Training for the hike…
George and Wes - hiking training in West Michigan.
We had a simple decision in the previous segment – go by ourselves or go with a tour group. A or B. Pretty simple calculus. When it came to crafting a training plan the amount of input and potential options increased dramatically! Frankly, it got a bit overwhelming! You’d see videos and posts by folks that were often younger, fitter, and/or more experienced who would be giving advice. Most often these would be folks who hiked regularly, were not strangers to the canyon, or took long hikes that had lots of elevation changes. I had the task to take in all this information and put together a plan that would work for me.
One thing that was common in most of the advice was to start early. The guidance was to start 2-6 months before the hike to give time to get fit. Trying to “cram” the training into a few weeks prior to the hike would not lead to proper conditioning and fitness, potentially leading to a less pleasurable experience in the canyon. This resonated with me. I am not mentally capable of high intensity training in a short duration. I prefer to take the long view and slowly build up capability and capacity. I wanted to make the training a fun part of my life and have it be something I looked forward to rather than dread. By taking a gradual approach, I thought I could have fun training while being ready when the time came. The training, in general, was fun and stimulating. My formal, documented training, started 4 months prior to the hike. I am a relatively active individual so I didn’t feel like I was starting from scratch.
Train for your intended hike is another great piece of advice. For the Rim-to-Rim hike, Wes and I would be descending about 5800 feet and ascending about 4400 feet. Training on flat ground is not sufficient. You need to hike with elevation changes. What you are capable of doing on flat ground does not translate into how your body will handle the vertical changes. The terrain also should be considered in your training regime. The trails on the canyon are rocky, often uneven, and have plenty of step up/ step down opportunities. Your training program has to take these factors into consideration.
Atop Mt. Pisgah in Holland, MI. One of my favorite hikes. It has a combination of stairs, woods, and lots of vertical gains in a compact space. Oh, and lots of deer!
Based on my reading, I adopted a three-prong approach to my training – flexibility improvement, strength training, and aerobic conditioning. Thankfully, my yoga background covered the flexibility aspect of the training. I continued my regular yoga practices throughout the formal training but having good flexibility allowed me to focus on the strength training and aerobic conditioning. The one thing I added to my yoga routine was core training. I added in a lot of routines that target the deep core which is essential when hiking on uneven ground.
I didn’t belong to a fitness center so I opted for body weight (with some hand weights) for the strength training. This appealed to me because it forced the secondary muscles to engage and give a more whole-body experience. The training focused mainly on the lower body. My upper body did get some help from hiking with poles and by carrying a weighted backpack. The foundation of my strength training was based on recommendations I found on REI - https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/hiking-training.html?fbclid=IwAR2WJsT7NeYMXhZqr-kvWT2Aw3O_zgbkIBvmXAIe0NtlInhxBcEidTiqgro . I liked these because you couldn’t neglect your balance during most of the exercises thus building strength and balance together. I complemented them with forward and reverse lunges and multiple squat variants. As the different exercises became easier, I added weights. As things became easier with the weights, I added more, eventually wearing a weighted backpack. In the end, many of the exercises were performed with about a 25-pound backpack.
I read that motivation is fleeting and won’t get you to your goal. Discipline, on the other hand, is the key to long-term success. Whenever I wanted to skip some kind of training, I’d say to myself, “Discipline!”, and do the work. I felt better afterwards both physically and mentally. I knew the investment I made that day would be appreciated by my future self in the canyon. It made me smile!
I realized that I could benefit from some type of tracking tool. I settled on Microsoft Excel because of my familiarity with the program. Here is a excerpt from my spreadsheet.
Snapshot of my exercise tracking tool.
I put every day in the spreadsheet from when I started to when I left for the hike. I wanted visibility on all days and what activitie(s) I chose to do. You will see some days listed as “rest”. Taking a break is important for your body to recover. I found different recommendations but one to two days a week of rest were commonly recommended. There is no prioritization in the order of the categories. I often did activities in more than one category on a given day. The “green” highlighting indicated which activity was the priority on a given day. The color coding allowed me, at a glance, to see which activity hadn’t been done in a while.
