In a few weeks I head to Tajikistan for the first leg of the Oxus expedition, with the aim of climbing a beautiful (unforgiving) remote mountain range in the Pamirs, located in Afghanistan and to find the source of the Oxus river.
There will be some things on the mountain that I can’t control such as the weather, the snow conditions and the way my body reacts to the high altitude. I am therefore focused now on the things I can control, to help me prepare as best I can.
I was under no illusion that preparing for an expedition to the Pamir mountains was going to be easy. It requires physical and mental preparation, developing skills and experience in navigation, mountain travel and being able to recognise and avoid steep rocky terrain. The necessary tick-list I received when I started this journey was a definite reality check. I knew that there was a big challenge ahead of me and that I would need to push far beyond my comfort zone to achieve it. The key to my success was going to be my training.
An important part of my training was to find and create a tailored training plan to build my endurance, strength and cardiovascular fitness. After several conversations with other mountain climbers and hours of research I came to the conclusion that stamina and endurance are the most important facets of physical training since the majority of a mountaineering expedition will involve steadily hiking uphill with a rucksack over a long period of time – usually consecutive hours without a chance to stop.
Behind the beauty of the Wakhan pass and the Pamir Mountains is isolation and danger. Its landscape is a testament to the forces of nature and it’s a full body workout to navigate the large ridges, steep mountains and valleys that cut through the terrain. I was told that a high-altitude, low-oxygen environment dramatically suppresses one’s appetite, and as a result, mountaineers struggle to take in enough calories. So a big part of my training preparation was long-duration workouts over many hours at a low intensity on an empty stomach.
I started my training a year ago. Before work I go for early morning runs. It started off as jogging to 5km runs for three months to regular 10km runs. I have been doing this at least 5 times a week now and it has helped me stay concentrated, manage a steady pace, improve my breathing and increase my fitness levels ahead of the expedition. I even managed to complete a half marathon in Tashkent in April! I ran 21.2km in 4 hours! It was my first marathon in the soaring heat, but I managed to pull through and it was a proud moment. Along with endurance training, climbing conditioning is another important aspect of preparing for a mountaineering expedition. Climbing conditioning exercises often work as endurance exercises, but as i was told by many veteran mountaineers, the main point of them is to strengthen all of the muscle groups that will be required to make steady and steep ascents, some of which are not commonly used in day-to-day activities.
Most of us, including me, don’t have the opportunity to go to the mountains on a regular basis. So instead I tried to simulate the physical challenges that i would encounter when climbing a mountain, such as climbing stairs with a weighted backpack, which i would aim to do at least once a month. Climbing and mountaineering require far more endurance than they do sheer strength. So another aspect of my training focused on strengthening my core and mimicking ranges of motions that would be used for mountaineering. This would include 2 hour sessions of yin and hot yoga on the weekends to stretch my muscles to develop strength and balance. Another main reason for this flexibility training was to also reduce soreness and lower my recovery time.
My primary goal is to achieve a basic level of fitness and carry out regular exercise that would fit in my lifestyle and that would work best for my body. Another key part of my training is mental training. Developing mental toughness has been an equally important part of my training which includes practising visualisation exercises, breathing exercises and meditation.
Those who know about my plans have asked why? Why do I want to push myself so hard? And why do I want to put myself in a risky environment? These are questions that I ask myself and I’m not sure that I have the full answer yet. But I know that I feel strongly on three beliefs: Don’t let your dreams be just dreams; I wanted to challenge myself to achieve something that I didn’t know would be possible for me; and life is far too short to wait for the perfect moment, we need to take the moment and make it perfect.
It is often easier to be focused on the menial day to day and get through the to do lists. Sometimes this is essential because of things that are impacting our personal lives. But when we can dream, and work to turn those dreams into plans and then into reality, we can push ourselves to do far more than we ever imagined we could. Whilst I worry about aspects of what lies ahead, I would worry far more if I didn’t push myself, if I didn’t take a chance. I know it will be hard, I know there will be moments during the training and on the expedition where I feel it is impossible but I also know that there will be moments of pure joy, wonder and delight and I believe it will make me a better person at the end of it.
We can always think of reasons not to do things or to delay doing things. I could wait another year, to improve my skills further, or to train more. But there is unlikely to ever be a perfect moment to do things. The last few years have taught me that life is far too short. We are so lucky to be able to have time in our wonderful world and we should maximise that to the full.