Train to Hike, Hike to Train
My boys are athletes and we take their health very seriously. I researched nutrition for athletes so that they perform at their peak. I know that practice and preparation and training are the foundation upon which success is built. I am viewing hiking the AT no differently. So when I began to think about preparing, here is my flow of thought:
1. We have gear, I wonder how much of it is usable for hiking The AT? to
2. I wonder kind of shoes I need to look for? to
3. How do I take care of my health on The AT? to
4. What kind of preventive measures can I take to prepare for The AT? which leads me to
Training schedule.
I work a fairly physical job. I help stock grocery store shelves. I pick up heavy things, I have to pay attention to lifting and bending and turning and I am on my feet for a lot of my day. I average 4 miles a day at work, in the grocery store. Instinctively, I don't feel like I need to join a gym and start weight lifting. What I feel is most important to do is to get used to weight on my back and walking around with it. I think I need to camp and walk in a variety of weather conditions and terrains. And so, I started listing some day hikes and overnight hikes that I can do that are close and over the next two years, expand those to longer and further away (for the variety). I am blessed in that I live in the Texas Hill Country and just walking to a watch a football game is pretty strenuous activity. I have often joked that we all develop billy goat nature from scrambling over rocky hills.
I took my first hike yesterday after work. I put a liter of water and a couple of snacks in a string bag. It weighed almost 4 lbs. The location was a place I am familiar with. It is so close that walking there would double my distance and now that I think about it, maybe that's what I should do... The short hike felt good and brought back a lot of fun memories of when the boys were little and I needed to get them out of the house. I realized right away though, that number one thing on my list is that I need to buy new shoes. I have some trail runners that are old work shoes. They are too stretched out to be any good for hiking. I got a hot spot on my big toe and the hike is only 1.3 miles. Next pay day the plan is to get some new trail runners after I take #3 boy to rent his first prom tux.
So the tentative plan, probably until homecoming season, is to do one day hike per week and one overnight hike per month. I hope to document those here.
1. We have gear, I wonder how much of it is usable for hiking The AT? to
2. I wonder kind of shoes I need to look for? to
3. How do I take care of my health on The AT? to
4. What kind of preventive measures can I take to prepare for The AT? which leads me to
Training schedule.
I work a fairly physical job. I help stock grocery store shelves. I pick up heavy things, I have to pay attention to lifting and bending and turning and I am on my feet for a lot of my day. I average 4 miles a day at work, in the grocery store. Instinctively, I don't feel like I need to join a gym and start weight lifting. What I feel is most important to do is to get used to weight on my back and walking around with it. I think I need to camp and walk in a variety of weather conditions and terrains. And so, I started listing some day hikes and overnight hikes that I can do that are close and over the next two years, expand those to longer and further away (for the variety). I am blessed in that I live in the Texas Hill Country and just walking to a watch a football game is pretty strenuous activity. I have often joked that we all develop billy goat nature from scrambling over rocky hills.
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| On my first hike |
I took my first hike yesterday after work. I put a liter of water and a couple of snacks in a string bag. It weighed almost 4 lbs. The location was a place I am familiar with. It is so close that walking there would double my distance and now that I think about it, maybe that's what I should do... The short hike felt good and brought back a lot of fun memories of when the boys were little and I needed to get them out of the house. I realized right away though, that number one thing on my list is that I need to buy new shoes. I have some trail runners that are old work shoes. They are too stretched out to be any good for hiking. I got a hot spot on my big toe and the hike is only 1.3 miles. Next pay day the plan is to get some new trail runners after I take #3 boy to rent his first prom tux.
So the tentative plan, probably until homecoming season, is to do one day hike per week and one overnight hike per month. I hope to document those here.
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