Steps and More Steps on the EBC Trek So Do Step Training
Train For Hills and Steps on the EBC Trek
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Category Archives: Training for EBC
Step Training? Affirmative
Three Months Until Your EBC Trek? Get Training
Do I need to include steps in my training ? You bet. By the end of your training you should be able to do 1 hour of steps with a ten minute break in the middle.
There’s the man with the vision and the all the plans. Trek to Everest Base Camp, Nepal. He had been to trek the Annapurna circuit in the 80s and he knew there is a lot of uneven ground so he insisted on finding uneven hills to train on and lots of stairs too.
And stairs were in abundance …..
Training for Everest Base Camp Trek
Incline Training For Everest Base Camp
Incline training today
I was pleased with my thirty minutes walking and twenty minutes jogging, both on an incline of two followed by fifteen minutes of walking on an incline of six on the treadmill tonight. Hopefully it will please my personal trainer, disappointed I had failed to complete two fitness sessions over the three-day break. The 14-kilometre ride on my bike wasn’t enough.
Seven months out from the trek we both agreed my training should be a mid week session and two sessions over my three-day weekend. I am pretty happy that I managed the slow jog on an incline. Jogging was part of my training preparation for the 2013 Everest Base Camp trek. I built up to participating in three Sri Chinmoy five kilometres runs; not bad for never have jogged in my life before. Strangely I am missing the jogging component so I have started tacking on few short runs to my treadmill walks.
I usually listen to my MP3 player while I am on the treadmill or jogging. Tonight rather than distract myself with music I used the time to draft this blog in my head.
Tip 1: I record my training progress on a calendar. There have been times over the last two years since trying to get and stay fit, where there have been gaps due illness or injury. It is good way to remind myself I can pick it up again.
Tip 2: Build the walking and incline training up very slowly. We live in a hilly area and have slowly been building more hills into our walks over the summer holidays. In a few months, we will get much more serious about the hill training.
Winter Months EBC Training
Photo above was of our secret stair training locations. Eight flights of stairs ten minutes from home. great for winter training because it was totally covered.
July
Week 1…Stairs 45 min; Treadmill walk run. on 1 step incline, 35 minutes; I stopped counting the steps and we started recording time.
Week 2…Stairs 50 min; Treadmill 45 min, 43.5 km, step incline 1, vft 143, 10 min run; Hill walk Viewbank, 1 hour 5 min; Treadmill 36 min, 4 km, vft 131.
Week 3…Stairs 1 hour, 4000 steps; Treadmill 3.65 km, 1270 vft; Treadmill 3km, 33min, 100 vft;
Week 4… Stairs 4,368 steps; Treadmill 4.256 km, 1559 vft. weight in pack 2.3k, 15 step incline; treadmill 3.038 km, 1120 vft., 2.4 kg weight.
Week 5… Treadmill 4.010 km,1580 vft, 56 min, 2.4 kg weight in pack; Walk on track 9 km, 2 hours 10 minutes: treadmill 3.117 km., 1506 vft in 51 min. on 15 step incline
August
Week 1…Treadmill 3.8 km, 1721 vft.,1 hour; Stairs 3,800 stairs 1 hour; Treadmill 3.825 km., 1500 vft.: Walk 9 km, 2.5 – 3 hours with trekking poles.
Week 2… Stairs 70min: Walk to Rosanna 8km: treadmill 3.92 km., 1502 vft., 1 hour; Treadmill 3.825 km., 1609 vft.: Walk hill and track training 8.3 km, 2 hours 40 min.
Week 3…Bike to Petty’s Orchard, fell off bike: Stairs; Treadmill 4.144 km., 1787 vft.; Treadmill 4.810 km, 2000 vft.; Walk 6 km. at Cape Patterson.
Week 4… Walk at beach, Cape Patterson; Walk hills, 9 km., small pack; Treadmill 4.113 km., 1767 vft., 1 hour and feeling very tired; Stairs 60 min; Walk 11.5 km.
What we were training for – The 2015 Trek
But if you want you can jump to Day One of the 2015 Trek Lukla to Phakding or get a taste of an Acclimatisation Day at Dingboche or you want to skip straight to one the best bits feeling on top the world at Kala Pattar.
If you are not convinced the incline training for EBC is worth the effort read 25 Reasons to Trek to Everest Base Camp.
