Training for AT thru Hike
Just wondering what people are doing to prepare themselves for this upcoming adventure.
Go jogging every day for an hour. If you must do more than do as many leg lifts as you can stand. The key here is, don't get injured. Most thru hikers do little or nothing.
Does working 60 hours a week count?
I am doing at minimum a day hike a week. I am working a full time job and driving for Uber in the evening, working all the time now. But, the day hikes happen on the weekend so far. Still getting into the swing of driving after my full time job, so I may start hitting my exercise bike up a couple times a week for the cardio.
Keep up with my pre-train for my 2017 thru hike, and the planned thru hike, starting in March, at escapingtheoffice.com
Don't doubt what your body can accomplish, it can do more than you think.
Umpteen threads here on WB alone with umpteen answers.
Its just walking.
But honestly before any long distance hike I really do mental preparation more than anything,planning resupply points,hostel stays,possible zero/nero days etc.
And really at the end of the day it is just walking
Its all mental...
If I die trying now I wont die wondering how life could have turned out.....
There absolutely are those who get taken off their hikes for genuine physical medical reasons.
There are other threads on training, and you'll probably get more responses here. But I'll add that doing a hike with your actual gear will help you a lot
You can tweak along the way, but you'll save some $ and headaches if you do a legit test run with proper gear
I am not planning for a thru yet, but at 57 I feel the need to prepare for a section hike. It is much better for me to come in prepared I at my age. OTH my 25 yo son has no problem putting on a pack and hiking 15mi days. I probably could have too at 25. Now I walk every day, and do it with a weighted pack. I just use bags of rice and towels, pillows etc to fill it and get the weight I want. Started about 20 lbs and now do 35 with no issue. I have worked up to two 4mi hikes a day. on the weekends I try for one longer hikes. Currently my feet / ankles are getting tired at 8 miles so I think I have a ways to go in fitness. The weekend hikes are in hills where as the daily walks are just on nearby roads.
I suspect some higher intensity work would be good and could offset some hiking as prep as running or biking would raise your heart rate better than hiking does unless you have bigger hills than I do locally.
Staying away from the southern AT in March and April.
Running, day hikes, some bodyweight Crossfit, drinking craft beer...
“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” –Socrates
The roads are likely killing your feet. We have lots of concrete around here. When I walk much, I get stress fractures. So now I walk on the grass next to the sidewalks when I can't get out to a "natural surface" trail.Originally Posted by SkeeterPee
https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White
I'd say the most important thing to do, assuming you are at least moderately fit, is to hike 10+ miles at least once a week with your full pack weight to get your feet and knees accustom to working under load.
What are the two ailments that cause most thru failures, aside from mental?. . . Blisters, otherwise soar feet and likely knee issues. I don't really know for sure what the statistics are, but from reading why people fail, I'd say feet and knees are biggest. And you need to long miles and weight to stress them similarly to hiking.
I'm not lost. I'm exploring.
Backpacker training?
** Load the pack you're going to use with 40 lbs (okay, 30) and do training hikes 5 days a week---as many miles as you can tolerate--- and try to find some significant hills which causes the heart to pump and the lungs to work.
** Sleep in the backyard for dozens of nights until you really get used to sleeping on your pad---whatever it is. Once you prefer a Thermarest to your indoor bed half of the battle is over.
** Find a significant other (udder?) who can tolerate your backpacking addiction and still wants to be with you when you return home.
** Do a self-inventory on your motivations to hike and be outdoors. Is Nature your religion? You should be okay. Do you want the recognition and the patch? Might not work out. Love hiking and camping in the rain? You got it made. Love solitude and pristine wilderness without rat-box shelters? You might want to find something else to do, or find some place else to go.
I've got it made, then. Significant other hikes with me and loves it when it rains, or snows. Not too fond of the wind, though.
Our backpacking training is...backpacking. Almost every weekend finds us in the woods. Its pretty awesome.
I always say the best training for backpacking is . . . wait for it . . . backpacking.
Certainly a good place to start. Make sure you really, really like it.
Thank you for that.
Now that I think of it, I need to bug him about when his 2017 "The Spectacularly Crappy Bear Bag Hangs Of The AT" calendar is coming out.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
fear and loathing would have iced that cake
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