May 24, 2012
Thursday
The Training
Well, my optimism was misplaced. The same person who told me I’d have time to work out before our meeting scheduled an 8am start to the day today, and we worked all the way up until the meeting with no break.
Then all afternoon in a workshop with our client, back to the hotel, and straight to the airport to head for home.
I arrived home after 11pm, far too late and exhausted to exercise in any way.
Real life is starting to suck.
May 23, 2102
Wednesday
The Training
Since the hotel that I’m staying in actually has a gym, I was really hoping that I’d be able to get a good run in today. But it was not to be. Even though our meeting wasn’t until noon, we were required to sit in a room and “rehearse” all morning. After the meeting, it was more work on the next day’s workshop that we’re presenting, then a team dinner.
No time for exercise. 😦
However, tomorrow’s meeting isn’t until 1:00pm and I’ve been assured that I’ll have time to work out in the morning. Fingers crossed!
May 21 & 22, 2012
Monday and Tuesday
The Training
Sitting.
Sitting in offices.
Sitting in cars.
Sitting in airports.
Sitting on airplanes.
Sitting on shuttles.
Arriving at the hotel long after the fitness center closes.
Sitting in my hotel room getting ready for meetings that I’ll be sitting in tomorrow.
Real life.
May 20, 2012
Sunday
The Training
I wanted to run today. I really wanted to run today. I’m feeling good and today is another long run. I know I can do it, and I’m ready to do it.
But I can’t.
My current accommodations have no gym and I am not allowed to carry a cup of coffee or bottle of water in view of anyone else, much less go for a run on the property. I’ve also been advised not to run off the property either, as it’s a pretty rough area. The presence of the porn/smoke shop on the corner leads me to believe that’s probably good advice, and I’m going to take it.
I don’t even have room to do yoga, although I did manage to meditate. Today is a bust. Totally. Tomorrow will be the same. I am bummed.
Such is real life, I guess. 😦
May 18, 2012
Friday
The Training
This is what my night looked like last night:
9:20pm – Arrive back at hotel after work, do a bit more work before packing and preparing for a 3:30am shuttle pickup
11:50pm – Smoke detector starts chirping every 30 seconds
12:25am – Hotel staff fixes smoke detector
1:40am – Super Shuttle calls to reschedule shuttle pickup for 4:00am
4:25am – Shuttle actually arrives
I get exactly ZERO hours of sleep. None. At all.
I arrive at my next location mid-afternoon and all I want to do is be thankful that I was able to drive the hour from the airport safely and then crash in the comfy hotel bed. Hard. And sleep for days.
However, one problem…it’s a running day. I have a headache from sleep deprivation. I have no energy. The very last thing I want to do on the planet is run. I am flat out exhausted. But the hotel has a nice gym, and I know this may be my last chance to get in a good workout for a few days. My next location is an unknown quantity for the most part, but I’m pretty sure there’s no gym.
So I tell myself that it’s not a sleep deprivation headache, it’s an altitude headache. I use one of the bottles of water in the room and mix it with the one random pack of Vega One that I found in the bottom of my backpack, since I haven’t had a chance to eat either. (I always pack Vega One and Vega Recovery, but this time they’re still in the kitchen next to the forgotten energy bars. I’m grateful for that forgotten emergency pack.)
Then I go down to the gym and I run through the discomfort and exhaustion and pain. By the time the run is over, I feel SO much better! I don’t even want to sleep. I’m energized and my headache is gone. I am amazed. It strikes me that this is what I’m really training for – I can’t actually train for altitude, nobody who lives at sea level can. What I can do is train myself to keep going through the hard parts. I can teach myself to get up when I’m exhausted and when I hurt and when I haven’t eaten or slept. I know from my trip to Peru that those things will happen on the trek, just as they happen in my real life. If I can’t handle them now, how will I handle them later?
So I ran.
The Gear
I think I’m in love. When I ran today, I tried out one of my new GoLite running shirts. Oh. My. Not only are they environmentally friendly, but the fabric is super, duper soft and comfy – and there’s the perfect little hidden key pocket on the side. That was a surprise to me, as I hadn’t noticed it in the store. And guess what? It’s exactly the right size for a hotel room key. Score!!!
I want one of everything they sell. Seriously. This shirt is that good.
May 17, 2012
Thursday
The Training
Rest day! I did walk between my field sites again today though, so that was good.