Counting Down to Our EBC Trek
Today is our second last Monday out with the ‘roos at the back of Templestowe doing hill training. Seeing large mobs of kangaroos moving between the paddocks, orchard and scrub areas around the mountain bike trails and the rough tracks of the Main Yarra River Trail is always special. They are amazingly powerful animals, quite curious and we have had a few close encounters with the bigger ones as they are so well camouflaged.
Appropriately we were rained upon today as chances are we will get wet this time around on our trek as it is the end of the monsoon season. I was also practising with my new camera. Looking at the results I need a lot more practice!
The last two weeks will be packing, some training, preparing for a three week break at work and adding more posts on the 2015 Trek section. So watch that space.
Training for EBC in May and June
TIPS
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Keep a training calendar.
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Enter details straight after training or you will forget, then get into a hot bath.
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Undercover stairs are a great option during the winter months.
May – training three days a week, starting incline training on the treadmill.
Week 1…Walk 1.5 hours, Hills @ Templestowe; Treadmill 30 min 1 km run, vertical feet (vft) 500, 2.706 km Week 2…Treadmill 3 km, 25 min, no incline, 65 steps on new stepper; Walk 65 min fast walk to Rosanna, 5.5 km; Hill climbing (?) Week 3…Bike, Bridge at Templestowe to Petty’s Orchard; Hills (?); Treadmill 4km, incline 800 vft, 46 minutes; Treadmill 4km run,1 km walk cool down. in 46.5 minutes on 1 step incline. Week 4…Treadmill incline training,1 hour, 4.73 km 5 and 7 step inclines, 1052 vft.; Treadmill 30 min, 2.6 km, 1 incline 53 vft.; Walk Plenty River Trail, Viewbank, 1 hr 45 min, off trail hills.
This is one of our favourite training hills because it is steep! That’s Sam half way down the hill and my daughter is the speck at the top.
June – training three days a week, 1 slow week, started step training
Week 1… Treadmill 4km total – 3 km run on 0.5 incline in 27 min, 1 km on 10 step inlcine, 40 min, 346 vft. No other training this week. Week 2… Run at Rosanna Park; Weekend away, Heathcote 7 km walk. Week 3… Walk, Plenty River Trail Viewbank off trail hills; Run 4km at Rosanna Park; Treadmill incline training, 10.5 step incline, 30 min,1.997 km; Stairs at La Trobe 2,304 steps Week 4…Walk at Rosanna Park 5 km ; Walk, Plenty River Trail Viewbank, 6 km “6 laps”; Stairs at La Trobe 2,000 steps; Walk, Plenty River Trail Viewbank,”8 laps”, 1 hour 10 min. Week 5… Stairs at La Trobe, 2,250 steps, 40 minutes.
* Stairs have been a good option during the Winter months.
Three Months EBC Training Activity
February Training
Week 1…Walk to park 5km; Treadmill 5.8km no incline; Treadmill incline 5, 2.44 km, 5 min bike, stretches; stretches Week 2…Trail walk & treadmill 6.5 km 400 vft.; Walk to Rosanna park one lap. Week 3…Treadmill 5.1km, 1hour, 900vft.; Treadmill 15 mins, 1.2 km, 74vft ; Walk to park, half a lap Week4…Treadmill 3 km, 33.5 mins, 415 vft; walk to park 1 hour 20 mins; Bike ride 11km Heidelberg to East Ivanhoe.
March Training
Week 1…Treadmill 5.423km, 1 hour 20 mins, walk/ run 413 vft ; Treadmill 7 incline, 626 vft, 2.578 km, 30 mins; Bike 12 km Templestowe to Petty’s Orchard Week 2…Treadmill 30 min walk on 2 incline, 20 min run on 2 incline, 20 min on 6 incline; Walk /run at Rosanna Park 1 hour 20 mins Week 3…Bike at river Mountain Trail Bike path Week 4…Run 4 kids, incidental walking as support team; Treadmill incline 30 mins, 2.512km,8 incline 510vft; 1 hour 20 min hill walks and “off piste” terrain Week 5…Bike Odyssey House to Petty’s Orchard (Pedal for Parkinson’s); Treadmill 10 minutes; Bike to Fairfield boathouse, 1 hour 15 min12 – 13 k, Treadmill 10 min 7 incline 11min 1 km…April… Treadmill 4 km, 47 min,15 min on 7.5 incline; Fast walk to Fairfield Boat House along Main Yarra Trail to Studley Park boathouse and back; Walk 9 – 10 km, Fairfield to Gipps Street bridge / Yarra Bend.
