Courtenay

In addition to resting heart rate you can also look at waking body temp -- though again (I think I've mentioned this on this forum before) for women there will be a .5 or greater spike at one part of their cycle (ovulation) so by doing charting for a month or more you can really see fluxuations caused by overtraining vs. "normal". You can also assess by how quickly your heart rate returns to normal during intervals if you're overtraining -- i.e. it hits 175 and just doesn't drop as quickly as it "should." That means cut the workout short.

Uh, folks, it's "8 8-oz. glasses of water a day" not 8 LITERS. And yes, you can suffer from hyponatremia if you don't replace the electrolytes (salts) in your beverages -- for more on the importance of this at altitude see our research review: http://www.bodyresults.com/E2R_dehydration.asp

yes we did. How was the ski? Get pelted with any rocks? (we did going through the hourglass. Startling to say the least.) Skiing down certainly beats downclimbing the north ridge!!

Using Savaiusini's beta from an earlier ski trip down the north side, 4 of us decided to have a go at the Adams Glacier route Sat-Sun. this past weekend. We too saw the stellar shadow shown in AlpineK's thread, and witnessed how amazingly quickly the weather can change in the mountains. When we got up at 2:30 it was starting to gust a bit, but we thought we'd at least hoof over to the start of the route and see what the weather held. It held enough to get up to the crux under the bergschrund, so we decided to go to the point of no return: up through the hourglass, 2 teams of 2 with 40m ropes, 4 pickets, screws (never used) and second tool (also never used.) Good steps kicked in from 2 teams of 2 higher on the route, so it's possible to solo. A few more weeks and the bergschrund will be nearly impassable, and I can see it getting pretty darn icy very soon. Once we got above the heavily crevassed areas and rockfall about 10'000 (GO EARLY, we got pelted around 7:30 as the sun hit the rocks high up!) we could take a break and enjoy the windless view. By the time we reached the summit about 11:15 it looked like gale force winds (a crazy squall system from the southeast) would take us off the mountain -- we spent all of about 5 minutes up there and hot-footed down the north ridge. Gross pile of rock, it would be much better if there were more snow. Highly recommend a carry-over to the south side (great glissading there) or ski descent, but if doing a carry-over, arrange transportation back to your car ahead of time. Two guys were asking for rides even before they tried their carryover; my guess was one of the two cars remaining in the lot when we got out later that evening was theirs! Good trip, amazing changes in weather (blue skies again when we got back to camp at 4) and lots of interesting features on the west side of the mountain. GO SOON, it will be changing very quickly! Take bug dope, they're awful. Tarps okay (melted out meadows with running water -- take a filter) but the bugs will probably get you.

From what I understand from the rangers, the east area opens for general recreation use after July 1 (Mazama Glacier etc.) but the south and north not on the reservation itself are fair game. Hope that helps.

Agreed, last year we tried the NE Face ice climb as a day trip and only 3 people; hard to do that with a large (12) group of new climbers though. Great trip overall. And Caveman, the cornices aren't huge, BUT they're there, and it makes you wonder exactly how stable that pack is up there. We didn't dilly dally too long and tried to get up there early. The ridge traverse definitely wakes you up and keeps you alert!

We took a group of new climbers up to Eldorado this past weekend; route is in fantastic shape, and it looked like nobody had been up on the ridge since the last snowfall. Of note: snow level at 5200', boulder field almost completely free of snow except the top of the third field going across to the waterfall. Postholing a bit of a problem late in the day above the boulderfield heading into the basin, but the basins are completely covered in snow, making for fast travel. Gully leading down to Raush basin is completely free of snow except at the very bottom where a moat is forming above the boulders there. We camped at 6150' in the Raush basin. Summit day started as white-out conditions, but by 7 a.m. the sun burned off the fog and we had a clear view of the summit ridge. Ridge itself is straightforward and easy until the top traverse; about 20' of snow above the actual rock outcrop indicating the true (solid) top. From the high point in the snow over to the rock, the classic knife-edge ridge is pretty corniced, so we put in a running belay over to the high point and anchored from there to get people's summit shots, rather than continuing on what looked like unstable snow. Coming out over the river, the 3-trees were dry and walkable; not so going in on Saturday -- we opted for the 1-log farther east. Great climb. Wonderful views. Fantastic company.

Please also remember the importance of fueling properly -- if you are feeling lethargic and disinterested in your workouts, especially an endurance workout, you may not be getting enough carbs in your diet, believe it or not! Even for people who are trying to lose bodyfat by eating more protein and consuming fewer carbs, it's important to have adequate quick-energy for your climbing days; for more research on this, feel free to look at our review at http://www.bodyresults.com/E2R_HillWalkEnergy.asp . And yes, recovery days are just as important as the work, but it's actually pretty darn tough to overtrain... another indicator you can use besides resting heart rate (+/- 5 beats) is body temp first thing in the morning (if it changes more than .5 degrees it can be another sign; beware, though, if you're female tracking your temp you'll see a spike at ovulation). NO CRASS REMARKS, GUYS! KEEP IT CLEAN!

