How to Prepare to Hike Rocky Mountain National Park as a 40-something Suburbanite
A dad at the bus stop laughed when I told him why I was wearing a backpack full of weights. “You’ll be fine,” he said as he motioned to his own —ahem— less than toned midsection; “I did it.”
Remembering my first National Park trip as I prepare for an upcoming one. Circa late 1970s.
He’s right. If I were dropped in Colorado today and asked to do some hiking, I would be fine. But I’m making my neighborhood walks with my backpack full of weights because I want to be more than just “fine.”
You see, treating Colorado like a big deal is part of an ongoing journey into reclaiming myself.
After a lifetime of above average physical fitness that allowed me to focus on outdoor adventure, a decade ago I suddenly found myself with a newborn, in a harsh climate, and facing a complicated illness. My fitness level took a nosedive.
Side note: In recent years, I have reclaimed enough fitness to easily jump into any new sport at any time, like whitewater kayaking or luging. But not without relying on James the photographer to help me carry my kayak or Bill the instructor to help carry my sled.
Eventually, the newborn grew up, I adapted to the climate, and the illness became manageable. But that last one, which greatly impacted both my cardiac functioning and my nutrient absorption, thus my energy levels, can leave me feeling like a shell of my former self at times.
So when an opportunity arises for something like two days of hiking in the Rockies, I want to do everything I can to participate like my former, truer self.
I’m hoping Homer and Mag will join me in some of my training —although neither needs it as much as I do. So how are we preparing?
How to prepare to hike a mountain
Here’s how I’m getting ready for my hike, and how you can train for yours, too:
Step One: define your mission
Can you really train for your mission if you don’t know exactly what i is? Probably not.
My mission is to leave the Rockies feeling as if my “former” self had been there.
Step Two: identify your challenges
Especially if you were drawn to the article for the words “40-something” in the title, don’t skip this step! Understanding your body’s current strengths and challenges, and working with them, could mean the difference between a great hike and a great trip to physical therapy.
Myself, I anticipate two main challenges; one in the training phase, the other during the enactment phase. (See discussion below.)
Step Three: set appropriate short-term training goals
My initial goal is simply to complete daily neighborhood walks. That’s about all I can commit to mentally at the start. But these walks will increase in duration and intensity (i.e., amount of weight carried) over the first several weeks, ideally allowing for more specific goals after Week Four.
Step Four: adjust goals if/when necessary
After four weeks of building the habit of daily walks, I will evaluate how that phase has gone, then determine what goals are appropriate for the remaining four weeks.
Step One: defining My Mission
Mission: to make the most of our two days in Rocky Mountain National Park
Success will look like:
the accomplishment a goal-worthy hike, which will allow me to feel like my “former” self was the one who had been there
avoidance of injuries of over-use and/or under-training
Step Two: Identifying MY Anticipated Challenges
I anticipate one challenge during the training phase, and another challenge during the actual hike:
Calories/weight maintenance
With a history of disrupted nutrient absorption, I typically shy away from calorie-burning exercise, as this type of workout can make it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.
Plan: begin with minimal work and build up only slowly, while closely monitoring for weight changes.
Altitude
I have no recollection of past issues with altitude. But the development of low blood pressure has me wondering if the lower oxygen levels of high altitude hiking could present a challenge now.
Plan: work up to training with greater weight loads than will be carried during our hikes.
Step Three: setting My short-term goals
During the first four weeks, my goal is to “just get out there.” I need to reestablish a daily routine of walking. Distance/duration/weight will increase during this phase.
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Training Progress
→Week One
Sunday & Monday: “zero” days (That’s hiker-speak for no miles walked.)
Tuesday: 20-minute neighborhood walk-brisk, with 2 hills, carrying 6 pounds of weights
Wed-Fri: a few trips up and down the stairs of the house with 6 pounds of weights; nothing formal, just grabbing the weighted backpack when I was going up/down anyway
Saturday: 20-minute neighborhood walk-brisk, with 4 hills, carrying 10 pounds of weights
Weekly notes:
This didn’t become an actual plan until the Saturday walk. So specs should improve in the coming week, now that a plan is conceived.
Mag seemed pretty motivated to participate. Her new Merrell hikers might have been a factor. Hopefully this enthusiasm endures.
→Week Two
Sunday: 40-min neighborhood walk-brisk, 1 hill, 10 pounds
Monday: thunderstorms and tornado alerts most of the day only allowed for a 15-min neighborhood walk-brisk, 0 hills, no weight because I’m not about to carry metal weights with lightning going on! 2-minute sprint to beat the storm home
Tuesday: 22-min neighborhood walk-brisk, 4 water-logged hills, 10 pounds
Wednesday: 60-minute yoga-restorative
Thursday: 25-min neighborhood walk-moderate (slightly slower pace than “brisk,” as it’s getting hotter and more humid), 6 hills, 10 pounds
Friday: 25-min neighborhood walk-moderate, 6 hills, 10 pounds
Saturday: 20-minute airport walk-brisk, through ORD with the weight of a carry-on bag
Weekly notes:
Monday’s storms turned our walking path from a sidewalk to this creek in less than an hour, thus our short Monday walk.
