Anthony gets out on a hike!

This past week was a pretty full training week for me.  I managed to get in a good hike over the weekend.  Total distance was about 15 miles.  I carried 50lb in my pack and I'm not sure what the exact elevation gain was, but there was a lot of up-hill work.  I quickly realized that I wasn't carrying enough water and suffered for a long piece of the hike.  I later found out that the heat index was over 100 degrees that day.  I managed to finish okay, albeit with a very dry mouth and five pounds lighter (161.8lbs prior to leaving and 156.2lbs when I got home).  Not an ideal job of planning on my part, but lesson learned.

We had intended to do a two day overnight trip, but ended up boating with friends (lots of fun) on Saturday, so I had to fit the hiking in on Sunday.  The rest of the week was filled with the usual weights and cardio.  For weightlifting, I use a fairly comprehensive routine.  My leg work focuses on 4 sets of 15 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps.  I don't usually work with rep ranges higher than 15, maybe I should, but so far I haven't.  The usual exercises like squats, lunges (usually dynamic), stiff leg dead-lifts, leg extensions and leg curls are the staples of my leg work.  Although, I recently did some hack squats (4 sets of 15 reps) that absolutely hammered my thighs.

I picked up a really good DVD called “Train To Climb Mt. Rainier” produced by Body Results Inc.  There was some really good information on it.  It lays out a very nice training program and provides some really nice benchmarks to train toward.  I would definitely recommend it for those new to training for climbing (like myself).  I also took the time to review the three training pod-casts put out by RMI Expeditions.  These are also filled with very interesting information.  Definitely worth taking the time to listen to.

We are heading to the beach for a couple of days this coming week so training will be put on hold.  I'm going to shoot for some active rest; morning runs, stretching and some body-weight calisthenics.  Honestly, so long as I don't eat too badly, the rest will do me good.