April Training
Week 2…Walk to Rosanna; Walk back of Templestowe (Boot Camp 6); Walk to Rosanna park and some jogging 59 mins: Walk Week 3…Bike Ride 13km, Heidelberg to Odyssey House and the alpaca; Templestowe hill trail with trekking poles, 7 km, 2 hours; Treadmill 4 km run and 1 km on incline Week 4…Treadmill 2km, 7 incline, 27:25 min, 462 vft; Walk 7 km, 2 hours Plenty River Trail, Treadmill 3km, 27 min, 1.5 incline; Treadmill 1 hour, 4.808 km, 6 step incline, 927 vft; Treadmill 5km, 2km on 8 step incline, 3km on 1 step incline, 599 vft. Week 5…Walk Plenty River Trail, 1 hour, 4km; treadmill run, 1.5 incline, 200 vft. 4km in 31min; Treadmill 30 min ”Central Park” 28 mins, 20 min walking on 6 incline, two lots on incline training.
POSTSCRIPT –
Is all the training and the tedious list necessary? I trekked all the way to Gorak Shep without a blister and with very little in the way of aches and pains thanks to our training. Put “Trek to Everest Base Camp” as your Fitness Challenge or on your bucket list. You won’t regret it and it maybe it will be one the best things you do. Chances are you will do it again. Trekking in Nepal is addictive.
Are you considering an Everest Base Camp Trek? Want to know more? Here is the last place you will sleep on the trail….. The Last Lodges at Gorak Shep
Training for the EBC Trek in January
January 2015 – school holidays and a cool January
Sunday 4 – Saturday 10
4… Walk Waterfall Gully to My Lofty (Adelaide)
5… Walk along Henley Beach
6… Stretches
7… Stretches
8… Stretches
Sunday 11 – Saturday 17
11…Stretches, Walk / Run 55 minutes
12… Stretches, Walk to Hazelwood Park
13… Fly to Melbourne
14…Hill Trail walk Templestowe 1.5 hour
15… Stretches, 5 minute spin bike, 40-minute treadmill
16… Walk Canoe launch, around off main trail tracks to Petty Orchard return
17… Stretches
Sunday 18 – Saturday 24
18… Walk / Run 2 laps at Rosanna Park
19… Stretches, Bike ride to East Ivanhoe. First time on Mountain Bike Trail
20… Sore after MBT ride
21… Rosanna Park Walk 8 kilometres
23… Plenty Hill Trail with Bike. 5 kilometres, 1 hour.
Sunday 25 – Saturday 31
25… Walk at Rosanna Park, some jogging, 1.5 hours
26… Walk Heidelberg to Rosanna, 6 kilometres
27 … Stretches
30 … Bike Viewbank to the Orchard, 18.5 kilometres
31… Treadmill 38 mins, 10 min walk @ 5.5 Km, 10- 12 min run @ 6.5 km, 10 mins 1 incline 5 / 5 km, 229 Vertical Feet (VFT)
Going For 1500 Vertical Feet
Sustained Incline Training for EBC Trek
TIP Hill and treadmill incline training is important preparation for the EBC trek.
Having a personal trainer helps even if you live with them! ‘Smile!’ he said. I flung the towel at him. He laughed, ‘Straighten up. Strengthen those back muscles. Do 1500.’
Correcting my slight stoop with a hand either side of my lower back. Easy for him to say he wasn’t the one on the level 15 step incline, the highest on the treadmill. ‘Do you want the ipod? Turn on the air conditioner.’ No all I want is peace. Go away and let me mull on my blog posts that I need to write and publish. I finished the 1500 vertical feet in 51 minutes.
Now hopefully he will be happy given I missed my mid week training session. I look at the 555 calories burnt and am reminded of the two pieces of homemade banana cake I ate for breakfast.
Incline training today
Training for EBC update
We have been planning a return trip to Nepal for a second attempt at trekking to Everest Base Camp since mid 2014. We paid for our flight to Kathmandu one week before Nepal’s first earthquake three months ago. Since then and the second quake we have followed the news of Nepal. With Plan B up our sleeve we have continued to plan and train.