And with rain continuing all week, I got lots of practice in wet shoes. Something that almost feels like a hiker’s rite of passage!
→Week Three
Sunday: 2 x 30-minutes wave-jumping and ocean play, which is apparently good for working stabilizer muscles
Monday: leisurely tourist walking and resort pool play
Tuesday: 11 hours of theme park walking in extreme heat and humidity
Wednesday: leisurely resort pool play
Thursday: 8 hours of waterpark walking including numerous flights of stairs climbed
Friday: 11 hours of theme park walking in heat and humidity that was even more extreme than Tuesday… which we hadn’t thought possible!
Saturday: 5 x 30-minutes airport walking to pass the time of a 6-hour layover in DTW airport with the weight of a carry-on bag
Weekly notes:
Formal training was not a priority during our vacation. However, the normal activities of a Central Florida vacation allowed for incidental training, particularly endurance!
→Week Four
Sunday: recovery day after too many 1am bedtimes and long theme park days
Monday: a second recovery day. Yikes, I did not see this coming, but my body is insisting I need it.
Tuesday: 30-min neighborhood walk-brisk, 6 hills + 1 hill in reverse (aka, walking backwards, which works muscles differently, important for stabilization and injury prevention), 11 pounds
Wednesday: 30-min neighborhood walk-moderate, 3 hills + 3 hills in reverse, 11 pounds
Thursday: 30-min neighborhood walk-moderate, 3 hills + 3 hills in reverse, 12 pounds
Friday: zero day due to traveling to visit family
Saturday: 30-min neighborhood walk-moderate, 3 hills + 3 hills in reverse, 12 pounds
Weekly notes:
Things I have learned this week:
Central Florida vacations exhaust the body! I was not expecting to need two recovery days. Yikes!
Walking hills in reverse is vastly more difficult than normal, forward-facing hill climbs and descents.
Visiting my parents this weekend was a fun chance to reminisce about early hikes together. Circa early 1980s.
Step Four: adjusting my goals
Being married to a kinesiologist, I know that I need to be training not just for performance (i.e., accomplishing the hike), but also for injury prevention. To achieve performance and injury prevention, I will spend the remaining 4 weeks training in:
Strength and conditioning for hiking
Adequate strength and conditioning for a hike reduces the likelihood of injury-inducing compensations (i.e., recruiting muscles that aren’t designed/prepared for the task).
Plan: By the end of these 4 weeks, I need to be:
making daily neighborhood walks and hill climbs for 45 minutes with 20 pounds of weight
completing longer, multi-hour hikes weekly at area state parks, carrying 6 pounds of weight
Stability for hiking
Adequate core stability enables a hiker to both maximize power output and minimize unhealthy compensations.
Plan: By the end of these 4 weeks, I need to be able to complete:
plank and/or side planks for a combined 2 minutes
20 reps of single leg towel slides in each direction: forward, backward and laterally
20 reps of single leg glute bridges on each side
Mobility for hiking
With good mobility, a hiker is able to traverse an irregularly shaped landscape more safely and efficiently.
Plan: I began this process with adequate mobility. Thus, during these 4 weeks, I simply need to maintain mobility.
I plan to participate in yoga-like* activities 3 times/week.
* I say “yoga-like” instead of “yoga” because true yoga involves a spiritual component I am not participating in. I move through the poses simply for the purpose of maintaining joint mobility.
Training Progress
→Week Five
Strength + conditioning
Sun: 40-min neighborhood walk, 12 lbs, 3 hills + 3 hills in reverse
Mon: 30-min neighborhood walk, 14 lbs, 3 hills + 3 hills in reverse
Tues: 35-min neighborhood walk, 14 lbs, 2 hills + 2 hills in reverse
Wed: zero day
Thurs: 40-min neighborhood walk, 14 pounds, 3 hills + 3 hills in reverse
Fri: zero day
Sat: 30-min neighborhood walk, 17 pounds, no hills
Stability
Sun: 1:00 minute combined plank
Mon: 1:15 combined plank; 10 reps single leg towel slides; 5 reps single leg glute bridges
Tues: 1:16 combined plank
Wed: 1:18 combined plank
Thurs: 1:20 combined plank
Fri: 1:30 combined plank; 10 reps single leg towel slides
Sat: 1:50 combined plank; 8 reps single leg glute bridges
Mobility
Sun: 20 minutes yoga-like sequence
Mon: mobility off day
Tues: 10 minutes yoga-like sequence
Wed: 60 minutes restorative yoga
Thurs: mobility off day
Fri: 10 minutes yoga-like sequence
Sat: mobility off day
→Week Six
Strength + conditioning
Sun: 60-min forest preserve trail hike, weight=backpack of water + lunch, 1 mega hill + 1 mega hill in reverse
Stability
Sun: 1:50 combined plank; 12 reps single leg towel slides; 10 reps single leg glute bridges
Mobility
Sun: 10 minutes yoga-like flow sequence
Step Four - Revisited: readjusting my goals
Sunday’s trail hike was extremely easy, except the hills, which were vastly more difficult than the hills on my neighborhood training walks. Because mountains will obviously be a major part of our Rocky Mountain experience, I will temporarily decrease the weight I carry so that I can devote more energy to training on hills. Then I will gradually increase weight again.
