Week 1 happened in mid-February.
I considered all the talking my husband and brother-in-law did about a Grand Canyon hike as 2 boys bragging. I didn’t take anything about their conversations seriously. That ended when the message on the answering machine from my brother-in-law said he had our permits! It is set! We are doing it!
My husband was beyond excited. I was beyond “oh shit.” The dates were set, the second week in May. These two men talked for hours, yet the only information relayed to me was “get some hiking boots and break them in and you’ll need to carry 35 pounds so get used to carrying 50.”
I had many concerns and questions about this trip and very little information. My first thought was my poor always hurting back with the protruding disc pinching nerves. It is not easy being a trailblazer with chronic hypochondria. My second thought centered around the absence of necessary equipment to complete this trek. But I am a trooper so I trooped.
I contacted a good friend, a personal trainer who completed a hike more grueling and demanding in Australia. I asked for advice to get into shape for this trip in just a few short weeks. Her advice: hundreds of push ups, crunches, squats,lunges, and tons of weight lifting. Oh, and get used to being dirty and stinky. Using her advice, I sat down with a calendar and planned out my weeks.
I had enough weeks prior to the trip to start with 10 pounds in a backpack and add 5 pounds per week, finishing at 50 pounds. I even had a couple of weeks in there in case I got behind. I wrote down my strength work goals in number of push ups, squats, lunges, crunches, et al I would work up to each week. My plan was simple. I would run 3 days a week, Monday, Tuesday and Saturday, and hike with a weighted back pack 3 days a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Friday would be a day of rest. Well, not really REST but at least no exercise. When written down on paper, it looked achievable.
HA!
Week one – first goal: 10 push ups per day. I could barely do 2.
In week 1, I went to the local big chain sporting goods store to get my boots and check out other gear we would need for the trip. I did all the right things in choosing my boots. I had thick socks with me and I walked on an inclined treadmill to make sure they felt good. I was excited about my boots! So excited that I showed my husband as soon as I got home. He took one look and said “those are not snake proof” to which I shouted replied, “SNAKES????? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT SOME SNAKES?????????”
I made it fine with my 10 pounds in my school bag back pack. I knew the backpack would get harder to carry as weight was added. I figured we’d better hurry up and get our “real” backpacks for training purposes, so at the end of week 1, we went to the sporting goods store together. AFTER we hiked 4.6 miles up and down hills with our weighted backpacks for the first time.
We were both sore. He was ill tempered. I became ill tempered. And we went shopping.
Tags: Grand Canyon, Training
