Trekking...Continued..

Everest Prep: Listen to Your Body 🫀 ❌😅⚠️

So, after a week of resting, not doing much, and grumbling dramatically about my back and neck, I eventually quietened down and started feeling completely fine again.

The thing is, I am not very good at sitting still. I tend to oscillate between acting like Supergirl who can do absolutely everything and days where I have a few snacks, decide the laundry can wait until tomorrow, and call it a night. Haha.

Which is perfectly okay.

My daughter does exactly the same thing. She calls it having a "meh" kind of day.

She sometimes asks me..”Mom, you do know those days, right?”

And yes, I absolutely get it. Who else would understand it so well? She got it from me after all! LOL.

So naturally, once I felt better, I decided it was time to get back to trekking.

These days, 9 a.m. on Sundays is permanently reserved for hiking. While most people enjoy sleeping in on weekends, I'm usually up early, making breakfast for my daughter, leaving it sitting pretty under a butterfly mesh cover, and heading out the door.

Truthfully, that's how I travel too.

I love tours, particularly the ones that start at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. There have even been a few that started at 6 a.m., which never goes down particularly well with my teenaged daughter.

I genuinely think teenagers don't fully appreciate the beauty of a sunrise, the crisp smell of the morning air, and the quiet beauty of the world waking up around them.

Very surprising, HAHA

My daughter, however, has developed her own solution. She can sleep anywhere.

Waiting for a tour bus? She'll nap on a bench.

Standing around on a platform? She'll sit on the steps and drift off.

Long bus ride? Instant sleep.

Meanwhile, I'll be staring enthusiastically out the window, admiring every flower, tree and random scenic view along the way.

Occasionally she'll wake up, groan dramatically, say, "Argh," and promptly go back to sleep.

Coming back to the trekking.

Every weekend I've been at it, and my lovely friend Marina has kindly taken it upon herself to get me "Everest Ready."

She even refers to me as "Hello Student," which I find quite adorable.

As always, we started promptly at 9 a.m., and this time tackled 13 kilometres.

As the day warmed up and we climbed more uphill sections, I became progressively hotter until my heart rate hit 170.

One hundred and seventy!

Throughout the day we stopped several times while I attempted to convince my heart to calm down and behave itself.

Between the interesting stories Marina tells and my increasingly dramatic cooling-down attempts, Marina suggested we needed to sit down, so eventually I had to sit on the trail, breathe deeply and drink copious amounts of water while Marina stood nearby monitoring my progress.

Towards the end, I became exactly like my daughter.

"How many more minutes?" I asked.

Several times.

Haha.

When I got home, I was still overheating.

Naturally, when I went looking for my cold pack, it wasn't cold at all. It had been left outside somewhere and was about as useful as a warm pillow.

So I improvised.

What are frozen vegetables for if not emergencies?

I grabbed a packet of frozen vegetables and placed it on my head.

Instant relief. Marina later informed me that she also achieved the same result with a packet of frozen peas, and we laughed a lot. Hehehe.

For a brief moment I wondered whether I should still cook them afterwards.

Then I decided that perhaps ordering takeaway was the better option.

The foodie in my daughter was absolutely delighted.

In fact, I suspect she secretly wished Mum would overheat more often. Recently, during one of my work meetings, everyone overheard her loudly asking from the background, "Has the sushi been ordered yet?" Certainly no concern about what important corporate discussion might have been taking place at the time, just an urgent need to establish the status of the sushi.

We all burst out laughing.

I may have also used the phrase, "Don't bother me, my heart rate is going up," a few times during the week when she argued.

Very amusing.

Very sneaky.

So, apart from making sure your legs, back and neck are well looked after, please monitor your heart rate. It is incredibly important.

Know what is normal for you - your resting heart rate, what it looks like during exertion, and at what point it moves into territory that should concern you. While your trekking guides and tour company will typically monitor your vital signs each day, being informed and prepared yourself is always a good idea.

The reality is that none of us can fully predict how our bodies will react to high altitude or reduced oxygen levels. What we can do, however, is monitor the things within our control and understand the difference between what is normal and what is not. Recognising when something isn't right allows you to raise the alarm early and, if necessary, be evacuated for medical attention.

One thing that was repeatedly emphasised during my preparation was this: never ignore symptoms at altitude. Never try to "push through" or stay quiet about how you're feeling. Symptoms that are left unattended can become serious very quickly, leading to conditions such as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) and, in severe cases, fluid build-up in the lungs or brain.

Monitor. Monitor. Monitor.

Listen to your body. Speak up when something feels off. Turn back if you need to. The mountain will always be there another day.

Nothing is more important than making it home safely.

❤️