How fast do hikers really walk, Training for a big hike in 8 weeks, Eating on the trail, Hydration, Feet, Altitude for day hikers.
Yes, hiking is cardio. It is steady aerobic work that keeps your heart rate raised for long stretches, and the harder the terrain and the heavier the pack, the more your heart and lungs are asked to do. How much training effect you get depends on your starting fitness and on how you choose the … Read more
Altitude illness is usually filed under expeditions, but the hikers most often caught out are day walkers. A cable car in the Alps delivers you from a valley at 1,000 m to a station above 3,800 m in twenty minutes. A road in the Rocky Mountains takes a car to 4,300 m (14,100 ft). The … Read more
Blisters end more hikes than bad weather does. They are also the most preventable injury in the sport, because they are mechanical, predictable and announce themselves before they form. A hiker who understands what a blister actually is, and who obeys one simple rule when the first warning arrives, can walk for weeks without one. … Read more
Ask a room full of walkers how fast they hike and most will say “about five kilometres an hour”. On a flat towpath with a light pack, that is roughly true. Put the same people on a rocky path that climbs 1,000 m (3,280 ft), add a rucksack, a few photo stops and a lunch, … Read more
Eight weeks is not long, but it is enough. It is enough to turn a person who walks occasionally into one who can carry a pack for eight hours, climb 1,200 m (3,900 ft) and still enjoy the view at the top. It is also enough time to get injured if the plan is greedy. … Read more
Hunger on a hill is not a moral failing and not a matter of willpower. It is arithmetic. A body walking uphill with a pack burns energy at a rate that ordinary meals cannot match, and it can only absorb a fraction of what it burns while it is moving. Understanding the two numbers, output … Read more
For decades the advice was simple and loud: drink before you are thirsty, drink as much as you can, a clear urine is the goal. It sounded prudent, and it has sent people to hospital. Since the late 1990s sports medicine has documented a steady stream of endurance athletes and hikers with dangerously low blood … Read more
