6/30/2007 Week in Training

Well we finally have a good week of training to report! Can't say my motivation was any more than it has been but my perseverance has kept me going...

• Monday was cardio, stationary bike, 30 minutes random hills level 10, then legs pretty hard.
• Tuesday was again cardio on the bike. Both days on the bike were due to people being on the stair mills each day. Then hit the weights for an upper body workout.
• Wednesday was finally on the stair mill but at the gym near work followed by a nice and painful legs session.
• Thursday was again on the stair mill, 30 minutes, followed by a hardy helping of upper body resistance training. In addition to my normal chest/back bi's/tri's workout I added some shoulder training. That was interesting...
• And Friday despite my schedule being shot to hell by various server failures out there in cyber land we made it to the gym in the afternoon. I hit the stair mill HARD for 40 minutes thinking that was all I was going to do. Then Mandi decided to do our normal legs session. I thought, well okay, I'll play too... During the first exercise, leg presses, I was pretty winded still from my stair mill session and had to rest between loading plates on... hehe. So I'm reading a book right now, Lone Survivor. It's by a Navy Seal who was the lone survivor of search and destroy mission in Afghanistan in 2005. I'm still in the first half of the book where he details SEAL training... I thought about that book for a few minutes and pushed through my moment of weakness... I gotta say, that book has been way more inspirational than any movie or mountaineering book I've read recently... It's now on my Recommended list, just like Oprah. :D

I started looking at flight information for December this week. Gerry sent his potential itinerary and it looks like I could hook up with him in Houston and then we could fly down to Quito together arriving in Ecuador at 10PM local time. Right now that flight will cost me about $700. Looking pretty good I'd say!

Also with regards to Ecuador time. I got a new 20" iMac yesterday (Friday) and I was setting it up, time zone and everything... :D So I added a clock for San Diego and Quito, Ecuador. Quito is on central time, only two hours later than Pacific Time! Seemed kind of a trip to me since it's so far away. Our total travel time will be nearly 10 hours and total flight time will be nearly 7 hours, yet we'll still only be 2 hours difference... Show's how often I've flown north or south...

Okay, that's all for this update, I need to go play with my iMac some more...
Ciao,
R

A little gym ettiquette please?

When I started this particular blog it was never my intention to make a place for my rants. I do that enough elsewhere. But since this particular gripe is about the gym it seemed appropriate to put it here.

So here is my list of things I wish people in the gym either would or would not do:

• I use a red lock on my locker. I wish people would notice the lock and not select the locker right next to mine. Now if the locker room were full I wouldn't complain but when I go in the mornings there are barely 10 peeps in there for 80 lockers.
• When I put my bag on the bench I try to use as little room as possible so as to leave room for others. When I go to the shower I put everything in my bag or locker so the total space I use is just the footprint of the bag. I wish others would try to do something similar, as opposed to one person taking up an entire bench.
• I wish people would re-rack their plates. I walked up to the squat sled and there were 5 plates on each side and no one around.
• I wish people would put away their dumb-bells. This morning 4 of 6 benches had dumb-bells on them implying that someone was working out there. So I stood to do my curls and shoulder presses. No one ever came to use those dumb-bells the entire time I was there.
• I wish people wouldn't put their towel on a shower stall and then go swim or sit in the sauna for 20 minutes. Someone else might want to use that stall.
• I wish people would rinse the sink after using it. Nothing more gross than old toothpaste, whiskers or spit in the sink, especially if it isn't mine.
• I wish people would at least use a towel in the sauna.
• I wish LA Fitness in 4S Ranch would put shower curtains on the men's shower stalls.
• I wish people would have conversations somewhere other than on the machine I want to use.
• I wish my gym had more than 3 stair mills. The last several days they've all been in use when I get there. Of course the three peeps on there stay there for 30, 40 even 60 minutes...
• I wish people would use one machine at a time.
• I wish people would wipe machines down after using them!
  

The challenge continues!

