Training For Kilimanjaro: Interview With Wanda

​In this episode, I interview Summit Strength client Wanda, who recently came off a successful summit of Kilimanjaro. Inside, she shares some insights about her inspiration for this trip, her training for this high altitude adventure and some of her experiences on the mountain. 

Episode Chapters:

0:09 
Introduction to Wanda's Adventure
1:07 
Wanda's Hiking Background
3:46 
Setting the Kilimanjaro Goal
6:39 
Finding Summit Strength
8:17 
Training with Summit Strength
11:12 
Overcoming Challenges
13:06 
The Kilimanjaro Experience
15:13 
Insights from the Ascent
22:02 
Celebrating the Summit
24:50 
Future Adventures Ahead
29:53 
Final Thoughts and Inspiration

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Want to hear some more of our training for Kilimanjaro success stories?

Check out this article: How These Hikers Trained To Summit Kilimanjaro

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Want to get fit, strong and resilient for your hiking adventures?

Check out our online personal training for hiking: The Online Summit Program 

Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, I interview Summit Strength client

[0:05] Wanda, who's recently come back from a successful summit of Kilimanjaro. And in this episode, we talk a little bit about her inspiration towards this adventure, her training and preparations, and also her experience on this high-attitude mountain. A really, really good episode for anyone who may be aspiring to a big high-attitude climb at some stage and maybe got a bit of a question mark whether it's going to happen or not. So I really hope you enjoy today's episode. Let's get into it. All right. Hello, hello, Wanda, and a big welcome to the show. So happy to have you on today. Yes, and thanks for having me. I'm excited. Oh, no, my pleasure. My pleasure. Because as I was saying before we hopped on, I think like, yeah, the story we're going to go through and kind of what you've been through, the awesome journey you've been on and the things you've ran into along the way, I think it's going to be super inspirational for a lot of people. So I'm very excited to have you on and I'm very excited to chat through things today.

[1:03] So I guess to kick things off, let's start from the top. And if you just want to let us know who you are, where you're from, what do you do and what is your background in hiking?

[1:14] Yeah, sure. Well, I live in Arizona in the US, in a desert actually, and I'm retired and, you know, hiking has been something that I've done off and on for decades.

[1:37] But more regularly, on a regular basis, I would say, when I say regular, I mean maybe once or twice a week, more in the last three to four years, where I became more dedicated to being outdoors, hiking with friends, hiking with a hiking club here in Arizona. And hiking regularly has been since I've been retired. So...

[2:06] And then before you started working with Summit Strength, because you've been, you know, with us for a little while now, what was your typical approach to training and getting ready for these adventures?

[2:18] Well, they were kind of haphazard. You know, some of the hiking with friends were at a spare of the moment. You know, it would be a weekend. Oh, let's go for a hike. There was no real routine. But I have always been an active person. So I usually walk every day, and that's been a daily routine for a very long time. But in terms of other training, you know, off and on, some bike rides, some rowing, going to the local gym and letting that membership relapse and get motivated again. So it really was sort of kind of haphazard. There was no real structure. Um, so, but I've always been active, but not in a routine, no real, uh, no strength training. I, I, I, at the time I thought I was allergic to strength training. So I was more into cardio and I considered myself more of a cardio junkie. I would rather, um, be on a bike than lifting, um, any weights. So that sort of was sort of a haphazard approach to working out.

[3:38] Fair enough. I think probably a few listeners are probably nodding along with that and be like, oh, yeah, that sounds a bit familiar.

[3:46] So let's talk about the latest goal that you've set yourself and just sort of come back from. What was the latest kind of big hiking goal that you've just done? And what was the, I guess, instigator of this particular goal? Well, so yeah, very good question. So it's really just a month ago, I came down off this big mountain. A month ago, I came down off Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. And I would say it was a big goal. It was something that I had thought about doing for a long time, really, but never had the time. It would pop in my head and then I would forget all about it. I'm talking about decades ago, I would think about it. But more recently, I would say, and when I say recently, about three years ago, a friend of mine got really very ill. And, you know, I'm I just had my 73rd birthday last week.

[4:56] Anyway, about three years ago, I started I sat down with myself and really started thinking about what what what goals do I still have? What what would I like to do? And would have some regrets if I didn't try. And Kilimanjaro came back up. And I decided that if I don't do it now, it wasn't going to happen.

[5:23] So that was the big goal. And I needed a lot of help. That's how I found so much strength, really. At first, I started with my own program, my haphazard program. I started trying to, you know, maybe lift five-pound weights. But, you know, I never had any structure. and after a while I and I mean when I say a while I would say maybe six months or seven six months into this sort of program of getting myself ready for Kilimanjaro I realized that I needed help so I went online I went on Facebook and that's where I found the post about Summit Strength And I decided that if I really wanted to do this, I needed some structure. I needed some help having something to do that gets me prepared, gets my body prepared for this adventure. So that's pretty much how I got involved with Summit Strength.

