Reflecting
"Always a little higher."
- Nimsdai Purja
I had a great first conversation with a performance specialist at the Altitude Centre, a group that consults on training for performance and acclimatization. Their guidance helps avoid altitude sickness and reach specific climbing goals. The person I spoke with helps mixed martial artists, UTMB ultra runners, and high mountaineers.
He emphasized three things that helped orient me towards my upcoming Himalayan goals. First, acclimatization and fitness are two important but separate topics. They aren’t all that correlated and my natural acclimatization (not that great) isn’t a condemnation of my fitness efforts (pretty dialed in). It isn’t complaining to tell him of whatever symptoms I get at altitude; he needs to know.
Secondly, we need to start at the end with concrete plans. Sure I can wake up and train and work on nutrition but unless there’s a specific competition or challenge on the calendar, he can’t do his job.
Thirdly, if we give ourselves a year for prep – given a solid base of fitness, mindset, skills, and self-awareness – we can do any mountain. There’s no particular ceiling.
It was good to hear that I’m not hopeless, but was unsurprised that there’s plenty of work to do. Whether your next peak is 6k, 7k, or over 8k meters, there’s a formula for getting strong enough to climb it. It is just a matter of doing it. Strength is a choice.
Training
This morning’s whiteboard:
Every 6:00 x5 –
25 calories on the bike
15 burpees
50 double unders
Then off to boxing.
Next 5 AM run with the Cobweb Crew:
Fueling
Balsamic and tajin over sardines with tomatoes, garlic, avocados, olives, and spinach. I have never intended to experiment with much intermittent fasting but this week there was some inadvertent intermittent fasting when I didn’t feel 100% for a few days and lost my appetite. As I recovered, I felt great. My first experiment with dirty bulking earlier this year went awry. Lean feels much better – runs, climbs, and especially grapples better. If I try a bulk again, it will be clean and slow, which is hard for my natural impatience to handle.
Supplementing
I’m in a medical trial beta testing Kyzatrex in two 400 mgs doses per day for hormones. Also trying Astaxanthin for inflammation (it also helps skin avoid burning) and Serrapeptase for immune support. Results TBD.
Measuring
An advantage of fairly constant blood work has been that I get lots of data that serves as early warning signs for all sorts of health risks including cancer. Somewhat nerve-wracking to get constant updates on data that could indicate serious problems but also reassuring that so far the data is all fine. No current indications of cancer. Iron on the low end but that is in part from giving/dumping blood as frequently as allowed.
Recovering
Looking for an acupressure mat; guessing there were product liability issues with them because I’m having a hard time finding one with metal points.
Closing
Chandler Smith is one of my favorite CrossFit Games athletes; excited to watch him compete tomorrow.
Retracting
I regret to inform you that contrary to one of three statements at the end of my conversation with Shoshana Weissmann, she did not, in fact, pet a baby mountain goat. So she did run into a grizzly and also crawled to the top of Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona.
Will be curious to hear if you notice any results from the Astaxinthin. I take turmeric/curcumin regularly but am not sure it is doing much. That tanjin seasoning is the best - I had not thought about trying it on sardines.