Week 15: Climb for Clean Air – Reflections

Wow.  Is it been 15 weeks?  Where did the time go?  It seems just yesterday that I was huffing and puffing when I carry a small backpack, with a couple bottle of water in it and try to hike to Rattlesnake Ledge.   Or when I almost faint after an hour work out.   Or when I wasn’t able to even run a mile.

This journey have been so rewarding, and awesome.   I pushed myself more than I thought I could.   I overcome a lot of challenges (mentally AND physically).   I learned about myself a lot, about my limitation.   The best part of all, I get to do this with my best friend, my partner, my mentor, my trainer and my love of my life.    To my husband John (blog | twitter), thank you for going through this journey with me.    Thank you for putting up with me on those 5am mornings when I really, really want to just stay in bed and do nothing.  Countless hours of hiking and hundred of miles of driving to the mountain.   You let me sleep in the car while you drive two hours home, after 10 hours of hiking.

The other person that help me tremendously during is my trainer, Weston Williams.   Oh, I have love-hate relationship with him.   I don’t even remember how many times I said ‘remind me again why I am paying you to torture me‘ during a hard workout session that made me almost puke and pass out.   He didn’t just train me, he educated me.   He made me believe I can do a lot of things.   He pushed me, and pushed me, and pushed me more.   He helped me understand how the muscular system work and made sense of a lot of workout routine.   In a nutshell, he’s awesome.   Weston, thank YOU.   Very much.

Also, I want to thank my mother and step-father.   For the countless of weekend of watching my daughters so I can be out in the mountain.   They allowed me to have the time so I can continue to train.  They entertained my girls so i can focus on my training.  Thank you both very much.

Being a working mama, weekend is the only time I have to spend with my girls.   In my case, that’s every other weekend since my girls go to their dad every other weekend.   A couple hours a day after I get back from work never seems to be enough and I had to trade the weekend with them with a day in the mountain.   I miss them.  Tremendously.  I know they miss me.   This is the hardest part of the training for me.   I know they won’t understand it now but hopefully someday, when they are old enough, they can read this post and be proud of me.   I hope I can show them what a commitment is all about and how they can accomplish anything if they put their heart to it.  In that note – to my baby girls, I love you both very, very much.   So much that it hurt me whenever I have to drop you at Grandma so I can go to the mountain.   I will make you both proud.

Lastly, to all of you that believe in me and my cause.   My friends, my co-worker, even someone that I don’t even know and take the time and money to donate to my climb for the cause that I believe in.   Your support has been overwhelming.   Your encouraging words helped me to go through a lot of challenges in the last 15 weeks.   I won’t let you down.

I am ready.

How this week went down:

Monday – Friday:

Light work out.  I did a couple short run and walk.  I felt under the weather, so want to make sure I rested enough

Saturday:

Last training hike to Muir.   We found out in the morning that Climb 1 team were turning around at 12,000ft due to bad weather and low visibility.   It was a bummer, but everybody came back safely which is what’s the most important thing.   I was proud of them!!   We decided to head out anyway and the weather WAS yucky.   It was raining, super windy and visibility was very, very limited.   We started to walk at 9:30am and I walked on steady pace.   About 45 minutes – we were approaching the avalanche chute and found out the park ranger had closed the chute (winter route) and open the summer route (not a direct ascent but through switchback).   Personally, I like the chute better.  As brutal as it was, since it literally about 60 degrees angle, I was so used to it and walking on the snow was soooo much easier than a rock.   In anycase, we took our first break under the first switchback (6500ft).   We ran into RMI team who also took their rest break at the same place.   After 15 minutes break, we continued to walk.   The wind was getting stronger and it started to rain hard.   We kept going until above Pebble Creek (7,500ft) and took our second break.   I was feeling great, but sitting down for 15 minutes during the break, made me feel really, really cold.   My finger were numb!   I was starting to feel miserable, not because of my lungs or sore muscles but because of the strong wind.    We continued to walk and I had my head down the entire time to avoid the wind in my face.   We took our third break at 9,000ft.   I barely can eat my lunch there since the wind was so strong and felt miserable.    The sun was in and out, break the cloud and give us a slightly better visibility but the wind was getting stronger.   I had it.  I told John that I want to come back down.