One way to work through hamstring injuries is to increase blood flow to the muscle -- through unweighted good mornings, for example (bending forward at the hips, I have clients do this with a JumpStretch band for light resistance, both for lower back and upper hamstring strains), or foot-on-bench bridges, just lifting your bodyweight up off the floor. The worst thing you can do is to not do anything, as inactivity certainly won't help it to heal any faster.

Hey Iain, we saw you guys back down, sorry it didn't work for you. We'd (4 of us) also intended to try it but after hearing and seeing a few avalanches coming down couloirs we opted to do Colchuck via the Col and then the Basic Alpine route up the backside of Dragontail. Great views, lots of pictures. For anyone who might be considering one of the harder routes on Colchuck such as N. Buttress Couloir, that route avalanched as we were directly opposite it, scouting it out for a possible Sunday attempt. Great day nonetheless, up the Col and down Aasgard...

Yup, good fats, some protein, AND if you like salted nuts, these are actually good snacks (in small quantities) on hikes so you replenish the salts you sweat out in copious amounts when exerting energy over long periods of time. It's been said before: balance fats with carbs and protein, drink plenty of water, and don't eat "too much" af any one food. They're great in trail mixes.

Yes, I broke one of those in a Strongman competition and climbed Kilimanjaro 6 weeks later... You WILL heal, especially if you're somewhat aggressive with your rehab training. Get someone to help you find what you can do in the interim so you don't lose your baseline of fitness, and keep moving, whether that's swimming (arms only), biking (boot in a walking cast) or elliptical training (doesn't require movement of the foot, that's what I used almost exclusively). Good luck.

In general the body will access glycogen stores first (carbs), then fat, then finally muscle (protein), though anyone who has tried dieting also realizes that it is very difficult to burn fat only without losing some muscle mass simultaneously. Bottom line: to burn fat while preserving muscle include lean protein regularly in your diet and drink lots of water to stay hydrated. On climbs, include salty jerky, cheese, or nuts with dried fruit and bagels -- lighter weight food, the salt to replenish what you sweat away on an active day (Gatorade or Powerade can also help replenish the electrolytes, important for avoiding hyponatremia) and the protein will help minimize loss over long periods of time. Generally I find that a 60% carbs to 20% fat and 20% protein ratio works best for me in the field, though in town it's more like 45-50% carbs, 25% fat, 25% protein. Anyone else played around with ratios to find what works best for them?

Massage, hot tubbing/heating pads, stretching, the right training -- and yoga can also help, though beware! There are some caveats -- take a look at this article on yoga for climbers, the pro's and con's and what to look out for: http://www.bodyresults.com/E2YogaForClimbers.asp

I'm with Slothrop -- before getting on your projects (whether at the climbing gym or the crags) play around at the bottom (light bouldering on lower angle stuff) or try a few easier warmup routes to see how your body feels; this allows the hands, shoulders, core, legs to warm up, get used to the rock, and also gives you a chance to detect whether you've got the good stuff for harder climbing of whether you need to back off a bit.

Hey Techboy, 1) Using a pack on cardio equipment can help you get your shoulders, core, and legs used to the added weight; if your goal is to travel fast and light, then you'll want to add as much cardio capacity as possible; if you're going to need to carry weight, then by all means get used to the pack. One or two workouts a week weighted should suffice (the other workouts would be unweighted) in order not to run into overtraining issues or injury. 2) Cadence should be approximately what you'd be doing on the trail -- I've found 100-120 strides per minute to be about the norm for trail walking (considerably slower for high altitude, but you don't want to train at a snail's pace at sea level or you'll never have the oomph to go quickly on trails). 3) Increasing the resistance is one way to get your CV up BUT see #1 for the benefits of pack training: getting your body's muscles used to the added weight. 4) Varying the angle (as well as forward/backward movement) will hit muscles differently; most people will find that the higher angle hits the climbing muscles and gives them the best workout, but if you're on an elliptical that hits your calves more when the foot plate (hill level) is flatter, then alternating can be a good change of pace. Forward motion uses predominantly glutes and hamstrings, backwards, the quadriceps. 5) see my article on interval training at http://www.bodyresults.com/E2FartlekIntervals.asp for much more on this.

