First training hike of the year today

[bulgron]

I'm heading up into the mountain this summer for the first time in 15 years. While I've spent some time over the last 15 years in and around gyms, swimming pools, and bicycles, I've mostly spent the last 15 years sitting in front of a keyboard. Lifting weights and doing stairmaster is all well and good, but when you come right down to it the only way to get in shape for hauling weight up and down tall hills is to, you know, go haul weight up and down tall hills.

I also got a new backpack, and I wanted to see how well the load was going to carry on a real hill.

I'm fortunate in that within 20 minutes of my house I can find hills to walk. So I loaded up the backpack with about 30 lbs, put on my hiking boots, and walked up one of them. It was really just a dirt road that skirts some residential neighborhoods on one side and a reservoir on the other, but at least the hills were steep.

I walked up and down about 1,000 feet over 6 miles. I was a little out of breath on the steepest parts. My legs never got tired. My feet felt okay, except for right at the end when I had to walk down some steep sections. My back was complaining a bit by the end of it.

Hey, it's a start.

We'll be doing around 4,000 feet and 15 miles a day when we get to King's Canyon National Park in August. I figure that if I do this training hike two or three times a week from now until then, I'll be able to enjoy the mountains. Maybe by late July I'll walk up and down the hill twice a day, time permitting.

How about you? What are you doing to train for whatever this summer's outdoor activities will involve?

 

[kgd]

Training like that, especially for a particular trip in mind, is a great idea. I'm pretty much out of shape and we have almost no difficult terrain around my parts.

 

[Chris Pierce]

Work was a pretty good training session for me. Running around on a fishing boat yelling at welders and occasionally getting in a wrestling match with one. I lost about 25 lbs in 6-7 weeks. (working 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week) Could still stand to lose 10 more. Currently I'm working on packing up the home stead and moving about 1200 miles south. Before that happens the family is going to have a month long work party up on my Mom's property. So I'll be clearing brush and digging ditches for 8-10 hours a day 5-6 days a week. That will be a good work out I think. Then in mid July when we finally arrive in Southern California I plan on checking out the local hills for some hikes with my wife and her brothers probably.
The only day to day training I'm doing is going on 3 mile walks pushing a gigantic 3yo and a 3mo in a stroller.

 

[mtwarden]

you're correct, staying fit jogging, lifting weights, etc is definitely helpful, but the only real way to effectively train for backpacking in difficult terrain is loading up a pack and hiking in difficult terrain I think the closest thing I've found is trail running, but again this is simply running in more difficult terrain

I always find that towards the end of 4-5 day hike I am in lots better condition than the beginning of the trip (albeit some of this due to carry less weight).

nothing to do with hiking, but I recently (two weeks now) took a break from the weights and have been doing body weight exercises instead, the only investment I have into it is in a pullup bar. it's definitely challenging making the switch, but I'm seeing real progress in pushups/pullups/situps-I'm starting to vary things up a bit now, adding in different exercises, changing up reps/sets, etc

 

[BRL]

A few times a week I'll stop on the ride home and do a quick 30m trail run in South Mountain Park (I'm in Phoenix). It's 100F+ now so that'll start getting me tough. Add in little 35m hikes up the local mountain (South Mountain again) with a gallon jug of water in a daypack, then a random sampling of hitting Mt Eldin and Humphries in Flagstaff whenever I'm up there, plus the Siphon Draw and Flatiron trails at the east edge of town are all my workout tracks. And Camelback; there's always Camelback in there somewhere. Usually all this is training for Grand Canyon hikes; don't have one of those scheduled yet but it'll happen.

 

[bulgron]

Speaking of the Grand Canyon, I met a guy on yesterday's hike who just finished doing the Grand Canyon. He's 70 years old and was kicking my butt going up the hill. Of course, I was carrying a pack and he wasn't, so that protected my ego just a little bit.

Anyway, I find comfort in the idea of being able to do strenuous hikes into my 70s. I also feel challenged to go do the Grand Canyon one of these years. Hmmm... Bright Angel is 6.3 miles long with a 4860 foot elevation change. Hmmm.... I might have to train a little more in order to do that.