For the first time, I actually felt good about it.  I guess because I know that I can walk another 1,000ft just fine and be at Muir about an hour from where we sat.   I just didn’t think it worth our effort since the weather was so bad.   As we walked down, about a couple hours later the wind started to subsided and the sun was out.   By the time we get to Paradise, the weather completely turned around.   It was nice and sunny!    There’s another proof that the mountain make their own weather.   Always be prepared and never underestimate how quick the weather can change.

Fundraising

Keep on coming people!  There are still time.  The fundraising deadline is actually August 9, 2011 so there’s plenty of time!

New Goal. New Focus

This is the paragraph from a book called ‘The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer‘

Why Marathon?

At some point, everyone who has ever trained for an run a marathon has asked him or herself that very question.  The answers are as individual as the person asking the question.   Each of us has a complete unique set of life experiences, yet as humans we share the desire to test our personal limited in search of how far we can go.   The avenue of testing is limited only by one’s imagination, fear, threshold, and financial resources.  Some people dive out of airplanes, others climb mountains, still others explore the depths of the sea.   But for most of us, the arenas of challenge are less grandiose and a lot closer to home:  how long can I work in the yard before having to go in and rest, or how far can I walk before turning for home, or how much longer can I tolerate this job before it drives me crazy?

Along with the need to grow by testing and expanding our personal limits, we humans desire and value what psychologists call ‘peak experiences‘.   Peak experiences are positive happenings that have a profound and lasting impact.  They are life-changing and in retrospect are often considered the finest moments of our lives.  They are experiences we value and memories we cherish

Why did I quote the paragraph from that book above?   Well, you probably guessed by now that I have a new goal and new focus after my climb next week.

I’m going to run a half-marathon.

Stay tuned for detail and training plan.

Week 14: Climb for Clean Air – Blessing

Plan for this week:

Monday:  Rest

Tuesday:  Strength Training with Weston

Wednesday:  Long Cardio

Thursday:  Strength Training with Weston

Friday:  Long Cardio

Saturday:  Muir Hike

Sunday:  Rest

I had a pretty good week.   I’m still recovering physically from last week pneumonia while I pushed myself really hard to keep with the training and the hike.   I know I’m getting stronger and I am able to do certain things I can’t do 14 weeks ago.   I’m able to run 5 miles straight, I’m able to do 4 (yes, FOUR) set of 3 different lunges, squat and step up with 20lbs weight on me.   I’m able to carry 45lbs pack and hike for 10 hours round trip, with 4500ft elevation gain.   I lost over 20lbs, drop 2 pants size, and feeling pretty awesome about myself.     In a nutshell –  I am awesome.   Yes, for the first time I actually able to say that out loud and pat myself in the back.  I think I earn that.   My good friend, Tim Ford (blog | twitter), wrote a post last week just dedicated to me.   How awesome is that?  On top of that, I am surrounding of a lot of awesome people who believe in me and my cause.

Oh, did I mention my awesome husband, John (blog | twitter), who is going to climb with me in less than two weeks?   The one that train alongside with me and went to every training hike with me?   I’ve been so focus with my training that sometimes, I have my blinder on and didn’t really see awesome things around me.   I did know it, but didn’t really see it.  This week, things are very clear to me.   I am very blessed.   Very, very blessed.     To be where I am today consider not even a year ago I wasn’t sure how to go on with my day or know what tomorrow looks like with my challenging health, it’s a miracle.   I am grateful everyday for it.   Health, family and friends are the three things that people take it for granted.   I know I was guilty of that before, but not anymore.     My message to you – take the time to appreciate your health.   It’s precious.  Oh, and take a moment to hug your loved one.   Tell them how you appreciate them.   Send emails to your friends and tell them how awesome they are.   Thank them for being your friend.  I know it sounds corny, but trust me on this.

How it actually went down:

Monday:

Rest.  It’s 4th of July and I just came back from Muir the day before.

Tuesday:

Strength training with Weston and he meant business!  I did four set of step-up and balance with 18lbs of bar, squat with 15lbs of plate against the wall with ball on my back, lunges with one foot on the half-dome and 18lbs bar, follow by old-fashion lunges (still with the same bar) across the room.   Then I did one-legged bridge, push-up, lat pull down, assisted pull-up and bench dip.    It was a really, really good work out.

