Training Mind & Body

Sand!

Anybody need an instant beach, hauling 40lbs of sand…in 106℉!

I’ve been exercising regularly for over twenty years and have a solid base of physicality that I draw on when I walk into the mountains. But the intensity of this route steps up the need for more specific physical and mental training. Both a need for sustained leg endurance and the acceptance of discomfort mile after mile. So I stopped running in favor of walking with 40lbs of sand in my backpack and turned my strength days into a combination of upper back exercises and sustained leg movements. On longer weighted training walks I repeat the entire route to myself, visualizing each pass, each off trail section. Now this is a two dimensional top-down view is very different when you’re standing beneath huge mountains with long un-hiked miles ahead, but having the route memorized in this way calms my mind and makes the route less of a mystery.

Typically when I do backpacking or longer hikes I just go, this hike is the first time I’ve trained specifically for a backpacking trip like I would when I train for a running race. And like all good training, issues that arise are solved down here rather than up there. My pop used to say about walking and climbing mountains, “You pay for it down here or up there, but either way you’re going to pay for it”. I’d rather pay for it down here. One thing I started practicing on these training hikes is how to actively engage my shoulder blades and upper back to take the load off my neck but more importantly I’m teaching myself how to slow down. Hiking solo I’m only beholden to myself and this projects very ethos is about slowing down. I can hike 30 miles a day, but what does it feel like to hike 11 miles over the same time frame. How much more deeply does one engage with their surroundings when time is not a constraint. I hope to discover that and more.