Two weeks

First of all I want to express a big thank you to Patrick Vermylen, for the good support and care in the last two months.

Two weeks before the start of the Baruntse expedition and today I had my first trainingssession in a series of seven in the Hypoxia room of the Sports Medical Advice Centre in Leuven.  I've spend about 2 hours at 3000 meters exercsing on the treadmill. This week another two sessions at 3500 and 3700 meters. The week after at 3700, 3500 and 4000 meters gradually building up the intensity of the training.  The high-intensity exercise in the hypoxic environment is a stimulus for increased production of certain 'oxidative' enzymes in the muscle than similar training at sea level, which can improve aerobic endurance. In short, the muscle can produce more energy through oxygen. At the same time the buffer capacity of the muscles increases, which in turn benefits the anaerobic capacity which is important during exercise whenever large amounts of lactic acid are  produced. All this will help me acclimatise quicker during the expedition and it gives me a head start in comparison to other lowlanders.

In between the Hypoxia sessions I continue the normal training session of biking, running and power training for another week and than rest.