Physical Training for the PCT

If you look around on this website or in the PCT subreddit you’ll find a million and a half posts about gear and logistics, but not quite so much about physical training.  It seems like a lot of folks’ training plan is “I’ll start out slow and my body will just kinda get in shape as I go.”  I don’t understand that.

Look – maybe that works when you’re 22.  I don’t think it works as well once you’re on the wrong side of 30.  Especially if you’re someone like me who spent their 20s asking too much of their body.  Besides, if I make a bad call on gear, it’s pretty easy to order a new piece of gear online.    If I have tendons that start to wear out?  That’s a different story.  Tendons and ligaments take months to build, and once they start to get injured they take weeks to months to heal depending on how bad you let them get before you call it quits.  These are the kind of injuries that take you off trail for good.  Why gamble with it?

Who am I to be telling you how to prepare your body?

I have no formal training at all in any of this stuff, but I have hurt myself enough times to know how not to hurt myself as much anymore.  I spent six years as an active duty U.S. Army infantry officer, graduated from Army Ranger School, and spent four years before that as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  I had to carry a lot of heavy shit back then – often I would have 60 lbs on my back, sometimes 80+.  I was also young and dumb and generally treated my body like shit, pushed through injuries I shouldn’t have, etc.

Now that I’m older and wiser, I have decided to approach the PCT a lot more deliberately.  Here’s how I’ve been preparing my body over the last few months.

First – Define the problem

I’m a civil engineer by training.  The first thing we learn to do when solving a design problem is to actually define the problem.  We want to write down exactly what it is we hope to accomplish.  In my case with my physical preparedness for the PCT, it boils down to this:

I want to be able to sustain a long term average of at least 20 miles daily along the entire PCT.  I want to do that while sustaining no overuse injuries, and I want to minimize my risk of acute injuries as much as possible (rolled ankles, falls, etc).  I will have succeeded in my train up if I can complete the PCT in under 5 months and do not need to take more than a week of recovery before getting back to my pre-hike patterns of life and exercise.

Next, we need to look at what kind of injuries typically befall PCT hikers, because that’s what is most likely to hurt us too.  For that I looked at r/PacificCrestTrail posts on Reddit and the HalfwayAnywhere PCT Survey .

The injuries that seemed to come up most frequently:

• Plantar fasciitis
• Tendonitis (achilles, patellar most predominately)
• Stress Fractures
• Shin splints
• Broken bones and other issues resulting from falls/rolled ankles

Perfect.  Now – what are our own shortcomings in fitness?  In my case, here’s what I came up with back in September 2023 when I started my PCT training:

• History of back spasms/SI joint issues
• History of ankle sprains, low mobility (flexibility) in the ankles and calves
• Not great mobility in general
• Weak core/back relative to the rest of my body
• I could probably stand to lose 30 lbs (Then I was 200 lbs and 5’6″ – technically obese, though I am pretty muscular)

Fortunately, my cardio was already plenty adequate for the PCT, and I had good strength in my major muscle groups.  I didn’t have to start from scratch or anything in this train up, but I had a lot of work to do on my stability and mobility.  I also knew that I needed to work on the tendons and ligaments to prepare them for 20 mile days.  With a well defined problem, I could begin to draft the solution.

Major themes of the training plan

Let’s keep things simple.  The biggest thing you need to do if you want to walk a lot of miles is to walk a lot of miles.  

There are a few reasons that this alone wouldn’t quite work for me:

• The vast majority of my miles would be on pavement – I live in a city.  This means that I wouldn’t be exercising things like balance and stability that I would need on the trail.
• The vast majority of my miles would be flat – I live in Savannah, GA.  The PCT is not flat, as you know.
• I don’t have time to do quite all that walking – some of my training has to come from other sources.
• This wouldn’t get after my mobility goals at all.

I needed to consider some other things, and here’s how I started to think of it.  Basically, I had six main things I needed to do.  In order of importance to me they were:

• Gradually expose tendons/ligaments to increased strain to prepare them for continuous 20 mile days (this is the walking a lot of miles part)
• Increase my hill climbing ability (emphasis on calves and achilles tendon)
• Increase balance and joint stability (especially ankles)
• Increase mobility, especially in the ankles and posterior chain (calves, hamstrings, back)
• Increase core strength
• Lose 30 lbs

If you’re using this blog as a resource to plan your own train up, please note that your needs are likely different than mine and you might want to have different priorities.  I also want to reiterate that I have no formal training in any of this, if you do and think I’m wrong about anything I write about I won’t be offended if you let me know about it.

