Your backcountry training regimen

[Big Bore]

I live in Texas at water level so training for altitude is still a question mark for me. My main way of preparing is 30 lbs in my day pack and fast packing on a hike/bike trail close to our house. My typical hike is 5-8 miles at about a 14:20 pace, 3 times a week. I also intersperse mountain biking, resistance training, etc. This seems to work for me.

I should mention that carrying a weighted pack in an urban neighborhood is also a recipe to get laughed at by all the soccer moms dressed head to toe in designer spandex while talking on the phone and moving at a glacial pace.

 

[Cope125]

I live in Texas at water level so training for altitude is still a question mark for me. My main way of preparing is 30 lbs in my day pack and fast packing on a hike/bike trail close to our house. My typical hike is 5-8 miles at about a 14:20 pace, 3 times a week. I also intersperse mountain biking, resistance training, etc. This seems to work for me.

I should mention that carrying a weighted pack in an urban neighborhood is also a recipe to get laughed at by all the soccer moms dressed head to toe in designer spandex while talking on the phone and moving at a glacial pace.

Yeah, me and my buddy felt like we were getting laughed at, at times, on the local trails we used here in north texas. When people did ask, we got a lot of “better you than me”.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Why is no one flipping tractor tires and grabbing stones? No weight sleds followed by archery practice? If you're not at least doing those things in addition to tough mudders you're not gonna kill anything this fall.
Somewhere out there your competition is training right now while you read this post.

 

[Philthyphil]

Ha! Ture! But.... If you really want to get laughed at, a little over 10 years ago I WAS dragging a tractor tire in my neighborhood. My Mexican neighbors got a kick out of the loco gringo but were good for cervezas after. I was training for Denali, which did include dragging a sled. Still a silly training method. That said, for the flatlanders, I would include stairs in a tall building or stadium stairs with or without a pack.

 

[thusby]

Just join your local Hash Runners Association. Pretty much mimics every scenario you can run into.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

If you're training and not hastagging then you're not training.

 

[Cope125]

I have a neighbor with a big pond dam, probably 50-60 ft, and would go up and down it with a weighted pack.

 

[RAZ]

Just returned from an Alaska 8 day backpack hunt. No frills, crappy freeze dried food, heavy pack and conditions changed hourly from fairly warm to ice cold and wet. I thought I did fairly well preparing. For 7 months I hiked 4 miles of up and down hills weekly, did stair climbing 2-3 x's weekly, lots of squats and strength training as well. I was ready or so I thought. I am up in age, but better shape then most in my age bracket. I was totally blown away as to how difficult the hikes would be. I have read here that some think weight training and strength training is first and foremost.I have always had good upper body strength and strong legs but no where near the level of strong legs I would need for Alaska. Stamina and endurance, ie: cardio and actual climbing mountains is your best bet regarding training. You need to be able to carry your body and pack up steep muddy and slippery climbs. That takes more then strength. It takes cardio and good legs. I underestimated the difficulty of walking 5 miles over swamp, tundra and alder trees while fighting mosquitos. It is simply miserable. If you want to train for the irregular earth, the unforgiving tundra and constant streams, rivers, mud holes, bottomless water holes, then get your pack on and walk in sand dunes with 50 pounds on your back, or actual mountains without trails or as someone else mentioned, backpack on and walking in muddy bottom body of water up to your waist...do one of those 2x a week and maybe, just maybe you will have a sense of what to expect. For myself, living near sand dunes, next time I will train with backpack on and walk in dunes for 4 miles....if I can. Cardio and general endurance of long, hard hiking is how to train if you want to be relatively ready to traverse the unforgiving ground of Alaska. Will not say where exactly my guide took me per his request. I picked a spartan backpack style hunt in unit 13e of Alaska and it kicked my ass. You cannot fly, float or ATV into the areas we hunted. You can only walk. Tundra if you don't know, is like walking on or between those half ball exercise things pushed together with say...6" of moss on top and 6" deep of water between each one for miles on end. You do not walk in a straight line. You have to pick each and every step carefully to avoid injury. Your feet will take a beating and you will be fighting to prevent your feet from constantly being wet even with gators. I stepped in mud holes up to my knees more then once. The alders were as bad. No trails, just pushing through. I quit worry about a grizzly encounter after the 1st mile in. That was the last thing on my mind walking in. Surviving the hike became the goal. Glad I experienced it, but at my age, never again.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I usually start training in March doing at least 1 good hike per week, then by this time of year I try for 3/week with a couple overnighters mixed in. Hikes are usually 4-7 miles and anywhere from 2500'-4000' elevation gain, and I use/wear pretty much the exact same stuff that I hunt in. The only exception to that is I don't carry a rifle and my pack is never full, but I do carry some wt. when I hike.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Just returned from an Alaska 8 day backpack hunt. No frills, crappy freeze dried food, heavy pack and conditions changed hourly from fairly warm to ice cold and wet. I thought I did fairly well preparing. For 7 months I hiked 4 miles of up and down hills weekly, did stair climbing 2-3 x's weekly, lots of squats and strength training as well. I was ready or so I thought. I am up in age, but better shape then most in my age bracket. I was totally blown away as to how difficult the hikes would be. I have read here that some think weight training and strength training is first and foremost.I have always had good upper body strength and strong legs but no where near the level of strong legs I would need for Alaska. Stamina and endurance, ie: cardio and actual climbing mountains is your best bet regarding training. You need to be able to carry your body and pack up steep muddy and slippery climbs. That takes more then strength. It takes cardio and good legs. I underestimated the difficulty of walking 5 miles over swamp, tundra and alder trees while fighting mosquitos. It is simply miserable. If you want to train for the irregular earth, the unforgiving tundra and constant streams, rivers, mud holes, bottomless water holes, then get your pack on and walk in sand dunes with 50 pounds on your back, or actual mountains without trails or as someone else mentioned, backpack on and walking in muddy bottom body of water up to your waist...do one of those 2x a week and maybe, just maybe you will have a sense of what to expect. For myself, living near sand dunes, next time I will train with backpack on and walk in dunes for 4 miles....if I can. Cardio and general endurance of long, hard hiking is how to train if you want to be relatively ready to traverse the unforgiving ground of Alaska. Will not say where exactly my guide took me per his request. I picked a spartan backpack style hunt in unit 13e of Alaska and it kicked my ass. You cannot fly, float or ATV into the areas we hunted. You can only walk. Tundra if you don't know, is like walking on or between those half ball exercise things pushed together with say...6" of moss on top and 6" deep of water between each one for miles on end. You do not walk in a straight line. You have to pick each and every step carefully to avoid injury. Your feet will take a beating and you will be fighting to prevent your feet from constantly being wet even with gators. I stepped in mud holes up to my knees more then once. The alders were as bad. No trails, just pushing through. I quit worry about a grizzly encounter after the 1st mile in. That was the last thing on my mind walking in. Surviving the hike became the goal. Glad I experienced it, but at my age, never again.

Hope you killed a good bear...or two.

 

[Birddog08]

I put 50lbs of rock I’m my metcalf and head down to the local ski resort ( with permission) really gets the legs and lungs burning.