Pre training started in mid January and included hill training, jogging and cycling. In June the personal trainer cranked it up and we started intensive hill and stair climbing and recently incline training with backpacks.
Yesterday we climbed over 4,000 steps. After 35 minutes we had a five minute break walking to the water fountain. I was reminded of how exhilarating it feels to feel really fit, something I felt for the first time in my life on our 2013 trek towards Everest Base Camp.
Too Many Hot Cross Buns
Ok, I confess. For breakfast this morning I ate my sixth or was it my seventh, hot cross bun since Thursday night? Trouble is that will be nothing compared to what I will eat at Nonna’s for tea tonight.But it’s Boot Camp day nine and my personal trainer has been in my ear. So I jumped on the treadmill.
TODAY Treadmill – varied routine
\ 10 minutes on 7 step incline with 1 kg hand weights
\ 12 minutes on 7 step incline walking
\ 10 minutes on 2.5 step incline walking and slow jogging at 5.5 km/hour
\ 20 minutes on 2.5 step incline at 5.5 km/hour
\ I finished off with a little burst at 7. 5 km/hour to get the total to 5 kilometres.
Boot Camp Day 9 Treadmill – To run off the hot cross buns.
Beautiful River Walks
Boot Camp Days Seven and Eight
Two beautiful morning walks in the superb autumn weather. Exploring new bits of the Main Yarra Trail.
Day 7 Yesterday we walked from the Fairfield Boat House along the Main Yarra Trail and then into the Yarra Bend Park and back. A fast walk 10 km 1 hour 45 minutes walk.
Day 8 Fairfield Boat House to the Collingwood Children’s Farm and then over the Gipps Street bridge to the Yarra Bend Park and back to Fairfield, a 9 – 10 km walk I hour 45 minutes.
Trekking Poles Practice
Practising with poles for the first time in 2015. And yes that’s a feather in my hat (cap).
Boot Camp Day Five
Wednesday 1 April
Boot Camp Day Five
Boot Camp Day Five. A ‘rest day’ between two more strenuous days. 45 minutes. Slowly building up on our new stepper. Finishing off with some stretches.
TODAY – Treadmill 4 km to 47 minutes. 30 minutes walk on 2.5 step incline. 15 minutes on 7.5 step incline. About 40 steps on our new stepper. Some lovely stretches at the end.
Twisting by the Pool
Boot Camp Day Three
Simple Training Tips
Tip: A MP3 player loaded with favourite songs of varying tempo is a great tool for training.
Tip: Don’t pack your MP3 player for trekking, as you need to listen for animals approaching so you can move out of their way.
Tip: Buying a quality treadmill has been one of our best family purchases.
Using a home treadmill regularly is a great first step to fitness for someone over fifty. It will feature in our 2015 Everest Base Camp Trek training. Our treadmill has a great position under the air conditioner with a 180 ° view of the ever changing Melbourne sky. Music keeps me going when I exercise. I could stay on the treadmill all day with a never-ending supply.
Usually I have a plan before I start; to walk, jog or do some incline walking or all three. The Trainer and I had agreed at least an hour session and stretches for today. I decided to concentrate on incline walking before a quick jog, knowing we have a long bike ride tomorrow. With one-kilo hand weights I started on a 2.5 step incline at 4.5 km per hour. Staying on the same incline I jogged at 6.4 kilometres per hour for ten minutes. Then at the twenty-minute mark it started. Twisting by the Pool. I lowered the belt and raised the speed to 6.6, probably not wise given I haven’t jogged for a while. The songs kept coming and I sped up. Fortunately country songs played next and I switched to six-step incline walk – great pre-training for more serious hills and steps in weeks to come.
Just as well it wasn’t Zorba the Greek. All the family agree it makes them run really fast.
Boot Camp for Base Camp
There is a training calendar, the Trainer and a plan. There is always a plan. Only sometimes it changes.
Boot Camp Day Two
The plan was to ride from the suspension bridge to Petty’s Orchard, have a coffee and return. Before we started Adventure Man Sam informed me of his plan to detour off the track via a really steep hill along a rocky track then rejoin the main track. The very hill (below) we trained on ad nauseum for our EBC trek in 2013. I knew I would have to walk my bike up.
TODAY – approximately 10 km ride with some big hills and competitors!
“Our hill” with the Trainer and my daughter at the very top in February.
