Back to Basics...

shazkea

Cheers for the advice gals. Yeah I agree I need to start adding distances and hills - was quizzing my local route guru (aka Nules!) on various routes the other eve! Similar to running then, don't worry about speed for the start, just increase distance and change route types....oh and other important thing is getting used to the saddle

Nules10

Aww man you are going to leave me for dust on that Sean Kelly thingy unless i knock you off your bike and steal it on you

shazkea

Nules10 wrote: »

Aww man you are going to leave me for dust on that Sean Kelly thingy unless i knock you off your bike and steal it on you

Ah typical northside way of solving a problem - knock me down and steal my bike

shazkea

Sat July 30th

Unscheduled rest day - hungover and feeling precious so did nada. Twas that last drink that did the damage :rolleyes:

Sun July 31st

Last chance to hit the hiking trails before heading away next weekend. Headed for Fraughan Rock & Lugnaquilla (925m) via Glenmalure. It was shocking conditions up there, couldn't see a foot in front of you. To be honest hated every boggy step up and doubted D's navigation skills after some interesting route choices!! Fair play he got us up there with his trusty compass so that put me in my box . I can def see why novices should not do this route in bad weather - impossible to tell where you're going without the necessary skills. 5+ hours of hiking.
This time 2 weeks I shall hopefully be at 5895m at the top of Africa :pac:

shazkea

Mon Aug 1st - Bike

Bicycle time today and wasn't looking forward to it. My plan was basically to hit hills - had quizzed Nules on the some good routes around this direction and she gave me some interesting little doozies! A good workout with a gradual increase in distance. A good stretch afterwards sorted out any little aches.
I'm finding biking is a great substitute for the running and it will become part of any training plan moving forward. I've even checked out the multisport function on the Garmin :rolleyes:...slippery slope!!

Distance:35km
Time: 1:21:11
Avg Speed: 25.87 kmph

Nules10

You are doing brill on the bike.... and on the sh*t one too Imagine what you will be like when you get the new one

shazkea

Tues Aug 2nd - Gym

Planned easy session in the gym.
Bike: 10 km @24.85
Rower: 4000m (thiis was harder than it should have been)
20 mins Strength & Stretch

Bored of this gym lark now...hopefully just a couple of more days of it.

Stepped on the treadmill to do a run and it took all my will power to step off again - not worth the risk with 4 days to go.

shazkea

After a good cross session in the gym, I finally cracked and ran on the treadmill. It was only a mile but it was one of the nicest miles I have ever run . I felt like I could go on forever but that would not be wise so hopped off and stretched. Can't believe it's been 8 weeks since I last ran...

Only a mile but jeez it feels great

Nules10

Yeah i noticed that mad look in your eye the other day all right well done. And you have been doing great work on the bike too. You will be back in no time

shazkea

Collected my new Road bike today Plan was to cycle it home from the shop (~30km) but I chickened out when I saw the lashing rain, skinny wheels, pedals etc so carefully placed it into the back of my "taxi" (ta Nules!!).

I took it out then when I got home to get used to it. Nearly killed myself (and a fupping kid) with the flipping strap pedals. Oh and my ass after that saddle :eek:...those lycra shorts nappies will make an appearance for the next outing.

Might get a quick chance to take it out tomorrow morn before I head for Kilimanjaro...depends on how the packing goes tonight :rolleyes:

Bally8

best of luck in kilmanjaro, have a ball. Cant wait to hear all about it.

RubyK

Enjoy the climb shaz! Hope you have an amazing time

jcsmum

Have a great time!!!

W.B. Yeats

Great challenge ahead- best of luck

shazkea

I was asked to write a thing about the Kilimanjaro trip for something else so thought I would post the summit day section of it here since I have a second.
Apologies in advance but it is long and non-running related...but I've been banging about this for so long, I figured what the hell!!

Basic info: to bring you up to speed...at this point I'm on day 5 and camping on way up to the base camp (4,700m high). 6 of us in the group. No sleep so far for various reasons....anyway here goes...

Day 5: Summit Day
I’m finding it impossible to adequately describe this day, words just are not doing it justice. So let me start at the beginning.


The guides woke us at 23:00 (I was awake anyway as usual) and had told us to be prepared for extremely cold weather en-route so we layered up. Temp outside was about -5 so not too bad I thought but I would listen to their advice. Including thermals I had 5 layers on top with normal fleece, windproof fleece and heavy ski jacket. 3 layers on the bottom; thermal, trekking pants, and outer windproof pants topped by a buff and a wolly hat. I felt like the abominable snowman!



