The Organic Climber – Blogging about climbing, RAW foods, vegetarianism, running and cycling.

East and North Face of Longs Peak

I have never really fancied myself a runner, but lately I guess I kind of have been. This reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg joke; “Every book is a children’s book if the kid can read.” Lately I have been running (once to twice a week) so I guess that makes me a runner! The purpose of the running is mostly to condition myself for my trip up Longs Peak this Summer.

Cross training of this sort is actually excellent for any climber, even if you aren’t seeking to summit a 14,000 foot peak.  Endurance, not just strength is key for any climber and running helps improve your cardiovascular system, which drastically helps improve your endurance.  I have actually been enjoying running these past few weeks and will likely keep it up after my Longs Peak expedition.

I have also been quite impressed with how well I have been running. Today I run 3.25 miles in 29:54.5.  Not super impressive by any means, but for me I think that is quite good. I’m not sure I have ever posted a time that good.  I believe I used to run a three mile trail run loop in 45 minutes several years ago, granted there were two VERY large and long hills on that trail. One of them was named Heartbreak Hill, the other Cardiac Hill.

I have a strong feeling my ability to perform this well largely has to do with my new found dietary habits.  Sense going vegetarian with a high RAW intake my resting blood pressure is that of “an athlete” based on this chart.  I also noticed something else; I am training with a friend and after we run we will get on the elliptical machines. Currently I am running harder, faster and longer than my friend and when we start on the machines I notice my friends pulse is racing around 175 and mine is a calm, cool 130.  Neither one of us have been running, so my best guess is that my diet is playing a huge factor into the health of my cardiovascular system.

I still have a couple of months to train for our Longs Peak trip. We plan on climbing the North Face Cables Route.  Although the face is covered with snow most of the year we will be making our ascent in August snow free.  John and I are both psyched about the trip and can’t wait. I will definitely be posting pictures and a trip report when I return. Maybe I will even Tweet a photo from the summit!

On a side note I have been craving RAW foods a lot more lately. It just hit me earlier today that this week I have only had three “non-raw” meals this week and the meals I had that were not raw had very few cooked parts to them, i.e. the bread or corn chips. So overall, I would say at least 80-85% of my food intake this week has been RAW foods. I have also been eating a lot of fruit. For some reason I have just been craving it and I have felt great all week!

I will also share with you guys a smoothie recipe I recently discovered. It’s a “Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie”, made from tahini, cacao powder, honey, vanilla, salt and a frozen banana. You can see the video and instructions on Raw Dawg’s blog. I found the recipe after doing a Google search for “RAW Peanut Butter Cup” after actually eating one my cube mate had in her candy jar. I thought surely there is something better that tastes just as good. And trust me, this really does taste like a Peanut Butter Cup! I am still psyched about it and have already drank three of them in the last 24 hours.