57 days till my start date. TRAINING... lets GO!

Endurance Training and Injury Prevention

DISCLAIMER: Let me start by saying I'm not an expert on anything (except auto mechanics/fixing cars ;)  I can't claim to be an expert on nutrition, health, fitness or injury prevention. I only know what I have learned from others. This is what I have practiced in my own life and found to work for me. I just wanted to share what I am doing, and if anyone planning on doing a long distance hike finds any of this info useful or entertaining then kudos.  If NOT then please disregard. 

Let me tell you the story behind how I have come to be where I am today. Nobody cares WHAT you do until they know WHY you do it... Right?

Statics of our Mt.Elbert hike
on the way up

2010 was when I first got into hiking. Planning to do a 14er, Jordan and I started hiking Horsetooth Mountain as a way to train for our big hike of Mt. Elbert. The first few hikes where difficult we didn't even try to make it to the top our first 2 times (5 miles round trip). I think we maybe hiked like maybe 10 miles before we ended up hiking Mt.Elbert. Which was slow going but we made it to the top it was a 9 mile hike and It was a perfect day. (minus losing both big toe nails two days after. wish I had a picture to insert here haha) 2011 we hiked to Grey's peak and Torres peak both 14ers. I was so busy with my business I didn't hike at all in 2012. :( 

View from Horsetooth rock of Fort Collins and my feet

 Summer 2013 when I first heard about The PCT I knew I was going to hike the PCT in 2014 (at least I knew I wanted to). I wanted to hike a few more 14ers. I had just sold my business I had all the time in the world to hike. I went out hiking Horsetooth 2-4 times a week. and I had noticed that I was getting to the top without taking any breaks and it was getting easier (as you would expect) I had started to time myself. It was Taking me a little over an hour(1.25 - 1.1 hours) to reach the top. I started working out and training to see how fast I could do it. I started walking on the treadmill for 20 min. I would vary the incline from the steepest to less steeper if I was getting to winded. (very difficult for me to maintain the steepest incline for 20 min in the beginning) I noticed I was reaching the top of Horsetooth in an hour. I stopped eating meat, dairy, and eggs. The first month I lost almost 20lbs! and I was reaching the top of Horsetooth in 50-45 min. It was getting so easy I started jogging parts of the trail! I was using my small day pack with two 2L bladders filled with water for weight.

I think everyone knows when you do something repeatedly it gets easier. With Training and diet in a short amount of time I was able to get measurable results with everything I did. I wanted to be able to reach the top in 30 min. (which would require running the whole way) however I wasn't able to achieve my goal. Here's why:

 One day on my way back down the trail as I was jogging downhill (w/about 10lbs pack) I started to noticed a dull pain in my knee behind my knee cap which started to turn into a louder and louder pain as I went on. If I would stop and rest it would go away and I could continue on my way, it would act up again if I had a hill to climb. I also noticed it while climbing stairs the day I had gone hiking. I didn't know what was going on. What I didn't know then I most likely had which is commonly referred to as "runners knee" I am assuming was from overuse. Later in that summer I hiked Mt. Democrat (14er), Hanging lake, Hiked to the Glacier, and many other trails by Horsetooth rock(all very short hikes) I slowed down a little and It didn't bother me to much more than slightly dull pain from time to time. I rested more in between hikes which seemed to help. Since I had started training for the PCT the last few months I haven't had any knee issues. Yea! BUT, last week I was doing my training routine (I'll get into that in a minute) and I was running at moderate (6.5mph) pace on the thread mil for 45 min straight (which I have never done/attempted before) the outside of my hip started hurting. I had to stop running 43 min and 50 secs into the run it was hurting so bad. I really wasn't that concerned, the pain was gone minutes after I stopped running (shows my ignorance to what my body was trying to tell me) Two days later I was going to run for 60 min. I had made it 27 minute into the workout and then the pain in the hip was back. aaaahhh WTF is going on here. I started doing research (Ok I Goggled it) and discovered it's an issue with my IT band was tight and hurting my Bursitis.(Goggle it) Which brings me to the conclusion of I need to figure out what the heck is going on. Am I doing something wrong? How can I prevent this and other issues from happening on the trail? I know I won't be running on the PCT. The only thing that is going to take me off the trail is severe injury. Until yesterday, "injury" meant a broken bone, torn ligament or whatever caused by some accident or from postholing. Postholing is when your walking on top of deepish snow and you suddenly break through the crust with one leg up to your knee or crouch haha. I never considered that I could injure myself by "overuse" or improper movement/Gait. I have just opened up a whole new world to explore. 

