Day 1:
I started on Monday, April 6th with Mount Kosciuszko, tallest mountain in Australia. My beginnings were full of hope:
I did 200 floors (2800 steps) on day 1 and was surprisingly sweaty and a bit loopy after:
I thought that I was in great shape before. I did learn though that walking up and down the stairs is a different thing. And that vest… It makes the whole exercise harder and I could feel it in my shoulders. It was also a day after my long run (16 miles, 20 lbs vest on my shoulders), so maybe I wasn’t in the greatest of shapes to begin with?
Day 2:
I was definitely feeling my legs from the first day, but still full of enthusiasm:
I learned an important lesson that day: I have to be more careful about turns on my stairs. It got pretty hard on my knee. The key turned out to be switching which leg I am standing on when I turn. It needs to be the one on the inside. I don’t know why, but it works. I might work out eventually why it works. After all, I have a lot of time to think about it when I walk up and down the stairs. Note on occupying time while walking: I sweat so much that looking down at my phone is tricky. I end up with sweat in my eyes and the screen acts up when sweat drips on it.
Day 3:
This day was not exciting… It was just the put-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other type. I went surprisingly fast, despite feeling a bit sore. I have a feeling that those middle days will always be challenging. For taller mountains, there will be more middle days. I suspect that the last day before summit will be exciting though after a week or two of climbing.
I stopped staring at my phone while climbing. I am pretty sure that’s what made all the difference in the pace. After all, I didn’t have to worry as much about stepping wrong. Falling down the stairs started to become a real fear. I missed staring at social media and such, but I got to listen to podcast. I have enjoyed those for a while. They were a lifesaver in here!
Day 4:
I made it!!! 🎉🎉🎉 I have now virtually conquered the tallest mountain in Australia 😊
I think it was the excitement for accomplish the goal, but today’s climb seemed not as bad. It also had 4 fewer floors, but that’s not really that much of a difference, is it? Well, I probably walked up those extra floors with mini-me trying to film and take pictures 😆
Now I get tomorrow off and I will be back at it on Saturday to get to the top of Vinson Massif, tallest mountain in Antarctica.