March 12, 2009

I filled my pack with 45 pounds of weight and stuffed a couple jackets and a sweater in there to make sure the weights weren't rolling around. I tried 60 pounds but that felt impossible.

I drove around looking for bleachers near a school or something I could run up and down on but I didn't find anything. So I went to an apartment complex near my house and ran the stairs there.

I ran up to the third floor and then over to the other stairs, running down them and then back up and over to the other side again, ending where I started. I did this five times and I was DONE. Took me like 7 minutes.

From now on, I'm going to do this exercise every day. I was doing leg exercises like squats, split squats and deadlifts but running the stairs with a 45 pound pack was a beast on my legs. I could barely stand, my legs were shaking so bad. Plus, simply lifting weight won't prepare me aerobically. This will, and I can throw in straight running every once in a while at the gym if I need to.

I also spent a couple hours setting up my schedule for the trip. It's tough to do because there isn't a lot of room for error. I will have to be in great physical shape to accomplish it because most days I will have to average 17-18 miles with a full pack. I've heard this is an extraordinary amount of mileage to accomplish. I've had several people tell me its overeager.

While that's probably true, I do have one significant advantage: physical preparation. Most backpacking trips are short and most hikers aren't serious about trail performance or high mileage. Two night trips are common and may, at the most, cover 30 miles. Whereas, my pre-trip in April will cover 40-46 in one night.

The difference between me and them is most backpackers don't prepare for their trips and most are not challenged by the length and difficulty of it. While the difficulty of my trip is a problem it is also an encouragement to train. I'm exercising like never before, eating healthy, running and setting my mind on my goals. In all the backpacking trips I have been on, I have never trained nor known anyone else who has either. There was never a reason too because the goal was accomplishable. But this trip is different. My mileage will be better because this isn't an overnight backpacking trip. I will have trained consistently and readied my mind for the intensity of the journey.

There are a lot of things that could go wrong between now and then but at the moment I am confident I can do this and expecting a great adventure.