And The Winners Are ... The Mamut T Aenergy GTX ®

Wow, okay so this is well overdue!   I have been mighty distracted, but am going to continue the effort of making this a routine event.


After a long deliberation process, I have finally chosen and started wearing in my Kilimanjaro hiking boots.   The third time was a charm and I am now the proud new owner of some bright, albeit muddy, new blue Mamut T Aenergy GTX® (as seen in the photograph or here: http://www.mammut.ch/en/productDetail/302003830_v_5136_75/T-Aenergy-GTX%C2%AE-Women.html).


I thought I would write today's blog to put down a few of the tips and tricks I learnt during the selection process ... so ...

1) Know your booty needs


For us the decision was a day hiker.  This was based on the fact that we will have packs that are less than 50lbs (thanks to our team of porters) and do not have any ankle problems.  Waterproof is also a definite must for Kilimanjaro as we will have everything from rain forest to snow to trek through.  

2) Set aside plenty of time for the hunting process and get used to the returns process!

To select my boots required 3 attempts; each attempt costing at least a few hours in the shop.   Don't expect this to be a quick shop!  Apparently even seasoned hikers require a lot of time as models and technologies change and you are really cheating yourself if you don't try on a few different brands/models.   

Also, a great lesson learnt is to not hit up the outdoors shops expecting great (or any for that matter) service on the first nice day of spring.  This is guaranteed to result in crankiness (well, if shopping with persons of like personalities to myself).

And of course, keep those receipts!

3) A thumb's width is what you need

My first fail was buying boots that were snug.   This seemed like a great idea but upon research and the helpful advice of friends and coworkers this is a foolish plan.   Going up the mountain is one thing, but when coming down you want room for your toes so that they are not slamming into the front of the boot.   While I will not learn this lesson the hard way, apparently snug boots can equate to blackened toenails and pain.

I did, however, get a bit of an idea of this lesson this past week in San Francisco.  Even my running shoes became uncomfortable on the downhill portions of walks because I was too far into the front of them.

I feel like the downhill portion just may end up being one of our most challenging days!   At least my toes will be happy :)


4) Invest in a good quality technical sock

Invest in them and take them along for the boot shopping.   Outdoors shops (and running shops for that matter) have a wide array of cute smart wool and other technical fabrics designed to keep your feet dry and comfortable!

For Kilimanjaro we were aimed towards a mid-weight technical sock.  I can't comment on how correct this is ... but will hopefully be praising this guidance in July!


5) Take band-aids with you to the shop

For some reason, that I am not aware of, hiking boots have mean laces!!!  After doing up and undoing a few pairs you will start to get discomfort on the thumb side of your pointer fingers and thumbs.  After 6 or more pairs, bring on the blisters!  

Once this happens, once again, crankiness ensues.

6)  Regardless of style points (or lack thereof) wear them indoors a few times before heading into the great outdoors!!

I put up with friendly teasing and also received some great pointers by wearing each of the boots I tested in the office with my professional apparel.  This was a priceless plan as I eliminated 2 pairs of boots that I was completely in love with in the shop.  The best part of the office day was the stairs.  Nothing will tell you that the heel in the boot isn't right better than taking the stairs all day!   Also, in the office you can cover a lot more ground than you possibly can at home.

Plus, you get bragging rights that you are doing something cool in the near future!

Hiking Boots and Why Team Kilimanjaro

We attempted to get our hiking boots on Saturday, which turned out to be a very bad idea.   Apparently on Easter Saturday the world and his or her wife also needed hiking boots, tents, backpacks and all of the other outdoor paraphernalia that the shops on our list provide.  

We did, however, learn that we require a day hiker for Kilimanjaro.   Apparently hiking boots are broken out in light hikers, day hikers and hikers.  As we are not going to be carrying 50+ lbs and do not have any ankle problems, it is the MEC guru's belief that a day hiker will fit our stability requirements without adding the extra weight of a hiker.  Reduced weight sounds great to me!   However, he used all of his available time to tell us all of this and then didn't have time to follow through with any fitting.   So, after trying Bushtaka and Expedition and having much the same luck, we have decided to postpone this shopping to Tuesday PM.   

A lot of people have been asking how I picked Team Kilimanjaro, so I thought I might as well add in a few posts detailing the planning and decisions I/we have made to this point.   

