Exercises at elevation

at 6:08 AM

Working out while staying in the mountains can be challenging, not the least because I don't have a routine, i.e. the gym, since I can always come up with different exercises with a couple of dumbbells at my disposal, but because I have been hiking in the back country in deep snow for several days and with almost 30% less oxygen I am exhausted!!

Here's what I have been doing:

We arrived in Telluride on Sunday; Spin bike 50 min and weights using only 10 lb an 15 lb dumbbells- Tabata workouts (20 sec. work; 10 sec rest-8 sets)- biceps, shoulders and 150 pushups for a total of 45 min. Then snow shoed for about 3 hours- elevation did not go higher than 11,000 ft. There was a big group of us and the hiking although was very cardiovascular, the terrain was not terribly challenging.

Monday- I did my spin bike/weights routine again- in addition to 8-10 sets of 10 sec lunges and squats- For hiking I did not have a guide. The guides can be very helpful if you don't want to get lost among the trees and deep snow. And I don't really like to be embarrassed by calling for ski patrol rescue. So I snow shoed by myself for about 2 hours in blizzard conditions. It was snowing heavily and the snow was particularly wet.

Tuesday- Yes you guessed it... spin bike/weights- Tabata routine for biceps, shoulders and 200 pushups- I went with my Aussie friend and our guide to some of the back country terrain that was pretty steep. We were out for approximately 5 hours and covered close to 6 miles in the deep snow- the guides tend to be incredibly fit, with knowledg about the plants and animals that live around here and many times they have an ecology or biology background. We reached about 12,000 ft. Our lunch consisted of almonds, apples and cheese. I hadn't been that hungry in a long time.

Wednesday was a carbon copy of Monday- More snow and sometimes snow and sun shine at the same time.

I may take it a little easier tomorrow.