday: 5:04 hike at Tar Hollow State Park, 45 lb pack
The Week in Pictures
 |
| We were excited to see this sign on Tuesday, but it wasn't too bad. |
 |
| 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10! |
 |
| I just love this tree in the path. |
I saw the local sports medicine doctor on Monday to make sure I didn't need to do anything drastic and wasn't doing any damage to my feet by continuing to workout. He said that it was the beginning (or ending) of plantar fasciitis. He seemed to agree with me that it was likely caused by my crazy hard soled mountain boots and the amount of hill training, but warned me that sometimes it just creeps up as well. He said that based on what I told him, what I was doing was fine, that I could keep pushing for the mountain. If it persisted beyond the mountain, we would talk about potential PT solutions. Honestly though, after leaving the mountain boots behind all week, my feet feel much better and didn't bother me at all during the weekend.
Other mountain training things? I tried training my stomach to find a good dehydrated meal for the mountain. I tried many, many of these things.
 |
| Nothing like dehydrated shrimp to keep you going! |
I loaded all my gear except for food, water and my sleeping bag into my pack this week and weighed it. 19 lbs. My water weighs 5 lbs, my sleeping bag weighs 2 lbs. I'm estimating food will be around 5-8 lbs. (For those keeping score, that means my pack from Paradise to Camp Muir should be between 30-35 lbs if I don't overpack food). To the 19 lb pack, for my hike on Sunday, I added a 10 lb weight wrapped in a sweatshirt, a second sweatshirt and an extra bottle of water, a first aid kit, my water and snacks. (For a total of ~45 lbs). The idea was to have my pack around 5-10 lbs heavier than my camp muir pack for my last big hike. I will use this pack until I have to unload it all to pack for my trip.
Avery's birthday party is this weekend and family is coming to town. This is part of the reason for no 7 hour hikes. That, and everyone is yelling at me that I don't need it and it could be harmful. So, instead I'll be taking the family for a nice trip to the dam steps on Sunday. They are so lucky.
How did I measure up on my changes to my training from last year? Ok, I think. I'm definitely in a lot better shape than I was before my climb attempt last year. I still have several kernels of doubt that I think will be there even AFTER I gain the summit. For now, I will be easing off on the workouts a bit for the final two weeks to the climb. Damn. Two weeks. Two weeks from today I will be starting mountaineering school and practicing arresting glacier falls. I wonder if they will add anything extra to prepare us for the ice shelf that we now have to climb in the new route?
How is your training going lately? Anyone else have something big coming up soon?
Would the concept of an ice shelf to climb in the route freak anyone other than me out?
Anyone else ever tried dehydrated meals?
Just going up the mountain period would freak me out so an ice shelf (whatever that is) would have me in a panic. I am glad you are listening to advice. Now try to rest!
ReplyDeleteWow, you are a machine, Girl! I hope you have a nice, long, relaxing island holiday of zero workouts and lots of lounging on the beach planned for after that summit... ;) You definitely deserve it. Holding all my thumbs and toes and fingers for the climb!!
ReplyDelete