Executing the plan

Ramping up the miles

Getting after the first goal is pretty easy – just start walking.  I’d wake up early to walk, and I started walking to more places instead of riding my bike or getting in the car.  I’d walk in the evening.  What I didn’t do is make a solid plan, other than this:

• I wanted to do a 350 mile month in January
• I wanted to do a 100-ish mile shakedown about a month before my start date
• I would generally increase my miles weekly leading up to those goals
• As soon as I started feeling any pain or soreness in tendons or ligaments I would dial it back until I felt better

This worked pretty well for me.  I did get almost 380 miles in January including 100 miles in a single five day stretch.  I still need to do that 100 mile shakedown – that will happen right around the first of March.  Below is a chart of my mileage that I took from the step counter of my Garmin Enduro 2 that I’ve worn almost all the time since September.

I didn’t find that this mileage became too much of a burden on my time until my weekly mileage started to get over 70.  I got to the point where my average walking pace got up to 3.7-3.9 mph, which makes a huge difference on time compared to where I started in the lower 3’s.  I wasn’t running too much: November was my biggest running month with 67 miles, and in January I only ran 33 miles out of 379 total miles ran or walked.  I would have liked to run more in January but I was having some pain in my patellar tendon that only hurt when I ran, so I quit running until it got better.

I often walked with a 25 pound weight vest.  Not all the time though, and there wasn’t much strategy to it other than “I feel good, let’s throw the vest on for this walk.”  In January for example I ended up with 100 miles with the weight vest on.  Why a weight vest instead of my ruck?  To be frank, I thought the ruck would look more out of place on the streets of Savannah than a weight vest.  I also like the extra work my traps have to do holding up all that weight instead of having it ride on my hips.  Why not do more miles with the vest?  In my opinion, it’s more important to just get the miles in.  In January I averaged 180 lbs – the extra 25 lbs doesn’t make too much of a difference.  If you’re closer to 100 lbs it’s probably more important that you train with weight.

Issues I had ramping up miles and what I did about them

Arches

Early in my train up I was having some issues with some of the little muscles in the feet, specifically the abductor hallucis.  I ended up getting a pair of Sole Active Thin insoles, which I also used to use in my boots back when I was in the army.  My arches are fairly flat and I think these help.  I also started rolling out my feet with lacrosse balls, massaging them, stretching, and doing various strengthening exercises like placing my feet flat on the ground and trying to curl in my toes.  I cut down miles if it started to hurt too much.  These all helped to eliminate this problem within a month or two.

Calluses

Later in my train up I started having issues with my pinky toe joint, right where the proximal phalange joins up with the metatarsal.  I was worried that I was developing a tailor’s bunion, but it turns out the callus in that area was just getting so think that it was causing pain!  I shaved it down, took it easy for a week, and felt good as new.

Swelling/general pain

I had a decent amount of general soreness and swelling in my feet during the heavy mile weeks in January.  Almost all these miles were on pavement too.  I took some time at the end of each day to use toe spreaders, put ice packs on the bottom of my feet, and elevate my feet.  That helped a lot.

Shoe issues

My feet started to hurt a good amount as my Altra Lone Peak’s were getting to the end of their useful life in December (about 450-500 miles in those shoes).  I had been running in Altras for almost a decade at this point, and have noticed the decline in quality that a lot of others have also noticed.  I also decided that I might be better off with a little bit of heel to toe drop and I was pleased to discover Topo shoes.  I now walk in a pair of Topo Traverse with a 5mm drop and absolutely love them and have found them to be very well made; I’m at about 400 mostly road miles in those so far and no issues.  I’d recommend these shoes to anyone – wide toe boxes really are such a game changer and I prefer the 5mm drop over zero drop when hiking.

Getting after the hills

Hill work is nearly impossible to do in Savannah, so I do a lot of work on an incline treadmill.  The one at my gym goes up to 30% grade.  My typical workout is to do 2000′ vertical at a time, alternating between a lower grade at a faster pace and steep grade slow.  I’ll do this with my 25 lb vest.  The typical progression looks like this:

• Warm up – 2 mins, 6-9% grade, 3-3.5 mph
• Low grade, high speed.  Start at 3.5 mph and 9%.  Gradually work to 15% at 3.5 mph.  Do this until I sustain a zone 4 heart rate for a few minutes.  Then bump to 18% and 3.0-3.2 mph until I can’t take it any more.
• Recovery – 9% grade and 3 mph.  Get heart rate into zone 2.  Usually takes 3 mins.
• High grade, lower speed.  Start at 3 mph and 21%.  Gradually work up grade and down speed until at 30% grade and 2.0-2.2 mph.  Do this until I want to die.
• Recovery
• Repeat until I hit 2000′ total vertical.  Recently this has been taking me about 55 mins.
• If I’m feeling sore but still want to get in some hill work I’ll either drop the weight vest, only do 1000′, or both.

