My first ever 10K

After the exciting yet somewhat dis-appointing Shasta Summit bid, I have decided to throw away all my reservations and fears. I am not impulsive, and even though I failed at Shasta, I was a lot more richer for the experience. So staying in the same spirit, I impulsively have signed myself up for my first 10K. I am not good at running, but I think my attitude to running really holds me back.

I found a 10k, a mile from my place, at the coyote Creek trail. This is the same trail I go cycling at. The event is on September 9th. Which is , IMO, just enough time to get somewhat prepared. It cost me around 40 dollars. So it was reasonably affordable, very close to my place, reasonably soon but not too soon. All the conditions were right. It was too easy and convenient for me to pass up.

I will start training tomorrow and see how far I get. I am guessing, I will run at 4 miles an hour.  So , without even starting, I am setting my goal at 100 minutes. I will adjust this up or down as the training progresses.

Planned training course 1. Approx 3 miles.

This is the training template I plan on using:
http://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/10k_schedule.pdf

My first run was 2.6 Miles, and my second was 4.5 Miles. My pace seems to be an easy 11 min/Mile.
I was not cardio-vascularly challenged at the pace, but my legs need strengthening before I can push the speed, I have not run significant distances for more than 2-3 years. I think I should be able to finish the race in about 70 mins as of Jul 31, 2015.

I did my first ever 5 Miler. I took me a little less than an hour. It included a steep hill in the 3rd mile, which slowed me down. I can now see, that its not so easy to cut down the time. When I was biking I was gaining 10% speed everytime I rode. My running pace has been flat. I was not particularly winded today at my ~ 11min / mile pace. I don't have any doubts that I can complete the 10K, but, at my present time I am going to take 70+ minutes. The goal now is to be done close to 60 minutes.

{UPDATE} Managed to finish the race in 69 minutes.  Felt a lot tougher than planned. Because I stopped training.. But all in all I felt great for having completed.

Mount Shasta - Just not enough!

In the early morning of 25th july 2015, I tried climbing Mount shasta, and I was found wanting.

There were a lot of things that went wrong with our plans, but in my heart, I know that I probably would not have made it to the summit even in the most ideal of conditions.

The first piece of bad news was received as we were getting ready to set out to mount shasta. Rahul, Ashwin, Nitish and I had gathered at Nitish's place, when we got a call from our guide company. A freak rainstorm had wiped out the road leading to the trailhead. One thing lead to another and we were eventually routed to the avalanche gulche route. 

When I first heard it, I was a bit surprised. As far as I knew , it was too late in the season to try that route. 

But we had no choice and we soldiered on. But the change of route led to a significant change in the equipment list And very expensive delays. Essentially , the guide suggested that on the first day we just hike a short 1.7 miles to horse camp. And try for a direct summit push at midnight. 

Typically Helen lake is a better staging ground for a summit push, but given our late start , it was deemed a bad option. 

The hike out to horse camp was decent enough . We had 45-50 pound bags and made it into camp. From here, things went wrong for me. I started getting a bit unnerved about the prospect of being on exposed sections on the trail. 

I had been mentally prepared for the scree slopes of the clearcreek route. But the idea of trekking through ice and snow scared me. 

Going through self arrest school made things even worse, as i now imagined all the ways i would slip and fall on the ice. 

We were scooted off to bed at 6 pm. From here things got worse for me. The first day's hike was easy and i was not at all tired. It was also my first time sleeping in a tent, on the ground, outside. I was also at about 7800 feet, a lot higher than I was accustomed to. At first , i felt very anxious about the climb, and struggled to fall asleep. As the clock ticked by, i tried all methods to calm down and relax. Eventually, the gorgeous night sky and our locale calmed me down, but yet no sleep. By the time, wake up call came , I had not slept a wink, and I felt very defeated. 

I had gotten up early and packed my bag. I was so pissed off at myself for being unable to fall asleep. I knew then that without sleep i had no chance. 

The night before that i had slept in a room with four friends and restful sleep was very rare. The two days before that i had horrible apnea incidents and felt fatigued the whole day. I dont know if i overtrained or just did not train enough.

