Jammer, great report. Nice to read it first-hand. For such a long-distance trip, it IS too bad you didn't plan an extra night on the mountain.
As for training, I live in Calif, but don't get in much altitude hiking before a trip. But what I do is exercise vigorously 3x per week (I always do that), and then pre-trip, I'll increase the conditioning by bicycling in addition to the regular workouts. And finally, to condition the feet and legs for those pounding miles, the week before the trip, load up my pack with full weight in water jugs, and walk 2+ miles several nights. You don't NEED to do the climbing work, but duplicating the energy burn rate with similar aerobic training is necessary.
As for those multiple night "breaks", I learned from an old-timer years ago: pee bottle: Gatorade 20 oz works for me. I've been doing that the past 5 years, and it really helps in several ways. 1: Hydrating in the mountains is important, so rather than go to bed "dry", I can drink a lot of water before bed time and not worry. 2: using the bottle saves a lot of energy and hassle -- getting out of and back into a mummy bag is a royal pita. 3: it is easier to get back to sleep.