Wednesday:

I was sore from the work out and decided to do light cardio by walking 4.5miles on my hilly neighborhood.   Surprisingly, my calves became really tight afterwards.  I guess long walk on a hard pavement totally different than hiking on a trail/snow.

Thursday:

Another strength training with Weston.   He focused on cores and upper body.   We did about five different cores routine follow by another five upper body routines.   Total 4 set on each of the routine.   Later on that night, my stomach muscles were so sore when I laughed!

Friday:

Decided to rest.  We were heading to Paradise to spend the night there so we can be in the trail head early in the morning for our Muir Hike

Saturday:

I was up and ready to go by 6am.    The sky was clear and there were no single cloud in the sky.   The mountain look so majestic and mysterious.   It was very cold morning, even though sun was out.   I decided to only wear my base layer and vest since I knew the day would be pretty hot.    I felt good, since we spent the night there and my body acclimated with the altitude.    We started to walk at 6:30am.   The trail was on solid ice.   My hiking poles can’t even break the ices and I had a hard time to walk steady.   In hindsight, that would be a perfect time to put my crampon!    There something different about today’s hike.   I noticed my leg muscles cramp up from the get go.   I couldn’t understand it and kept going.   In result, my body had to work twice as hard and made my lung work extra hard as well.     We reached our first stop on the bottom of avalanche chute, a few hundred yards from where we stop the week before.   After 15 minutes break – we started to climb the chute.   My left hamstring started to cramp up more every time I took a step, but I pushed through.   We made it our second stop above Pebble Creek at 7,300ft about an hour later.    The trail still feel like a solid ice and it’s hard to walk on.   The sun was out but not enough to make this solid ice trail easy.

 

As we approached our third stop at 8,300ft, I felt a sharp pain on my left chest.   I knew exactly what it was.  It was my unhappy lung told me to slow down.   So I did.   At this time, my hamstring, quad and calves muscle felt cramp and I was exhausted.   It was the first time I ever felt cramp on every weeks of hike!   I couldn’t understand why and became very frustrated, top that with a little wheezing that I started to have, my good mood turn a complete 180.    We reached 9,000ft and I was about to cry.   I knew how far we were from Muir.   I knew how long it would take me to get there from where I was and with my pace today, we would have to turn around a few hundred feet before anyway since we had to be back at Paradise no later than 5pm.    So I made the grown up decision and told John that we need to turn around.   I was not happy but I knew that was the right thing to do.    As we walked down, I felt weaker and felt very, very thirsty.    I drank all of my water by the time we got back to Paradise (I carry three 32oz bottle).   Later on that night, John told me that must be why I felt the cramp.   I didn’t hydrate properly.   Usually, I drank 32oz of water the night before and since we had two hours drive from home to Paradise and I guzzled another 32oz water on the way to Ashford.   Then another 16oz from Ashford to Paradise.   Today, I had 8oz water prior the hike.  That’s all.    I was dehydrated!   Lesson learned!

Pictures from my hike can be viewed here

Sunday:

Rest

Fundraising:

I have a new personal goal.  I want to hit $10k.   Do you think I can do that?   If so, please help me out by spreading the word (or donate to my climb, if you haven’t done so).   Any amount is greatly appreciated!!

Week 13: Climb for Clean Air – Small Win

Plan this week:

Monday: Long Cardio

Tuesday: Strength Training

Wednesday: Long Cardio

Thursday: Strength Training

Friday: Long Cardio

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Muir Hike

How it actually went down:

Well, remember last week that I felt really awful during the hike?  I started this week with being diagnosed with pneumonia.   Wonderful.  Like I need another hurdles, right?   It explained a lot of things though, on how I felt or why I was so exhausted and winded.   My doctor told me that it could take 2-3 weeks for me to fully recover.  I was like.. WHA?  Two or THREE weeks??  I don’t have that kind of time and people that know me know that I’m a wee bit stubborn.   Anyway – I continued to work out.   I want to push myself and see how far I can go.   It wasn’t easy since I was absolutely have no energy.   Antibiotic should do it’s job but my body have to heal on it’s own.   Fast forward to the end of the week, my hard work paid off.   I felt decent by Saturday and able to go on a hike and even made it to Camp Muir.   This is a small win for me.  After fourth try, I finally made it.   It’s less than three weeks to the climb and I mean business.

