In my head, I’ve boiled the challenges of Kili down to three key things:

• Fitness: Can you hike 43 mi up a mountain?
• Weather: Can you handle rainforest heat & arctic tundra cold?
• Elevation: Can your body handle acclimatizing to extreme altitude?

We’ve been training for all three of these challenges since January and are getting very close to putting our training to the test!! We’ve kept a countdown timer front and center reminding us how much longer we had and to keep the pressure on (thanks, Jon Goodbrand…)

In everything we’ve read, the most important training you can do is just to HIKE. A lot. What started as 1-2 mile hikes, once a week; has turned into multiple in-a-row 6 mile hikes on a double diamond trail. This week we hiked Saturday and Sunday 5 miles each day, with dumbbells in our backpacks. This morning, I feel incredible and very encouraged about my fitness level.

According to my Peloton app, we’ve hiked over 177 miles this year alone. That makes me feel pretty good, given Kili is only 43.5 miles. (But yes, that’s all in a row, and up a mountain, and through all of the elements, blah blah blah.) And daily steps has continued to increase every month since the beginning of the year.

We’ve complemented hiking with upping our strength training & doin the Swallow Cliff stairs(see below, they’re killer!) Dro Pro Fitness hooked me up with a custom fitness plan to build my muscular endurance exactly where I need it.

Being in Chicago – and training as long as we have – has allowed us to train across all sorts of weather. Our Kili journey starts in the rain forest, with hot, humid temps and culminates at the summit in -30 F weather! I can’t really begin to imagine what that temp swing feels like across a few days. But if any city has weather that capricious, it’s Chicago.

This winter we had a few really cold days and we took advantage testing out our gear:

• Top: base layer, fleece, light down jacket, rain jacket (shell), down parka, winter hat, fleece gaiter, winter mittens
• Bottom: merino wool base layer, fleece pants, hiking pants, rain pants (shell), snow/ski pants, 2 pairs of socks and hiking boots

All in all I felt warm, but not ::too:: warm. I’m very curious (read: terrified) to see what this weather will be like when its 8 straight hours wind whipping in your face and you can’t stop and your water freezes oh and how do you go to the bathroom!?!?!? — But, nothing to do about it now, just have to power through it when we get there.

The last challenge is the altitude. And it can be a complete surprise for folks who have never lived or hiked at altitude. Like us! I’ve read Altitude Mountain Sickness (AMS) can manifest in a few alliterative ways; horrible headaches, sickening stomach aches, limiting lightheadedness, & sleepless sleeping. I couldn’t imagine having those symptoms and then having to hike 7 miles so we wanted to prep. While there is a medicine called diamox that can help with AMS, there are side effects to that medicine and wanted to find a better alternative. We still are bringing diamox, but hoping not to use it.

We chose to rent a simulated altitude tent and sleep in it each night preparing our bodies for less oxygen. We started at 5000 feet and each night ‘climbed’ 500 feet higher plateauing at 10,000 feet. Then every 3rd day we would increase a bit higher maxing out at around 14,000 feet.

At first it was really tough. The tent is hot. We’d both wake up throughout the night – likely the bodies way of saying “Not enough oxygen.” I’d wake up each morning with a headache and our blood oxygen was in the 80s. (90+ is where we want it). Over the last 10 weeks, however, our bodies have adjusted to the lower oxygen environment. We’re sleeping through the night, have more energy throughout the day, and much better cardio endurance.

We’ll see how it goes – but at this moment I think we’ve done everything we can to properly prepare for Kilimanjaro!