“Breakfast” was at 23:30 and again was porridge which I was not happy with as all I had was a cut of bread. Apart from not liking porridge, I am lactose intolerant so couldn’t eat it anyway.
By 00:00 we were off by torchlight, all streaming one after another heel to toe. “Pole-pole” (slowly, slowly) was the pace and I was never so happy to be moving that slow. The first 2 hour section to reach Williams Point (5000m) was ok-ish. Breathing was really difficult but manageable at that pace.



It’s hard to explain the affects at that altitude so the only way I can think of is that it’s like coming to the end of a hard interval or a race sprint finish where you can’t catch your breath and you are panting to get some oxygen into you, except you can’t because there is less oxygen to take in that high. Top that off with a bad hangover where you have a nasty headache and queasiness and you pretty much have mild affects of altitude sickness and it never goes away until you come back down – this was how I was feeling which was great compared to others. Now this is bad enough lying down or even walking on flat, but factor in that we are on a steep ascent of a mountain.


From 5000m onwards I was in hell. We had caught up with a German group who were being slowed down by a group member – he was stopping after every 2 steps to try and catch his breath. As it was disrupting our rhythm we asked to overtake them. This is very hard work on a narrow ridge uphill path and by the time we had overtaken the 20 of them, I was wrecked. I couldn’t breathe, no energy and my legs were like jelly and the worst part was, I had 7 more hours to go if I wanted to make it to the top. I honestly could have cried and it was the first time that I doubted I would make this. As it was brass monkeys, we had no real opportunity to stop so we kept going for another hour until the next milestone, Hans Mayer Cave 5150...yep it took us 1 hour to ascend 150m. Everyone was suffering. I found a stone to perch on and tried to massage some life into the legs and stretch them out. There was no conversation as none of us physically had the breath to say anything. This was alot tougher than all of us thought. 5 mins was all we could rest otherwise hypothermia would be a threat so we reluctantly kept going.



Our next milestone and break was Gillmans Point (5700m) where we would watch the sunrise the Mawenzi cliffs. Problem was this was 3 hours away on a steep and rocky ascent. This was where our rock climbing practice was supposed to come in. Mixed in with this was the scree slopes which were too steep to go straight up so there were switch backs. So if I wasn’t trying to hoist myself onto rocks, I was trying to get a foothold on the scree and failing miserably as we all kept slipping backwards with the jelly legs. Poles helped somewhat but it was a big effort to try and dig them into the ground. HTFU and SIU were on repeat for those 3 hours as I tried to keep going (can put the real acronyms here as you know what they mean!!!). Honestly I have nothing positive to say about that section of the climb, I was just giving it my all to keep putting one foot in front of the other.


The Guides coaxed us on and eventually Gillmans Point came into view. I was the first one in the line at this stage so the first one to step onto the ridge and touch the sign and then pretty much sank onto the nearest stone to wait for the others. We had being going to over 6 hours at this stage with hardly any breaks so exhausted I decided to try a sports gel. One of the guides had carried a flask up so doled out some tea. Cue first major panic for group – our ultrarunner spewed all over the place from altitude sickness. Basic rule is 3 strikes (vomits) and you’re out – you have to head down the mountain straight away. She looked awful so we knew it was only a matter of minutes before she had to go, spew a second time, had her pic taken beside sign to prove she reached it, spewed again and she was out. Our group was down to 5 as a guide rushed her off the ridge and helped her down before she got worse. Apart from exhaustion I was relatively ok, however it was a different story for my bro. He wasn’t doing too good and looked in bad shape and I started to get worried. He assured us he was good to go so on we went again. Next milestone, Stellmans Point (5740m).



A couple of steps after Gillmans my brother puked and my heart sank. The guides rushed over to help him as we stood back to watch. The decision was made to give him some oxygen to see if that would work. So there at 5700 odd metres at the side of the crater, they assembled the oxygen canister. Naturally I got upset so I couldn’t look and had to turn my back which I should probably explain why. A few years ago we both did the Everest Base Camp trek together and brother was quite ill on it. We knew it wasn’t altitude sickness as he never got better when he came back down. When he got back home he was diagnosed with Cancer, his docs had missed it for years so now had multiple sites including a whooping big tumour on his lung. During treatment etc, we swore that when he got better we would stand on the top of Kilimanjaro together so fast forward some crappy years, we were now on the mountain together fulfilling that promise. It was simple and there was no other choice, we were going to get to the top...together. I turned and looked at him sucking on the oxygen (btw we can laugh about it now!), and he gave me a box. I knew the stubborn git meant he was ok and lets go, so we did.



