[pct-l] Preparation -- Physical Training

[Yoshihiro Murakami]

Dear Eric

I am very glad you are well in U.S. You are doing enough exercise. You
need to be careful not too much doing exercise.

Before my first trial of JMT, I walked about 100 Km alongside the
seashore, and the classical Japanese trails for about 7 days without
the supply. Then, I  knew how long the 100 Km was.

To keep fitness is the most important thing. Crazy Doc(
http://bit.ly/zMT9N8 ) cited the discussion in JMT forum. And he said:
The big three is sleeping bag, backpack, tent, but big one is the body
weight.

I am keeping my weight around BMI 25. This value is defined as a
borderline between normal and overweight in Japan as like USA. But,
the large-scale 10 years forward research in Japan suggested a little
overweighted people lived longest.

I am doing several times 10 Km running, and go to work by bicycle. The
distance is only 4Km. And  I am doing exercise with  dumbbells for
several minutes several times in a week.

That is all my exercise.



2012/1/16 Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>:
>> Preparation -- Physical Training
>
> I decided to hike the trail rather suddenly. I gave notice 2-months
> before I planned to start my hike and so I ended up with 6 weeks to
> get ready. I went for a hike about every other day in my local
> mountains and I tested out carrying my gear and different shoes on
> these hikes. I had a desk job and was in fairly decent shape from
> riding my bike to work and hiking on the weekends.
>
> I did not find the trail conditions on the PCT to be very
> challenging. Sometimes the trail was maddeningly gentle. Nothing on
> the PCT was as steep as my local mountains.
>
> What was really difficult for me was the consistency of the trail,
> the level surface and the moderate grade. I got really bad blisters
> that I suffered with for 700 miles. I rarely get blisters normally.
> It wasn't a matter of shoes or socks or conditioning for me. It was
> the repetitive nature of the trail. You never give your feet a break
> by walking over irregular surfaces and you rarely have to switch
> gears for a steep climb or descent. You walk standing fully upright
> making the same footfall over and over and over again. The trail will
> offer up 10 miles of leaning to one side, causing a massive blister
> on the outer little toe. And then the trail will switch sides and
> it's 10 miles giving you a blister on the other little toe. I never
> did figur out where that between the toe blister came from. I never
> had that before the PCT and never since, not even hiking sans-socks
> wearing between-the-toe huarache sandals.
>
> The repetitive nature of the trail combined with the blisters caused
> me to favor whatever was hurting. This caused me to change my gait.
> When that happens, you transfer the stress up the chain, either to
> your knees or your hips or your back. It starts a process that I
> believe is what causes a lot of problems in the first portion of the
> trail for a lot of people. The gait change also transfers energy to
> the foam shoes many people wear, causing them to wear unevenly which
> reinforces the gait change. I believe the shin splints and knee
> problems for many are probably caused by initial foot problems early
> in the hike.
>
> So, conditioning yes, but it can still happen to the well-
> conditioned. Take good care of your feet. Air them out, change your
> socks a few times a day, don't let the easy grade fool you into doing
> too many miles at first and avoid gore-tex shoes in So Cal so your
> feet can breathe. Avoid being sentimental about your shoes. Get rid
> of them as fast as you can if there's any problems at all. Cut them
> up with a knife if you have to. I remember seeing nearly new running
> shoes in the hiker box in Idyllwild with the heel tabs cut off and
> blood inside the shoe. I personally spent one day hiking with a flip-
> flop on one foot and a shoe on the other. Whatever you have to do.
>
> Taking it easy at first can mean not just low miles at first but also
> taking extra zero days early on to heal foot problems. It's not a
> sign of weakness and it really won't slow you down too much. What
> really slows people down are the knee injuries.
>
>
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-- 
Sincerely
--------------- --------------------------------------
Hiro    ( Yoshihiro Murakami  村上宣寛 )
facebook  http://www.facebook.com/completewalker
Blogs  http://completewalker.blogspot.com/
Photo  http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/CompleteWalker/
Backpacking since about 1980 in Japan
JMT, 2009, 2010, 2011(half).
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