My Prep with Conor H for a Speed Ascent on the Highest Peak in the World Outside Of Asia
- Mia Farrow
- Jun 9
- 7 min read
Updated: Sep 13
"If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough!" Muhammad Ali
A 40-week athletic movement program based on Conor H’s training is a mix of strength training, SIT, Muscle Endurance and Agility work.
It focuses on building explosive power, endurance, and overall athleticism, with an emphasis on both physical and mental prep.
Here’s a bit of a background and how it all unfolded in 2024.
2024. MY GOAL AND PREP WITH CONOR
Goal: Solo Speed Ascent on the longest route on Aconcagua ~ 110 km, summit of 6962m
Approach: 40 wks, 2 hours 2x per week, with sauna sessions for endurance
ACONCAGUA "THE STONE SENTINEL"
Aconcagua at 6961 metres / 22840 feet, in Argentina, is the highest mountain in the World outside of Asia.
It is the second highest of the 7 Summits, behind Mt Everest 8848 metres.
The main routes on Aconcagua are:
Normal route via Horcones Gate and via Basecamp Mulas, short and steep
360 Route via Vacas Gate and via Basecamp Argentina, the longest
Polish glacier, the technical route
Elevation profile of my speed ascent on Aconcagua360 is in the pictures below.
At 46, the effort required for big, audacious goals is enormous!
Not just from the prospective of muscle building or body composition, or putting in the long hours of training, but from the prospective of managing my personal life as a mother and a wife.
I now have five schedules to coordinate and ensure harmony among five people which can be extremely challenging at times. My husband, who is busy executive and also a competitive swimmer, and my three daughters who are competitive gymnasts and in general, just busy kids.
And, on top of it all, we decided (well, my husband decided:) it would be a great time to renovate our home. This translated to us moving to a very small apartment and managing a complete rebuilt of our home for the next 18 months.
To put it simply - we had to finish building by Xmas time to ensure everyone was back in the house before my trip to Argentina (aka everything moved in and unpacked just days before I left... it was hectic.)
To say that 2024 was a busy year is an understatement! :)
SMALL HABITS DON'T JUST ADD UP, THEY COMPOUND.
Gym work and Running.
Reaching my 6th year of strength training has been a JOURNEY full of highs, lows, and unforeseen challenges that life has thrown my way. But I have enjoyed every challenging minute of it and look forward to many more!
I keep stacking them up :)
Same goes for Running. This was my 5th year of run training post babies (on some 7 years off running).
But, muscle memory is a wonderful thing! Slowly but surely, it's all starting to add up.
THE ROCKY BEGINNING OF 2024
In February 2024, I contracted COVID for a week, just days before my planned trip to New Zealand to climb Mt Aspiring. Besides COVID, I was dealing with a lingering ankle and foot injury from the UTK 50 at the end of 2022, as well as an episode of the Influenza B virus.
Postponing Mt Aspiring trip wasn't feasible (getting refunds is difficult with so many logistical parts involved), so I decided to go and make the most of it.
The scenery on New Zealand's South Island was breathtaking and uplifting. Although I wasn't fully prepared for the ice-climbing and steep rock-climbing with a 20 kg pack, we successfully reached Colin Todd hut.
It was my first time rappelling down to the Bonar glacier and crossing a crevasse-filled glacier on foot, which was a unique experience.
MARCH - Lucky to meet Conor!
I started getting ready for Aconcagua360 in March, ten months before my major high-altitude objective. After a sixty minute assessment, Conor, my personal trainer, suggested we train twice a week until January 2025.
This would amount to 40 weeks of structured strength training.
APRIL MAY JUNE - BUILDING THE FOUNDATION
It was all about plyos, box jumps, single leg work, squat, hinge, pull, press, and push.
What else could an adventure endurance runner ask for?!
The simple test of where to start should be single leg strength and balance:
See if you can perform single leg sit downs on each side - hands on hips
Loaded lunges
SLDL properly and loaded
28-30 calf raises on each side, controlled
Step ups and Step downs off 24” box then loaded
That's a pretty good benchmark.
Running plan:
Easy runs and one long run, short and explosive hill repeats, adjusted tempo run, and lots of hilly speed walking.
By June, I had a good routine with strength, running, good sleep for recovery, and solid fuelling plan. Nothing fancy, just simple and boring , but it worked great.
