The first physical challenge of my upcoming trek isn't even in New Zealand. The past three years of graduate student life has not been friendly to my waistline or my cardio endurance. Desk work, pizza, lazy weekends, booze, pizza, Mountain Dew (thanks for that affliction, Dad), more pizza, and getting older are the main suspects for my mushy, slow and pathetic physical condition. If this summer's weekend hiking trips are any indication I may not make it past mile 20 on Te Araroa.
Ideally, I will spend about 110-120 days on the trail. About 1,900 miles in all, the trek will demand an average daily hike between 15-17 miles. My furthest day hike this summer was about 14 miles. Carrying a roughly 40 lb pack, I was exhausted by mile 4, out of water by mile 6, ready to quit by mile 8, chaffed beyond belief at mile 10, and finished the rest of the hike unconscious. About 12 hours of hiking in rough terrain within the Bob Marshall Wilderness had just about killed me. I was too tired to cook dinner and drifting off into a 12 hour sleep by 8 p.m. I dreaded the hike out the next day more than the any punishment or sports conditioning I could remember. It would've been nice to have a song in my head pushing me along the next day, but all I could remember is a story that my dad likes to tell regarding a family friend at the end of a long day of pheasant hunting, chaffed legs and a magical powder know as Gold Bond. How in the world did I forget the Gold Bond?! I've heard Dad tell that story on 30 occasions in the last 10 years and felt the soothing pain and subsequent cooling of that wonderful medicated powder many times myself. You can probably guess the first item on my Te Araroa gear list. That's right, thunder thigh's best friend. Nevertheless, I've always had a knack for learning lessons the hard way, but conditioning for the Te Araroa will hopefully be a hard lesson I can suppress.
There is no possible way for me to get in "Trail Shape" before I start my trek, but anything I can do in order to flatten out the transition between couch life and trail life will be beneficial in my book. Currently, I weigh in around 215 lbs at 5'11". That'd be great if it was all muscle and my main concern was running through the three hole and dodging linebackers, but trail life? Not so much. In a perfect world I will weigh around 195 when I start the trail and expect to loose another 15 while walking. The goal is to simply limit the amount of stress my body is under as I progress through my trek. Less stress on my body means healthier ankles and knees, fewer zero days (days with no progress), better attitude and a diminishing chance of quitting (last time I'm ever mentioning that word in regard to this thru-hike). I start on the trail the 24th of November so I have roughly three months to loose 20 lbs and increase leg strength and stamina significantly. So here's the plan:
Diet - No more booze (large sigh), Mountain Dew, fried goods (maybe a little fish), or frozen pizzas. Wow, my eating habits are reminiscent of a young Newman. Water and a half gallon of milk per two weeks will be the only liquids I allow myself. I'd like to keep quite a bit of "good protein" in my diet. Not only do I want loose weight, but I need to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. Calories will be counted and daily limits of 2,000 calories will be enforced. That may sound like a lot, but I have a relatively large frame and a fairly active job. I will easily have a calorie deficit of 500-700 calories per day.
Training - I am not quite sure how to approach this part, but any movement is good movement right? I can only allot myself about an hour a day for conditioning due to other responsibilities so I am limited in that regard. I will attempt to increase the intensity of these workouts on a weekly basis (i.e, heavier pack, increased distance, additional cardio or core workout)
Monday, Wednesday and Friday - 2 mile walk carrying ~ 40 lb pack followed by 2 mile run.
Tuesday and Thursday - Plyometrics, and leg training. I will be using some variation of the P-90X workouts.
Saturday - Long distance hike - Starting off around 10 miles I will increase that distance on a weekly or bi-weekly basis (depending on time availability) all the way up the my start date. Ideally, a 20 miles hike by mid-November will be a moderately difficult task (Big dreams, I know).
This plan will most likely be subject to variation. Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions on how I could improve my methods?
I will update this post weekly with weigh-ins and maybe measurements. Perhaps that will keep me accountable.
