Doing mountaineering as a hobby did not come quite easy for me. In fact, I was overweight when I started....
In my mid-20s I weigh between 115 to 120 standing 5'6". For an Asian gal, that's a little chubby. I always complain going to Asia because my shoe size, my clothes, and my height is somewhat an issue.
Luckily, I lived in Dubai, the weight thing is no big deal. I love the outdoors lifestyle. At night I can walk, jog, run few miles everyday. By weekend, I do mtb up to several kilometers in the Oman/UAE border and that's no problem even at the hottest part of the day.
Hiking Stint
Fast forward and recently settled in California, my friends I used to hang-out with are on the other side of earth. They are not only 12 hours apart by timezone but also unwilling to step for holiday in the mighty USA.
So I had to find a way to meet new workout friends. By Jan 01, 2010, I signed up on a hike to Auburn's Training Hill. I was limping after that hike. Few months later, I wanted to join TRT 165 miles tour. The leader at that time was not willing to take me on board. Apparently, I was "too slow!".
The rejection did not discouraged me. I signed up for the event called Peak Bagging 101. I have no clue what its all about but I wanted to get out. Mike Brinkley was showing the hikers how to efficiently hiking a steep incline. I was probably the only person very interested in it. The rest of the hikers was not really paying attention. Then we set off to our destination called Mt. Ralston. Its more than 9400 ft of altitude. Applying the technique to hike efficiently, slowly I was passing the experienced hikers....
At the top of Ralston, Brinkley was planning a trip to Mt. Shasta. Accordingly it takes about 3 months of hill training and the qualifying event was Pyramid to Ralston via Lake Aloha Basin. I did all of that.
In order to qualify to join the Peak Hikers Group, I rsvp on one of David Wilmott's event - to hike 20 miles of Auburn's trail in 5 hours (later in the year I found that its part of WTC trail). I survived Dave Wilmott's hike. I become a regular in Dave's trip. That after each trip that I survived, I say or the whole group say "I survived Dave Wilmott's hike". Typically the trip is multi-peaks with several thousand ft of elevation gain.
14er One Day Assault
By 2011, Al and I did 3 trips of one day assault of Mt. Shasta. The trip was every other week. Each time we climb Mt. Shasta, we start from midnight, summit around 11AM and return to car park by 5PM. I felt my ranks in the mountaineering got elevated but I know that taking the Avalanche Gulch route was the easiest traverse in this mountain.
After the 3 times of Mt. Shasta summit - I decided to run one early morning. I couldn't believe that I could run 6 miles at 9 min pace in one hour. The only thing I didn't like about it was, no reward or scenery to be gaining but just an ordinary workout. After that one try, it became boring. I was totally surprised to able to run 6 miles because I hadn't been running in years. My last attempt of running was in the Dubai Triathlon and that was in 2003.
Marathon/Triathlon Training
I did try my best to run for the heck of using my cardio. In that way I can be faster in the mountains. By January 2012, I signed up for the San Francisco marathon. My friend Kylie suggest that I should again try triathlon. It was actually a great idea to TRI to CLIMB. Both sports compliment each other.
By end of March, I was able to run 27.5 miles. I was way ahead of my training run schedule. Running 26.2 miles shouldn't even occur until race day, that is July 29. But I wanted to be sure that I could run the marathon.
I was not a good rider though. In fact I dont even own a road bike. By mid May 2012, I bought a Specialized road bike. I told another mountaineer Chris that I needed more riding training....because.... Auburn's Wildest Ride was just 2 weeks away. My first road bike training included the Shirland Tct and over 50 miles. My hiking friend Kelly didnt really expected it. I told her its just going to be an easy ride. However, we are experienced mountaineers, that we dont whine, for fear of being called "pussy".
Yes I told no one of this event that I signed for. Probably because just in case I wont make it then nobody knew :) Also in the mountaineer's mindset - we dont make big announcement until we already made it to the peak and return back to trailhead.
So Chris Mattos trained and showed me all the signature climbs in the Foothills. I didn't know if Im going to make it but at least I am going to try 140 miles of road cycling with over 16000 ft of cumulative climbing.
After the weeks of training or 6th road cycling trip, I showed up in Auburn's starting line at 5AM. Bill Clements was there. He's going to be my pacer. Even Bill shook his head and was not really sure if he's going to do the ride. I introduced myself to the cyclist parked next to my Escape. Most of them probably thought that I was nuts.
Along the road to Forest Hill, Bill's had a flat tyre, not once, but twice. The last one, we used our spares. Thankful to the other cyclist, he was paying it forward and happy to give away his spare tube.
By 5pm, Bill and I made it to Auburn's Finish Line. We completed over 110 miles and 12000 ft of climbing. I felt huge relief that I still completed the century ride for being a rookie.
At the end of May, I was able to do marathon and riding a century, all that, because of my mountaineering stint. The altitude training helped me tremendously.
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