On we plodded and as we approached Stellmans we heard whoops of joy from people. This is the spot where other routes join so we all come together on the summit path. The hairs of the back of my neck stood up as it dawned on me that we would actually make the summit, even if we had to crawl (and yes I did see someone do this). It was here I started to actually cry with the sheer emotion of it. I tell you they were the last tears I shed...it was -27 C on the top and my tears froze, not only that but my lashes froze also...holy mother of f**k and I paid to do this holiday. Painfully slow we kept going, bro had stopped taking oxygen and was going to make it on his own.


Finally after 8.5 hours of “pole-pole” and we were there, we had flipping made it. Bro and I just hugged each other for ages. For him it was closure on that chapter of his life and for me it was confirming that I had still had my big bro around. The other 3 left in our group made it too and there were hugs and cheers all.



To say that I was full of the joys of life up there would be rubbish. I was utterly spent and had given everything to making sure I got up there. I barely looked at the sign before seeking out a rock on which to perch. Well barely had my ass touched it, when the guide was hauling me up again for a group photo by the sign. This was the only sour note for me on the entire trip. It was a circus at the sign with peeps trying to take pics and refusing to get out of other peoples pics. Managed to get pic of bro and myself but I think there is some random German couple in it too...will not start on that rant here!!!


I could now appreciate the view from the top and it was breathtaking. The Glacier was amazing and I just stood gazing at it for ages. On the other side, the view of the crater had a mystical type appearance that I honestly cannot do it justice here. Worth the hard slog...


10 mins later and we were ushered off the mountain – job was only half done. We had 6 more hours to go before we get to our sleeping bags and ultimately the best sleep of the trip. The trip down was tough going too. In order to expedite it, you sorta ski down the scree slopes except with no skis...eh it was awful. 2 of the group were puking on the way down with the exertion of it (and no not the bro!).


15 hours after we started I fell into my tent for the best (and only!!) sleep in that tent. Well deserved methinks!!


So in summary and knowing what I know now about summit day, would I recommend it....hell yeah, would I do it again...hell no, never in a million years! Once is enough and I have the official cert to prove that I made to Uhuru, highest point in Africa with the big bro by my side!

Nules10

Shaz brilliant report.... i even shed a tear reading it You are one tough cookie. I can safely say i will never do that climb after reading your report. So happy your brother made it too. well done missus. Drinks when you get back... lots of drinks

racheljev

Aw Shaz, brilliant report, little tear here as well. Congratulations, what an achievement. Fair play to you and the bro, well done

liamo123

Just stumbled across this amazing report while doing my ususal lurking through training logs .... very well done to u and ur brother... I can only imagine the emotional rollercoaster ride u went through on the way to the summit.... U know what they say tough ; Blood is thicker than water , snow , ice ,cold etc etc .....

DigiJem

The report was a lovely read Shaz, it sounds like an amazing journey. Congrats!

RubyK

That sounds like a mighty battle, well done to you and your bro! I can't imagine how tough it must have been, or the elation when you got to the top. Brilliant stuff

ILOVERED

Whoo Shaz!! The hairs stood on the back of my neck as I read this! But I was still shouting at the screen, WHY WHY WHY would you do that, then you explained your brothers story, so now I am softly saying why why why I would never survie that! Huge admiration for you and your brother!

Running Ardgillian hills would be no problem to you now!!

pistol_75

Well done Shaz. Lovely report.

jcsmum

Ah Shaz, what a report. And there was me laughing at that recent programme about the RTE zelebs crying at the summit and here I am all emotional reading about you and your brother.
Well done, delighted for you.

brownian

Well done. Good report. Fair play.

W.B. Yeats

Lovely hurling Shaz
Seems like a real rollercoaster experience with massive emotional significance for you and the bro
Delighted that it went well for ye in the end,
Beir bua

runrabbit

Thanks for posting this shaz - it was lovely to read it. Congrats to the both of ye!

littlebug

wow... just wow! What a brilliant achievement Shaz. Well done you (and bro).

Bally8

+1 for sheding tears! All I can say is WOW, you are amazing!! Great report, so happy for you and your brother for making it. Your strength is inspiring.

claralara

You are amazing. What you've accomplished is amazing. Huge congratulations!! You made me cry and I've a heart of stone.. :cool:

shazkea

Thanks to everyone for the supportive messages, I really do appreciate it and sorry if I brought on some tears . It was a symbolic journey and hence my decision to give up running to ensure an injury wouldn't prevent me getting to the top.
Now that it's over, time to get back running again

Helping out at the 10 miler tomorrow so hopefully I will get to cheer you on and meet some of you in Ryans afterwards.

Best of luck to everyone running it.