[pct-l] Heat Acclimatization and Training]

[steve_peterson at sbcglobal.net (Steve Peterson)]

I've been "anal" about this for the last couple of years myself. Here's what
I've concluded:

As an ex-marathoner, I agree that training for a marathon is unlike training for
the PCT for the reasons you state. I also believe that after a month or so on
the PCT you'll be fitter than you could ever get from training, unless your
training was literally to hike 22 mpd every day for a month (which most of us
aren't going to do). Also, I think that those who say "aw heck, just get out
there and do it, you'll get fit on the trail" may be ignoring the fact that in
order to achieve the training effect, one needs adequate rest and nutrition as
well as the stress of the "workout". It's not clear to me that a relatively
unfit person will have that on the trail. (Besides, training is about more than
just fitness--it includes building calluses and ligaments, acquiring mental
toughness, etc.) Finally, older people (generally) get fitter more slowly than
younger people and have less "headroom" for over-exertion; since I'll be 54 when
I start this May, I plan to give myself a lot of time to get fit.

So the question for me has become "how much training do I need to be able to get
through the first 20-30 days?" I didn't know any way to test that except by
doing X amount of training and then doing a long hike and seeing how I fared. My
long hike was this past fall's JMT, and the X amount of training was hiking one
day per week with a pack, with some steepish hills (about 4,000' gain, similar
loss) working up to 30 lbs for about 8-9 hours. This got me through the JMT in
16 days (roughly thru-hiker miles, though not on snow) at significant elevation,
with no problems. I tried to get in about 8 weeks of these tough hikes, after
working up to them over a period of several months. If I could walk a couple of
hours (sans pack) on other days of the week, I did that, too. I found that even
though I train roughly at sea level, I didn't find myself getting short of
breath until I reached about 7,000', and I was still hiking well even at
8-9000', though it did take about 3 days to get to the point where I didn't
notice any shortness of breath that I could attribute purely to altitude. That
was a surprise--and augurs well for the PCT where you hit altitude pretty
quickly coming out of KM (sure, you're at altitude for short times at other
places, but I haven't been able to decide whether those moments will provide
much help for the Sierras).

I didn't believe that this was optimal. Ideally, I'd like to do long hikes 3
times/week with shorter stuff on the other days, but there was just no way I
could fit that in. So my question became simply: How *little* can I get by with
and still hike comfortably? The training program I followed appears to be good
enough (for me, for my hike).

Speaking of "red lines", these training hikes were brutal compared with the way
I hike on the trail. A 5-min stop in mid-morning, 15 min for lunch, a 5-min stop
mid-afternoon and fast hiking all day, with no pauses on the uphills. I wanted
to make the actual hike seem easy, and to be hiking well within myself, even on
the hills. It seems to have worked. I was physically tough enough and mentally
tough enough--no matter what I hit (except for the snow!) I could say "Hey, I
did more than this in training".

I also have found that running is too running-specific; hiking uses the leg
muscles in a way that is different enough that hiking is better training, even
for aerobic conditining (just do hills fast). Think about it: when you run, both
your feet are off the ground at the same time--that doesn't happen hiking unless
you jump a stream or something. The test for me was trying to run after a summer
of hiking--it's tough! The aerobic capacity was there, but the leg muscles
complained mightily. That said, it is definitely the case that running is better
than, say, swimming; if all you have time for is a couple of hours of running,
it's got to be better than nothing.

In one sense, I disagree with your statement 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." Lots of people *don't* make it to Agua Dulce and from
reading journals it appears that many (though not all) who don't, are ones who
did little training (compared with the 5 months or so I'm talking about). At any
rate, I believe a strong argument can be made that being fitter increases one's
odds of success. In the sense that *of the people who actually make it to Agua
Dulce*, there's little difference between pre-trained and trail-trained folks,
I'd agree. The catch is, first you have to make it that far!

For the PCT I plan to follow the same general training plan as for the JMT,
except carry a few pounds more, and make the long hikes an hour or two longer. I
also plan to heat train by wearing more clothing than I normally would (it's
usually pretty mild here in the SF Bay area during the spring). I don't expect
that to prepare me for 100 degree days, but it should help with 80-85 degree
days. And, as someone else pointed out, being very fit in and of itself seems to
help with the heat.

The other side of this coin, it seems to me, is to plan the first 30 or so days
extremely conservatively--I'm working really hard to keep the days to 22 miles
or less, the elevation change to less than 4,000' (although there are a few
exceptions), and taking a zero day at every resupply stop (7 zeros before KM).
Hopefully between the training and conservative hiking, I'll give my body the
chance to get the fitness it ultimately needs.

Are there folks who have successfully done the PCT with less preparation?
Absolutely. But then there are some people who can run a 2:20 marathon without
much preparation. The question each of us has to answer is: What are the odds
that *I* am one of those rarities? If you have evidence that suggests you are,
then go for it. I don't believe I am, so I'm putting in the miles before I get
to Campo.

Anally yours,
--Steve

Wayne Kraft wrote:
> 
> 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 thei

r 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
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