How it actually went down:

Monday:

I did a light cardio.   I was pretty much mad after the doctor visit and determine that I am not going to let this pneumonia thing stop me.   I hopped on treadmill and I walk, slowly, for an hour.   I didn’t have any pack on me or in any incline.   Just plain flat treadmill with about 2 miles an hour.   I was exhausted afterward, but feel very good about the fact that I did it

Tuesday:

Strength training with Weston.   He worked me HARD!  We started with 18lbs bar on my shoulder and did a step up with balance (about a foot tall step), squat, backward lunges with one foot on the half-dome, another forward lunges to the end of the gym and back, shoulder press, biceps curl and laid down on the mat with one of my feet on top of the steps and do bridges.   We did three sets of each of them and follow by 10 minutes walk on the treadmill.    I was winded half way through and actually had to step and catch my breath and to the point almost pass out but I kept on going.    He was trying to work on my muscle without raising my heartbeat but lunges always got me.   It was a great work out.

Wednesday:

I did another light cardio.   I woke up with all kind of soreness on my lower body.   Yesterday’s work out really did wonder to my muscle.   I was so tempted to just lay around and rest (which I did pretty much all day since I was calling in sick), but I ended up forcing myself to walk on the treadmill for an hour towards the end of the day.   I actually felt better afterward

Thursday:

Another work out with Weston.   We focused a lot on upper body with a bit of lower body work out.   I did a combination of push-up/pull-up (assisted), shoulder press and backward curl, bench dip, (another) lunges on a balance foam and squat with the same 18lbs bar.   I was doing better today than last Tuesday and able to go through the entire three routines without feeling about to pass out

Friday:

I decided to give my muscle a rest.

Saturday:

I didn’t do anything since I had an event to go to in the afternoon.

Sunday:

Fourth trip to Camp Muir.   I had so much going on the night before that I stayed up late (like.. until 3:30am late).   Alarm went off at 4:30am and I finally got out of bed around 5am, get ready and we were out of the door by 6am.   We got to the Whittaker Mountaineering at 8am, get some of the gear and head out to Paradise.   We started to walk at 9:30am.   John set the pace and I just walked behind him, focusing on my breathing and his footsteps.  It was super windy and foggy, and our visibility was limited to about 100ft.   We got to our first stop in an hour, at the start of the avalanche chute.   I felt great and didn’t even feel a lot of breathing difficulty.   I made it further than I did last week on the first hour.   We took 15 minutes break and started to climb on the chute.   I kept focusing on John’s footstep.  One foot in front of another and did rest step and pressure breathing all the way.   Before I knew it, I was on top of the chute and we kept on walking until we were above Pebble Creek.  Our second stop is at 7,300ft.

Another 15 minutes break, and we continued to walk until our third break, which is at 8,300ft.   We ate lunch, took 30 minutes break and kept on walking to our fourth break an hour later which was at 9,100ft.   I started to feel winded.  This was the furthest I go on the Muir trip!  I was determined to get there tho!  We took another 30 minutes break for me to regain my focus and kept on walking.   The fog break about 9,500ft and gave us magnificent view of the mountain as well as the surrounding area.   I can finally see Camp Muir from where I stand!   An hour went by and I didn’t want to stop since I knew we were a few hundred feet away from it, so I kept on walking.   That was hard.  I was struggling really bad in the last 30 minutes, but kept taking my rest step and pressure breathing until I finally reached Camp Muir!   I broke down in tears.   I made it.   After fourth try, 3 weeks of illness, cold, fluid in the lung AND pneumonia – I finally made it to Camp Muir!   Check out the collection of the photos here.

Fundraising:

Donation still coming in.  I can’t believe it!  Now I want to see if I can break $10,000.   Any taker?  Online donation can be made here.   Oh, American Lung Association post my interview on their site.  Check out the article here.

Week 12: Climb for Clean Air – Progress

This week plan:

Mon:  Rest Day

Tues:  Strength Training

Wed: Long Cardio

Thurs: Strength Training

Friday: Long Cardio

Saturday:  Camp Muir Hike

Sunday:  Rest

I’m still recovering from the fluid in my lung and the cold, so I’m still taking it somewhat easy this week.   It’s very frustrating but there’s nothing more I can do.  It’s a progress from last week though.   I’m worried and nervous that this will affect my climb but I know that I’m giving it my best.   I’m emotionally tired and exhausted from being sick and the stress from me worrying that I won’t be able to make it — start to get to me.   I even wondered if this all worth it, but quickly dismiss that thought.

