“Wow, I totally over trained for this thru hike!” said no one ever…
“Youth covereth a multitude of sins on the trail” – Me
Many people will tell you not to worry too much about training for a thru hike, saying you’re young and you’ll condition on the trail. They tell you this because in their dark little hearts, they want to watch you suffer and fail. Plus, you may not really be that young.
So now that we’ve gotten their evil intentions out of the way, let’s talk about training.
The best way to train for walking long distances carrying heavy loads is….wait for it…walking long distances carrying heavy loads. Awesome, this will be a short post!
Or not. The trick will be how to build yourself up to this without injuring yourself in the process. Let’s consider 4 areas of conditioning:
- physical strength
- endurance
- cardiovascular fitness
- bone/joint/tendon toughness
Physical strength is important, as you need to be capable of carrying 30-35 pounds without risking acute injury. You can do this by slowly adding pack weight over time and/or augmenting this with core weight training (squats, deadlifting, etc).
Endurance I’ll define as daily mileage capability. It will definitely be enhanced on the trail, but you’ll need to establish a decent baseline. Pushing yourself past your limits risks injury and creates a deficit. In thru hiking, remember this: All debts must be eventually paid off. The is also no magic enhancement simply by starting the trail. If you’ve trained for 15 miles a day under trail conditions, you’ll be able to do…15 miles a day.
Cardiovascular fitness impacts pace, particularly uphill. This also impacts mileage, as if you have to slow down significantly, you’re covering less ground. Make sure you incorporate elevation gain into your training hikes, and your fitness will be continually improved as you add weight to your pack.
Toughness I consider the most important, as joint injuries were one of the most frequent causes for departure from the trail, and may take a long time to recover from. Bones and joints slowly strengthen over time with continuous stress, more slowly than our other areas of conditioning. Rushing your trail progress without keeping this in mind is a great way for an early ticket home. Feet toughen up only with mileage, and most hikers have issues with blisters early in their hike, some severe.
So, plan on putting in a lot of miles before starting your thru hike. Plus, the only way to assess hiking shoes is to, you know, actually wear the shoes while hiking. Shoes are best judged after a full life of use (500 miles), so it may take quite some time to figure out which ones are best for you. I met a number of people who started the trail with shoes they had never worn before (not recommended).
Starting mileage will be different for everyone depended on age, injury history, general fitness level, and so on. A new hiker in otherwise good health should be able to start with 10-15 miles a week, split into 3-5 hikes. Weekly mileage is a better metric, as you’ll be through hiking most every day, which is a different kind of stressor. Most of us could probably do a 15 or 20 mile day unconditioned if you put a gun to our head, but would pay for it dearly afterward. Plan on adding slowly, maybe a couple of miles total per week. With weight, start with an empty pack, adding a pound a week until you’re at a target maximum weight. By the time of your trip, days training should be equivalent to a day on the trail, that way there are no unhappy surprises.
For older adults, this may require 6-12 months of preparation. If you’re young, this can be accelerated. I know training time will be limited by life constraints, but there is a physical reality to the trail that can’t be overlooked. Either you will be truly ready, or not, and unreadiness risks failure.
Hiking Vicariously 