Making the Time

They say to look at two books to see what you're giving priority to: your checkbook and your datebook. The first money I've actually spent on my training, aside from buying good hiking boots and socks, is the $20 a month it costs to go to this gym nearby that has the treadmills. I went again for an hour last night and did four 10-minute intervals at 13.5 to 15 degrees at 2 mph. Taking 5 minutes rest between each of the four intervals, my heart rate starting each one progressed from 104 to 119. When heart rate got over 155, I didn't want to lower the mph, so I just lowered the elevation instead, from 15 at the beginning down to 13.5 at the end.

I'm thinking that what I need to gain confidence doing is 10-15 degrees elevation at 2-3 mph, right?

The good news is that I'm not unusually sore or tired today and did my regular walk in the park with friends this morning for an hour. Tonight we're going to walk up the 500 steps from Montgomery Inn Boathouse to Immaculata Church on top of Mt. Adams. Today I'm carrying weight: my backpack with the water and food I plan to have for the Canyon.

What I've found is that much like with painting, if I don't make an appointment on my calendar to do this stuff, and keep it, it doesn't get done. The datebook is harder than the checkbook for me, because I have to make sure I do enough painting every day, take good care of the part-time work that keeps me financially secure, and then train for this hike.

So I made calendar appointments for 2 separate hours each day on the treadmill: 1 at 10 degrees starting at 2.5 mph and shooting for 3. The one's easier. Then, later in the day, another hour walking 2 mph at 15 degrees. Having done that the last couple of days, it seems like it will be good for me to work cardio for a target heart rate of 145-155 two hours a day. I'm sure I'll have some days off here and there, but I still have appointments set to do the treadmill at least once every day.

I've heard plenty of horror stories about hikers who were not up to the challenge of the Grand Canyon! One girl I met on a hike got so dehydrated, she was helicoptered out. A trainer I met at the gym said she did our same hike last summer with her mother-in-law and father-in-law, only they started on the North Rim and walked out the South. She said if you walk in, you have to walk out on your own two feet, no matter how bad you feel. And that they don't helicopter in lightly because that's so dangerous, rescuers have been killed by downdrafts. This trainer's mother-in-law was in trouble the whole time: it took them 12 hours to hike down and 17 hours to hike up and she was sick and miserable the entire trip. I DON'T WANT THAT!!

So I'm taking this seriously. Having walked at least 1-2 hours outdoors every single day since January, I'm seldom ever getting too tired or sore walking longer. Being able to walk uphill all day 10-15 degrees is my goal. Doc says if we leave at 6 am, he'd like our group to get to the top of the North Rim between 1-4 pm. That's 6-10 hours. I think it's 14 miles. If I could walk that at a steady 2 mph, it would take 7 hours, right?