[Originally Posted: 6/22/2007]

I gotta say, I am having the hardest time keeping interest in training. But then again I've been working late lately and went to the Padres game Tuesday. That never helps working out the next day...

So here's where we are:

Monday I made it to the gym and had a good leg workout.

Tuesday and Wednesday nuttin! Well, not exactly nuttin, just no cardio. I've been working out with the medicine ball and the exercise ball in the evenings.

Yesterday, Thursday, I did 30 minutes on the bike trainer in the garage. Since it was about 100 degrees out it felt pretty good...

And I think I'm headed to the garage in a few to get another Trainer session in.

Last weekend I bought the first items specifically for Ecuador! I picked up some soft shell pants and some fancy schmancy climbing undies. The pants are pretty cool and super stretchy, I'm stoked. :D

Part of the fun of each new trip is getting new stuff to take along.

Until next time,

R

Training when Motivation-Free

[Originally Posted: 6/14/2007]

Man, last week was the first week of training and I was so motivated that I woke up early every day, 5am being early.

What a difference a week makes!

This week I so haven't wanted to work out. Monday I got up but never made it to the gym in the morning. I finally got there at lunch and I really felt better for going.

But Tuesday morning I STILL didn't want to go so again, I didn't make it in the morning, but was able to get there at lunch.

Those workouts were stairs and legs on Monday, stairs and upper body on Tuesday.

So finally on Wednesday Mandi and I made it to the gym in the morning. We both did cardio then went heavy on legs. I gotta say, it really felt good, but it was hard to get myself ready to go.

Thursday though, I had grand plans! Dentist in the morning, work from home till lunch, hit the gym hard and sweat A LOT, then finish the day working from home.

After the dentist I couldn't get online to work so... Had to go in to the office. There went the day.

Things are looking up though. Monday I am very interested in riding my bike to work. Should work to a nice 50 miles round trip.

Honeymoon Over means TRAINING!

[Originally Posted: 6/7/2007]

Ya, you betcha it does!

New York rocked! Man I dig that town, and I'll be blogging on that more in my personal blog.

But we're here to talk about training baby!!

Okay, what I bean doin??? Well for the most part just basic cardio and weight training.

Monday I was at it early since I was still on East Coast time. Hit the stair mill for 30 minutes and then did light to medium weights for legs and upper body. Finished with 20 minutes on the stationary bike. I was pretty fatigued on my first day back at work...

Tuesday was more stair mill, 30 minutes, and then an upper body workout. Where Monday's stair mill session was survival, Tuesdays session was more high pressure. :)

Wednesday I started with 30 minutes on the stationary bike then went heavy with legs. Yeah, I was walking a bit funny at work.

Thursday I had to take Sam to school so I did a light stair mill session at lunch then ran after work. My run was painful and barely over 3 miles... I haven't run much in the last few months so I have an uphill effort there but my motivation is high!

A side event to my gym sessions has been using the Exercise ball. Man you can really hammer your abs on that thing. I'm still learning more exercises on this device but I'm enjoying it.

This week in Training

[Originally Posted: 5/21/2007]

So in the week before my wedding training has taken a back seat.

Highlights this week were Golf on Sunday, a few sessions in the gym, and a couple of sessions on the exercise ball.

At the gym I did my normal stair mill workouts but recently I've started using a new method called Fartlek.

This is a process of warming up then increasing the tempo substantially for a short duration then returning to a maintainable tempo and then repeating. I come away from the session fairly fatigued but I also feel the affects of the workout for most of the day. The other part I feel is if I take a day off before the next workout I really feel stronger. It was surprising at first but a pleasant surprise.

I am new to the exercise ball but Mandi has shown me a few workouts and we're still exploring this new tool/toy... I primarily use it for trunk training. I have a history of back pain so I'm really looking for something to help me with core strength. I know this is certainly valuable on a mountain, but I'm also hoping it'll appease my back pain somewhat.

