Train as You Hike, Hike as You Trained

About six weeks to go and the training goes very well.

Now for most people, one could just show up on the trail some morning with a backpack and go for it. As for training, the trail will provide. In my situation, however, that is not something I can do. I have to prepare well in advance.

I have two parts for my training: distance and elevation. I trained for elevation during the winter while doing SOTA (Summits on the air, see previous post). The trails are now pretty much all closed due to Mud season, so I now concentrate on distance training on a road. All winter I was doing once or twice a day a distance of about 5km (about 3 miles). I did not have my backpack on at first, but eventually I did, adding weight as things went well. On more difficult days I would walk once with the backpack and for the second time I did not.

This week I have about 80% of my full pack weight and train twice a day. When I feel more tired or hurting more, I try to step down in the intensity, a bit like a climber would acclimatize for elevation while climbing a summit.

I am very careful not to hurt myself; repetition sometimes can lead to some problems, and one needs to listen to their body.