Section Hiker Training

[dmperkins74]

Hey fellow section hikers,

I do short sections (mostly day hikes... check out my journal at www.gdbdp.com/at (http://www.gdbdp.com/at)) so I never get my "hiking legs". Every hill pretty much sucks. I have a treadmill that gets sporadic usage (I have a backpack full of books and I walk on my treadmill at full incline for 40 minutes or so carrying an 8 lb weight in each hand) but I really could be more faithful to it. I was wondering what sort of conditioning folks on here do between section hikes?

Dan P (alphaPig)

[fredmugs]

After blowing out my knee in 2005 I started riding an exercise bike for rehab. As I got stronger on the bike my knees also got stronger. I went form knee braces to nothing. I went from a 15 mile day kicking my @$$ to 20 miles days no problem. I never put on a pack until I hit the trail. I don't subscribe to the theory that the only way to train for hiking is by hiking. I ride an exercise bike while watching a sporting event and listening to the hardest fastest music I can. My MP3 player is my performing enhancing drug.

[keepinitsimple]

I do almost no conditioning physically. I prepare mentally. The system has worked for me well. I am up to 20 plus miles in a day. I am nothing special. 42, balding, and 20 lbs overweight. I smoke cigarettes, high cholesterol, but perfect blood pressure. I have a mind to get back into some kind of shape, and I may. My point is you really dont need to do anything in my opinion. it would help, I remember. I just leave the day following a 20 mile hike lightly scheduled, so I can relax, drink coffee, and savor the pain/memories.

[Stogie88]

Mental prep is just as important as physical... While i do exercise about 5 times a week (cardio and weights) i also have to get my mind in the game. Just like keepinitsimple, im a smoker and it never holds me back, infact i hike faster and logner then my friends that are non smokers.. the mind is a powerful thing..

[keepinitsimple]

Stogie is smoker-- get out here.....
Mental prep is just as important as physical... While i do exercise about 5 times a week (cardio and weights) i also have to get my mind in the game. Just like keepinitsimple, im a smoker and it never holds me back, infact i hike faster and logner then my friends that are non smokers.. the mind is a powerful thing..

[Mizirlou]

I do almost no conditioning physically. I prepare mentally. The system has worked for me well. I am up to 20 plus miles in a day. I am nothing special. 42, balding, and 20 lbs overweight. I smoke cigarettes, high cholesterol, but perfect blood pressure. .

I'm wondering how you got your trail name.

[FarmerChef]

I am a section hiker as well and usually go out or 9 or 10 days at a time. I run long distances as part of my marathon training regiment but even before I started doing that I still walked or ran almost every day. However, I can say that I don't hit my stride until at least day 3 on the trail. That's the point when I notice that I don't fatigue as much going up hill, at least not as much as I did on day 1. But that's just me.

For a slightly more technical answer....the reason you're getting winded on the hills is two-fold: aerobic capacity and muscle strength.

Building your aerobic capacity is useful in any endurance sport and is easy to do. You'll need a heart rate monitor or a treadmill that has one you can grab. Then use a calculator or formula such as the 180 formula (http://philmaffetone.com/180formula.cfm) to figure out at what heart rate you need to exercise. Then do it for at least 45 minutes per go. You'll find this pace to be easy and it will leave you feeling refreshed when you're done.

It sounds like you are already doing strength training work as part of your hill training and it wouldn't surprise me if you are already "strong enough." I suppose you could also try climbing stairs but this can be tough on the knees. From my armchair, it really just sounds like you need to improve your aerobic capacity.

One thing you haven't told us is how much weight you're humping up the hills when you hike. Do you know how heavy your pack is? Perhaps you could find a way to lighten your load to make the climbs more enjoyable. Finally, remember it's not the distance per day you hiked, how much or how little you carried, how many sites you saw or any other metric. What's important is that you enjoyed whatever it was that you did. Don't sweat the miles. :)

[dmperkins74]

Over 68 hikes, I haven't weighed my pack... I don't think I want to know. I've honed down my load out enough to know it's got just what I need (although I usually end with a bit of extra water and food). I am carrying about 20 lbs of my OWN weight that I could do without though!

And the mental game isn't a problem... that's the only part that I've got in my favor. I don't really psych myself out or beat myself down when hiking. I LOVE being out there and when I get to the top of any hill I'm all goofy grins. It's just that I simply LOATH going up hills.

Definitely not sweating the mileage, that's not a concern. I'm in it for the trail, not the miles so I'm not looking to increase my average (12ish miles / day on a single day hike, 10 when lugging the overnight gear). My treadmill's got the heart rate monitor in the grips, but I never use it. Maybe I should start!

Or maybe I should start smoking! :)

Thanks for the inputs folks!

dp

[rocketsocks]

In a word...Squats, it helped me. I also walk each and every day, anywhere from 1 mile on a bad day to 9 on a great day. I believe what ever you do will help in the long run/trail...happy hiking!

[rocketsocks]

Mental prep is just as important as physical... While i do exercise about 5 times a week (cardio and weights) i also have to get my mind in the game. Just like keepinitsimple, im a smoker and it never holds me back, infact i hike faster and logner then my friends that are non smokers.. the mind is a powerful thing..I smoked for 27 years, and quit back in 2004, don't kid yourself on this point...it will catch up to you at some point...do yourself a huge favor and quit while your relatively healthy....and watch just how fast and strong you can really hike....off my soap box now :)

[Stalking Tortoise]

Treadmill and elliptical machine at the gym haven't done much to help with my pre-hike conditioning. They do help with cardio training but not with climbs. The things that seem to help me the most is cycle riding up big hills (standing on the pedals) or the stairclimber machine for extended workouts. Still, the first few days of hiking are the best thing to prepare me for the last few days of hiking.

