Now we are cooking! I felt good enough after the last stair climb that I bumped up the pack weight to 27lbs. I was able to do 30 minutes on Wednesday and another 30 minutes today (Sat)! Each time I feel like I am recovering faster and able to get through the climb with less struggle.

I’ve been focusing more on my breathing these last couple hikes. One of the techniques recommended for high altitude is to breathe in through the nose and then forcefully breathe out through pursed lips. The goal is to increase the pressure in the avoili to help compensate for the altitude. I’m getting into a pretty good 2-2 rhythm that I can maintain throughout the whole stair climb.

I’m continuing to take the 5mg creatine and ~25g of protein each day, regardless of excercise level. I’m going to start to add pretty easy biking into the days off and see how that goes.