I had a swim coach once who said, “If you want to swim faster, swim faster.” I sometimes translate that as, “If you want to climb higher, climb higher.” Today’s training session was step-ups. It was the first, real big batch of them so it was quite a work out. The instructions state something to the effect of… “Find a sturdy step that is between 15 and 17 inches high, find 22 pounds to put in your backpack, put backpack on your back, step up and down off the step 500 times (as fast as you can).

Here’s what a 17 inch step looks like compared to my “Dachshund” leg…basically the height of my knee…I’m only 62 and 3/4 inches tall…so a 17 inch step is more than a quarter of my height…you perhaps are getting the picture.

It was tough. Not at first, but as the number of steps mounted, so did the sweat all over the floor. I started aiming to do one hundred in a row without stopping, which I managed. Then I downgraded to 50 a time for the next while. By the end, getting 25 in a row was all I could do. 500 was a great moment and climbing the stairs to my office to drop off my backpack seemed like a breeze (the steps seemed so little in comparison). I traded my step for the treadmill and completed a 30 minute run to close the stamina session.

Climbing at altitude requires a great deal of stamina because every step can take so much effort. Because Ama Dablam is a technical peak, some of the steps will be absolutely shattering to take. I’ll be grasping for grip as well as air so I’m doing my best to practice gasping for air in stamina sessions which are part of my training plan every three days or so. Tomorrow morning, it’s off to Signal Hill for a few speed ascents (though I’m not sure how fast they’ll be as my legs are fairly beat after the training session and today’s hockey game. I’ll be chasing Diane up the hill so that should give me lots of motivation to shake off the fatigue and ask my legs to take more and faster steps.

After a few weeks “off”, I was back at it today doing “Up Downs” on Signal Hill with a 30 pound pack. I was wearing my birthday present to myself, an Autographer. The autographer is a wearable camera that snaps pictures at set intervals. I’m testing it out for use during expeditions and other applications. It has no display so you have to wait to hook it up to a computer or connect it to a smartphone to see what it captured along the way. I’ve been enjoying the randomness of the images it shot today as well as some of the unique angles/aspects of a familiar place causing me to think/perceive the place/experience in new ways as well.

I wasn’t exactly off from training-Marian and I were out on two separate sea kayak trips, one in Bonavista Bay out of Burnside and one in Trinity Bay near Random Island. Kayaking tends to be great training for the core muscles and upper body strength. I now able to do quite a number of pull ups once again, thanks to those thousands of paddle strokes each day. My legs, though, had a few weeks to rest and recover. So, after a few days of settling in, I found some discipline and headed to the hill. “Up downs” are a great combo of both trail and stair climbing, easy and tougher trail hiking.

I love the autographer shots because they capture the toughness of the stairs…the one almost seems like a stairway to heaven. It’s good to be back at it because the training becomes self-perpetuating/ self motivating as I do it. Getting over the inertia of having let it slide during travel is tough but I was reminded today that a few steps in the favoured direction helps a bunch. The life lesson for me today is that each day is a new beginning, a new opportunity to be back at it or at it (whichever the case may be), and that it’s always good to climb the stairs in front of me (as opposed to the ones behind or way ahead).

Here’s a look at my new tire pulling rig. Thanks to Marian for coming along and taking this picture. This week my pack weight was up by 8 pounds and I managed the two tires side by side much of the way up Signal Hill. The cool morning made the pull a wee bit easier, though overall, the increase in pack weight made it all seem harder than week one. I’m getting back into the swing of training and managed my first day back in the gym without too much soreness in the following 48 hours.

Marian and I had a great time checking out the climbing wall at Easter Seals on Friday. It’s going to be a great training resource because the wall has an auto-belay which means I’ll be able to climb laps and push my forearms and grip strength to the test over and over again. We’ve also been gardening a bunch of late and tonight we had a BBQ at the garden on our Bio-lite stove complemented by salad from our garden. It was lovely to be out after a day of house-cleaning and packing for our next trip.

Tomorrow I am back at it again and looking forward to another week of building strength, building perseverance, and building reserve while balancing that with a busy week at work and trip prep. Happy Sunday!