We arrived at our hill to find the inaugural Pedal for Parkinsons 6 Hour Enduro MTB, taking place. After watching the event for five minutes, we headed off back on the main trail in the direction of the orchard. Next thing I knew the Trainer was riding up another dirt track alongside the cordoned off area of the event. That wasn’t on the plan. I had no choice but to follow.
The new route crossed over the event’s circuit at a few points. There weren’t huge numbers of riders so this wasn’t a problem. We joined up with the down hill trail from the original planned route. At this point we were on the left of the cordoned off section sharing a reasonably wide track. When we saw a rider on our side of the tape but coming towards us we realised we had in fact, joined the event, but were going in the wrong direction. That was definitely not on the plan.
Eventually we got out of the area, made it to the café at the orchard, had our coffee and headed back. With the exception of very narrowly missing a rider on another off trail track we arrived back at the car in one piece.
Who says you need to go to Everest Base Camp to have an adventure?
The Inaugural Pedal for Parkinsons 6 hour Enduro MTB
Boot Camp for Everest Base Camp – Day One
Walking along the Main Plenty Trail past the historic silos in Viewbank yesterday. I love that we live near so many different choices of trails. I love living in Banyule. Shortly after we left the trail to follow some of the mud bike trails.
The historic silos site of Viewbank Farm on the PLENTY RIVER TRAIL
Tip: Buy your boots early and use them for your training.
TODAY – 1 hour 20 minutes hill training and “terrain practice”
Boot Camp – Boots and All
My mid week thirty minute incline training got the tick from the Trainer. However on my Friday training night after working a five day week and ending a busy term, all I wanted was a couple of glasses of champagne. Guess who wasn’t impressed? As a concession I promised to train every day over my two-week school holiday break starting the next day. We were both happy with the idea to get back on track. Boot Camp he called it.
This morning was cool and we set off for some local hill climbing in our trekking pants and boots. Appropriate for day one of Boot Camp. Because I had problems with socks on the first Everest Base Trek I experimented with some different ones. I will share this story in a post. Five minutes into the walk my husband decided to leave the track and beat a path up the hill. Thank goodness for my boots.
Terrain training he called it. We did lots of it before the 2013 trek, as it is great for strengthening ankles. Good for breaking them too if you are not careful. Of course he was right. The trek is full of rocks, stones and steps along much trail to Everest Base Camp; well at least to the place we reached.
Why practising on rocky footpaths is good idea.
We explored an area obviously popular with rabbits. Between watching out for blackberry bush branches, avoiding rabbit holes and broken fencing I was pleased to find some interesting feathers and small animal skulls.
Both photos are of the EBC trail.
Bicycle Love
Finding Work Life Balance
Get Back On a Bike and Get Back On Track With Fitness
In mid 2012 I quit my job. I desperately needed time off work and to find some work life balance and reassess my next step and thinking about what retirement would look like down the track.
During those first few weeks off work I fell in love with and bought, a new beautiful traditional bicycle. Given my second-hand one was in the shed covered in cobwebs, my husband was sceptical that I would use it. I proved him wrong. Continue reading
Did I Mention Step Training ?
The Trainer had been to the Annapurna area in the early eighties and knew how important step training would be to our success in getting to Everest Base Camp.
That’s me in 2013. We didn’t make that time but it wasn’t because of our training regime.
Everest Base Camp Trek Trail 2013
The donkeys taking it slowly coming down the steps
So we kept up step training for our 2015 EBC Trek training. The purple pack was our 2015 trek when we made it to Everest Base Camp and Kala Pattar.
That’s me with blue pack in September 2018 when we trekked to the Gokyo in the Everest Base Camp region.
The walk into Khumjung lots of easy welcome steps.
Easy climb down the stairs after the strenuous climb up out of Namche Bazaar
Below is the very loose rocky steps not far below the first lake before Gokyo lake.
Loose stairs close to the first lake on the way to Gokyo.
We found some external stairs which we trained at for our three treks. Close to home, shade in summer and cover from rain, but still outside. We trained twice a week on the stairs for the last six weeks before leaving. prior to that it was once every week, We started with 20 minutes of stairs and built up to 1 hour for the last six weeks.
The Trainer and I – stair training a key part of our training for a successful trek to the Everest Base Camp region.
So the moral of the story – do lots of stair training. And you will feel great at the top of every set of stairs you ascend on whatever adventure you are on.
The Year I Touched My Toes 