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Posted by: Jake Beren, Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
On The Map
sending well wishes and weather your way.
Posted by: Kym on 5/24/2012 at 8:04 am
Miss talking to you Nick! Can’t wait to hear about your adventures.
Pam
Posted by: Pam on 5/23/2012 at 6:57 pm
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
In a busy world of managing work schedules, family, and training, sleep is often the first thing to suffer. As we pack more and more into our day, we try to get away with less and less sleep. While it’s difficult to manage schedules and sometimes a last minute crunch demands heading to bed late for a few nights, athletic gains from your training are a sum of your training load and your recovery from that load. This means that simply putting in the training hours and effort are not enough; you need to give your body the time and ability to recover from those efforts as well. Additionally, studies of sleep and performance have shown a significant cognitive effect from continual sleep “debt” or sleep restriction. This all leads to the conclusion that you need to hold your sleep time just as sacrosanct in your schedule as you do your training time. If you can stick to this, you will find yourself much more productive with your waking hours as well! To make sure that you are giving your body the recovery it needs from your training load, studies suggest you follow several principles:
Set a consistent sleep schedule: To get quality sleep and maximize your recovery, it’s important to stick to a consistent schedule. Try to head to bed at each night and wake up at the same time. Your body develops a rhythm to sleep, and when your schedule is altered it can make it more difficult to fall asleep, or the sleep you get to be more fitful. Similarly, try to match your sleep schedule to your circadian rhythm. If you are a night owl, embrace it. Heading to bed at 1 am, and trying to wake at 5 am for a pre-work workout is a recipe for sleep deprivation. Recognize your circadian tendencies and try to design your schedule around them to accommodate.
Create a constructive sleep environment: Light pollution and excess noise can prevent you from entering the deepest stages of sleep, in which the majority of recovery from your training load occurs. Consider using fans or white noise machines to drown out excess noise, and consider blackout curtains to create an environment for truly restorative sleep.
Disengage from your screens half an hour before bed: Try to put your screens down at least a half hour before you head to bed. That includes your phone, Ipads, kindles, and televisions. All of the electronics in our lives create stimulation that can make it difficult to fall asleep, keeping us up longer and upsetting our rhythm.
Get 8 hours of sleep: Studies show that while many of us may think that we can operate on less, 8 hours of sleep is the magic number to maximize recovery in athletes. This number creeps up a few hours for teenagers and younger children. While a single night of less sleep will probably not affect your training appreciably, consistently shorting yourself on sleep will reduce your recovery, and reduce the efficacy of your training.
Try a nap! In studies of elite athletes’ recovery, a half hour nap between 2 and 4 pm was shown to dramatically improve recovery. Furthermore, a cup of coffee consumed before that nap helped athletes to wake from it alert and ready to go. While it may not be practical for everyone’s schedule, see if you can sneak in a quick catnap; it may be the performance boost you’ve been looking for!
The Canadian Sport for Life organization has published a detailed explanation of sleep studies as they pertain to long-term athlete development. Find it here: http://canadiansportforlife.ca/sites/default/files/resources/Sleep_Recovery_Jan2013_EN_web.pdf
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Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
Congrats to the team and Mike for another well lead expedition. A little quicker than last year :)
Posted by: Jeff Rapp on 5/31/2012 at 2:40 pm
Nicely done folks! Welcome back Rich!
Posted by: Erik on 5/31/2012 at 9:06 am
RMI Guide Jake Beren calls from the summit Pico de Orizaba
On The Map
CT - thought of you all day yesterday going up, up, up. So proud of you! Hugs!
Posted by: Holly Stuart on 3/11/2011 at 2:03 am
Congratulations Kelsey and the entire team! Can’t wait to hear all about it! xo Kirky
Posted by: Kirsten on 3/10/2011 at 7:41 pm
Posted by: Seth Burns, Lael Butler, Felipe Guarderas, Layne Peters, Avery Stolte, Mac Nolde, Erika Barrett, Ben Porter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb June 20 - 24 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at around 7:30 am this morning. After spending an hour on the summit enjoying their accomplishment, the teams started their descent back to Camp Muir. Once back at Camp Muir they will savor some much needed rest and enjoy a day of training on the upper mountain. After spending one more night at Camp Muir the teams will desend to Paradise and return to Rainier Basecamp in the afternoon tomorrow to celebrate their success.
Nice work team!
Posted by: Mike Haugen, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
On The Map
I meant picture on the Rim…
Posted by: Stacy Turner on 6/26/2013 at 6:33 am
Awesome picture of you all on the summit! A much better view than the one I have in Falls Creek, PA. :-P
Can’t wait to see you on the summit Cindee.
Posted by: Stacy Turner on 6/26/2013 at 6:31 am
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On The Map
James,
Cheers, what a challenge! Trust that you will be well hydrated and alert all the way to the summit with high spirit. Continue your adventure safely and enjoy what nature offers there. Following RMI blog. Praying for you and the team successful journey. Love, mom and dad
Posted by: Soonja Choo on 6/9/2013 at 5:27 pm
Go Fallout Go!!
Sounds like the team is doing great…keep it up!
sincerely,
-Deputy Dawg
Posted by: Steve Kennedy on 6/9/2013 at 4:50 pm
On The Map
Mark, great going!
Watching as I prepare to head into 120 degrees of the Mojave Desert. Send some ice!
Jan
Posted by: Jan Wilson on 7/2/2012 at 5:57 am
Sounds amazing. Enjoy. Thinking of you
Posted by: Carolyn on 6/30/2012 at 6:53 am
YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!! CONGRATS BABE! Ok now come down safely please :)
Posted by: Annie Bears on 8/24/2012 at 1:07 pm
Yippee Don, now I can start breathing again myself.
Posted by: Nancy Burress on 8/24/2012 at 11:50 am
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