→Week Six - continued
Strength + conditioning
Mon: 30-min neighborhood walk, 8 hills + 7 hills in reverse, 10 pounds
Tues: zero day
Wed: 98°F heat index!!! 40-min forest preserve trail hike, weight=2 lbs water, 6 mega hills
Thurs: zero day
Fri: 30-min neighborhood walk, 8 hills + 8 hills in reverse, 10 pounds
Sat: 104°F heat index!!! 50-min forest preserve trail hike, 7 mega hills, 6 pounds
Stability
Mon: 12 reps single leg glute bridges
Tues: 1:50 combined plank
Wed: stability day off
Thurs: 2:00 combined plank; 15 reps single leg glute bridges
Fri: 2:00 combined plank; 12 reps single leg towel slide
Sat: stability day off
Mobility
Mon: mobility off day
Tues: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Wed: mobility day off
Thurs: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Fri: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Sat: mobility day off
Weekly note: The heat index has been brutal this week! I’d like to be hiking every day, but it is physically draining. A zero day for rehydration helps.
→Week Seven
Strength + conditioning
Sun: zero day
Mon: 52-min forest preserve trail hike, 9 mega hills + 1 mega hill backwards, 8 pounds
Tues: 2 hours waterpark walking, which includes lots of stairs!
Wed: sick kiddo = unplanned zero day
Thurs: 55-min forest preserve trail hike, 10 mega hills + 1-1/2 mega hills backwards, 10 pounds
Fri & Sat: zero days as we visit the grandparents
Stability
Sun: 2:00 combined plank; 20 reps single leg glute bridges
Mon: stability day off
Tues: stability day off
Wed: 2:00 combined plank; 20 reps single leg towel slide
Thurs: stability day off
Fri & Sat: totally blanked on this as we visited the grandparents
Mobility
Sun: 20 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Mon: mobility day off
Tues: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Wed: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Thurs: stability day off
Fri & Sat: totally blanked on this, too, as we visited the grandparents
Weekly note: Only one week left to train. I think we’re ready. Time will tell!
→Week Eight - the final week!
Plan: peak, then taper the strength and conditioning component this week.
Strength + conditioning
Sun: 50-min forest preserve trail hike, 9 mega hills + 2 carioca (cross-over side steps) mega hills + 2 mega hills backwards + 1 mega hill jog, no weight
Mon: 55-min forest preserve trail hike, 10 mega hills + 2 carioca mega hills + 2 mega hills backwards, 10 pounds
Tues: 45-min forest preserve trail hike, 8 mega hills + 2 carioca mega hills + 1 mega hills backwards, 8 pounds
Wed: zero day
Thurs: LAST training hike! Tapering down, 40-min forest preserve trail hike, 6 mega hills + 2 carioca mega hills + 1 mega hills backwards, 5 pounds
Fri: 2 hours waterpark walking, which includes lots of stairs!
Stability
Sun: stability day off while strength + conditioning peaks
Mon: stability day off while strength + conditioning peaks
Tues: stability day off
Wed: 2:00 combined plank; 20 reps single leg towel slide
Thurs: 2:00 combined plank; 20 reps single leg glute bridges
Fri: stability day off
Rewarding ourselves with a “training” session of climbing waterslide stairs. Raging Waves Waterpark in Yorkville, IL
Mobility
Sun: mobility day off
Mon: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Tues: 30 mins restorative yoga-like sequence
Wed: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Thurs: mobility day off
Fri: 10 mins yoga-like flow sequence
Weekly note: Saturday we leave for Colorado. Driving from the Chicago area, we won’t be there until Sunday.
Planning a short hike Monday to acclimate to elevation. Longer hikes on Tuesday & Wednesday. We’re ready!
Epilogue
Coming soon…
How did our hike go? We’ll update when we’re back from Rocky!
Are you training for an upcoming trip, too?
Or maybe you’ve overcome an illness to reclaim your life?
Tell us about it in the comments!
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