One of the first things I did was lock down Team Kilimanjaro.   A lot of the people I chatted with who have previously climbed Kili recommend just arriving and sorting out a climb group when you get there; this can apparently be cheaper.  However, as we are travelling with Mum, there are certain levels of standard that I wanted to ensure that would be met and decided to book from here.  My key search criteria were: 

• Registered with Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (http://www.kiliporters.org/)
• GPS/social media tracking for people at home to folllow
• Routes/service that involved high quality tenting and not using the huts on the mountain (ask me about this if you have any questions)
• Vegetarian meal options
• Full service company providing safari options
• Individualized routes so as to avoid traffic jams as much as possible (this can actually be a thing!!!)
• Friendly customer service!

I contacted quite a few companies and Team Kilimanjaro really stood out amongst the others.

We will be climbing their own variation on the Rongai Route (http://www.teamkilimanjaro.com/rongai.html).  This is a 7 day climb on a quiet TK variation of the standard Rongai route which allows for a better climb high/sleep low differential than any of the existing Rongai routes.  This is great as the reason the standard Rongai route is so quiet is because it has the second worst likelihood of summitting (failure rate of approximately 50%) of all 6 conventional routes.  With their route variation, which they own exclusively, TK have great success on the Rongai route and we will hopefully have a more serene experience!

Feel free to ask any further questions you may have as to how/why I selected Team Kilimanjaro!

In terms of our training this week ... we are making progress ...

Training since Wednesday:

Thursday - 6km tempo run.  I did this with an overall pace of 6:18 though, so below where I want my 'tempo' to be

Friday - 7.4 km walk

Sunday - 14km LSD run

Monday - 3km run.  Today is supposed to be my off day, but hubby has decided to start running so we are going to work through one of the intro 5k programs with him.  I also skipped Saturday, so this is not not resting, just diverted resting!

I need to add in some strength training somewhere and will likely add in some  Bodyrock on my running rest days ... I love love love Bodyrock (http://www.bodyrock.tv/) and find their videos one of the most amazing ways to kick my own butt in around 20 minutes!

96 days to Kilimanjaro ...

I have been talking about starting this blog for a while now and have decided that today is the day!  There are many interesting things that I would like to blog about and have been overwhelmed by all of the possibility ... but I have decided to take it day by day and blog about what is interesting me.   

With this being said, my main initial focus is going to be preparing to climb Kilimanjaro and life's adventures before and after this milestone.  

Source: www.wallhunt.com

I feel like, as with most other things, the Kili deadline is looming up on us faster than we are preparing for.   On July 2nd we leave for Kili and begin our trek on July 6th.  This is not far away ... 96 days to be precise.  Eek!

People ask what we are doing for training ... ummm, well ... Mum and I run with the Running Room (love them!! check out their training programs here:  www.runningroom.com) and I am currently participating in the 1/2 marathon training program for the Ottawa Race Weekend (I'm sure I'll blog about this in later posts).  Other than that though, we haven't even bought our hiking boots yet!!   This is our Easter Wknd goal though ... that and to find somewhere in Ottawa to start our weekend hikes.    This weekend we may need wellington boots instead of hikers, but it will all be part of the training!  My hubby has not yet started any training; I'm not too sure what his plan is.  But dragging him out for weekend hikes is now on our to do list!!

I wonder who the least prepared person to ever summit Kilimanjaro was?  I have heard many tales from all ends of the spectrum, from triathletes who get altitude sickness and don't make it to inactive smokers who do ... it seems almost like a flip of a coin and mostly dependent on one's reaction to the altitude more so than the exercise.   With that being said I read a great post a while ago (I unfortunately can't remember the location) where the author worded it along the lines of: if you don't make it, you want to know that you did everything you could to get there and not have regrets about sitting on the couch in the months leading up to your climb.  I'm thinking that right now I would have some regrets ...so I'm taking this as my new mantra and taking this seriously.  I will make it to the top and if I don't I won't have any regrets!

Source:
www.ewpnet.com/eaimg/kilimanjaro.htm

Another perspective is that great training will make the climb an enjoyable experience versus a grueling physical torture.   I really want it to be enjoyable and I want to be able to take in everything I am seeing instead of focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.  I am sooo looking forward to just day after day of WOW factor.   They have plants that go from freezing at night to +30 temperatures during the day ... WOW.  We get to walk through areas that people refer to as other worldly because of the diverse vegetation ... WOW.  We get to see 100 foot ice cliffs while they still exist ... WOW.   

So, here it begins.   Today, with Running Room, we conveniently have hill training.  I despise and yet love hill training ... the torment of going up the hill is only overshadowed by the sheer joy of completing the torment!

I'm looking forward to publicizing this as it will motivate me to train harder and more consistently.  After all, you will all know what I have or have not done on the road to Kili!