[Seatbelt]

I used to dread mountain climbing--there are none in my area to practice on-- but I discovered that shorter slower steps made it much easier and more enjoyable because I wasn't totally out of breath when I reached the top.

Others have made reference to cardio training which has helpesd me tremendously. True, a person does not HAVE to train before a backpacking trip, but my experience is that it is much more enjoyable at the end of each day when I prepared first.

A simple way to cardio train is interval training--many examples on youtube.

[Stogie88]

Stogie is smoker-- get out here.....

ah hence the nick name stogie! guess i'll have to change that once i quit smoking??

[BobTheBuilder]

In order of importance, based only on my own experience - Stairs up, stairs down, squats, lunges,walking. I used to make myself do a lot of inclined treadmill, but it bored me so much I started dreading hikes just because I hated the treadmill. Makes a great place to hang clothes, though.

[Ewok11]

I love my bike. My husband has a crazy downhill trek remedy mountain bike that he takes out often for rides that are and will remain beyond my skill level. I have a less crazy Specialized that I can easily keep on road even though it's made for off road. However, the thing that has helped with my hiking and biking legs the most has been the fluid trainer we have the old Cannondale set up on in the living room. It makes a regular bike a stationary bike. A minimum of three times a week I do 40 minutes of the following intervals: 5 min warm up in the easiest gear possible, 5 mins in a slightly harder gear peddling HARD, 5 mins of 20 secs harder gear, 40 secs easier gear, 5 mins really hard gear (standing up to pedal or putting the front tire on an incline is optional), repeat the intervals and then 5 mins of cool down again in easiest gear possible. I can listen to music, watch tv, etc. My legs are much stronger and my cardio is much better.

[daddytwosticks]

Keep a good level of fitness (go to the gym and workout), turn off the TV, stay off the couch, and keep active outdoors as much as possible. Works for my old butt. :)

[Capt Nat]

Not exactly on subject, but while working on cardio, I got runners knee in my left knee. I had never heard of "runners knee"! In trying to recover, I got on an exercise bike at the fitness center and to my surprise, I could pedal the bike without pain even though I couldn't walk without limping. So, at least I'm still getting exercise. Threw this out in case knee problems become a problem...

[Del Q]

EASY

Two Options:

1. Wake up early, smoke, drink, eat whatever, overweight, out of shape, extra gear, pack too heavy.........slug it out all day, double digit miles then camp

2. Wake up early, come to the trail ready to hike, get your body weight as low as you can for lots of reasons, leave your extra BS at home, trust me - 32 lbs or so max with booze.........all in, slug it out all day, double digit miles, take plenty of breaks.........camp, enjoy life

Repeat

[No Directions]

Hit Maryland Heights daily for training. If I remember correctly it's a pretty good workout.

I like your journal. Did you make that yourself?

[redseal]

I found there is no better substitute than actually backpacking. However, like you said this is not always an option. My fallback to regular exercise to get the whole body in shape. Last year I did P90X, TurboFire and Chalean Extreme. I never felt better on the trail. However, those programs are certainly commitments and lifestyle changing.

[Berserker]

I’m geeky with my exercising, and have kept a record of it over the years. I have tried various things to prepare for section hikes with varying levels of success. For me getting ready for a section hikes involves 2 “phases”. For phase one, I keep a general level of fitness with a mix of walking, light weight training (i.e. pushups, crunches, other exercises with dumbbells) and inline skating. I do this year round.

The second phase involves some additional exercise in the period from a few months up to the start of a longer hike. I’ve done various things in this period over the years, and I have found that in general just a bunch of walking seems to be the best thing to get prepared. I like to try and walk in the woods as much as possible, but typically mix in some pavement around the late April to May timeframe just to stay out of the woods (this is usually when the ticks get really bad, and then they tend to taper off after that). The walking not only gets me prepared for hiking (since it’s just walking), but it also gets my feet somewhat ready for the beating they’ll be taking.

Over the years I have tried other things during phase 2 such as carrying a pack on most of my walks, and oddly enough it didn’t really seem to make much of a difference. Another thing I tried was hiking on steeper trails, and again that didn’t seem to make much of a difference. What I found that does make a difference is walking on trails in general. This seems to keep my ankles and feet in the right condition to handle the trails (i.e. walking on rocky and rooty uneven surfaces). So from my experience just getting out there and walking in general is the most important thing.

This year I’m implementing the pack carrying again in shorter doses just to see if it makes a difference. The reason for this is that I’m taking the year off of my normal long AT section to do the JMT, and I’m a bit concerned about the pack weight after MTR (I usually don’t get over 35 lbs at any point on the AT, but I’m projecting a weight of almost 45 lbs leaving out of MTR…that’s Muir Trail Ranch by the way…the last easy resupply point before the end, which for me will be about 9 days from the end of the hike). So I’ll see how it goes.

[Chaco Taco]

Day hikes, I always carry what I would for an over night. With the being said, hike as often as you can. I also would say, walk everywhere!!!!! Walk everywhere you can possibly walk, the store, the library, work whatever. You live close enough to the trail so get out and start walking everyday. That will get you where you need to be. When you get on the trail, the amount of time it takes to get your legs will be considerably shorter. As was said earlier, you cannot beat actually getting out and hiking.