Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion How is everyones training going?

I started my regular workouts running stadium stairs,core training and isokenetic machines regimine 4 times a week in January.It feels absolutely awesome to be getting back into shape.
I took almost the entire year off last year from training after 4 straight years of 6 times a week training.No excuses I just wasn't into it for lots of reasons.
I had to take a week off last week due to a self inflicted respiratory infection from sweeping the garage out full of dust and rat poop without a mask. Dumb and stupid on my part!!!
Amazing how even a week off and being on antibiotics, which I NEVER take, I returned to full workouts without missing a beat.

I am aware some never do anything more than hike regularly. I am am totally blown away with Bee's workouts that have added 25 lbs of solid muscle.
What are the rest of you doing to get into Whitney shape?

After 3 months of running and pretending I know what I'm doing up high in the winter, I'm finally back in good shape...at least that is what my heart rate monitor is telling me.

Whitney death march shape? No. Carry 30# up to Trail Camp in August shape...yeah.

Very few would want to do my workout in prep for climbing a 14er. lst of all I live at 6500' which helps. All year I do my morning neighborhood walk of 1 mile with my dog. When the snow lessens on the Mts I go out in June and climb a 14er involving maybe 3000' elevation gain from where I park the car and the total round trip is probably 8 miles. It isn't alot of fun but does let me know that I can do it and I move on into more summer climbs without worrying that I can do it. I have been doing this for nearly 30 years in Colorado & know many will scoff at calling this real training. But as someone mentioned everyone has their own way of doing things and this is my routine.

When my son and I climbed Kilimanjaro in Oct 1994 (I was 57) I just looked up my logbook and read that I climbed 56 14ers (alot of repeats to get the 56) during the summer prep for Kili, again only doing the above "training" until getting into the serious climbing June-Sept.

The training is going poorly lol, really all I can do effectively is walk from my home out into the foot hills with a pack on, I have been trying to get on a regular routine of walking at least 10 miles 3 days a week but it's not easy to motivate myself with walking when most of it is done along highways and offers little enjoyment of the out doors, also when I work all day in construction it's hard to get home and then say time to walk for the 10 miles!

As it is i'm in pretty poor shape, the 600 miles I plan to hike this summer is intimidating for sure but i'm sure I will make it.

Not as well as I would have hoped, but there are no excuses.

I "WAS" doing great two months ago. Then two colds in a row after having only two colds in the prior 4 years! Well, I'm back at the gym and doing an hour on elevation on the treadmill, then leg weights for about 20 or more minutes. Then back on the stairclimber or treadmill for about 10 minutes.
But.....I just started the leg weights this week. Hmmmmm..my legs were so strong when I was 28. 25 years later, not so much. But, my new hip is doing fine :-)

I would love to expand on this subject and ask EXACTLY what other people are doing.

Hiking, Joe. And more hiking. At this point only hiking. I've been as busy as a one-armed paper-hanger the last few weeks, but have managed to get out to a local mountain 2-3 times per week to concentrate on uphill hiking. When I have time for other stuff, I try to fit it in, but with Whitney about 3 months away hiking uphill comes first. Last Saturday the family and I did 7.5 miles together with about 2000 feet of elevation gain. Did the last hour in the dark using headlamps, which neither my wife nor daughter had ever done before. Good prep for that O'Dark-thirty start . . .

What exactly? I run 4 miles with my heart rate at 81% of max 3X week and play in the snow on Saturdays. The gains on those climbs average over 3,000' but the ascent distances are relatively short from 1.5 to 4 miles . It averages out to about 8 hours/week.

I judge my physical condition by average heart rate and the in the zone time. The rate is just above optimum for me and average times in the zone are between 35 and 40% of the total run, which for me is very good.

Every day is a training day for us. If we take a day off, someone or some thing will be a day ahead of us.

The only easy day was yesterday...

Although we did not secure a permit for Mecca West, we are training in the event we can secure a walk-in.

Heavy packs(food, water): up and down the foothills in our community. Some elevation gains of 500 feet in 1/2 mile.

"Curbing": We work on our proprioreceptors by walking on the curbs alongside the roads to work on balance and to strengthen our lower legs. Done with and without heavy packs. With packs, center of gravity is raised. Makes for a challenge up and down hills on the curbs. No twisted ankles.

Running: without the heavy packs.

Hikes: Snowshoe hikes at Badger Pass. Hikes at Alder Creek, Mariposa Grove.

Daily routine: 1,000 crunches, 500 pushups, 100 pullups, 100 bardips, 100 vertical knee raises.

Weight training: Leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls, squats, upright rows, pulldowns, curls, tricep extensions, rowing.

Print and post the following to your bathroom mirror or on the dash of your car:

NOBODY EVER DROWNED IN SWEAT.
PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL. BE AFRAID NOT TO TRY.
THOSE ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN DID NOT FALL THERE.
HAVE FUN



Have fun!

Frequent hikes up to the Druid Boulders, core strength training at the gym, and plenty of dietary supplements from the Great Basin Bakery (especially Cowgirl cookies).

It was going well... I was in the gym 3 days a week and going for long hikes at least one day on the weekend. Last sunday I did an 11.2 mile hike with 4000 vertical feet in just under 4.5 hours.

Then... I broke my foot. Now I am scrambling trying to figure out how to get healed and get my conditioning ready for a trip in July

I think it depends on where the break is on your foot. If it's in an okay place, the Lifecycle may help as you can put more of your energy into your quads. Ask the doc what's right for you.

I hurt a tendon in my foot about 6 weeks before the Wild Wild West marathon. I could not put weight on the foot, so I used my stationary bike at home for up to 2 and a half hours a few times a week. I did not run once before the marathon and finished un about 5:45. I know, that's slow, but maybe you haven't run the WWW.

Today at the gym: 2 hours on the Stair Climber. Planning on a hike on Sunday.

So sorry about your foot, thenine! 4k in just over 4 hours is really hauling!

Do what you can to keep up the aerobic condition while the foot mends -- you will bounce back quickly.

If available, you might try running in a swimming pool wearing one of those flotation vests. Or even just walking fast in
shallow end without a vest. A runner I knew did this plus alot of stationary bike riding and after the injury healed he
was running as well as before, which was elite national level.

Thanks for the well wishes. I have talked to my doctor and think I will be able to keep my cardio up through a combination of swimming (no kicking allowed) and rowing (arms only). The doctors only concern is that my foot might not be healed enough to handle a weighted pack on uneven terrain.

Anyway I missed the part of the thread where people asked for training details so here goes.

Mondays and Thursday - I work out with free weights and keep it short but intense. Typically I do heavy squats or dead-lifts, pull ups and core. Sometimes I pull a workout from crossfit.com

Tuesday and Friday - These are my grinder days where I try to make the workout intense and lost longer than an hour. I will either do a stair climber for 40 minutes at a high settings with pull ups and sit ups following, do some sort of long circuit (for example 8 rounds of run 400 meters, 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 sits ups, 20 squats), or pull a workout from http://www.mtnathlete.com/.

Sat and Sunday - Get out and Enjoy the outdoors. Usually take a short hike with the wife one day and take a long hike on the other.