 

[BRL]

Speaking of the Grand Canyon, I met a guy on yesterday's hike who just finished doing the Grand Canyon. He's 70 years old and was kicking my butt going up the hill. Of course, I was carrying a pack and he wasn't, so that protected my ego just a little bit.

Anyway, I find comfort in the idea of being able to do strenuous hikes into my 70s. I also feel challenged to go do the Grand Canyon one of these years. Hmmm... Bright Angel is 6.3 miles long with a 4860 foot elevation change. Hmmm.... I might have to train a little more in order to do that.

LOL yeah, I've run into my fair share of silver foxes on GC trails. Few things give you hope for your own twilight years like a seventy year old fella in a hoodie and a skullcap decorated with flames hiking out from the bottom of the Grand Canyon in the snow.

As far as training; yes, train hard. Way too many people try to do that trail when they're not conditioned. I get a little tired stepping over their crawling, teary faces

 

[bulgron]

As far as training; yes, train hard. Way too many people try to do that trail when they're not conditioned. I get a little tired stepping over their crawling, teary faces

Heh. Well, I'm trying to train hard, but I might have to get more creative. I just did my second training hike today but to my disappointment I didn't really get tired or sore. A little out of breath, sure, but 30 seconds for a sip of water here and there and I was good to go.

I think I need to go find a steeper hill. Or I need to do this particular hill twice in a day. But time is an issue, dang it. Twice up and down that hill is over 10 miles. Maybe I can do it on the weekends.

Is it completely crazy for me to be thinking about throwing a 10 lb dive weight into my bear vault just to make the hike harder?

 

[kgd]

Damn, I got a sore forearm (same you get from curling) just from swinging that machete around cutting firewood on Fri night. I went to grab my coffee this morning and I felt that little post arm curls twang right in the elbow...Thought was - oh yeah, exercise thats what it feels like again, maybe I should do a bit more of that (reaches for croissant).

 

[BRL]

Bulgron, definitely get a pack and add some weight. Like I said above, we keep it simple and just throw gallon water jugs into a pack. Other tricks are to do laps on whatever this hill is (I absolutely add laps into my heavy training regime, but I hear you about time), and also time yourself so that whenever you're on this hill you're upping the speed in order to keep beating your previous times.

 

[bulgron]

Damn, I got a sore forearm (same you get from curling) just from swinging that machete around cutting firewood on Fri night. I went to grab my coffee this morning and I felt that little post arm curls twang right in the elbow...Thought was - oh yeah, exercise thats what it feels like again, maybe I should do a bit more of that (reaches for croissant).

Forearms de-condition easily and without notice. Unless your life involves a lot of manual labor, you need to spend a little time every week with weights doing various curl exercises in order to maintain them. (Even as I say that, I realize that it's been months since I did those particular exercises.)

 

[bulgron]

Bulgron, definitely get a pack and add some weight. Like I said above, we keep it simple and just throw gallon water jugs into a pack. Other tricks are to do laps on whatever this hill is (I absolutely add laps into my heavy training regime, but I hear you about time), and also time yourself so that whenever you're on this hill you're upping the speed in order to keep beating your previous times.

Yeah, I've thought about adding weight by adding water. But I have all these soft scuba diving weights laying around. They are neither large nor bulky, and I can use them to add 5 - 10lbs to the pack without too much trouble.

Of course, I have a friend who thinks I should add weight by loading my pack up with ammo cans full of ammo, but I get enough strange looks as it is.

I'm heading out of town with the family this next week, but when we get back I think what I'll try for is two trips up the hill during the week (that's all I have time for) with an extra 5 - 10lbs. Then on weekends either do the hill twice in a row with "normal" weight, or go do some longer day hikes with the pack on other hills in the area. Every available weekend should involve at minimum a 10 mile/1500 foot elevation hike with the full pack. I'm not trying to be Mr. Speedy when I get to the real mountains, but I'd also like to meander the high country without sore muscles and feet.

Can't enjoy the views if you're dazed and in pain....