[6:39] And I guess diving into that a little bit more, beyond just needing that structure and that direction and the things you mentioned just there, was there anything else, I guess, specifically that you felt like, look, I really maybe do need a bit of help with leading into this adventure? Well, you know, after reading these posts and going online about, you know, about Kilimanjaro, you know, it's not a technical mountain, which is great. There's no ropes or ladders, but endurance was an important thing. You know, being able to climb up hills and descents going down was an important thing. And I needed help with that. I know my legs, you know, like I said, I did no strength training before this. So I needed more structured around that, some help around getting the muscles ready in terms of being able to ascent, descent. And there was more also in terms of with Summit Strength, I found other different programs. Like I worked with Kyle for a while, you know, around nutrition.

[8:00] Reading, listening to the things with Christina in terms of the mindset helped me with it. So I would say that the program really helped.

[8:17] So next up, let's dive into the training a little bit more. Tell us a little bit more about the training you did through Summit Strength in the lead up and what did your kind of program look like leading into this adventure?

[8:31] Well, that's a good, yes. Well, one, it gave me, I had a structure. I mean, I had something to look at every week. I had three days of strength training that was programmed in with all the suggestions in terms of, you know, whether it's squats or lunges or calf raises, step ups, spin ups, all of those things really helped. So that was built in as well as the cardio endurance training in terms of like the spin-ups I was talking about, like on an exercise bike or stair climber really helped. So that was built into my program as well as I have problems with. With balance and I needed some help with that. So there were programs built in that I could, and I still working on that on balance. That was part of my routine.

[9:53] So I would say that those were some of the things that I did a lot. Oh, the other thing I would say that helped me, that was part of my program in turn, especially in terms of endurance was the, the hiking, um, some of the hill workouts using nasal breathing really was really helpful and, and sort of, you know, hiking, uh, so some guidance in terms of hiking with, with a pack. So that was built into my program. Cause I would hike with my friends, maybe, you know, like I said, once or twice a week, but in terms of pack weight, as I got closer to, you know, Kilimanjaro in terms of how much weight to try to emphasize on a hike and hike length. As I got closer, my hikes got longer and longer. So all of those things that was part of the program that helped me feel good enough to make that attempt to go up Kilimanjaro.

[11:13] And as with any training journey, it's never an entirely smooth journey. There's always ups and downs and things coming on. So through this lead up and through this training, were there any roadblocks you run into along the way? And if so, how did you overcome them?

[11:32] Well yeah um about i would say maybe it was about two and a half years ago maybe like i said this was something i was building up for the you know for three years but about two and a half years ago i developed this um cardiac arrhythmia that came out of the blue i you know i i had no cardiac no physical medical problems up until then but I had this arrhythmia and I you know I sought medical help I would sort cardiologists and got follow-up and luckily the type of arrhythmia I had was amenable to a sort of cardiac surgery and it sort of took away their arrhythmia and I haven't had a single episode since I had that surgery over two years ago. But that was a roadblock because I thought I would not be able to complete the journey if I was going to all of a sudden be hiking and out of the blue would have this arrhythmia.

[12:42] And so I was lucky in some ways that I was able to get that procedure done and it paved the way to continue with working with Summit Strength and doing the workouts that I needed to do.

[13:06] And then let's talk about the trip now. So you've done your lead up, you've done your training, obviously worked through that big roadblock there and came out the other end. So let's talk about the trip. How did the mountain go? Give us the rundown. Tell us the story. Take us through it. The mountain, the majestic mountain, the mountain of Kilimanjaro.

[13:31] Well, you know, first of all, I think there are things that sometimes you don't think about. Like from where I live in Tucson, it took me like 27 hours of travel to get there. So there was that. There was, you know, the 10-hour difference, time difference in getting adjusted to that. But then the mountain, the mountain was incredible. It was beautiful. I had decided at the very beginning that what I wanted to do was enjoy every moment of, And enjoy every ecosystem as I ascended the mountain. Because there's all these ecosystems that you go through on the mountain from, you know, the cultivation area where you have farms and everything. But as you go further up, you're in the rainforest.

[14:33] And there's another level of the montane area. Then you get to the Arctic desert. and then, you know, the Arctic zone. I mean, there's all these different zones that you go through. So I wanted to enjoy it all. I wanted to enjoy the sight, the texture, the smells. Just utilize all my five senses. I took a lot of pictures. I stopped and just appreciated everyone because I didn't know when I was going to ever be able to see that again.

[15:06] So I will say that at the very beginning, I decided that the peak itself was not my goal. My goal was just to enjoy the journey as best that I could.

