All Picture at the bottom
57 days until "I hope!" to Summit Mount Kilimanjaro. I have been training for a few months now.
The one issue I have not trained for is Altitude. What better place to do some altitude training then Colorado. So off I go.
My brother took the week off to help with my training or should I say to beat the sh$t out of me.
Day 1- work out 1- Snowshoe up Chef Mountain - we started the hike at 10,500 feet. The snow was so deep in places we had to wear snow shows. We gained over 1,000 feet in evaluation in just over a mile of hiking. Our maximum elevation was 11,506 feet, not bad for a flat lander, but not the 20,000 feet we will hit on Kilimanjaro. After the hike we headed back to the house for lunch.
Day 1- work out 2 - Hike up Evergreen Mountain - This hike is at a little lower altitude than Chef Mountain. We started the hike at 7,700 feet and only gained 813 feet. Chef Mountain was a total of 2.3 miles. Evergreen Mountain was over 4 miles so not as steep as the morning hike, but a little longer.
We all slept great, it was now time for Day 2. With two hikes already under our belts we decided to switch it up a little.
Day 2 - work out 1 - Road Bike - yep, 60 degrees in Colorado in December. We decided to break the road bikes out, we covered 35 miles, sure there was a little ice. We kept the bikes up right and had a
great time.
Day 2 - work out 2 - for the afternoon we did some stretching and weight training.
Another great night sleep. I have never had an issue with altitude and this trip seems to be the same. Sure I am tired, but I think the exercise has more to do with that than the altitude.
Day 3 - work out 1 - My brother got me a special treat for today, let's say an early Christmas present. A two hour spin / torture class with Marty Able of Altitude Cycling. If you do not know who Marty is, think Lance Armstrong without the doping. The two hour spin was brutal. We did a 20 minute hill climb with more attacks then I care to count. After that class a nap was in order.
Day 3 - work out 2 - When you summit Mount Kilimanjaro you actually start the ascent at midnight arriving at the summit at sunrise. Up to
this point I had not done any night hiking. My brother wanted to get me some night hiking experience plus it was a full moon. We decided to hike up Green Mountain. The best part of this hike is you start the hike on the opposite side of Denver as you come over the peak you see all the lights of Denver. An outstanding sight. This hike was 3 miles long we climbed from 6,000 feet to a little over 6,800 feet. What a great experience hiking in the dark, with the only light coming from the full moon.
"Z" heard about our training and felt he needed to come and help, not so much with the Physical
part of the training, but with nutrition. "Z" flew in from Seattle and started cooking.
Day 4 workout 1 - Skiing - We skied over 35 miles in under 4 hours. This was down hill skiing so we had gravity and ski lifts on our side. We spent most of the day on Mary Jane which are mostly blue and black runs. We even got lost once and did a nice mogul run. Of course we had to stop at the Dairy King for some Ice-cream on the way home.
Day 4 workout 2 - OFF / NAP
Dinner - "Z" made us a fantastic stuffed Chicken Parmesan. What a great way to get some calories back in us.
I seem to be sleeping and eating better everyday. No ill effects from the altitude.
Day 5 workout 1 - Today we are picking Scrappy up from College, joining him will be his long time girlfriend of 2 months, Oregon. Scrappy goes to Colorado State, since we were going to be in Fort Collins we decided to hike Horse Tooth Mountain.
This hike would be our longest so far at 5.87 miles. We started at 5,686 and maxed out at just over 7,000 feet, for a gain of 1,619 feet counting some ups and downs. This hike had some bad icy spots, beside a couple of embarrassing slips, no real injuries.
Day 5 workout 2 - For the afternoon we did a Tabata Workout, 3 circuits, each circuit consisted of 4 exercises we did 3 rounds of each. This was a total or 45 minutes of hard workout, not bad at 7,500 feet. Yep, got the heart rate up.
Dinner - "Z" made home made pizza, even tossing the dough in the air like a professional. Another great meal followed by another great nights sleep.
Day 6 workout 1 - It was time for a long hike. We decided to do a local trail called Bergen Peak Trail, followed by Too Long Trail. We covered 11.2 miles in 4 hours and 40 minutes. We had an elevation gain of over 2,300 feet. We hit a maximum elevation of a hair under 10,000 feet.
With my week of training coming towards the end, my brother decided to give me the afternoon off and instead we went out and saw a Christmas light show down in Littleton.
Day 7 (last day) work out 1 - being the last work out of the week and since I would be flying all night we decided just one hike. We hiked Elephant Butte. This hike was short and sweet. 3.36 miles with an elevation gain or 1,167 feet, very steep and mostly ice. What a way to end the week.
