Are you ready to go hiking? Do you have the conditioning needed to go 5-10-15 miles? Only you know what your body is capable of. But making sure your body is conditioned to make the trek and not be exhausted and extremely sore the next day is important to know before you go.
If you are just starting out. Washington is a great place to be just because there are so many trail options of all shapes and sizes for you to start with. You can go from a flat 2 miler to a multi-day 20-30 miler all within 10 miles of each other.
I not only enjoy hiking but I love to run and push my body to its limits. I am passionate about living a healthy and fit lifestyle and instilling that in my children. Knowing that I can run 10 or more miles tells me that I can hike a similar distance if not more.
Hiking and running are very different. Running is quick and I usually avoid hills :). Hiking on the other hand is much slower due to the terrain and elevation gain. I can run 10 miles in 90 minutes but it could take 5 hours to hike it. So, hiking will take a different kind of endurance but similar conditioning.
Hiking takes cardiovascular conditioning to go the distance as well as strength training for your core and legs muscles. In order to ensure you will not be sore the next day you will need to include the strength training aspect in your routine. Along with these 2 things, you will need to make sure to stretch after your hike and hydrate before, during and after.
I hope you take these aspects into consideration before you hit the trails. Enjoy your adventures and be safe.
Stay tuned for my page on running. I will be running the Leavenworth Half Marathon on October 15th and I will be adding a page about running and will blog about my experiences.
Happy Hiking!
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