Do I have wimpy feet?

[juma]

I am returning to hiking after many years off. Been training, slowly increasing distance and pack weight. Started with 4.5 miles/15 pounds, and reached 12 miles/17 pounds last week.

Yesterday went for a 16-miler with 19 pounds. By mile 10 my feet were becoming tender. By mile 12 I could definitely feel some discomfort. By mile 14 I wanted to cry and call my mommy.

Today my feet are stiff and painful enough that I couldn't imagine walking even two more miles. Did I overdo it, or are my feet wimpy? I want to section-hike in chunks of three weeks, but this doubt about my feet is raining on my parade.

Please help me understand the conditioning process. How long did it take for your feet to go from wimpy to strong? How do your feet handle multi-day hikes?

uuuhhh, yes. when I was building up, I took 2 asprin and some form of caffeine at noon and pressed on with no pain. my feet got bigger and stronger.

[Crusinsusan]

I'm wondering about the timing of your increases as well as the quantity. I know that with weightlifting, it's recommended that you do not increase more than 2.5 lbs at a time. A google search should turn up acceptable time frames and distance increases.

[Crusinsusan]

I'm wondering about the timing of your increases as well as the quantity. I know that with weightlifting, it's recommended that you do not increase more than 2.5 lbs at a time. A google search should turn up acceptable time frames and distance increases.

[moytoy]

I'm wondering about the timing of your increases as well as the quantity. I know that with weightlifting, it's recommended that you do not increase more than 2.5 lbs at a time. A google search should turn up acceptable time frames and distance increases.

"Listen" to your body. It will tell you when to slowdown or stop. Walking, even with a pack is not like lifting heavy weights. You can walk with a reasonable load for hours on end as long as you build up to it. I thing each individual is going to gain strength at a different rate.

[leaftye]

I'm wondering about the timing of your increases as well as the quantity. I know that with weightlifting, it's recommended that you do not increase more than 2.5 lbs at a time. A google search should turn up acceptable time frames and distance increases.

That's a good way to look at it. With either one, if you try to advance too quickly, the pain will be more than just muscle stiffness, and it will take much longer to heal. The difference could be being fully trained in half a year, or spending over half a year trying to recuperate and get back to step 1.

I've struggled with overtraining on the trail and under a barbell. It took almost a year before my feet felt fine again, and then another year before I could really hike well. My training under the bar has been worse. Due to multiple injuries, I'm only about as strong as I was 3 years ago. I do have much more muscle though. Recuperation sucks.

There is a slight difference with your analogy though. The comparison with intensity doesn't quite match up. It's not like you'd want to add more weight as you improve, but you'd want to hike faster. I think that comes close enough. Duration isn't a big deal, and I think it's an overblown part of hiking training. Crank up the intensity while maintaining a walking gait, and longer duration hiking at low intensity is easy.