Mountain Fever and Holding Myself Accountable When Training

I’ve had a whirlwind of a year and I learned that I not only love being around mountains, but I also LOVE to be on them and go up. It is a feeling like no other. I love taking on the challenges that are presented, and I especially love conquering them. My love is simplistic, and it’s not necessarily about a summit. Don’t get me wrong, I love that feeling of being at the top, but I think I can honestly say that a summit doesn’t complete my experience, it just enhances it. It’s the isolation, it’s the beauty and the pain, it’s the straight-forwardness of what you have to do every day, what you have to do to survive.

Since moving out to Washington, I have been fortunate to see lots of mountains and be on them quite frequently. I will continue to explore my new home and check things off of my hiking list. So far I have done The Duckabush Trail, Copper Creek, Big Creek Loop plus the Ellinor connector trail, Big Si, and Townsend. I haven’t been disappointed by a trail yet. The scenery is always amazing. My friend and I have plans to go to Rainier next week and hit the trails. I AM STOKED.

So, the point of this blog is to publicize that I have these goals I’m working towards and to hold myself accountable and stay on track. It was suggested to me by a friend to keep a log of my workouts and my over all progress. I think the best way to go about it and to not clog up my blog with multiple posts about this topic is to update one blog every month with my activity and to maybe summarize how I’m feeling and what improvements I’m noticing…?

Just to give you a little background, since last year around this time, I have lost about 45 lbs. That amount is the weight I’m needing to carry while trekking in Patagonia in November, and when I loaded my pack up with this weight it felt super heavy. It’s amazing that I use to carry that amount on my body all the time, every single day. It definitely puts things in perspective. I’m proud of myself for being able to take that weight off and keep it off even though I’m not to my goal weight yet.

My diet has changed drastically. I rarely eat junk…I don’t want to waste money on something that only temporarily makes me happy and causes me trouble. I no longer eat a lot of meat, veggies are king, carbs don’t exist in my world very often, dairy is few and far between, and sugar outside of fruit has almost disappeared. I drink a ton of water. I indulge myself every now and then, but for the most part I stick to things that are good for me. After taking out so many items from my diet, the things that I do put in my body taste so much better. Avacado oil is amazing. Hummus is my BFF. I love the days I have my breakfast smoothie (green tea, spinach, flax seed, banana, pineapple, raw cocoa). I’ve gotten beyond the cravings and have noticed my stomach has shrunk. It’s been a great lifestyle change.

So, I’d like to continue to lose weight, build muscle, and tone. I don’t weigh myself often, but rather go off of how I feel and how I feel in my clothing. I’m down four pant sizes and wearing articles of my wardrobe I haven’t worn in years. My other long-term goals include being ready to go back to Aconcagua and reach the summit while carrying all of my gear, to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro, and to reach the summit of Rainier.  I think Rainier takes the cake because it would allow me to learn technical skills and experience similar situations that one would have on the big girl mountains. Rainier is also in my backyard, so it’s right there waiting for me. Beyond that, I’m not really sure…or maybe it’s that I don’t want to/I’m not ready to say those goals out loud yet.

Anyway, I don’t know when my next opportunity will be to attempt any of these, but I’m kind of hoping to tackle Rainier next summer. I think that’s a realistic goal as long as I keep up with the training. So, if this kind of thing interests you, I will be posting every month with my daily activity, maybe some stats, maybe some photos, and a summary of where I feel I’m at. If this doesn’t interest you, well, sorry. Any words of encouragement are appreciated. Suggestions for training are also welcomed.

And in case you were wondering I got 3 hours in today! It’s a good start!