Ironmanlife: Luis' Excellent Kilimanjaro Adventure

Kevin Mackinnon reports on Luis Alvarez and his most recent Ironman exploits

So, what's your typical training regimen the week before an Ironman? Rest up, do a few workouts, check out the course. Might work for most, but not for Guinness World Record holder Luis Alvarez. What was he up to the week before Ironman South Africa? He was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. But that's only part of it. This story gets way better.

Some background. Luis Alvarez, a member of the Timex Multisport Team, holds the Guinness World Record for having completed every official Ironman race. Which means, of course, that whenever there’s a new race, like, say, Ford Ironman St. George, he’s about the first person to enter. That got a bit complicated this year, though, because Alvarez was already planning on doing Ironman South Africa. No biggie – he did his 64th Ironman in South Africa, his 65th a week later in St. George. (The 47-year-old is aiming to hit 100 races by the time he’s 50 – another incredible feat, but we’ll save that for another column.)

So where did Kilimanjaro come in? Well, climbing Africa’s highest peak had always “been on my list,” according to Alvarez, who, when he isn’t competing in Ironman races is the CEO of SAG-MECASA, a company that makes gas tanks for just about every automobile on the road. In other words, he’s kind of a busy guy.

That meant he had a grand total of a couple of days to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Forget that fact that most people take six or seven days to do the climb, he found a couple of guides who signed on to take him up at the faster pace. There were, however, a couple of issues with that plan:

1) The guides didn’t really believe that he would really do the climb in two days
2) They couldn’t keep up.



Yep, you heard it right. Alvarez got climbing and quickly figured that he could actually get to the top and back in 24 hours. Fine for him, not so great for the guides. One bought the farm at the second-to-last camp, the other called it a trip at the last camp before the summit.

Unfazed, Alvarez kept track of his altitude with his brand new Timex Global Trainer and journeyed to the highest point in Africa - officially it's 5,895 metres or 19,341 ft up.



A few days later he finished Ironman South Africa, then less than a week after that he finished Ford Ironman St. George – an event he says was by far the best debut Ironman he’s ever done.

Piece of cake, right? Look for his book sometime soon: “Luis Alvarez’s Altitude Training Manual for Busy Triathletes.”

Make sure to get me a copy, Luis – the first review will appear here on Ironman.com.

You can reach Kevin Mackinnon at kevin@ironman.com








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