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Crunch Time
My last big week of training for the upcoming Marathon Des Sables (MDS) Peru is in the bag. Running over one hundred miles and consuming thousands of extra calories to keep me going during the week has been a challenge. But now it’s taper time—and crunch time. With the months-long training schedule and those last big miles complete, I get to back the mileage down and let my body heal and rest up before toeing the start line in the Ica desert of Peru later this month. To round out the last couple of weeks and all this running, one of our grandkids’ football teams made it to their championship…
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Marathon Des Sables Peru Update
“Or, we could take the foot,” said my doctor. In return, I said, “You didn’t have to go there.” I thought it was a negotiation, and he had to go medieval on me. My fault, though. I suppose he was right, and he had made his point. But, I didn’t have to like it one bit. Let me go back to the beginning: So, I was training for the Marathon Des Sables Peru, a 155-mile, six-stage footrace in the Ica desert of Peru set for late November. (Click here for previous posts on MDS Peru.) Of course, training takes place around life, so one must compromise. This year saw our fortieth wedding…
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I Need A New…
So now my first few short training runs are in the bag; six months to go. Being well into “middle age” (and retired from professional life for a few years now) does not make me old. The body may age, but I refuse to get old. That’s a conscious decision we can all make. Last year, my logbook indicated that I ran, walked, and hiked a total of 2,700 miles in calendar 2016. At the start of that year, our local running club, the Lake County Milers, posted a mileage challenge―speaking to my competitor’s spirit―and I had some big things planned for the year. For example, I trained for and…
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Preparing to Hike the John Muir Trail
Continued from, A Brief History of John Muir and the John Muir Trail I was originally inspired to hike the JMT thirty years ago when I first climbed Mount Whitney. On the mountain, I met a man who was just start ting his weeks-long trek of the JMT. I was hooked, but it took awhile for me to get back to that item on my ever-lengthy bucket list. Preparation to hike the JMT starts months in advance. I found that obtaining a wilderness permit can be the most difficult and confusing part of the whole process. There are very strict quotas for entering the Sierra Nevada wilderness, and the entry…
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How to Train for the John Muir Trail
The Allure of the Trail Any serious thru-hiker will have the John Muir Trail on his or her bucket list. In a few short weeks I will begin hiking the 215-mile long trail for the first time. I am looking forward to my latest trip (of a lifetime) as I finish the last few weeks of my conditioning schedule. I want to share some thoughts on how to prepare for the John Muir Trail. Also known as the JMT, the John Muir Trail is considered to be a serious trekking endeavor. The trail’s website states that it “is the premier hiking trail in the United States. The trail starts in…
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How to Properly Train for Your World Travel Adventures
Last week, in my latest installment on preparing for world travel, I encouraged you to check with your physician or, at a minimum, do a very honest self-assessment before starting a conditioning schedule to meet your adventure dreams. This week, I’d like to discuss progressive training, a method of gradually conditioning your body, to meet the demands of your travel destination. I will also provide you with a generic training plan. In future posts, I will discuss specific goals like hiking the John Muir Trail in California and the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Though specific, the training methods for these locations can be modified to meet your needs.
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