Walking Well: Heart Disease

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Here is mine with its three components.

1. Hiking: Start hiking by wearing boots, no pack, one to two miles the first day, hiking three to five days per week. Increase distance by one to two miles each week. At six miles every other day, add a light pack (12 pounds) starting with two miles per day, gradually increasing daily mileage to six miles. Then increase pack weight gradually up to 35 pounds, which is my target weight for the trail. At this point a preliminary one-week hike actually on the AT or another trail will allow you to test yourself and your equipment and provisions. Try five miles on the first day, seven miles the second day, then up to ten miles per day for the rest. At this point you should have a good idea of what you will be able to do on the trail. The goal is to work up to two 12-mile hikes weekly with a 35-pound pack and cover a total of 450 miles over a five-month period.

2. Running: You should work up to about 10 to 15 miles per week at nine to ten minutes per mile, preferably for two months. I found that actually running a marathon a week before going on the trail put me in better shape than most younger hikers.

3. Weights: The goal here is to strengthen legs for uphill hiking and arms for pack-lifting. I do leg extensions of ten repetitions at 40, 50, 60, and 70 pounds per leg per day three times a week for two months. I double this if time is available. For arms I do flexions at ten repetitions at ten pounds four times a day and arm extensions of 20 repetitions at ten pounds four times a day. Other muscle groups and exercises can be included because hikers vary so much in physical capability. Consider consulting a training expert to design a personalized program of running and weights.

In all cases you should start activities at low intensities and progress slowly to prepare for completing a demanding thru-hike. The goal is to see if each level of effort can be completed free of pain or other manifestations of cardiac problems. The most frequent early trail problems are blisters and joint problems from poor conditioning. They can be prevented or reduced by starting with low mileage days on the trail. You can do high-mileage days after 2 or 3 weeks if you are so inclined.

Of course if you are in ordinary shape it is possible to squeak by with no training, getting it on the trail, but adequate conditioning can prevent most discomforts. Further, the training period allows prospective hikers to estimate their physical capacity and its improvement. I am convinced that the high dropout rate among prospective thru-hikers (about 90 percent) can be reduced because it is mainly due to inadequate physical conditioning.