[pct-l] Heat Acclimatization and Training

[waynekraft at verizon.net (Wayne Kraft)]

I'm not aware of any scientific studies on the subject, but ultramarathon runners generally believe that it is possible to train or acclimatize the body to tolerate extreme heat before an extremely hot endurance event such as the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley or the Marathon des Sables in Morocco.  

:"To the Edge" by Kirk Johnson (an interesting and well-written book even if you are not interested in endurance events) describes some methods competitors use to prepare for Badwater.  Kirk jogged in place in a sauna and I've heard of people dragging a treadmill into a sauna to train.  Gabriel Flores, who won Badwater in 1998 and came in second in 1999, runs on a treadmill in a plastic suit in his laundry room with the hose to the dryer outlet stuffed down the front of his jacket. My friend, the late Scott McQueeney,  was known to run around in the winter and spring months comically overdressed for conditions while training for Badwater.  The documentary Running on the Sun, which follows several of the competitors in the 1999 Badwater race, details how some of the competitors prepared for heat.  One fellow, a competitive race walker, hailed from Florida and was well acclimated to heat, but not to hills (Badwater runs from below sea level in Death Valley to Whitney Portal at about 8000') so he trained on bridge approaches and freeway overpasses.  We're talking Geek-o-Rama here.

Regarding clothing for So Cal, I am curious if anyone here has tried any Sun Precautions products.  See www.sunprecautions.com.  Seems like these threads may be good for desert hiking.

As someone who has run a few marathons and even done a little coaching of other marathoners, I've been puzzling over how one might train for a 5-month hike.  One of the most basic endurance training priniciples is "specificity."  That is, you train by replicating the specific conditions of your target event.  If you are training for a flat, fast urban marathon, like Chicago for example, you train fast on flat pavement.  If you are training for hilly trail race you train on hilly trails. And so on.  

The trouble with training for a PTC border-to-border hike is that there's nothing specific about it.  You will experience some extreme heat, some chilly weather, long waterless stretches in deserts and deluges in forests, highs and lows of elevation, ascending, descending and flat walking, rattler leaping and sliding on your butt.  Marathon training focuses on a specific event that occurs on one day.  This type of training will certainly increase your overall aerobic fitness, mental toughness and what not, but IMHO for the PTC it falls short as an ideal training program.  For example, if you've trained by running or walking over 20 miles on a few occasions, this will certainly make your hike from the Mexican border to Lake Morena more enjoyable and you probably won't wake up sore the next morning.  But on the tenth day?  The twentieth?  I suspect that, by the time everyone gets to Agua Dulce, a great leveling of the playing field has occurred, with those who are hiking their way into shape equaling the performance of those who arrived meticulously prepared. And please understand me, by "performance" I don't mean relative speed, but rather enjoyably hiking 20-30 miles per day between dawn and dusk.

So, here's my very tentative idea of how one might train, assuming one is inclined to train at all, for a PCT thru-hike and I would love, absolutely, to hear comments form anyone with some experience.

1. Arrive at the border in shape to push yourself at your personal "red line" for 1-2 hours. For me that would mean arriving in shape for a 55 min. 10k (6.2 mile) race or a 2 hour half marathon (13.2 miles).  This would give you the ability to push hard on steep ascents if necessary without blowing up, but requires much less intense training time than for a full marathon, say.  I think this could be acheived while taking every other week-end off from running to hike.
2. Arrive knowing that you can hike 20-30 miles per day for at least three days in row carrying your pack, having acheived this level of confidence by backpacking gradually longer distances each session every other weekend in the 3-4 months leading up to the hike.  Obviously, this means hiking in winter for an April start.  If necessary, you can just shoulder the pack and day hike at low elevations on successive days to get in the distance.
3.  Arrive at the border lean.  There's no sense shaving grams off your pack weight if you are carrying 10, 20 or 30 pounds of extraneous anatomy.  For me this is always a challenge.
4.  Train a couple of times per week in a gym to increase core body strength and flexibility.
4. Pay meticulous attention during training to the condition of your feet and the choice of footwear, learning from your training experience what works and what fails.

Is that anal or what?  Would I actually do that? Hard to say. I've done stranger.

Wayne Kraft