Well, turns out I am doing some training.
Today I rode my bike up to the local track, where I did a short run. Easing into training for the PCT, I only ran about a mile, with some walking interspersed. I admit I'm far out of shape. I'm also running barefoot, so I have to take it easy till my feet adapt to the rough surfaces after about 2 years in shoes. I do this because it cured my knee pain and horrible shin splints that always accompanied running for me.
I'll explain that a bit. Shoes, it turns out, are bad for the feet and body. They change the biomechanics of walking and running, what with their raised, cushioned heels, motion control, and arch support. Firstly, arches support themselves, that's the beauty of them. The more you load them the stronger they get, which goes for feet as well, or would if people ever exercised their feet naturally. Also, the cushioned heel allows us to land on the heel, rather than the midfoot as is natural (don't believe me? Run barefoot on a hard surface and your body will prove that to you: heel strikes HURT). Landing on the balls of the feet allow you to use a shorter stride and a spring motion, rather than slamming on the brakes with every step, your straight leg out in front of you the perfect conduit for shock and trauma. Barefoot, you run softly, not jarringly. Impact is far less. As for motion control, I'll control my own motion as needed, thank you very much.
Here's a couple cool videos about the benefits of barefoot running, for those who appreciate science over the emotional knee jerk reaction against being shoeless:
http://physicalliving.com/the-barefoot-professor-putting-his-money-where-his-mouth-is/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwIKZhrdt4&feature=related
This shouldn't be a big surprise to people who know me: my trail name on the AT was "Moccasin" for walking a couple weeks in moccasins, due to my poor choice in hiking shoes. They didn't fit right, and tore my feet up (about a dozen big blisters and the (slow) loss of a toenail). I've long been a barefooter and shoe-iconoclast. On my first real backpacking trip, in the Porcupine Mountains with my dad, I went barefoot.
Anyways, this isn't meant to be a post about barefooting, but about running. I'm pretty out of shape, and though I don't know where the motivation came from, I'm glad it came. I'd forgotten how much I need physical activity to be happy. If I don't work hard enough to sweat several times a week, something is wrong in my life. This may explain why I've felt rather depressed and non-vital this winter.
It will take a while before I can say this is a truly enjoyable thing, because I've been lazy as hell the last 5 months, and had gotten really soft, especially cardiovascularly. But already on this my second run, I feel better than the first. My body is rejoicing at the blood flow, muscle burn and sweating out of poisons, thrilled at this remembering of the iron of my life.
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Training
Training. Well I'll tell you right now I'm not doing any. The only way to prepare for hiking in the mountains is... to hike in the mountains. Not many of those here in the Dallas area, same problem I had in Detroit before the AT. I plan to do the same thing I did then: go to the trailhead, and hike.
My job is somewhat physical, which is good, but it isn't cardio. I am riding my bike a little more, just around town, and walking a bit, doing some stretching. These things aren't training, they're guilt-alleviation strategies. Truth is, I'm lazy. And, I hate exercising. Running is painful, and though I like bicycling, I like it mainly as a means of transportation; I need a destination, not just to ride in circles, especially in the city.
My main preperation is mental. One must psych oneself up. Not how you think, though. Before the AT I had a sort of mantra-- that what I was about to do is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, that it's going to hurt, my body is going to complain, and I'm going to be uncomfortable most of the time. Expecting this, I can then deal with it when it happens (less than I thought, actually. The body adapts quickly).
However, there is one thing I'm doing: eating as much as I can. Lots of fat, carbs, calories. I'm naturally skinny, and on the AT I was on the borderline of actual starvation, crossing over it now and then. I was eating of course, but the calorie burn is so high you just can't get enough, and stray into calorie deficit often. Most Americans have plenty of fat, for reserves in these cases. I don't, and my reserves were pretty well spent by the time I hit Virginia. I was very often exhausted, sometimes sick and vomiting, and frighteningly thin. But knowing that I can keep going even under such crazy physical stress (not to mention pushing through an injured Achiles early on) convinces me training is for suckers.
Lastly, I admit I'm not a physical or athletic person. I'm not doing this hike because I particularly like endurance sports or the cardio challenge. Hiking is alright in itself, but it's not my main love. I put up with the hiking because it puts me in the excellent places I want to be. As a friend of mine once said of herself: I'm not a thru-hiker, I'm a thru-camper.
So what's important is not training, really, but figuring out a better system for food on the trail, and packing away a few extra calories beforehand.
My job is somewhat physical, which is good, but it isn't cardio. I am riding my bike a little more, just around town, and walking a bit, doing some stretching. These things aren't training, they're guilt-alleviation strategies. Truth is, I'm lazy. And, I hate exercising. Running is painful, and though I like bicycling, I like it mainly as a means of transportation; I need a destination, not just to ride in circles, especially in the city.
My main preperation is mental. One must psych oneself up. Not how you think, though. Before the AT I had a sort of mantra-- that what I was about to do is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, that it's going to hurt, my body is going to complain, and I'm going to be uncomfortable most of the time. Expecting this, I can then deal with it when it happens (less than I thought, actually. The body adapts quickly).
However, there is one thing I'm doing: eating as much as I can. Lots of fat, carbs, calories. I'm naturally skinny, and on the AT I was on the borderline of actual starvation, crossing over it now and then. I was eating of course, but the calorie burn is so high you just can't get enough, and stray into calorie deficit often. Most Americans have plenty of fat, for reserves in these cases. I don't, and my reserves were pretty well spent by the time I hit Virginia. I was very often exhausted, sometimes sick and vomiting, and frighteningly thin. But knowing that I can keep going even under such crazy physical stress (not to mention pushing through an injured Achiles early on) convinces me training is for suckers.
Lastly, I admit I'm not a physical or athletic person. I'm not doing this hike because I particularly like endurance sports or the cardio challenge. Hiking is alright in itself, but it's not my main love. I put up with the hiking because it puts me in the excellent places I want to be. As a friend of mine once said of herself: I'm not a thru-hiker, I'm a thru-camper.
So what's important is not training, really, but figuring out a better system for food on the trail, and packing away a few extra calories beforehand.
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