In the hiking category, I listed time, distance, elevation gain, and eventually weight carried. The elevation gain was derived from my Apple “health” app. It gave a number associated with the number of flights climbed. I never calibrated it nor checked whether stairs and trail climbing actually matched. I took the reported number and simply documented it. I was more concerned about tracking progress rather than an accurate reporting of the height gained. Climbing stairs on the cruise ship seemed to result in under reporting of flights climbed.
For the most part, I developed my own yoga sequence that I typically performed about five times a week. On some strength training or other category day, I would do a short stretching routine. As I mentioned earlier, I added in substantial core strengthening moves to go along with the traditional yoga asanas. I’d did the added core work during the longer yoga sessions.
High Intensity Low Impact Interval Training (HILIT) is a variant of High Intensity Interval Training that uses moves to minimize impact on the joints. The HILIT sessions would dramatically increase my heart rate and respiration. I found them very challenging to do but I saw improvements. Unfortunately, I was not able to do them throughout the entire training period. In many instances it was because I was prioritizing hiking but I also found it hard to do them while traveling. I was on a cruise ship for four weeks across August and September. Facilities were often unavailable to do the routine when I had time available for training.
I listed the exercise bike as a separate category but it also helped my aerobic conditioning. I have an exercise bike that I use frequently at home so it was logical to list this out as a separate category.
The strength training, as I mentioned earlier, was based on the REI sequence. This was the basic “hiking series” that is noted in the spreadsheet. The “expanded” version included the forward and reverse lunges along with four squat series. It turns out that different variations of squats target different leg muscle groups. Who knew? I relied heavily on Instagram for squat variants and core exercises. The algorithm quickly picked up on what I was targeting and I got more options than I could practically use (or remember 😊).
Dunes on Lake Michigan outside of Saugatuck, MI. There are many wonderful trails next to the beach of varying distances and vertical gains.
The need for vertical height changes during the hiking led to me to the sand dunes along Lake Michigan. My preferred trails were in the wooded areas that had substantial vertical changes. Hiking on sand did not exactly match the rocky terrain I was going to see in the canyon. I tried to stick to the woods because the uneven roots and surfaces were the best approximation I had locally. I used my walking poles consistently and developed a technique where I was very deliberate with my foot placement. I became used to this type of hike over uneven ground and I found that I naturally assumed the same behavior in the canyon.
Mendenhall glacier outside of Juneau. There were a number of hiking trails around the glacier.
While traveling, particularly in Alaska, I sought out hikes I could take off of the cruise ship. Alaska afforded me easy access to trails with LOTS of vertical height gains! I tried to take advantage of the hikes as schedule and other activities permitted. In Alaska, I met up with a friend I made in the Mediterranean who likes to hike and she joined me on several hikes. It was nice to have a hiking partner but she had to avoid some of the harsher terrains due to lack of proper footwear. Still, she often put me to shame with her nimbleness and speed! 😊
George and Grace hiking around the Mendenhall Glacier.
Because I did a slow build in capability, I did not notice any big advances on a short time scale. Before my formal training, I started to add more stairs when I was on various cruises. I’m not sure when I did an early “stress test” but I remember going up about 10 flights of stairs and being significantly out of breath with a heart rate above 140! This made me realize that I had my work cut out for me and provided a drive for my “discipline” during the formal training. It was very humbling.
“Hiking the Ship” while sailing Glacier Bay, Alaska.
When I look back on the end of my training spreadsheet, I see that most of my time was spent on climbing stairs, hiking, and yoga with some strength training added in. I was on the Alaska cruise for 4 weeks and over that time I amassed some statistics which make me very proud. I hiked or walked approximately 200 miles and climbed the equivalent of 18,000 vertical feet! I would “hike” around the ship with my weighted backpack for hours just going bow to stern and up and down the stairs. My heart rate stayed reasonable during the stairs and I no longer got winded. More often than not, I stopped because I ran out of time rather than because I was tired. I sometimes wondered what folks were thinking when they saw me (over and over) passing by in shorts and a tee shirt while others were in winter coats. Occasionally, I’d run into someone who recognized that I was training and would engage me in a conversation about my future hike. I loved having these conversations because they were so inspirational and encouraging!
After my time on the Alaska cruise, I felt I was ready for the canyon. Unfortunately, shortly after I returned from the cruise disaster struck. That story will be covered in a future segment.