My Physical Preparation - Or Lack Of It

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 How do you prepare your body for a hike that goes on for (my goal) 160 days? Running, day hiking, short backpacking trips come to mind, along with chemical substances that are outlawed by most countries as well as the Olympic Committee. With barely a month left before my start date of April 25, answering this question is becoming more urgent. 

Thinking hard about physical exercise at Mt. Hood


To get things started I went on a one night backpacking trip to the Pacific coast with my friend Brenda. This was mainly to practice setting up my new tent, trying out my new cooking gear, as well as tasting some of my dehydrated food. 


New tent is working well


The ski season was still in full swing at that time, so instead of planning longer hikes or backpacking trips I went on two weeklong ski trips. While this definitely improved my leg strength, skiing didn’t do much for my hiking endurance. It was a lot of fun though!


Skiing above the clouds in Whistler 


I’m writing this post crammed into an economy seat on a plane from Detroit to Seattle. I’m halfway through a two week long work trip that started right after my skiing vacation and is leaving very little time for physical activities with the exception of a few after work runs. However, several friends suggested that I “fatten up” before starting my hike to have some reserves for the first weeks. While I’m not sure this would really be beneficial, as my body may stage a rebellion when the splurging ends, the fattening up already started a few weeks ago because I just stopped caring much what and how much I eat. The current trip accelerated this trend to the extent that my friend Ulf suggested that I adopt the trail name “Carbface”. At least this part of the physical preparation is going well. 


Chicken Paprikas. I had to take a nap after…


Given the limited time I have left as well as my pretty busy schedule, I decided to adjust the mileage of the first hiking days down to help my body adjust. I will probably start with about 10 miles and gradually increase the mileage over the first two weeks. This should still give me enough time to make it to Yosemite National Park in time to start my separate hike from Tuolumne Meadows through the Yosemite Valley and up Half Dome. My start date for this 4 day long side hike is June 25. Wish me luck!


Brenda hiking on the beach of the Pacific coast



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