Polepole: A Training Guide for Kilimanjaro and Other Long-Distance Mountain Treks

by Erinne Sevigny Adachi, Angela deJong

Overview

“Polepole” (poe-lay-poe-lay) — a Swahili term meaning “slowly, slowly” — is what porters on Kilimanjaro say as you climb the mountain. It’s also how you train for other long-distance mountain treks.

Of the estimated 35,000 people that attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania every year, about half do not make it to the top. There are several reasons for this, but one of the primary blocks is people arriving to the mountain physically unprepared for what their bodies are about to endure. Polepole is a comprehensive long-distance mountain trek training manual for anyone looking to engage in one of the more defining moments of their life.

As you make your way through gradually intensifying workouts designed by fitness trainer Angela deJong to strengthen your body and increase your endurance, Erinne Adachi offers her own Kilimanjaro story. Her journey starts not on the day her feet land on African soil but months earlier when they don sneakers and land on Angela’s treadmill for the first time. Her narrative offers insights into what it’s truly like to go from wheezing on a light jog to the best condition of her life in preparation for the most rewarding physical challenge she’s attempted yet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771603133
Publisher:	Rocky Mountain Books Incorporated
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	177,079
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Erinne Sevigny Adachi has a degree in professional writing from MacEwan University and a post-graduate certificate in book publishing from Humber College. In addition to editing books, Erinne works as a book designer and publishing consultant under the banner of Blue Pencil Consult. An Albertan mix of French-Canadian and Métis heritage, Erinne is a direct descendant of Jasper Haws (of Jasper National Park). Mountains are in her blood. Erinne lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Angela deJong is a certified personal trainer, author of Reality Fitness, and owner of Acacia Fitness. She graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in kinesiology, majoring in sport performance and exercise therapy. She has been training clients since 2001, working with hundreds of people ranging from armchair sportsmen to national and international high-performance athletes. Angela has travelled solo to every country in Africa that has mountains higher than 3000 metres, and she has summited all of them over the past ten years. Angela lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Table of Contents

If I wasn't going to make it, it would be for some other reason 11

Introducing Your Trainer: Angela deJong 13

How to Use this Program 15

Beginner Training Phase 19

1889 - Beginner Workout One 21

Africa? Yes. Let's go. 22

4:56 - Beginner Workout Two 25

With every workout, my body changed. 26

7/88 - Beginner Workout Three 28

Fuel Your Body: A Note on Nutrition 29

I absorbed nutrition habits as if through osmosis. 33

5895 - Beginner Workout Four 35

Hiking at High Altitude 36

We can always just stop if we need to. 38

Intermediate Training Phase 41

Machame - Intermediate Workout One 44

I might have had one more round in me. (Definitely not ten.) 45

Umbwe - Intermediate Workout Two 47

Then we took some time to appreciate the view. 48

Marangu - Intermediate Workout Three 50

Yes, somewhere there was a bear. 51

Shira - Intermediate Workout Four 54

Time to Start Packing! 55

My husband and I are going to attempt to climb Kilimanjaro 58

Rongai - Intermediate Workout Five 60

You wait until after the climb to try Tanzanian food. 61

Lemosho- Intermediate Workout Six 64

I wondered what predictions the rest of the team made for us. 65

Advanced Training Phase 69

Crisis averted, it was time to get back to the business of training to climb a huge mountain. 72

Chagga - Advanced Workout One 76

Porters put our bags into large waterproof sacs and hurled them up onto their shoulders. 77

Maasai - Advanced Workout Two 80

It's the coffee. I promise. 81

Kitenge - Advanced Workout Three 84

Erinne, pushing polepole to the extreme! 85

Shuka - Advanced Workout Four 88

Two natural stone pillars mark the entrance. 89

Mbege - Advanced Workout Five 92

His body gave it away despite himself. 93

Chapati: Advanced Workout Six 97

Before we were ready, it was time to move again. 98

Ugali - Advanced Workout Seven 103

My toes took it especially hard. 104

Acacia - Advanced Workout Eight 107

I wondered why I had yet to feel like I'd accomplished anything gr - Gah! 108

It's so much sweeter that they do it for themselves. 112

Those boots took her father to the top of Kilimanjaro. 116

The Workouts 117

Acknowledgements 288