22 sleeps to go: Training

My 2nd most asked question over the years (#1 being: “How do you pee on the mountain?”) would have to be “What training do you do?”.

Now that I’m only 3 weeks out and finished up at work my training is quite specific. Hiking each day with a couple of agility sessions a week and lots of stretching, core etc.

But my training regime leading up to this was as follows:

Monday
AM: Stairwell training (1 hr running – 120 floors)
PM: Back in the stairwell

Tuesday
Rest day

Wednesday
AM: Stairwell
PM: Agility Training
      Stretching

Thursday
AM: Stairwell
PM:  2-3 hours cardio endurance on RPM bike

Friday
AM:  Agility Training
PM:  Rest / Stretching

Saturday
AM:  2-4 hrs Snake Pit with my beloved tyre “Simo” and backpack or weight vest

Sunday
AM: Hiking in Cleland 5 hrs

Training at the Snake Pit (pre Manaslu): You can just see my best friend "Simo" behind me. He doesn't corner very well!!

Prior to Manaslu the backpack contained 30kg of water.
For Everest I’ve dropped the weight to 15kg with the goal being faster more agile feet, to make me safer on the mountain.

The other finding on Manaslu was, I was carrying too much upper body muscle. I’d worked hard to be strong enough to perform a crevasse rescue on my own but on the big mountains it uses up way too much oxygen. So by changing my 2 personal training sessions from weights pre Manaslu to agility post Manaslu, I’ve managed to lose 10kg of muscle! Whew!

My training didn’t start seven years ago with 8hr hikes, carrying 30 kgs or running 120 floors.
I can still remember my very first walk preparing for my “tramp” in New Zealand.
7.5 kg in the backpack….. “I’ll make it to the next tree!….. Ok… to the next tree”.
And my first stairwell session with the backpack in the BHP stairs on a Friday night with Tracey and co sticking their heads in the stairwell shouting words of encouragement (at least I think that’s what they were saying!). 4 floors…. then a lot of huffing and puffing and stretching. Another 4 floors.

And it wasn’t so long before it was 156 floors with 20+ kgs in 1.5 hrs.

So for anyone seeing me out training and thinking “I could do that!” You’re right. You absolutely could. And for those of you thinking “there’s no way I could do that” maybe you’re right but I bet you could start where I did 7 years ago and build up to it!  

And remember I haven’t done all of this on my own. I’ve always had a trainer to give me advice and help me if ever I’m feeling a little daunted.

Speaking of whom! The wonders of modern technology I’ve just been “chatting” with my trainer Dom Nuske whilst writing this blog. I asked him if he’d volunteer to write a few words in a future blog and maybe answer some of your questions.    
He’s kindly agreed.
DOM: “The climb literally started months ago, making sure Lynette’s body is peaking at the right time so she doesn’t burn out before she leaves but also that she is not under prepared”

So if you have any questions for Dom or myself send them in and in response to another popular question I thought I’d give you some of the little tricks I’ve used over the years to keep myself motivated, especially on those “not in the zone” days and trust me there’s been a few of them!

Until next time

Namaste

Trotty