Here is how I feel about training.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail...

I'm not even at the novice level when it comes to long distance hiking. Everything I know is what I have read and learned from others. I seem to hear the same thing over and over when it comes to training. Usually sounds something like this, "the only way to hike 20-30 miles day after day with a fully loaded pack is to actually hike with a fully loaded pack for 20-30 miles day after day".  I agree Although (don't tell anyone) I don't quite agree with that mentality. To me, thinking that you aren't going to prepare your body at all before hand and are simply going to just get in shape mid- trail sounds like a lame excuse for not exercising.  By saying you don't have time to exercise is the wrong answer. people make time for what is important to them. However I know you can come straight from the couch and thru hiked the PCT. I'm not saying it can't be done. But how many people have done that and failed/quit cause the physical demand was too overwhelming for the mental to compensate for long enough to get into shape? We'll never know cause we will never hear their story...  Ok rant over ;)

Wow that was a long story time session sorry bout that. It's training time!


The last few months at the gym I was just kind of doing what I felt like doing no real plan I was following. I would do squats with 135lbs - 185lbs pretty low weight, leg press, lunges with 50lbs of weight, core workouts and once and a while some upper body stuff. Cardio was my main focus, I would spend 40 - 60 minutes doing cardio. Which I found to be quiet enjoyable on the machines being able to track my numbers, such as pace, distance and time. I found stair stepper to be the most difficult so I wanted to hit that the hardest. I basically just wanted to raise my fitness level, and endurance. Improve my bodies ability to use oxygen efficiently.  I found an awesome article on long distance hiking, endurance training. Which I have adopted for the last two months prior to my start date. Real quick here is what I was doing for cardio before I came across this article:

Stairs 20 minutes 100-120+ floors
Walk at steepest incline 20 min 3.5mph (my target hiking pace)
Run treadmill for 20 min 6.5-6.9 mph

I would usually do stair stepper followed by walking or running, I have done all three only a couple times. (usually cause Jordan was finished with her workout before me and it was sauna time! desert training haha) It has been exciting to watch my fitness level increase. Never in my life have had cardio as my main focus and tracked my progress.    




Here are my records I've been keeping from my previous workouts. Sometimes I forget to record my work outs that's where you get the multi-day gaps in my workouts. The numbers are not drastically different. But the ease at which I can do them is (wish I would have recorded my times from Nov. and early Dec. to get a better idea of where I came from):

For Valentines day one of the gifts from my Girlfriend was the March issue of Backpacker magazine. Towards the back there is an awesome article called  "Go The Distance". It's pretty good. "Advice from the endurance pros" Talks about # 1. Physical - Preparing your body for the rigors of hiking long distance. A Story from Hal Koerner and Mike Wolfe completed the John Muir trail in 3 days 12 hours.  2. Mental - Get your head around the challenges of hiking hour after hour day after day. Story about Anish Completed the PCT in 60 days. 3. Strategy - Combine your physical and mental training to hike farther than ever before. Story about Matt Kirk completed AT (Appalachian trail) in 58 days. Also contained a workout plan by endurance coach and ultra runner Travis Macy he developed a workout plan to get you off the couch into the biggest hike of your life in 90 days.

Month 1: Build a base
Start slow, moderate your training if you feel rundown, gradually ramp up to the longer workouts. He tells you what to do every day of the week includes advice and why you do the workouts. 
Best advice he gives on month 1 is "Don't sweat a missed day. Refocus, recommit, and keep going." Macy

I feel like I have a good base so I don't feel bad skipping month 1 and since I only have 2 months till I start my hike. I am doing the month 2 workout now. 

