I have the opportunity the week before and the weekend of Labor Day weekend (a bit over 2 weeks from now) to head to South America and I’m planning to climb something high – Illimani I’m thinking.

However, this entire summer I spent most of the time doing high intensity mountaineering and mountain biking in the cascades/rockies, with very few rest days. I think I pushed myself into over-training after a one-day climb of Glacier Peak which left me super fatigued. Two weeks after that (mountain biking in between) I attempted a one-day climb of Rainier without acclimatization (which I was confident I should have been able to do comfortably), but at 12k ft I hit a wall – no idea why, but I blamed the altitude (but it was actually overtraining).

The week/days after that I did more high intensity mountain biking, and I was just totally fatigued beyond measure. After turning around because of fatigue on a one-day climb of Granite peak just one mile in the trail, I realized I was overtrained. That was on July 24th, and I ceased anything strenuous then and have been resting.

I’ve been resting since then (21 days ago) and am starting another structured training plan today with a 3 – 4 week gradual transition period. I feel strong and ready to go now (like an extra spring in my step when heading up the stairs).

However, I am planning a big climb 2 weeks from now. 3 weeks of rest + slight overtraining surely did a blow to my fitness. I wanted to know, will I be able to regain enough fitness with 2 weeks of light training to attempt another big objective without pushing myself to over training again? Will I be able to keep up with my partner, or move at a snails pace? This is uncharted territory for me.

I’d love to get anyone’s experience on this – because if this is a recipe for disaster, I’d rather save the flight $$ or attempt something easier and more mellow.