“I did it dude!
One of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
Especially with the altitude sickness factored in.
I feel great though.
Very accomplished and proud of my resilience.
It was very much a mental game and I feel like the physical parts of the hike were solid, especially after training 20 rep back squats for weeks!”
Ryan, a member of Railroad for over 7 years, is no stranger to adventures.
From hikes, to kayaking to spartan races, Ryan is one who builds fitness and wants to use it to enjoy what life has to offer.
Outside of looking good, feeling good and long term health – one of Ryan’s values is his ability to utilize the fitness he’s built in a vast set of experiences.
In the gym training, he’s consistent 3-4 days a week.
He recently set his sights to use his fitness to climb the base camp of Mt. Everest.
No easy feat.
What was his preparation?
3-4 days a week in Coach Led Large Group classes at Railroad.
How did it turn out?
Q:How many hours of hiking each day would you do?
“It varied, but between 5-6 hours gaining elevation each day, with 2 built in rest days to let your body try to acclimate and build more red blood cells.”
Q: How many days of hiking up the elevation did you perform ?
“It was about a week of hiking upward.”
Q: How did you prepare for something like this?
“I have done zero additional training or conditioning to go to Everest Base Camp and I knew I would be able to rely on RR programming alone to keep me in the best shape that I need to be ready for anything.
I relied 100% on the fitness from RR alone and in my opinion is MORE than adequate to allow me to not only be fit and healthy but to allow me to accomplish these sorts of things.”
Q: Did you feel completely comfortable in your capacity and capability?
Physically 100%, as much as it could.
I train 3-4x a week consistently for years.
Altitude sickness is mostly genetic but it’s said that the impacts of it lessen the better shape you’re in. So as far as my physical strength there was no doubt.
And as you know, I hit mental adversity at the gym when trying to push myself to greater limits, so I would say that I already had familiarity with the kind of mental state that I NEEDED to be in to push through to the end.”
Q: What emotions did you experience completing this sort of extraordinary feat?
“Just very accomplished and proud. I pictured myself being there, I was more than confident in my athletic capabilities, and I just pushed through even when it got really challenging.
I also ended up solo, I was so surprised. I thought for sure I’d be put into a larger group, but it was just me and a guide that hardly spoke English haha
This was good and bad. Bad because there was no morale, no shared effort and ability for people to keep you going. Just me and trail upward.”
Q: What do you feel you’re walking away with?
“I got altitude sickness really bad, and at the end of every day towards the end, when I’m laying in bed freezing cold, I know that I have to wake up the next day, in whatever shape that is, and go home higher up, knowing I’ll feel worse each time. But once I reach the end goal, it’ll have been worth it and I’ll have felt pride and personal accomplishment, which I did.
“One of the hardest things I’ve ever done and I feel great. And I’m proud and feel very accomplished.
Especially proud of my resilience.”