I took the redeye back to the east coast, where I meet up with Magarite. Margarite had been following my training and of course joined me in Yosemite. She let me know she
would be joining me on Kilimanjaro along with Big Ed. I decided we needed a good shake down hike so we headed to Shenandoah National Park and hiked Old Rag Mountain. We covered 9.17 miles in four hours and 56 minutes. We had a total elevation gain or 2,446 feet. Everybody held up great.
Still a month out from summiting Kilimanjaro, more elevation and training is needed. Magarite and I decided a few days in Tucson are in order, so off we go.
Cheers,
DUG
Pictures
57 days until "I hope!" to Summit Mount Kilimanjaro. I have been training for a few months now.
My brother took the week off to help with my training or should I say to beat the sh$t out of me.
Day 1- work out 1- Snowshoe up Chef Mountain - we started the hike at 10,500 feet. The snow was so deep in places we had to wear snow shows. We gained over 1,000 feet in evaluation in just over a mile of hiking. Our maximum elevation was 11,506 feet, not bad for a flat lander, but not the 20,000 feet we will hit on Kilimanjaro. After the hike we headed back to the house for lunch.
We all slept great, it was now time for Day 2. With two hikes already under our belts we decided to switch it up a little.
Day 2 - work out 1 - Road Bike - yep, 60 degrees in Colorado in December. We decided to break the road bikes out, we covered 35 miles, sure there was a little ice. We kept the bikes up right and had a great time.
Day 2 - work out 2 - for the afternoon we did some stretching and weight training.
Another great night sleep. I have never had an issue with altitude and this trip seems to be the same. Sure I am tired, but I think the exercise has more to do with that than the altitude.
Day 3 - work out 1 - My brother got me a special treat for today, let's say an early Christmas present. A two hour spin / torture class with Marty Able of Altitude Cycling. If you do not know who Marty is, think Lance Armstrong without the doping. The two hour spin was brutal. We did a 20 minute hill climb with more attacks then I care to count. After that class a nap was in order.
this point I had not done any night hiking. My brother wanted to get me some night hiking experience plus it was a full moon. We decided to hike up Green Mountain. The best part of this hike is you start the hike on the opposite side of Denver as you come over the peak you see all the lights of Denver. An outstanding sight. This hike was 3 miles long we climbed from 6,000 feet to a little over 6,800 feet. What a great experience hiking in the dark, with the only light coming from the full moon.
"Z" heard about our training and felt he needed to come and help, not so much with the Physical
Day 4 workout 1 - Skiing - We skied over 35 miles in under 4 hours. This was down hill skiing so we had gravity and ski lifts on our side. We spent most of the day on Mary Jane which are mostly blue and black runs. We even got lost once and did a nice mogul run. Of course we had to stop at the Dairy King for some Ice-cream on the way home.
Day 4 workout 2 - OFF / NAP
Dinner - "Z" made us a fantastic stuffed Chicken Parmesan. What a great way to get some calories back in us.
I seem to be sleeping and eating better everyday. No ill effects from the altitude.
Day 5 workout 1 - Today we are picking Scrappy up from College, joining him will be his long time girlfriend of 2 months, Oregon. Scrappy goes to Colorado State, since we were going to be in Fort Collins we decided to hike Horse Tooth Mountain.
This hike would be our longest so far at 5.87 miles. We started at 5,686 and maxed out at just over 7,000 feet, for a gain of 1,619 feet counting some ups and downs. This hike had some bad icy spots, beside a couple of embarrassing slips, no real injuries.
Dinner - "Z" made home made pizza, even tossing the dough in the air like a professional. Another great meal followed by another great nights sleep.
Day 6 workout 1 - It was time for a long hike. We decided to do a local trail called Bergen Peak Trail, followed by Too Long Trail. We covered 11.2 miles in 4 hours and 40 minutes. We had an elevation gain of over 2,300 feet. We hit a maximum elevation of a hair under 10,000 feet.
Day 7 (last day) work out 1 - being the last work out of the week and since I would be flying all night we decided just one hike. We hiked Elephant Butte. This hike was short and sweet. 3.36 miles with an elevation gain or 1,167 feet, very steep and mostly ice. What a way to end the week.
I took the redeye back to the east coast, where I meet up with Magarite. Margarite had been following my training and of course joined me in Yosemite. She let me know she
would be joining me on Kilimanjaro along with Big Ed. I decided we needed a good shake down hike so we headed to Shenandoah National Park and hiked Old Rag Mountain. We covered 9.17 miles in four hours and 56 minutes. We had a total elevation gain or 2,446 feet. Everybody held up great.
Still a month out from summiting Kilimanjaro, more elevation and training is needed. Magarite and I decided a few days in Tucson are in order, so off we go.
Cheers,
DUG
Pictures
Sounds like a great trip. We will have to try this Mary Jane .
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