The Gear
Okay, time to decide what to do about all that GoLite stuff from yesterday. The Universe answered this one for me, as it started pouring down rain just as I started to head back to my field site from lunch. After kicking myself for not throwing my new Typhoon rain jacket in my bag just in case, I realized that not only was I lacking a rain jacket, but I didn’t even have an umbrella. I saw a cool little travel umbrella at the GoLite store yesterday…good excuse!
I still didn’t have a lot of time, so I wisely decided to limit myself to the umbrella and a couple of running shirts. There were some great hiking pants, but my body shape keeps changing as I go through this process. I haven’t lost any weight or even inches, but clothes are fitting differently, so I’m going to wait until closer to the trek to buy anything new for the bottom half. The top pretty much stays the same no matter what, so I’m safe there.
While I was in the store checking it all out, I also met a really cool guy who is a photographer for an outdoor magazine. We started talking about hiking at altitude, and about the frustrations of finding the right camera backpack. He gave me some tips on his home-crafted system, and I felt a lot better knowing that even the true professionals have the same camera issues that I do on the trail. It’s not just me – the perfect bag simply does not exist.
I left the store with the umbrella, two running/hiking shirts, a travel dress, and a pretty blue fleece hoodie that caught my eye for a pittance. Can’t wait to test it all out!
The Culture
In between all of this work and shopping and writing and meeting cute boys and such, I also managed to arrange an interview with a person that Everest enthusiasts will find quite interesting! That’s all I’m going to say for now, but keep an eye out next month for some Nepali culture and Everest stories. As a hint, Khumbu Yak told me that my hard work will pay off later, but laziness pays off now. So true! He’s quite the fortune-teller, isn’t he?
May 16, 2012
Wednesday
The Training
First things first – a huge THANK YOU to all of my followers here, and on Twitter and Facebook! You are keeping me motivated today, because quite frankly this is the kind of day where I would normally just give up and skip a workout in the name of sheer exhaustion. I am totally overwhelmed by work and travel today, and finding time to run seemed impossible. So here’s what I did:
I skipped breakfast and went down to the gym to run on the treadmill in the morning. Those of you who know me know how hard this was for me to do. I often skip breakfast to get in an extra 20 minutes of sleep before heading off to a field site, but to run? Never. I have no energy in the morning. None. Zero. Even if I eat breakfast. Today was no different. Even though this run was shorter than yesterday’s, it felt much, much, harder. I got through it though, and I probably should have at least had an energy bar or some such thing before heading down to the gym. I was planning to pack a few, but I believe they’re still sitting on my kitchen counter at home. I was so rushed and overwhelmed trying to pack and get out the door that I forgot to throw them in my bag. So I struggled through this run, but I finished it and for today that will do just fine.
But in the spirit of my crazy week and Murphy’s Law, here’s the thing – I didn’t have to run today. It was a rest day. When I got to the gym and opened my running app, it warned me that I needed to rest today in order to be prepared for tomorrow’s run, and asked me if I was SURE I wanted to run today anyway? Um. What?? Apparently, after the long run I was supposed to rest TWO days rather than the usual one day. Crap. All the mental gymnastics about where I was going to fit running in and what I was going to give up in order to do so weren’t even necessary. But here I was, on the treadmill, ready to go. So I ran anyway. Lesson learned – check the schedule before stressing out!
One more note – if you ever have a chance to influence the design of a hotel, in the name of all that is sacred in the universe, please, please, please do NOT make sweaty people in gym clothes walk through the lobby to get back to their room. It’s like the walk of shame. You know you look like hell and probably smell a little bad too. In this state, you have to walk past 20 or 30 other smartly dressed hotel employees and guests, hoping that your clothing and water bottle scream “healthy and active” rather than “socially clueless and disgusting.” There should be a dedicated stairway or elevator right from the gym to the other floors of the hotel, so you can sneak through without offending any of the upscale guests with your sweaty presence. Really. It can’t be that hard.
The Details
Checking my email, I saw that I have one from ACTIVE Himalayas. From the subject line, I believe they’re confirming that the deposit I sent to New Zealand a couple of weeks ago has arrived. I don’t have time to open it – as it’s either check my personal emails or actually write this. Another compromise today. I’m glad to see the email though, even though it reminds me of all the other things I still have to do: coordinate the flight with a friend and book it, get travel insurance (with medevac!), book the Tibet leg of the trip, decide how many extra hotel days I need to purchase – so much to do! But right now, it all has to wait another week or so, until I get home.