So the wedding is Saturday, off we go honeymooning on Sunday for a week, so I see a few added LB's in my near future. But on my return to San Diego I'll be going into full blown training mode for the next six months.

What does it take to climb a 19,000 foot mountain?

[Originally Posted: 5/8/2007]

What does it take to train for 19,000 plus feet?

Well, I'm not really sure. The highest I've been is 14,505 and the toughest climb I've done was Mount Rainier at 14,411.

My best guess is I'll need to be about 25% more fit than when I did Rainier. How how do you quantify that? Hard to say. I know that I was reasonably comfortable on Rainier. And I further know that I suffered mightily during the decent.

So where was I when I did Rainier? I was running 6 to 7 miles 3 times a week, and was doing the Stair Mill at my gym 3 times a week for 40 to 60 minutes at between level 10 and 12.

What I did not do, and my climbing partner Kurtiss did do, was to hike real mountains or do any kind of hiking in my plastic boots. I've read repeatedly that plastics don't need break in. Well that may be, but your feet and legs certainly do. Plastics hurt! You need to learn how to walk in them, uphill, downhill and on flats.

Given Kurtiss' impressive strength in the later portion of the climb and decent it would seem that hiking Mount Baldy several times in his plastics really paid off.

So this time around I plan on repeating my efforts in the cardio training, and even stepping it up some, and I plan on augmenting this with hikes on trails in plastic and leather boots.

Further I plan on specific training for decending.

And finally I plan on training my neck muscles since I suffered much pain in my neck, I can only assume due to the added weight of helmet and headlamp. I'm not totally clear on the the cause but I plan on strengthening my neck muscles just the same.

So that's it in a nut shell. I hope to do training hikes on Mt San Jacinto and Mt Baldy in Riverside, as well as training hikes on local mountains like Woodson and Iron Mountain.

This all begins right after my impending wedding over memorial weekend. After that Ray will be hitting hard. :D

What are Cotopaxi and Cayambe?

[Originally Posted: 5/8/2007]

Cotopoxi and Cayambe are both active Volcano's in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecaudor.

Cotopaxi has the distinction of being the tallest active volcano in the world. It is a beautifully symetrical cone shaped mountian. She run's about 19,347 feet tall and from the snow capped summit one can look down into the caldera.

Cayambe is just slightly lower at 18,997 feet, and is slightly broader. Cayambe has the distinction of being directly on the equator. Due to the equatorial bulge of the earth that makes the summit of Cayambe the farthest point from the center of the earth and the highest point on the earth's equator.

What the Hell???

[Originally Posted: 5/5/2007]

So as one can see below, my next mountains will be Cotopaxi and Cayambe in Ecaudor, first week of December. :D

I plan on blogging about my training and preparations for this trip. Why? well, who knows. Maybe somebody is interested or will try something similar and want to see how others have prepared...

Confirmation

[Originally Posted: 5/5/2007]

Dear Ramon,

Welcome to Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. We are pleased to confirm your Ecuador's Volcanoes for November 30 - 10 December, 2007. We look forward to having you as team members.

Attached please find a detailed confirmation packet which includes your program itinerary, equipment list, training tips and equipment rental. A Medical Information and Assumption of Risk Form is also attached. Please complete and return this form to our office at least 60 days prior to the start of the program. The Physician's Certificate will require a signature from your doctor and also must be returned 60 days before your program.

For information on airfare and trip cancellation insurance contact our professional travel agent, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, at www.mountaintravelcenter.com or call 800-935-0123. We also suggested that you purchase travel insurance that will cover expense for treatment in connection with acute illness or accident while you are abroad. For more information visit the International Health Insurance website at www.ihi.com.

Please feel free to contact our office with any questions you may have. Our guides are available to help with any equipment, training or mountaineering questions.

We look forward to sharing this adventure with you and thank you for choosing Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.

Sincerely,
Autumn

Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.

PO Box Q, Ashford, WA 98304 888.892.5462 info@rmiguides.com www.rmiguides.com