Too old? Too out of shape?

[skylark]

I have been trying to prepare for a long distance thru-hike by doing shorter hiking trips. I did the Manistee River Loop the last three days. The problem is that the hike became somewhat painful for my feet. Nothing really bad, just muscle pain and a minor blister. I also had back muscle pain and stiffness. I was quite surprised when laying in bed, I could feel my body repairing my feet, the foot muscles went from painful to OK in a few hours. In the morning I had to stretch and massage them for a while and then could walk with minor pain.

The first day I walked 2 hours, the second 5 hours and the third 6 hours, with a pack that was 20 lbs plus water and food. My gear was fine, the problem is that I am just out of shape and overweight (55 years, 250 lbs, 6 foot). I do some fitness work at home, morning stretches, 10 mile bike ride about 5 days a week, bodyweight fitness about 3 days a week but not too intense.

I am thinking I should skip long distance thru hiking and focus on shorter hikes in nice areas, maybe 3 hours a day. A slower hike with shorter distances might help get me in shape. Spending more time than 3 days on the trail would also help, probably after a week or two it would become routine and I could either deal with the pain or be fit enough not to have pain.

I just arrived home an hour ago and am thinking if I really want to be involved in a sport that causes so much pain and exhaustion. Has anybody been in this situation?

[jjozgrunt]

In a similar situation about 5 years ago after waiting a couple of years for some major surgery. Took me a while to lose the weight I put on and get back into enjoying bush walking. You are not carrying a 20 lb pack but 80 lbs of extra weight and it's the body weight you need to lose. You will find it so much more enjoyable then and a lot of the pain will disappear.

[scrabbler]

I just arrived home an hour ago and am thinking if I really want to be involved in a sport that causes so much pain and exhaustion. Has anybody been in this situation?

I think everyone has been in that situation. Our bodies are used to "normal". Push them and they either adapt or break. As we get older we need to be more careful on the push. Take it easy and gradually increase the limits and you'll be fine.

[One Half]

you need to lose the weight. And of course going to 3 days straight of hiking for multiple hours is going to hurt. you "progressed" too fast. General rule of thumb for progressing an exercise routine is to only increase the "load" by 10% total per week or in any one workout.

Example: you work out 5 days a week running 6 miles each day. total load 30 miles per week. you shouldn't add more than 3 miles total to your weekly mileage. And you can usually violate one of the guidelines (per workout increase or total increase for week) but not both. So you generally would not want to add 1 mile to each of 3 runs in just one week. But if you chose to add 1 mile to one run you only violated the 10% rule on one workout and are still within the total week's 10% rule.

[nsherry61]

Getting fit sucks! Being fit rocks! You'll never regret the effort if you can stick with it until you are fit enough to do what you want.

Most people your age (like me) are able to get fit enough to do long-distance backpacking with manageable pain. My feet (and knees) have gone to hell in the last couple of years, but with patience, way to much money spent on different shoes and doctors, none of which have completely solved my problems, I have gotten my feet (and footwear) to the point where they are manageable for all day hiking with moderate loads.

I can no longer carry 100 lbs for two weeks climbing a half dozen technical peaks. But, I can cover 10-20 miles with 10-30 lbs all day if I take a few breaks to rest my feet. And oh, what a beautiful way to live, walking along in a wilderness stopping when I get tired, sleeping under the stars, and having no responsibility beyond waking up and walking as I please the next day.

DON'T GIVE UP!!

[dudeijuststarted]

what high level athletic effort does not result in pain or exhaustion? thru hiking is definitely gonna hurt your body. so like anything else, how bad to you want it?!

overnight/section hiking is really fun and if you're not looking for some spiritual awakening I'd say spare yourself the thru hike.

[egilbe]

Getting fit sucks! Being fit rocks! You'll never regret the effort if you can stick with it until you are fit enough to do what you want.

QFT

Find a way to weigh and measure your food. Monitor everything you put in your mouth. Keep a 500 to 1000 calorie deficit per day and you will lose 1 to 2 pounds a week. In 6 months that's 26 to 52 pounds lost off your feet. You will find you also get faster when you are hiking and stronger and you can feel it. I went from almost puking climbing a 500 ft hill to scaling Katahdin in 4 months. I lost 10 pounds or so. I went from a high of 215 to 190 just measuring what I eat and walking 4 to 6 miles a day. MY GF lost 50 pounds in 6 months doing Weight Watchers. I look at pictures of her that we took when we did Hamlin peak last year and could see why this one hiker we met was surprised that we hiked Hamlin Ridge trail. Looking at us, he thought it was beyond our abilities, he mentioned that it was a lot more technical than he thought we could do. We laughed at that, but I guess we could have been insulted, too.

[peakbagger]

You didn't list an age, I have heard 30 year olds with the same complaints. Unless you have a fundamental underlying condition (see your doctor), its going to take awhile to get into shape. Many weekend warriors try to make up for week of inactivity by pushing it too hard. Start out by walking daily then when you are comfortable with that, add a backpack with bit of weight and then increase the weight. If you take it slow your stamina will increase and you will see day to day benefits. Folks in their 50 and 60s routinely do the AT and there are quite few section hikers the same age who are out there doing a thru hike in slow motion in sections.

