Outside of the logistics of planning a 5-6 month long hiking trip, there is the daunting task of getting in shape. It's by far the biggest challenge I have ever undertaken. And unlike marathon or triathlon training, there aren't an overabundance of training plans for thru-hiking readily available on the internet. I was just going to have to take my existing experience with endurance training and cobble something together.
Outside magazine's December issue had an article about incorporating Crossfit into marathon training. It even had a 12 week training plan to follow. There were some parts of the plan I really liked, like the idea that going big to build muscle would help you for long distances. And, of course, lots of core work is always good. But as time progressed, I noticed that I was spending an awful lot of time on plyometrics and sprint training and very little on endurance work. And the more I read up on Crossfit, the more it appeared to me that the Crossfit gurus just don't appear to like running. At all. How else would you explain the push to train for a marathon by running as little as possible? Or training for a thru-hike by keeping cardio short and fast? So after four weeks I decided to pull out the aspects I liked about the program (strength and core work) and scrap the rest.
Then I mixed up my own mish-mash frankenstein thru-hiking training plan.
My plan consisted of of 6 main factors:
1) Endurance work
2) Strength training
3) Core
4) Flexibility
5) Equipment workouts
and what I call 6) The "Suck-It-Up-and Deal" workout......
Outside magazine's December issue had an article about incorporating Crossfit into marathon training. It even had a 12 week training plan to follow. There were some parts of the plan I really liked, like the idea that going big to build muscle would help you for long distances. And, of course, lots of core work is always good. But as time progressed, I noticed that I was spending an awful lot of time on plyometrics and sprint training and very little on endurance work. And the more I read up on Crossfit, the more it appeared to me that the Crossfit gurus just don't appear to like running. At all. How else would you explain the push to train for a marathon by running as little as possible? Or training for a thru-hike by keeping cardio short and fast? So after four weeks I decided to pull out the aspects I liked about the program (strength and core work) and scrap the rest.
Then I mixed up my own mish-mash frankenstein thru-hiking training plan.
My plan consisted of of 6 main factors:
1) Endurance work
2) Strength training
3) Core
4) Flexibility
5) Equipment workouts
and what I call 6) The "Suck-It-Up-and Deal" workout......
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