[15:25] So Kilimanjaro, like I said, it's not technical. And a lot of people do it anywhere between, say, six and 10 days. I took the maximum 10 days because I did a day time summit as opposed to being woken up in the middle of the night at midnight. I wanted to wake up at four o'clock instead. So mine was a 10 day, but four days in, I got sick. And I've been in altitude before in all the trips and never had any altitude sickness, no headaches, no stomach problems, nothing, you know, except that, you know, as you're hiking, you may be short of breath, but standing still, no issues. So I wasn't expecting to get the run into the altitude sickness that I got. So on day four, I developed, you know, some vomiting and diarrhea, which was very concerning because the whole idea is keeping in fluids, not losing it.

[16:32] But and that subsided after a day or two. But the GI stuff never totally went away. And what I mean by that is that after day four, I was never really able to eat food like I should have been able to.

[16:57] That was important to get the energy. So I concentrated mostly on fluids because I could keep that down very well and juices and the soups that they give you. But I was behind... In terms of nutrition, I'll be honest, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get to finish the trip.

[17:27] But, you know, some of the things that in terms of working with Kyle, the nutritionist, in terms of I had some trail winds I had bought with me that had electrolytes and carbohydrates. So I had that with me, and that helped me to continue on the mountain. I will say that despite the GI problems, I still focused on enjoying what I was looking at, enjoying looking at all these ecosystems, enjoying looking at the plants, the different flora, or the lack of flora, the rocks. It looks like a moonscape at one point, and just sort of taking that all in.

[18:19] So I would say that, yes, the GI stuff was in the way. It did affect my performance, even though I was able to complete it. I was surprised that when I woke up the next day, I was still able to get up and hike in my legs. I didn't, my legs felt fine. And I think that's because of all the work that I did in terms of preparing my physical fitness prior to the hike. I think that's what got me up there. So when I finally did summit, which I was, yay, happy about, um, um, I, I was really overjoyed. I was surprised that I was able to get up there considering the lack of nutrition. But I also realized that I took some of the things that I learned and turned to the mental reset, just sort of focusing just on that day, that moment, one step at a time, one breath at a time. That's what got me up there.

[19:31] And and i remember remember just hearing like your report back from the trip just sort of saying i had to go through all of that gi stuff early on and i was just such a nightmare and a sea level hike let alone let alone having to go up to the one of the tallest mountains in the world and manage that and deal with that and such a such a crazy thing so you know it's a really phenomenal effort that like that you got through it all and like you know through that which is amazing to here. So, I guess on the mountain, obviously, we talked about some of the major challenges and working through that. Was there anything on the trip beyond that, which I guess maybe surprised you a little bit or maybe you didn't consider first of all and you're like, oh, I wouldn't have mind being prepared for that or maybe this just was something I wasn't expecting? Anything like that at all?

[20:20] Well, actually, I think I read enough about it that I, you know, I was prepared for the cold because it is cold up there on that mountain. I don't, I mean, 15,000 feet, 13,000 feet, it's cold up there. So I was prepared with layers and stuff like that. I was prepared for hiking to sort of the daily, everyday hiking because there's no breaks in terms of that. It's every day you get up and you're doing another hike. And you're going for hours. I mean, you know, I think the shortest hike might have been maybe two hours or two and a half hours. But, you know, a lot of them were seven hours, you know, just on your feet with breaks, with breaks.

[21:06] So I was prepared for all that I think it was the GI and again because I hadn't had problems I wasn't I just wasn't prepared for that as prepared as probably you know in retrospect if I had to do it over again, I would prepare for that scenario I would have had more easy to digest items with me for that scenario. But I think that was the only thing that was really taken off guard about. But everything else I kind of was prepared for, I think.

[21:54] Yeah, fantastic. Well, that's great, the fact, you know, all your research and all your organization kind of had you ready for that.

[22:03] So, let's talk about afterwards then. So, after this hike, obviously, massive effort, obviously, physical, mental challenge, a long lead up leading to this. After this hike, like, how did you feel? Like, what was going through your head? And did you do anything to celebrate afterwards? Yeah. Well, I will say that when I got to the summit, I was shocked that I got up there. I was shocked and surprised. And then when I got down, I actually started thinking, I was like, wow, did I really do that? Was I really up there? And I have pictures to show that I was. But it's sort of this sort of this awe moment of, wow, did this really happen when I got down to the bottom? Oh, I also I want to give a shout out to all the porters as well, because they really help you get up that mountain. They want to see you succeed. So when I got down, I, you know, I was so grateful to them and their, their help. So what was going through my head, I was, I had a lot of gratitude. I was very thankful.