I’ve also been doing lifts and other exercises focused on my power climbing hills.  Box jumps, box step-ups, lunges, air squats, jump rope, sled drag and push, weighted calf raises at full range of motion, exercise bike set to a high power setting/gear, and single leg dead lifts have been staples of this program.  I usually do one of these workouts per week, except for the weeks where my weekly mileage is over 70.

I still feel weak on my hills as of this writing, so the month of February I will focus on hill work over mileage.  After I finish one of those treadmill workouts I’ll feel soreness in my soleus muscle (inner calf) and achilles for a day or two, I really want to get to the point where I could do this workout 5 days in a row and feel fine.

Balance and stability

The best way to train balance is to stand on one foot and try to balance!  I’ve been doing a lot of that, and eventually graduated to a balance board that I can configure to move in one axis or two.  I typically try to work in a little bit of this every day, just a few minutes.  Once I started getting better I’d work on doing one legged bodyweight squats and deadlifts on the balance board.  There are countless little muscles that help keep you balanced and if you don’t exercise them they won’t work well, just like any other muscle.

I’ve also been doing work with hip adduction and abduction.  Flexion and extension too.  Hip strength and mobility is super important and if you do a lot of road running and walking like me, you probably aren’t working your adductors or abductors as much as you should.

Another exercise I’ve been doing to work on my ankles is to write the alphabet with your toes.  This works both strength and mobility.  All you do is sit down, legs extended, and imagine you are writing each letter with your toes.  You might want to put a towel under your calves to prop up your feet.  It’s harder than you would think.

Flexibility and mobility

This was hard for me to get after because I have always hated stretching.  What I ended up doing was just finding a yoga class that I really like and going to that every week.  I uh – I also like to take an edible before I go.  I don’t know why but I really enjoy the sensation of stretching when I’m high.  It’s also a lot easier for me to shut off my mind and actually relax, which helps to loosen up muscles too.  Maybe give it a shot.

When I first started going to yoga consistently I couldn’t touch my toes if my legs were straight.  My fingers were probably 6 inches short.  Now I can put my palms on the soles of my feet.  That took me about a year of consistency to accomplish, but has been totally worth it.  The issues I’ve had with my back have gotten considerably better since then.  Stretches like the pigeon pose have also been very helpful for my back pain.

One area where I’m still lacking is my calf flexibility – I’d like to be able to squat all the way down and keep my heel on the ground.  I think flexibility here is very important because there’s a good bit of added stress you place on your muscles when you climb a hill with your heel off the ground vs on the ground.

Core strength

This one isn’t rocket science – I just work in at least 15 minutes of core work every day.  I make sure to work abs, obliques, and lower back.  I’m already at 2,700 words in this blog so I’ll spare you all the details.  It’s not that complicated.

Weight loss

Why?

I think starting the trail at a healthy weight is very important.  Yes, you’ll likely lose the weight after the first few weeks on trail anyway, but during those few weeks your body will incur a lot of added stress that it wouldn’t have if you had been at a good weight to begin with.  That added stress could cause an avoidable and hike-ending injury.  We spend a lot of money shaving ounces off our packs.  For some of us, myself included, I think it makes sense to trim off unnecessary weight from our bodies too.

I should put in here a bit about not getting to aggressive about losing weight.  For reference, I’m 5’6″.  A 200 lb body weight made me obese and I was probably rocking a little more than 25% body fat. I had plenty of fat to trim and I was glad to see it go.  You might not.

I also took the weight off slowly and I’ve rarely been hungry at all during the past few months. If you try to cut weight too fast while also training hard to hike the PCT, you’ll greatly increase your risk of injury.  Your workouts also won’t be as good and your recovery will suck.  A 500 calorie deficit will drop a pound every 7 days, which is healthy and very achievable.  A 1000 calorie deficit will drop two pounds a week but you’ll be hungry as hell, your workouts will suck, and your recovery will suck.

How?