[Del Q]

Lose weight, goal might be for you AND your gear is what you weight now. All about the meal plan, one cheat day each week, lot of cardio.

Lighter gear, not sure of your $$$$ available, post back surgery I bought my way to under 25 lbs with food & water.

Elliptical, stair stepper or hiking hills / uneven terrain is best BUT based on my most recent hike, thinking of cardio only and save the wear & tear on my body (hills, with a pack, uneven terrain) for when I am out backpacking.

[Praha4]

you're figuring it out on your own...the fact you took the time to describe what you are feeling now is positive
it's not easy to get off the couch and do long distance hiking in the mountains, the older we get the more injury prone we become
and losing weight will go a long ways to helping you

my best advice: lose weight
it will reduce the physical stress on your back, knees, feet and joints

stick with it and be patient, and have fun

[handlebar]

If you think you are too old at age 55, then you are too old. However, I suspect your problem as mentioned above is "too much, too fast" and too much extra weight on your body. You may well still be working. My technique, back when I was your age and still working, was to bring an orange and an apple to work with me and take a 3 mile hike over my lunch hour. I was working at a location where I could start out with a major climb of 300 feet vertical so my heart and lungs got a work out as well. FWIW, I hiked the AT at age 61 and have continued long distance hiking ever since logging a total of over 14,000 miles and just completing an 815 mile chunk of the North Country trail at the "advanced middle age" of 71. Why, do I keep on hiking? For one thing, I feel great after about 500 miles. For another, my plan is to join my grandsons on a repeat hike of the PCT in about 9 more years so I have to keep in shape.

[Wise Old Owl]

Well Skylark... I cant disagree with the above posts.... I hope you can understand its time for a full work out and grab a bicycle. The pain is from several different sources as we age. Joints in the spine and knees and hips all suffer from the same issues. As we age fat that was under our feet according to my podiatrist - disappears. Joints fail to lubricate long term, I offered a thread a few years back where I take Jello and add 2x the amount of gelatin. Keep in mind the lubrication may take as much as 6 months to find the building blocks to lubricate the joints, but is better than 600mg of Naproxen kicking in you in the stomach IMO.

So the next part, is minerals and life giving potassium. As we age (including me) small amounts of potassium and magnesium is very important to muscles during the day... my best guess is we have trouble absorbing from food these two important items. The supplements available are way over the top so I use a pill splitter and sometimes a banana is better than a potassium supplement. When I fatigue on the trail muscle pains and joint pain... well appears to be the same at the end of the day... I like it when a long hike ends at a restaurant with Yuenging on tap... it invigorates me. Just 1or 2 16oz will shut off the pain, feed the muscles, and make a long day a fond memory.

Hope that helps.....

[johnnybgood]

Never too old to get into better physical condition . Everything worthwhile begins with one small step.

1) Begin a fitness regimen with reasonable goals. 2) Eat healthy meals and keep a journal of caloric intake. 3) Get a physical check up if you still have concerns.

[RockDoc]

Don't count on exercise to lose weight, it doesn't work (as a gaziillion obese dieters can attest). It's best to lose the weight by diet prior to starting exercise or hiking.

Zero in on your diet. Are you insulin resistant (fat around middle; put on weight easily with a high-carb diet. I'm thinking that you are)? If so, a low carb high fat diet may do wonders. You would not weight 250 lbs if you were insulin sensitive. How are your blood sugar and insulin levels (you should know)?

Write down everything you eat and figure out macros: carbs/protein/fat. Myfitnesspal.com is pretty handy for this. Then adjust your macros for what works.

Hint: what you are eating right now doesn't work for you (and it gets worse as you get older; I'm older than you and have successfully adjusted upon realizing that I cannot metabolize carbs).

marksdailyapple.com and dietdoctor.com are excellent resources to sort out your problem.

Best of luck.

[CarlZ993]

You are not 'too old.' Just scratch that out of the equation. Out of shape? Over weight? Yeah, but you can work on both of those. Be active (cardio as well as strength exercise) and be sure you have a caloric deficit in your diet. You'll slowly get in better shape & pounds will fall off (sometimes quickly, sometimes not). Keep plugging. Good luck!!

[shelb]

Manistee River Loop ......... painful for my feet. ... minor blister. .also had back muscle pain and stiffness...

...problem is that I am just out of shape and overweight ...
.....Spending more time than 3 days on the trail would also help, probably after a week or two it would become routine

My husband and I have a lot of experience hiking that loop - even though we live 2.5 hours away. There were times when we both struggled with it; however, this past summer, we both rocked it. The difference? our weight.... My husband lost over 100 pounds, and I lost over 60 pounds.