How it actually went down:

Monday:

Rest.  Recovering from the day before hike

Tuesday:

Strength training day.   I worked out with Weston and he’s really taking it easy on me.   We did a great workout though and I honestly can’t remember all the routines here.   I know we focused a lot on hips/quad and a little bit of shoulder/chest

Wednesday:

I ran 4 miles around my neighborhood.   It wasn’t great since I had to slow down a few times and let my breathing stabilize but I did it in less than an hour

Thursday:

Strength training with Weston again.   We worked more on upper body this time and I had to tell you that afterward, I felt all kind of muscle sore on my shoulder.   That is a sign that I need to work on that area more.   I’m afraid to even think what next week look like!

Friday:

I am feeling crummy again, so I decided to take a rest day

Saturday:

Muir Hike.   My third attempt to go to Camp Muir.   I started really good and pace myself really well.   We arrived almost at the bottom of avalanche chute less than an hour, but as I climbed the chute, I felt a sharp pain on my chest.  I struggled so much climbed that hill that when I got to the top of the hill, I sat down and barely even able to breathe.   I was so down and discouraged and I started to cry.    If I can’t even make it to the top of the chute, I will definitely not able to do my climb.   John was comforted me and talked me into it and I started to gain my focus again.   We started to walk again and I slow down my pace.   We walked to somewhere around 8,000 ft and watched a huge avalanche on the other side of the mountain and even recorded it on video.  You can watch them here.   An hour after, we decided to turn around since it was getting late.   It wasn’t my best hike but I actually did better than last week.  I went further in shorter time, so in overall – I am progressing to the better.   We shall see.

Sunday:

Taking another rest day after the long hike

Fundraising:

I break $9,000!!  Who-hoo!  Keep it coming, you guys are so awesome!!

 

Week 11: Climb for Clean Air – The Worst

Plan for this week:

Monday:  Interval Training

Tuesday: Strength Training with Weston

Wednesday: Long Cardio

Thursday: REST

Friday: Strength Training

Saturday: Long Cardio

Sunday: Camp Muir Hike!

This is by far the worst week of training I had since I started this journey.   Even though I ended up the week with a great training hike to Camp Muir, I felt like I really let things slide.   This week – I did NOT make my training as priority and choose to have other things happen in my life take priority over it.   Did I feel bad, absolutely.  Did I dwell on it?  Absolutely not.   I moved on.  I’m going to focus on the upcoming week and make my training priority again.   I’m inside the 5-weeks window to my climb.  Am I ready?  I am.  Very.

Monday – Saturday:

I did NO work out at all.   No excuses here.  As I mentioned above, I did not make it as priority.  I choose to tend to other things and make that priority while trying to take it easy on my lung.   Did I regret it?  No.   Did I wish things differently?  Absolutely, but doing should’ve, could’ve and would’ve will not change a thing.  The only thing I can do is to promise myself is use the upcoming week to train even harder.

Sunday:

It’s Father’s day weekend, and we are up early and head out to the mountain again.   I’m a wee bit nervous since I didn’t really do anything in the past few days.   My brother-in-law, Aaron, joined us for the hike.   We started around 10am.   It was slightly rainy and cold.   I had my layer on and feel pretty decent.    I started walking and within 10 minutes I was overheated.    I only had my base layer and vest, plus my soft shell and I could barely breath.   We stopped for gear checked, clothing adjustment and keep on walking.    I made it to the bottom of the avalanche chute without any problem.   We took our first break there and climb on the chute.   I know I did a waaaaay better than a week before since I didn’t even feel that I was struggling when I get to the top of the chute.   Please note, avalanche chute is like a 80% angle snow wall.   It’s soooooo steep!

Our next stop is Pebble Creek (7,000ft) and we had lunch there.   I started to feel tight on my chest again but decided to keep on walking.   About 8,500ft – I barely can breathe.   My chest felt really tight and I knew that if I pushed it, I will make more damage on my lung so we turn around.   We got down fairly quick since we slide on most of the hill.   It was rainy and almost white out when we walked down.   I wasn’t as winded.  Overall, it was a good hike.   I got 8 hours of hike, altitude adjustment and great company

Fundraising:

Keep on coming people!  I think I’m going to break $9,000 limit this week!