{"id":19636,"date":"2014-05-19T13:26:04","date_gmt":"2014-05-19T19:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/?p=19636"},"modified":"2014-06-25T18:29:26","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T00:29:26","slug":"k2-training-for-the-climb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alanarnette.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/19\/k2-training-for-the-climb\/","title":{"rendered":"K2: Training for the Climb"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am preparing to climb K2 like I never prepared before. After all K2 is like no other mountain on earth and deserves immense respect.<\/p>\n

My strategy is based on what I used for the 7 Summits in 2011 and Manaslu just 6 months ago. It uses real-world training to develop strength, medicine<\/a> endurance and mental toughness. My weekly goal is do one long climb lasting from 8 to 12 hours and two other shorter climbs of 4 hours<\/p>\n

For example, healing<\/a> in the last two weeks I did three 1,500 foot snow couloir climbs, two climbs reaching 13,000′ and summited two 14,000′ mountains all here in Colorado. A total of seven outings in 14 days.<\/p>\n

I try to climb at a pace or rate of 1,500 feet per hour with a 20 – 30pound pack. All of these have been in somewhat winter conditions as we have had a banner year for snow in Colorado.<\/p>\n

The goal for the shorter climbs is to push myself hard physically to work my cardio vascular systems and large muscles development. The goal for the longer days is to work on my pacing, stamina but most importantly, my mental toughness. Taking adequate rest days is critical, especially at my age, to let my body recover.<\/p>\n

Real-World Training<\/h3>\n

There are many reasons I like to do real-world training as opposed to gym workouts. Before I go on, let me stress that I am fortunate to live in Colorado, close to high mountains. Also, many, many climbers use gym programs with personal trainers or Crossfit very successfully. My approach is just works for me.<\/p>\n

There are three primary benefits I experience:<\/p>\n

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  1. Walking in deep snow or uneven terrain works the tiny muscles, tendons and ligaments that are sometimes ignored with machine workouts.<\/li>\n
  2. Being outdoors is exactly what I’ll be doing on K2 experiencing all kinds of weather from gusty winds, to wide ranges in temperatures as the sun moves in and out of the clouds.<\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0I can do a 12 hour day when summiting a hard mountain with a long approach where I cannot imagine spending 12 hours indoors on a stairmaster! \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Another benefit is I get to use all my gear, find out what works, what needs modifications or replacing. Also, I get to experiment with hydration and nutrition.<\/p>\n

    Working on Mental Toughness<\/h3>\n

    This is a short video I made yesterday, May 18, 2014, while climbing Longs Peak, 14,256′ in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a perfect day to work on my mental toughness. A few days earlier, we had a huge spring snowstorm that dumped over two feet of fresh snow on Longs. No one else had been to the summit so I had to break trail from 11,000′ to the summit in one to three foot snow depths.<\/p>\n

    At times, I felt I was going a bit too slow and worried about running out if sunlight, but this is exactly what I wanted – to push myself outside my comfort zone and to test myself both physically and mentally. This came on top of four previous days of climbing above 13,000′, so with only one rest day, it was a good test of my overall fitness.<\/p>\n

    One of my measures of my fitness is my recovery time and how wasted I feel at the end of the day. I was very pleased that while tired, I felt strong after 11 and half hours of non-stop movement in deep snow.<\/p>\n