The Gear
I’ve been eating many meals on-site at my field location, but today there was no vegetarian option so I managed to sneak out for a quick lunch. In doing so, I passed a Go-Lite store having a 50% off sale! I only had a few minutes to wander in and drool over all the running and hiking clothes that I both want and need, so after grabbing a few things off the rack I looked at the time and realized that I needed to get back to work. No time to try anything on today, plus I only had my business debit card with me. So I reluctantly put everything back on the racks and vowed to come back tomorrow. Eat lunch? Or shop for gear that’s on sale? That’s a compromise to worry about tomorrow. Hmm…
May 15, 2012
Tuesday
The Training
Today was a rest day, which is good because I also worked 15 hours today. The good news is that I have two field sites here that are each about a mile from my hotel. I intentionally don’t rent a car, so I spent a decent amount of time today walking in between them. Even on my rest days I try to remain active. “Rest” just means that I’m not doing any intense workouts and I’m giving my body a chance to recover from the last one. My body can still recover while moving normally, so I try to fit in some type of moderate activity whenever I can.
May 14, 2012
Monday
The Training
Okay, this is where the going gets tough and real life challenges get in the way. Today I left my home in sea level Long Beach for eleven straight days of work travel. During that time, I’ll be in three different U.S. Cities, staying in four different hotels and guest houses. I know some of them well, but others will be new to me and I’m not sure if I’ll have a place to work out.
To make matters worse, I’m an ethnographer. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it – almost nobody knows what an ethnographer is. More on that later! For now, just know that I study culture for a living. When I’m working, I immerse myself in the worlds of other people in order to tell their stories. I’m tied to their lives, their schedules, and their daily activities. My own world goes on the back burner.
This time around, I’m working really odd hours. Some mornings, some nights, some weekends. I’m not sure when or if I’ll have time to run, and I will definitely not have a chance to hike. Today, the shuttle picked me up for the airport at 9:30am, and I spent the morning packing and preparing for my fieldwork. I’m not a morning person and I have no energy if I try to run early, so exercising before I left was out of the question. I arrived at my hotel at 4:30pm, where I had to check my email for the day and do some accounting work and some writing. By the time that was all finished, it was 7:15pm and I hadn’t had a chance to eat all day. Airplane snack boxes aren’t really an attractive option.
I’m near one of my favorite Indian restaurants, so I went to dinner there and practiced eating curry using only my right hand, Nepali style. It’s hard. I’m afraid I’m going to screw this up, but inadvertently violating norms is a part of my job so I’ll do my best and go with the flow. I’m happy that ACTIVE Himalayas tipped us off about some of the local norms in Nepal, so we’ll have some idea of the mistakes we should try not to make. That’s helpful.
Now for the good news – I’m in a city that’s at a much higher altitude than my home, and I will be here one week out of every month from now through July or August. This is my fourth time here this year, and a chance to get a bit of an idea how my body adapts to altitude changes. The first two times I was here, I had a headache and definitely felt short of breath even though it’s not high enough for bona fide altitude sickness. I felt the change though, for sure. Last time was much better, and I’ve learned that it’s important for me to avoid caffeine, alcohol, and a hard workout on my first day in town.
This time, the first two were easy but my Week 5, Run 3 was my first “long” run and I couldn’t skip it. On Thursday, I’ll be getting back to the hotel from work after midnight and the shuttle to the airport is picking me up at 3:30am. That day absolutely MUST be a rest day. So today, I need to run. By this time, it was after 8:00pm, but the hotel gym is open until 10:00pm so I headed on down.
To my surprise, I rocked out this run! I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do it even at sea level, but I was just fine at higher altitude and could have kept going. I have no idea what the science is on adjusting to altitude with several weeks in between higher altitude visits, but it does seem like I’m adjusting better and faster each time. I hope my time here helps me get to Everest Base Camp, even though I’m still less than a third as high as I’ll be going. Still, it’s better than nothing which is the high altitude training I got before Peru.
I’m feeling really good about fitting in my workouts, and really motivated to figure out a way to keep up while I’m on the road. For now, time for a bit more work before bed and an early morning. And a rest day. Yes!!!
May 13, 2012
Sunday
Disneyland!!!
No, I’m not kidding. It was a rest day, so I met a friend at Disneyland. It’s actually a lot of walking around and the perfect “rest day” activity. Nothing strenuous, but still staying active. It certainly beats sitting on the couch – as long as you avoid the churros!
