20-Miler Carrying 27 Pounds... Done!

UPDATES
I returned back from my trip just before the weekend, I had a great time seeing my friends and hanging out with my family. I do miss them all living so far away right now. But I'm looking forward to lots of visits this summer when I have time!

WEIGHTLOSS
As for my weight loss journey, I'm now down 28.5 pounds, I was actually surprised I didn't gain a ton on my trip because I ate out nearly every day and didn't even try to order low calorie, LOL. But I'm thinking maybe all the hard work and muscle I am building helped burn off some of those restaurant calories I took in since I still lost weight.

HIKING
I've done a lot of hiking to get reading for Grand Canyon R2R2R. I have put my body through a tremendous amount of pain from lots of huge climbs. I don't even remember what it's like to not be sore, but this is the good kind of workout sore so it's all good! I actually love it!

Last weekend was no exception, I went out and hiked a 20-miler. I selected specific trails ahead of time that would force me to hike the highest in elevation climbs and losses. Overall it was over 12,000 feet in gain and loss, and those are just the numbers I could pull off the trail guides and not counting some of the trails I didn't look into.

I carried 27 pounds to start on that hike and ended with around 15 pounds because most of it was water drank. It was 90 degree's out and I purposely chose places with very little shade. I did it in about 9 hours. It was a little slow, but I didn't push it on the last 2,000-foot climb of the day because it was at 17 miles and to be honest I was tired!!

I don't tell ya all that to say I'm turning into wonder woman, LOL But those are the types of things needed to be done so I can have an enjoyable R2R2R hike and not have my legs screaming in pain for the return trip, LOL

FYI: These pictures in this post today are the few I took while on the trip. And a first for me, I'm sharing here before I've even shared them on Instagram! If you love hiking and travel pictures and don't already definitely follow me on INSTAGRAM HERE. I try not to disappoint and only upload my best pics from any trip!

HALF MARATHON TRAINING or NOT
In Feb/Mar when I got sick for nearly a month (no joke) I lost all of my training. So if any of you read my previous R2R2R training plan, yeah very little of that actually happened as far as the running was concerned.
Since I was starting from near scratch in Mid March I realized I had no time to actually work on running, I needed to get my body ready for the hike. Oddly, you do utilize different muscle groups more than you'd think hiking vs. running. After all, I'm backpacking across the Grand Canyon not running, LOL

So yeah, although I have consistently gone out for 3-6 miles runs 3-4 days a week it's really not been much in regards to training for a half marathon to really get ready for it as I normally would for a race. I would prefer a little more than double that but...

So am I still going to do it?

I think so. I'm not too concerned with time on this one and although I haven't been running much I'm in pretty good shape otherwise. So I'll see what happens. I still have a little time, so maybe I can knock out a longer run if my legs can recover from the 20-mile hike soon!

Plus it's a great excuse to drive up north and visit my family and friends, LOL.

I am about 99% of the time an after the fact blogger. 

This next part is my 1% exception.

It seems there is an increasingly high amount of my blogger friends coming to Utah to run in June, which is pretty awesome!  It's funny because of all the races to come to Utah for, I never would have thought this particular one to be so popular with out-of-staters. But it's a pretty canyon run and it's one of the least steep canyon runs, so maybe that is why?
I won a free entry into it, so maybe others did too??

So that is why I wanted to talk about where I will be in advance so I don't miss an opportunity to meet some of you. So if you're doing Utah Valley Marathon or Half, hit me up. I'd love to meet you in person because as of right now I should be there doing the half.

And if you see this, and are coming I would love to find out why so many are coming for this race, I will probably ask ya when I see ya in June. But I'm super curious for sure what drew so many to this one instead of one of the more popular ones in Utah.

THESIS PROJECT

I'll share more with you on this hopefully later this week if I can find time to write the post. But I thought I'd quickly share what I received approval on and have decided to do for the project portion before I write the final paper.

And this will make more sense another day when I explain more.
But it's going to be a
Virtual Race - Half Marathon, 10k or 5k option.

I'm working hard right now to get things set up and get the business portion of it set up right. But I will say I am doing things a little unique on all fronts so it won't be like every other virtual race out there. (Well as different as it can be!)

So for those of you who are interested in racing for medals or want to help support me in this huge project this summer, keep an eye on my blog for both registration and (hint) Influencer opportunities around it soon!

Linking up with the lovely gals from the Weekly Wrap! Misssippiddlin and HoHoRuns this week!