I'd agree with Jon; I'd also like to sum up whatever "quality" information there was in the remaining 14 posts on this thread: about hydration, smelly urine (related to ketosis? asparagus?) I just last night was wondering myself about smelly urine following consumption of asparagus and found the following that might be of interest to some of you: <<by Hannah Holmes: Why Asparagus Makes Your Urine Smelly (AskJeeves.com) "This is of no practical importance," the urologist tells me. "It wasn't part of my training. It's something we contemplated over pizza and beer." When I admit that I have actually timed the arrival of the distinctive odor in my pee after eating asparagus (about 15 minutes), the good doctor suggests, facetiously, that my groundbreaking research might lead to a tenure-track position at a fine university. It is a sadly neglected field. But I'm not the first to ask. In 1891 a scientist named "Nencki" had so very little to do that he convinced four guys to eat seven kilograms of asparagus (that's about three and a half pounds each). He collected the pertinent pee, worked some medieval magic on it, and concluded that the smell was due to a metabolite called methanethiol. So there you go. Nencki claimed that as your body metabolizes asparagus, it produces this smelly chemical, which your discriminating kidneys see fit to dump into the bladder. This probably doesn't qualify as red-hot science, but it's warm enough to spark differing opinions. In 1975 a chemist from California claimed in Science that gas chromatography had fingered a different culprit: S-Methyl Thioesters, to be precise. No methanethiol. Then there's the 1980 reference in the British Medical Journal that simply refers to "metabolites." Another asparagus scholar favors "six sulfur-containing compounds." I'm voting for methanethiol, partly because the guy who did the gas chromatography left no forwarding address, and partly because the methanethiol entry in my aging Merck Index of chemicals is so interesting. Methanethiol is composed mostly of sulfur with a splash of hydrogen, plus some carbon, a brew famous for its effect in rotten eggs, cabbages and paper mills. Convincing, no? Merck also notes the asparagus connection and, most intriguing, warns that methanethiol may be a narcotic in high concentrations. Now if you're scowling at your screen and muttering, "My pee doesn't smell like asparagus," first ask yourself if you eat asparagus. Even if you do but lack the smell, you're still OK. In fact the fabulously funny book, The ReSearch Guide to Body Fluids (by Paul Spinrad, Juno Books, N.Y., 1994), says just 22 percent of survey respondents experience asparagus pee. Early investigators thought genetics had divided the world into stinkers and nonstinkers. That was until 1980, when three researchers had the presence of mind to wave pee from the nonstinkers under the noses of the stinkers. Lo and behold, the problem proved to be one not of producing the stinky pee but of being able to sniff it out. If you've been deprived of this gift, don't give up hope. To increase the concentration of methanethiol molecules available to your snoot, you could either intentionally dehydrate yourself before you dine (this is unhealthful); or pee into a cup and sniff that. Or eat three and a half pounds of asparagus for lunch. >> Finally, Iain added: 46% of 115 people produce the odor in a group of British citizens, while 100% of 103 people produced it in a group of French citizens. The smell is the result of the breakdown of mercaptan in asparagus (the same compound found in skunks, onions, garlic, and rotten eggs). Only certain people have the enzyme to break down the substance. Guess I should have started this as a new thread entitled "Asparagus Pee" as it has NOTHING to do with workout drinks but was the direction this thread was destined to head anyway...

Yes, it's both -- even if you can do something like Si twice in a day, if you haven't done Si twice with running both times and then go and include downhill running, your body simply isn't used to that sort of eccentric loading and you'll experience soreness. My guess is if you were to go back and include the downhill running again (with proper hydration) you wouldn't feel nearly as sore afterwards as your body has already started to repair the muscle damage done so that you will be prepared for that same sort of effort again. Stretching, gentle jogging or biking as post-effort "recovery workouts" can all help get you back to pre-soreness condition.

Just an interesting aside about high cholesterol; it definitely is hereditary, AND can also be increased from stress; I had cholesterol levels of about 140 pre-grad school, not really high stress, then when nothing in the diet had changed but my stress had gone through the roof with grad school, it was in the dangerous zone; once I completed grad school it returned to normal. Maybe someone would say grad school increases cholesterol levels?? Consider stress levels too!

Unfortunately, Bird, there will be some people out there who will actually think you're being serious...

<<I am sure Courtenay can probably tell us why not to take it >> Like you guys really listen to me! I could tell you why I PERSONALLY wouldn't take it, but you can (and will) do whatever you choose! I've had a reaction to norepinephrine at the dentist that I wouldn't wish on anyone, but there are those people out there who would take a shot of it any time, any place for the instantaneous boost to the ol' ticker. Same with anything containing ephedra. Not for me, thanks. I will simply say, the more you can learn about what you're putting in your body, the better a decision you can make.

Caveman, I think my comment came across wrong -- <<BUT HAVE THE STRENGTH BEYOND YOUR OWN PACK WEIGHT so that if you need it, you have it, and more to spare for emergencies. >> I wasn't suggesting carrying more than you need on your climbs, what I WAS suggesting is carrying more weight on pre-season conditioners SO THAT if you need to draw on extra strength (NOT extra stuff) you HAVE extra strength (NOT stuff) and more strength (NOT stuff!!) to spare in emergencies on your climbs. Hopefully that clears up any confusion.

Okay, Sal, where'd you get that figure from?

Great question: I imagine it depends a lot on how hard you're working -- it could be similar to upwards of an hour's worth of strenuous strength training. And I imagine for some, an intense hour of bouldering (verging on interval/alactic training) may even burn MORE than an hour of low-grade (read: 50-60% MHR) cardio, given the post-workout caloric burn and recovery time it takes your body after a hard workout... Anyone else have an exact figure/reference?

Miloshk, my apologies for deleting your last message, there was a lot of slop in here (you guys know who you are)unrelated to your initial query. It seems your question boils down to "what high protein, low carb breakfast foods do American climbers eat?" would that be correct? I like chicken and peanut butter, myself (kind of like Thai food without all the noodles.) with perhaps a half a bagel. Odd, I know. I also like yogurt and granola on climb days before leaving the car.