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.”

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.

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.

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

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!

Looking for smaller hikes? Check out:

→ Top Midwest Hikes - recommended by Midwesterners

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