Always Training to Slay Those Trails

My whole life I’ve toed the line between jock and nerd. I played sports in high school, and graduated top of my class. I continued playing intramural sports in college, and was on the quiz bowl team. I work out now while I’m watching Jeopardy, yelling out answers while trying to stay on the treadmill. In the best way possible, The Trek has enabled me to continue this balance. I get to participate in a highly physical activity, and then go into geek mode writing about it. In order to complete any thru-hike, one must prepare. Here’s how I balance beast and book to train for my adventures.

It was already happening, even before I quit my full-time job, my career: total immersion into hike life.

Now, it’s immersion bordering on obsession. My thru-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail isn’t until September of this year, 7 months from now. But, I’ve been preparing for it since before I even finished my thru-hike of the Ouachita Trail last November. That’s how bad it’s gotten, folks. I’m thinking about my next trail before I’m even finished with the one I’m on. I’m constantly preparing for the next adventure. For me, that’s half the fun. Wait, who am I kidding, it’s more than half. I LOVE the prep work that goes into a backpacking trip.

Physical Prep

I applaud those who can start a long trail without any physical preparations. Hikers who can burst onto the scene with no physical fitness or trail research. Just winging it, basically. As someone who has turned 29 for the 12^th time, I’ve come to realize that my body likes to be eased into a project, not slammed into one. My muscles and joints need to be persuaded to glide over the miles of rocks and roots, and my brain needs the reassurance of knowing that maps have been scoured and guidebooks have been read.

Fitness for me is a year-round goal. A body in motion stays in motion.

Most of the time my workouts take place in our humble, home gym in the basement, as we live too far away from any bona-fide gyms. I know me, and a membership to one would go to waste because I’m too lazy to drive there. Shoot, sometimes I’m too lazy to go downstairs. Generally, my workouts alternate between our treadmill, Stairmaster, recumbent bike/rower, and weights.

I’m not into distance running, but have tried to incorporate more of it into my routine. I can now run a 5K, but I try not to do that very often in order to save my knees. The Stairmaster though, has been money for helping me on those trail inclines. If I had to keep only one piece of equipment, it would be that one. It provides the aerobic exercise my heart needs, combined with bone and lower-body muscle strengthening. I ride the bike and lift weights on my recovery days. I try to do a set of lunges almost every day.  I have a good stretch routine before and after my workouts, and roll out my muscles with a foam roller.

When the weather is nice enough to venture outside, you’ll find me on a local trail. There is a lake nearby with a very nice paved path that circumnavigates it. Going all the way around is a little over 6 miles. I also try to hike on non-paved trails, as that gives me the added benefit of walking on uneven ground. This gives my tendons and ligaments the strength training they need as well. As it gets closer to “go-time”, I’ll hike with a backpack with some weight in it, as nothing gets you ready for backpacking quite like backpacking.

There were still some fishermen braving the thin ice on this unusually warm February day

Something that I’ve been focusing on more is the health of my joints and tendons. The Ouachita Trail totally kicked my butt last fall in that department. Granted, that trail is incredibly rocky, but I seriously thought I was going to snap my Achilles while hiking that trail. I had to really baby it for a few days, and luckily that didn’t happen. After a conversation about it with a new friend I made on trail, she suggested using a Wobble board to help train my tendons and ligaments, and improve my balance. Lo and behold, she sent me one for Christmas! What a gal! I’ve been using it every day, and I can seriously tell it’s making a difference. That, combined with a vitamin and collagen supplement, currently has my joints, tendons, and ligaments feeling right as rain.

Just a few minutes a day keeps the wobbles away

I would also like to mention that I’ve been hiking exclusively in zero-drop shoes for many years, and while it might not make a difference, I’m considering switching to low-drop trail runners in the future.

Having good balance IS important. How else would I be able to do this?

Mental Prep

Physical training obviously has its place, but it’s not the only thing I focus on. I mentally train for a backpacking trip by scanning over maps to get my bearings on surroundings and nearby towns and highways. I download maps for the trail on apps such as FarOut, Avenza, or AllTrails. I read corresponding guidebooks and other people’s blogs. I watch all the YouTube videos I can find about the trail I’ve set my sights on.

Watching YouTube while on the treadmill is like killing two birds with one stone. 😊

Even when my planned hike is still many months away, I find myself looking at mileage and formulating a plan for how long I’ll be out there. I know I can hike, on average, about 15 miles per day. From there, I’ll start to get a general idea of where I’ll be on trail and which towns I can stop in for a shower, bed, and laundry.

Once I know where I’ll be pausing off trail, I’ll figure out where to send my food resupply. I’m a big fan of sending myself packages, because I like the convenience of being able to dump the contents of that box right into my food bag. I’ve already done the hard work at home of figuring out the amount of food/calories I’ll need.

Because I tend to gravitate toward the mid-range distance trails, I feel that I CAN obsessively pore over every detail of daily mileage, food resupply, and town stops. I understand that if I was on a much longer trek this would be too much of a chore. Besides, my tastes would likely change and I probably wouldn’t even want to eat the food I’ve sent.

Spiritual Prep

I make one last preparation for any adventure into the backcountry by making deposits into my karma bank. There’s a saying in the world of backpacking: “the trail provides.” Call me superstitious, but I believe the trail will provide for me if I return the favor. At the very least, I can help by picking up bits of trash as I hike along. Lately though, I’ve really latched on to this idea of giving back to the trails that I love so much. I’ve seen crews working the trails on almost every hike I’ve been on, and I decided it was high time I join in.  Last year I participated in a Volunteer Vacation with the American Hiking Society doing trail maintenance.  It was such a good experience. I’ll be participating in another project this spring. Trail maintenance is really hard work, and most of it is completed by volunteers. I implore everyone to give a bit of time to help maintain a trail you love.