[23:21] I was thankful for the training that I had to be able to even think of attempting such a thing. And then you know in terms of when I got there I did celebrate I don't I don't drink um you know it's just something I just think you know for me it's just you know socially I might own celebrations but normally I don't but when I got down to the bottom you know we went out to lunch and I bought a Kilimanjaro beer. So that was, you know, my way of celebrating, you know, the effort. I did go on a safari, treat myself to a safari afterwards to, oh, geez, why can't I remember the name of that famous park? The Serengeti. I did go on a safari on a Serengeti. And then when I got home, I, you know, I celebrated with my friends and family, and that was really special. Just a gratitude that they were behind me and supported me. So that's pretty much, you know, also, I was thinking about what my next adventure was going to be.

[24:50] Yeah well well on that front what is what is the next adventure what's what's the plan of attack moving forward well there's more hiking trips i mean my hiking club does a trip every year so i mean i i will go with them and that's in anchorage alaska but the big one really is um Next, well, this next January, I'm going to do what they call the W, which is in Patagonia. So, you know, another sort of multi-day hiking adventure. But, you know, there's no real altitude.

[25:31] So that's sort of what I'm looking forward to. But that's a year, you know, maybe 10 months from now. But that's what I'm looking forward to. Yeah, fantastic. And if anyone was considering this particular venture, say they've been in a situation where like, you know what, Kilimanjaro is something I wanted to do for a long time. I'm leading up to it or maybe I'm dreaming of it. I want to make it happen. What advice would you give them to make it a reality? Yeah. Yeah, it's good to have those goals. I mean, I think, at least for me, you know, it's, if you have the goal, it's like, it's the plan. How are you going to do it? How are you going to go about it? How are you going to attack it? And I don't mean attack it in a negative way, but how do you get your body, your mind, because it's a mind, it is a definitely a mind thing to do it. Like, you know, like I said, Kilimanjaro is not technical. You don't have to worry about ropes and ladders. But it is an endurance adventure. So I would say, you know, getting in, you know, the best physical state that you can be leading up to it.

[26:50] But it's also a mindset. I mean, I think there's a whole mental thing. Like I said, when I got to, when I ran into that GI problem, it became a mental battle, you know, just keeping one step in front of the other and one breath, you know, after another. So I think it's the physical, the mental endurance, but enjoying it, you know, just sort of set a goal, get it in your mind. And I had things posted, actually, in my house. I had the terrain, the mountain, posted on my refrigerator as just sort of a reminder of what I was working toward. That I looked at every, that I saw, I pretty much saw it every day because I went in a refrigerator every day. But, you know, just those little things just to keep the goal in mind. And, you know, my friends knew, my family knew. So there may be times where I would say.

[27:57] I need to do this hike. I can't, you know, stay up late at night for dinner. I need to get up early in the morning and go for a hike because I'm really in sort of this sort of training mode. But I did enjoy myself with my family for holidays. So I would say to the people is to sort of embrace it and enjoy.

[28:20] All those things that you think you might need help with, like for me, with strength training and hiking advice.

[28:35] Seek advice from someone like you, which really helped me get through it. There is one other thing is when I say about preparing or advice, don't let age stop you. Don't let that be a barrier. Like I said, I celebrated my 73rd birthday the week after I got off the mountain. And, you know, the majority of people who go up Kilimanjaro are, you know, they're really, they're in their 30s or 40s. But don't let age be one of those barriers. That would be the other thing i would say for anyone out there thinking about it that they're too old there's no such thing as that yeah absolutely i couldn't agree more because i know that is a massive barrier that a lot of people look at it you always see in the forums it's like hey i wanted to do this but you know am i too old or whatever maybe i'm this and this age and um and yeah it's something that definitely a lot of people need a bit of a bit of a prompt to.

[29:41] Because it's so doable if you take the right attitude. So I think this has been absolutely awesome kind of diving into your story here, Wanda. I think we've covered some really good stuff, which I think will be very,

[29:52] very like inspirational for a lot of people. So I guess before we kind of finish things up today, was there anything else that we kind of didn't, I guess, get a chance to cover so far or anything else you'd kind of like to add before we wrap up?

[30:08] No, that's really all I have. I mean, I think you covered everything, you know. And, yeah, I think I don't really have much more to say about it, except that it was a trip of a lifetime. Too easy then. Well, on that front then, Wanda, I just want to say, you know, a big, big, big thank you for coming on the podcast. I really do appreciate you taking the time to sit down, share your story, talk through everything. And I really do hope this is kind of a good inspiration for a lot of people who are listening to this and maybe iron off a trip like this. So thank you again for coming on. Another big, big, big congratulations for such a successful adventure. And, yeah, really looking forward to seeing what you've got in store for the future. Thank you so much, Rowan. Thank you so much for your help. Thank you.