Anyhow, we left camp at 120 am. Our initial climb revealed quickly to me that i was having trouble. I became short of breath very quickly. I knew within the first hour that i was in trouble, but i pushed on. Things got better for a bit. My legs were being taxed but not unduly so. I just felt exhausted , and was feeling light headed. I pushed through to Helen lake , and told the group that i was having trouble. It must have been terribly disappointing for them , the guide also expressed his reservations about our likelihood to summit .

In short, that was that. We spent half an hour climbing the ice fall heading up to the heart. But we knew, our summit attempt was over.

I didnt feel too disappointed then, because the experience was so novel, so beyond the normal for me. I had always known that the goal was too ambitious for me. I had been a dedicated couch potato for two long years before working out for two months, and it was plain to see that my conditioning just did not make the cut. Cardio, endurance, quads, all fell woefully short. 

But I went out and did something i had dreamt of for years. I an proud of that. I experienced something that i have never experienced before. 

I also learned the true limit of my abilities. And i know now that i must push harder. 

New Homeowners Adventures - Six months in.

This feels like home now. Still love it. Love the space. Love the privacy (kind of)... Love the views, at least till they build the houses in front. Which should not be that long. Our dishwasher continues to give us trouble. Two leaks and a lot of floorboards later, Lennar has agreed to replace the unit. Hopefully, that will be the end if it. 

The drive to work is not half bad. It takes 20 mins or so in off-peak hours. But on most days I take the bus. In the near future, I am hoping that I will start going to TKD, and that will involve more driving. Utility bills are indeed higher , but in all , I am still quite happy that we took the leap. 

The one big disappointment was my inability to re-finance. Two factors made this particularly hard.

1. I have a HELOC and I am not anywhere close to 80% equity
2. Interest rates are climbing in anticipation of rate hikes.

My far-fetched and ambitious goal was to refinance within six-months to a combination of lower rates and removal of HELOC. But from the looks of it, the HELOC is here to stay.  The combining of the two loans would have de-risked me significantly, while also easing my cash flows. 

So I guess, I am most likely going to stick to plan B. Which is pay down my HELOC as fast as I can. 

So far, I have paid down about 30%. But the rate of repayment should slow down now.

Mt Shashta - Weather and the Plan

Weather Forecast

Temperature will be in 40s and 30s as we climb above 11K. Winds of 10-15mph. 

Weather Forecast at 11K feet.

The Plan

According to the topo map below. 

• The first day is a 3.05 mile hike starting at Clear Creek Trail Head (6520ft) and ending at Main camp at the Springs (8480ft). This would be an elevation gain of 1960 ft.

• The second day should be a 3 mile hike up to the summit (14162ft). This would be an elevation gain of 5682 ft. 

• Second day will be early morning alpine start: 3:00 am - 4:00 am. 

• Expecting 5-8 hours to summit.  

• 3-4 hours to hike back to High Camp . 

• Then about 1.5 - 2 hrs to trailhead.

• Back to the Office by Approx- 6:00 - 7:00 pm.

Topo Map Link

Hiking Shasta - The Final Week.

Equipment List Check

1. Backpack - Own
2. Boots - Bought
3. Gaiters - Bought
4. Bladder - 3 L - Bought
5. Thermal - Long Johns - Bought
6. Fleece Sweater - Borrowed
7. Down Vest - Bought REI
8. Gore-Tex Outer shell - Bought REI
9. Hiking Pants - Bought
10. Rain Pants - Bought REI
11. Glove Liners - Bought
12. Ski Gloves - Borrowed
13. 2 Liner socks / 3 Wool socks - Bought
14. Wool Cap/ Sun Hat - Bought
15. Dark Glasses - Own
16. Sleeping Bag - Rent
17. Sleeping Pad - Rent
18. Toilet Paper - Own
19. Wet Wipes - Own
20. Cup - Bowl  - Insulated
21. Spoon/Fork - Own
22. Water Bottle 1L - To Buy
23. First aid Kit - Own
24. Gatorade
25. Shorts - Own
26. Long sleeve T-shirt - To Buy
27. Trekking Poles - Rent
28. Chapstick - To Buy
29. Sunblock - To Buy

Thursday

Did 115 Stair Climbs in my house with a 40ish pound backpack. Took an 1:10 mins. Got stronger towards the end.