Losing weight was the hardest part of the training plan for me because I really like eating, and to be frank I like eating shitty food.  It took a lot of self-discipline, but I’m down about 25 lbs from my peak weight of 200 lbs in June of 2023.  Here’s how I did it:

• Quit drinking alcohol.  I haven’t drank since the end of June.  I dropped 10 lbs within a month just doing this and making no other changes.  I’ll write a whole blog about this at some point.  This is probably the biggest single piece of the puzzle here and there are a ton of other benefits like better sleep and hormone regulation.
• Replaced sweet treats with something moderately sweet but “healthy.”  I like Gatorade protein bars for this or high-fat greek plain yogurt with a little bit of jam.  I still get a little bit of a sweet fix but it’s a lot less sugar, and the high protein and fat content is filling.  Over time I’ve found that I’ve craved sugar less and less.
• Less food in the morning.  I don’t eat until after my morning workout.  If I’m doing an intense workout I’ll get some fruit in before just to provide some fuel for that workout.  After the workout I’ll usually do 12-16 oz of whole milk with a scoop of protein powder, then not eat again until lunch.  I think this helps, your mileage may vary.
• Incorporate more fats and protein.  Fats do pack more calories per gram than carbs, but I find them to be much more satiating.  Nuts, high fat content yogurt milk and cottage cheese, etc.  I can be pretty damn hungry and eat maybe 500 calories worth of plain whole milk yogurt and nuts, finish it off with 16 oz of water, and feel just as satiated as if I ate a 3 or 4 slices of pizza.
• Speaking of water – drinking more water with meals helps make you feel fuller
• Weighing in daily.  I check my weight every day when I get up.  You’ve got to be consistent in tracking the things you hope to accomplish or you’ll never get there.  Understand that weight fluctuates daily and you need to focus on long term trends, not day to day changes.  I would typically add weight during high mileage weeks because my body retained more fluids, but would then drop the added weight plus a pound as soon as I took a couple recovery days.
• Don’t eat late at night.  If I’m feeling hungry I’ll just eat a few handfulls of cashews and drink some water.  Especially avoid sugar before bed.
• Celebrate the little wins.  Cutting weight is really hard.  Take it from a guy who quit using both nicotine and alcohol cold turkey.  I think cutting weight takes a much higher degree of self control and willpower.  Sugar is just as addictive as nicotine or alcohol in my experience.  You gotta pump yourself up every time you make a good decision.  You need to change your frame of mind to make it something you’re excited about instead of a chore.
• Of note – I still am eating quite a bit.  I am burning an average of 3500 calories a day after all, and I need to consume enough to recover properly from my workouts.  I’m usually never hungry.  I just make better choices about what I shove in my face.

I did end up losing some muscle in my upper body during all of this.  I’m a little sad about it, but that muscle would be useless to me on the trail and I’d end up losing it anyway.  No need to be putting up big weight on the bench when I’m going to be walking all day for a few months!

Other thoughts

You’ve got to listen to your body.  Muscle soreness is to be expected sometimes, but you shouldn’t be sore all the time.  Soreness is not a good indicator of the effectiveness of your workout.  Pain in joints, tendons, or ligaments needs to be addressed right away.  Stop doing things that aggravate the pain.  These things only get better with rest.  You cannot push through them.  Google exercises to help strengthen the weak areas that are hurting.  You can see a professional to help.  You should use rest, ice, compression, and elevation to reduce pain and inflammation, and sometimes ibuprofen.  Don’t use ibuprofen all the time, it’s bad for your stomach and if you’re hurting that much you should be resting anyway.  It’s better to start the trail less trained than you’d hope to be than to start it already injured. 

Be careful with excessive stretching.  It might actually be counterproductive to stretch an area that is hurting you, as stretching induces new micro-tears into the muscle that is trying to heal.

A quick note on my time commitment to do all of this.  I don’t think it was overly burdensome until I started knocking out 100 mile weeks.  The 100 mile weeks were eating up 6-8 hours each day.  During most of the rest of the train up I was spending an average of 3 hours a day training.  It seems like a lot, but I squeezed it in when I could and made some sacrifices in other areas of my life to accommodate.  If it’s important enough to you, you will too.

I don’t think it is necessary to go as hard as I did when training for the PCT.  I just didn’t want to have any doubt at all about whether my body would be capable of doing this.  I also genuinely enjoy working out and it was nice to have such a compelling reason to train so hard.

Conclusion

I really didn’t intend to write a four thousand word manifesto but here we are, I hope at least someone out there found this to be helpful.  My main theme during this train up was “work as hard as I can without injuring myself.”  So far, I’ve been successful.  If there’s anything specific you’d like to see me go into more detail about let me know in the comments!

Shout-out to Mark Lebos, owner of Strong Gym Savannah, for helping out with parts of this program, especially the balance and mobility.  I also did most of the workouts at Victory Gym Savannah – they have a great, clean facility and 24 hour access.  That yoga class I talked about is the 7 pm Wednesday back care yoga with Veenu at Savannah Yoga Center.

The featured image is a shot of me hiking the highline trail in Glacier National Park.  Photo would have been taken by one of my friends Colton or Kevin.  Thanks boys – that was a fun trip.