Matt Hardy HI Todd,
The training is going well. If you want some advice on training im glad to help. Since the trip is about 3 months away I feel like this is the best time to start training hard. This will allow you to peak in fitness during your trip. Right now im trying to train 5 times a week. I usually bike twice a week for 40-60 miles and rock climb the remaining 3 days of training. Since it's starting to get cold here in Colorado I'm trying to hike more with a pack. It's going to be a damn slog up that mountain so the better prepared I am to carry a heavy pack the better off i'll be. If your just looking to get in good cardio shape, try wearing a pack and running with it uphill for 1 minute than try 5 minutes off just walking. This will get you in great shape in no time.....do it for one hour.
Todd Thanks for the tips Matt. We're currently living in Cusco at 3,300m. We're debating whether to stay here or go to lower altitude. It's great to be up this high beforehand, but it's difficult to give our muscles the same length of endurance workout as if we were at sea level. Headaches or chest pains set in before muscle fatigue, but that's fading away slowly. I think we'll stay another month and see how it goes.
Yeah, we'll start with the packs this week too. That's the bit that has me the most concerned about Aconcagua. It's one thing to trek to almost 7k, and another to do it hauling 15-20kg of gear (of course not all the way to the summit, but still...). I'll definitely give your running uphill strategy a go. There is no flat ground in this whole city, except a few square meters in the plaza. You see visitors bent over around ever corner from the steep hills. I wonder how many visitors have heart attacks here; it's a real slog to just buy water, which is great for our training.
Anyway, good luck with the training. We'll try to keep in touch. And if you need any coverage on this site, just let us know.