Friday

Feeling sore from yesterday, Decided I needed a break day. Haven't had one since last Friday. I will probably do some stairs at work. Light workout. I did 80 squats before heading to work. and did 2 stair climbs

Hiking Shasta - Preparation/Training

172 pounds and out of shape

I started working for Apple in Mar 2013. That fact, combined with a race against time to save a downpayment, made my first 2 years there pretty stressful. Needless to say that, I stopped taking care of myself, instead preferring the relaxation of gaming or watching movies when I got back home. I was close to the worst-shape of my life, but not quite there. I have been worse. I had reached 180 pounds sometime in 2011.

Me on the right, nice and porky! Jan 30, 2015

After having bought the house in Jan 2015, I became a lot more relaxed about long term career objectives. And I thought to myself, that this is a good time to get back into a healthier routine. So I started doing a little bit more. I weighed about 172-175 pounds at that time. I would find opportunities to walk whenever possible. The apple health app helped me keep track of my rising activity level. 

But this was not nearly enough. When Tina went on her vacation, I bought a bike and put in some early morning miles on it. I rode more or less exclusively on the coyote creek trail. The trail is more or less flat, though it keeps undulating over small humps and hills. 

Biking Weekly Mileage and Calendar

I enjoyed the calm of riding in the morning, with very few other people on the trail. My initial rides were north towards downtown, but I later started riding south to Morgan Hill. The ride north ran through too much urban backyards and also ran through a homeless camp. The ride south was more isolated and ran through farms. Typically I would start at around 7- 7:30 and the ride out was tough with strong headwinds and the ride back was a lot faster. On the 22 miler rides my fastest was ~14.6 mph. 

Around this time, Rahul suggested that we attempt Shasta, I was quite concerned about my fitness level because he wanted to attempt it in 6 weeks. I suppose, in breaking with my tradition of "being ready before you try", I agreed to the timeline. Its not everyday we feel enthusiastic about climbing mountains. 

I have always wanted to climb something of note. I am sure my fear of heights will be a big factor. 

Coyote Creek Trail near Morgan Hill.

Coming back to my cycling, when I started doing my cardio workouts, I realized that biking the way I was, was not pushing my cardio-threshold. So I stopped biking and started doing fitness blender. 

Practice Hikes:

At the same time as I was biking, I started doing hikes with Rahul, Ashwin and Nitish in preparation for Shasta. We did the following trails. All of them were 10+ or about 10 miles and over time we started adding weights to our hikes. I was at 30-40 pounds for the later hikes. We hiked three trails. In all, I did seven hikes over as many weeks.

• Alambique trail in Wunderlich Park, Woodside
• PGE trail in rancho San Antonio
• Kennedy Trail in Sierra Azul Wilderness, Los Gatos.

The whole of south bay visible from Kennedy Trail.

Final Preparation

We are now 8 days out to our Shasta Hike. I have started doing stair climbs at work. I try to do them 4-6 times a day. I climb 8 floors in as little time as possible The fastest I have gotten so far is 55 seconds. As of three days ago, I have stopped drinking alcohol and coffee. I am drinking much more water than I would other wise. For the last few days, I am planning to focus on doing at least 5 stair climbs in a day. Focus on cardio with 2 break days in a week. 

Equipment List

We will be going up shasta with the help of a guide, since most of us have little to no experience backpacking. They have provided us a pretty exhaustive equipment list. 

This is their website:

http://www.swsmtns.com/guided-shasta-clear-creek/

As of now, our equipment list is kind of drawing to a close. I will be renting sleeping bag/pad, trekking poles, and the two outermost layers. Bought some of my equipment, namely boots, Hiking pant, thermal inner wear, water bladder, socks, underwear, glove liners, wool cap and gaiters. I borrowed a fleece jacket, and ski gloves.