[pct-l] Pct hike summer 2013

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I think your workout plan is probably the most likely to guarantee  
success. If climbing san jacinto and the others every weekend is  
routine, you'll have no trouble.

I did day hiking around Santa Barbara on weekends for years before my  
hike. Then 6 weeks before I hit the PCT I quit my job and did some  
day hiking every day. Physically I had very few issues.

I did not find the distance to be a problem or the day in day out  
thing. But I did get a lot of blisters. Hiking on such an even  
surface day after day hurts more than that rocky steep ups and downs  
I was used to. It's easy to get a repetitive stress injury on the  
PCT. All it takes is a blister and you favor that foot which causes a  
chain reaction of compensating motions up your body. The regularity  
of the trail -- it'll lean to one side for 10 miles before it  
switches, or descend for 5 miles or more at a time -- will beat any  
compensating motions into you and before you know it: shin splints or  
knee and hip problems.

The other bigger issue sometimes is the mental thing.

On Jun 8, 2012, at 4:38 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> lol...somebody probably does have a pct workout plan...My idea of a  
> pct workout is getting out every weekend peaking san jacinto, san  
> gorgonio, san antonio, baden powell, finding the toughest trails to  
> beat my feet on, and I plan on doing some desert hiking as weather  
> permits. ?I can do 20 miles in a day on easy terrain but i think  
> its going to take some endurance training and a strict regiment to  
> be able to do it day in day out.