Month 2: Focus your effort
"This is the heavy-lifting month where both the volume and intensity are highest and the focus is on making big gains in fitness and strength." Macy says

Mondays: Rest
"Recovery Days Are Key" Macy

Tuesdays: Run 45 minutes (zone 2 moderate effort, can hold a conversation)

Wednesdays: Gym workout B:

• 2 minutes front crunches
• 2 minutes side crunches on each side
• 3x8 bench press (60% of single rep maxium)
• 3x10 dumbell curls
• 4x10 squats

Thursdays: run 60 minutes, completing four 5-minute intervals (zone 4 very strong effort, feels like a race) separated by 3 minutes of easy jogging.
Macy: "Intervals increase your heart rate and boost aerobic fitness. when your body adjusts to the higher intensity, it makes lower intensity feel easier."

Fridays: Gym work out C: your choice: an hour of yoga, pilates, Crossfit, or other cross-training.

Saturdays: Hike 80 minutes (zone 2-3, zone 3 strong effort, breathing hard)

Sundays: Long day: Hike 3.5 to 4 hours with a fully loaded pack on hilly terrain (zone 2)
Macy: "Doing the long day when your legs are a little tired simulates how your legs might feel on the second day after doing big miles."


I am glad that I started training and that I had pain in my hip. I really opened my eyes to overuse injuries. Which previously wasn't even a blip on my radar. As far as my hip pain I am going to stretch (which I never do) my IT bands (found tons of YouTube vids) really well and take it easy when I feel pain. As I was re-reading Yogis' book I happen to be in the training section a couple days ago and read about Bigfoot's story. When he hiked the AT he was in a lot of pain. And just before his PCT hike he went to physical therapist and learned his gait was all wrong. I found his YouTube videos Yogi mentions in her book and found them to be most informative. I suggest everyone planning to do a long distance hike to watch them.


 Avoiding Overuse Injuries on a PCT Thruhike (Part 1)
 - intro (very funny by the way, uh, huh)


Part 2


Avoiding Overuse Injuries on the PCT (Part 3)
 - avoiding and managing injuries



Prior to my hip pain I never understood what "listen to what your body is saying to you". I get it now. Just one more piece of knowledge to help me walk the walk to Canada.  

Feel free to comment (hikers let me know if this was useful) and don't forget to follow either by subscribing to email updates, RSS feed or follow on Google+, I'm going to start posting more often since It's getting closer to Day 1!

Coming next is shoes, more gear, food part 2 and training updates...

Hanging Lake

79 Days till my start date. Sleeping Bag!

NEMO Nocturne 15

I have received my Sleeping bag via the UPS man! Just like a kid on Christmas day I couldn't wait to bust open that box and see what was inside. It's just so crazy the rush of excitement you get when you get things delivered to your house. 

 I put a lot of thought and research into which sleeping bag to get. In the beginning I didn't know anything about sleeping bags. Except you sleep in them.  I learned that this was a good area to spend some $$$ and not cheapskate this purchase. At First I struggled with do I get a down bag or synthetic? I went with down, then it was what temperature or comfort range do I need. Then of course what brand do I choose. I looked at a lot of bags online and at REI and Ultimately I picked the NEMO Nocturne 15, it's different than the norm. It's has a unique shape, They call it "spoon" shaped. I had first heard about it from Backpacker magazine it had the editors choice award. So I gave it some good thought and went for it. But I Think I was mostly persuaded by this video Click here to watch. 

 I also got my Sleeping bag liner as well. Sea to Summit Thermolite Mummy bag liner. It says it's supposed to add 15 degrees warmth. It's really soft and feels amazing. 

 I've never owned a sleeping bag this nice before. I tried it on for size and I am so glad I went with the "spoon" shape. It's perfect! The liner is stretchy so it allows for movement as well so I think they will work good together I can't wait to test it out for real. If I had my tent and sleeping pad I would pry be sleeping outside tonight on our little balcony. It's only 12 degrees out right now it would be perfect test run haha... brrr (I hate winter)

I have noticed that it seems most people in Yogi's book seem to have a 20 degree bag only 2 of the 18 Hikers in her book uses a 15 degree bag. However she gives the advice that If you get cold easy to have a bag with lower temp rating and you will be much happier. So that's pretty much what I did. I figured I could always vent heat out but I couldn't magically make my bag warmer. So that's my sleepin bag. 

 Click here to check out my gear page. You can follow my blog by email or by clicking the follow link on my Google profile. Feel Free to leave me a comment or if you have a question. 79 days!  The excitement is building I'll be on that plane to San Diego in no time.