I did backpack on the A.T. in my higher weight days... Yes, at 5'3" and over 200 pounds, I backpacked with a skin out weight of around 26". However, I STRUGGLED! It was NOT easy.... This past year, after my weight loss, I felt like a gazelle - ready to leap tall buildings in a single bound! (Silly, I know - but TRUE!).

My current diet? HIGH PROTEIN! My husband and I eat at least 60-90 grams of protein a day. This actually was pretty easy on the A.T.
Breakfast: 20gram protein bar (Quest or Cliff Plus), morning snack: nuts (10grams), lunch: 20 gram protein bar; afternoon snack: Jerky or trailmix (15 grams); dinner - tuna fish packet and tortilla (17 grams)

I wish you the best of luck!

[Another Kevin]

I got back into hiking when I was not much younger than you, and not much lighter.

I found that what worked for me was to roadwalk 2-3 miles EVERY SINGLE DAY carrying a backpack (a day pack with a heavy computer, a few books, and a couple of water bottles - it weighs as much as the pack I'd carry for a weekend trip). I also did as much weekend travel as I could manage - because I really enjoy it. Even those few miles a day got my body used to hauling a pack. (And the EVERY SINGLE DAY means rain or shine, summer or winter - which I found to be a great mental preparation for dealing with the idea that I'm going to crawl out of my tent in the morning, pack up and walk.)

With that one lifestyle change, over the course of a couple of years, I lost about 40-50 pounds without even trying, and got to the point where I could manage a hundred-mile section at about a 12 mile per day pace. And I went right on eating what I damn pleased. Adding what amounts to 1000+ extra miles a year walking, just as part of my daily life, made a difference.

I have the good fortune that I could make the roadwalk part of my daily commute, so the change was really painless.

I put a lot of weigh back in the last year or so, because I had to take about a year off hiking recovering from plantar fasciitis. But I figure if I worked my way back into hiking fettle at 55, I can again at 60.

It sounds as if you're more active than I was, though. I really was spending my life chained to a lab bench before I took up hiking again. But the advice of "lose weight before becoming more active," however prudent, never worked for me. Becoming more active is the only way I've ever been able to control weight.

[KDogg]

Plenty of folks start the trail overweight. There was no way that I was going to be able to put in the miles before my thru to lose my excess weight or get in top notch shape. My lifestyle and living situation just wasn't going to allow it. I was 230 when I started and 180 when I finished. I am 52 (class of 2016) and finished in 166 days. It was not an easy task by any measure. I was in pain most days as was everyone else I was around at the end. Not saying that it wouldn't have been easier if my weight was lower at start but the weight came off and I got in shape quickly. I was hiking less than 10 miles a day in the beginning but was doing 15 and 20 mile days by the end of the first month. Do the best you can before your hike. I have run marathons before so knew what it meant to do big miles. A big part of the hike that doesn't get talked about is mental toughness. Older folks generally lack a bit of the physical but make up for it in the mental. I'm not saying that you shouldn't see a doctor to make sure that you are in good physical shape but I don't believe that being overweight precludes you from starting and finishing the trail.

[Heliotrope]

I have been trying to prepare for a long distance thru-hike by doing shorter hiking trips. I did the Manistee River Loop the last three days. The problem is that the hike became somewhat painful for my feet. Nothing really bad, just muscle pain and a minor blister. I also had back muscle pain and stiffness. I was quite surprised when laying in bed, I could feel my body repairing my feet, the foot muscles went from painful to OK in a few hours. In the morning I had to stretch and massage them for a while and then could walk with minor pain.

The first day I walked 2 hours, the second 5 hours and the third 6 hours, with a pack that was 20 lbs plus water and food. My gear was fine, the problem is that I am just out of shape and overweight (55 years, 250 lbs, 6 foot). I do some fitness work at home, morning stretches, 10 mile bike ride about 5 days a week, bodyweight fitness about 3 days a week but not too intense.

I am thinking I should skip long distance thru hiking and focus on shorter hikes in nice areas, maybe 3 hours a day. A slower hike with shorter distances might help get me in shape. Spending more time than 3 days on the trail would also help, probably after a week or two it would become routine and I could either deal with the pain or be fit enough not to have pain.

I just arrived home an hour ago and am thinking if I really want to be involved in a sport that causes so much pain and exhaustion. Has anybody been in this situation?

When I was 18 I did my first backpacking trip outside of the scouts. We hiked 2.5 miles the first day. I woke on day 2 with crazy blisters on my feet and my traps were on fire. Walked 2 miles on day 2 hobbling but loving the scenery. Day 3 took a zero and hung out by a pond. Day 4 hiked out the 4.5 miles.

My body suffered immensely. But I loved the experience of being in the mountains. Like everyone else has said: just progress gradually and you will become fit enough to really enjoy it.


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[Hikingjim]

My brother (31) just started jogging and is out of shape.... he probably felt like you did after a hike after just 15 minutes of running
Certainly not about age, but you have to ease into it. Push yourself, but not too far. Get in the habit of enjoying hiking just for being outdoors and exercising, and don't make it a marathon that you're not up for