The best part of relocating to a smaller apartment during the home renovation was that the kids and I walked to school daily that year. After dropping them off, I would head to the train station and catch a train to my gym in the city.
It was fantastic.
It was a simple routine that I could carry out despite numerous meetings related to home renovations, school, children, and life overall.
JULY AUGUST
The plyometrics continued. Single leg work continued - with increased BB / DB weight.
We also incorporated more compound movements and heavier lifts.
My SLDL work was with a 20kg kb at this point.
RDL's max weight was 100kg
Glute bridge aka hip thrust 120kg
Front Squat was solid by this time as well.
In terms of running, this was my high-intensity block, which included track sessions for speed work, tempo intervals, and both easy and a long trail running. I dedicated one day to driving up to the lower part of the Blue Mountains - which worked well.
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER
My running volume increased, and strength exercises became my warm-up.
Main blocks A and B transformed into muscle endurance sessions. It was fantastic. I felt stronger and more capable of running longer distances without any pain in my legs, hips, or ankles.
It was exciting!
During this time, I started using a high-altitude tent at home (link here), which didn't allow for adequate rest but eventually I got used to that as well. It took about 4-6 weeks though.
By now - I had a couple of back to back days of endurance running in the bag.
It was 40-50km weekends and then 50-70km back to back days, and eventually I would do 100km run after a very long and busy week (both mentally and physically - because this is how you typically feel after spending 4-6 weeks at high altitude: mentally and physically and emotionally exhausted).
I had to dig deep for that 100km run after Xmas while everybody else was relaxing at home by the pool !
It ended up being 86km due to a huge blister I got at that point and I decided better to stop and heal my foot than to cause more damage one week before my trip.
Xmas is summer time in Oz :) It’s hot and uncomfortable.
Perfect practice for me - mentally and physically.
JANUARY 2025
Last session with Conor was January 6th and my flight to Argentina was on the 8th.
I have never felt stronger and more prepared in my life.
40 weeks!
80 sessions.
Not one missed session.
Trained like an athlete.
Feeling 25! :)
What a year!!
Just getting on the plane to Argentina - feeling fit, STRONG and healthy was SUCCESS in itself.
ARGENTINA ACONCAGUA 6962m ACCLIMATISATION
The mountain was extremely cold in January and the weather was quite unpredictable. Climate change was real sadly, and one could see it first hand on the mountain. Some days we would have all four seasons at Basecamp 4500m - snow, rain, sun and dry weather. Very unusual and atypical for this dry mountain.
2-3 weeks pre-acclimatising went really well despite the fact I couldn't reach the summit in my running shoes. It was far too cold to attempt in a pair of runners and I didn't have my double boots with me during training.
Lucky, February 5th to 10th - my forecaster Tyson mentioned it would be the "warmest patch" of weather on Aconcagua for the entire season, so I better take advantage of that window and attempt my speed ascent.
With a few days of rest between my high altitude training and speed ascent, I packed my running vest and had organised my gear for upper camps and decided to give February 5th a go, thinking if something happens I would still have a few days left to attempt again.
February 5th:
First attempt No Summit. Finish line was 6300m. 40km.
February 9th: SUCCESS
Second attempt. Yes to the Summit 6962m and the entire 108 km route complete!
People always ask me about the lessons on big projects - they are always the same and simple:
SURROUND YOURSELF WISELY
Surround yourself with the best of the best
people who want to see you succeed
people who love their craft
people who you can lean on when you are struggling
people who will have your back
people who you respect
people who will help you GROW.
hang around young, athletic superstars - they will keep you young! :)
Hands down, the best year of my athletic life! Thanks Conor!
Like James Clear says in his book Atomic Habits: "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems"
Find a good coach. Build a team. Make a solid plan. Keep it simple so you can stay consistent and then execute.
Celebrate, rest, recover, and repeat. :)
For a longer summary of my speed ascent that took 5 years, please go to : LINK
Remember - it’s not about complicated sets or complicated work.
And it’s not about what you can do every once in a while, it’s what you can do over and over again, for weeks and months.
Find what’s sustainable and repeat. And try to add small progress to each block of training.
It’s as simple as that.
I plan to keep stacking 40 week Conor H program, year in and year out.
See you on the other side!
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