If you don't already, check out their blogs and this fun weekly link up to meet new bloggers each week.

Training to Hike Grand Canyon R2R2R

For those who don't know later this Spring, I will be heading out on an epic adventure in the Grand Canyon. Hiking Rim to Rim, then back Rim to Rim aka R2R2R.
Most would tell you this is highly not recommended, but for those who enjoy marathons and who train and prepare and are already accustom to distances it's an incredible experience (or so they tell me, but I believe them!)

For any who have wondered how one goes about training for hiking the R2R2R of the Grand Canyon, I thought I'd share my training plan.

I am not new to distance hiking, nor am I new to desert heat hiking. So because of so much past experience I have a little bit more knowledge on what I need to do for myself to prepare correctly so I can have the best time ever hiking and doing this bucket list item!

FIRST - DISTANCE

Train the legs and feet with training same as one would for a back to back marathon. So I will work up to running 18-20 miles. Then when I have at least 4 under my belt.
I will then work up to running two 18 milers two days in a row.

SECOND - ENDURANCE HILLS

Just like training for a marathon you should never work on speed and distance together to stay injury free. Well for hiking you should never work on distance building and incline building together.
Once I hit certain mileage markers I'll back off on any distance building and work in incline training.
Fortunately, I live near Zion National Park and I have trails with inclines just like those I will do in the Grand Canyon, the difference is I may only have 1-3 miles of straight climbing in Zion instead of double that. But that won't matter much, it will still help significantly.

So for instance, on an easy 10 miler running day, I'll finish it up with 3-8 hours of hiking and try to get half of each of those hours on inclines and declines only. I'll mostly avoid flat hiking. (In other words, it's going to be a lot of fun!)

THIRD - HYDRATION

While up on the rims it may still be in the 50-80's, once we make the decent the time of year we are going we are very likely going to hit 100-115 degree temperatures for most of the 12-15 hour hiking days.So it is highly important to get fully hydrated in advance.

While I can practice this often over the next several months, about 1 month leading in I will spend 3 weeks working up to making sure I am drinking half my body weight in water each day, in addition to any workout water loss.
Doing it this way slowly will keep me from having to take way too many trips to the bathroom.
The week leading into the trip, I should be drinking perfectly and be fully hydrated come trip day!

FOURTH - WEIGHT LOSS

I'll be working on this throughout, to be honest I'd like to shed 40-50 pounds before the trip.
I'm one of those people who is fit, but that doesn't mean I am actually in shape or a size 4! (I'm sure some of you can relate) This is something I've already been working on, and I'm already 16 pounds into my goal!
Regardless of how much I am able to lose, it will all be less weight I have to carry for 54-60 miles!

FIFTH - BACKPACK WEIGHT

If you don't know I have near ZERO cushion in my lower back in my L5 and S1 facet joints (spinal discs). So I am bone on bone and I struggle carrying and lifting things.  This was something that I was diagnosed with about a year ago and unfortunately, no current cures other than keeping active will be best for me in life.

Carrying the pack will be my biggest struggle so I will practice starting with 10, 20 then 35-pound weights in my backpack. While out on 6-10 hour hikes.
Once I hit certain mileage builds, and then incline builds I will gradually increase the backpack weight.

Originally, I had hoped to only carry 25 pounds. But with going back to school I am not rich enough to spend a few extra hundred right now on a new tent. So I am borrowing a smaller one from my dad, but with the tent and the 2 gallons of water and light supplies, I've not been able to pack it yet under 33 pounds. So this is why I am going to plan on training for 35 pounds.

IS ALL THIS NECESSARY?

Granted I could likely pull it off with a bit less on some aspects of the training, but...

R2R day 1 of my hike I will be going approx 30 miles with detours. These are NOT flat hiking miles the are descents and climbing mountainous rims and others I have talked to have told me if we are fast we may finish in 12 hours, but if we struggle in the heat it could take 15 hours of hiking for this day. That is a lot of stress and workout on the body in not to mention very hot temps!

R2R Return trip Day 2 will only be about 23-24 miles. However, our bodies will already be exhausted so this is another 12-15 hour hiking day with a major climb up the north side, it will be climbing 5,700 feet on tired legs for the last 8 miles. It doesn't flatten out it's a constant climb with every step. This day we can go a little slower, but regardless we have to make it up the rim before too late into the night, so we still have our work cut out for us!

MOSTLY, the better trained, the easier it will be on my body and the more I will enjoy the hiking and sights. 

Not to mention the better time we will make as we decent and ascend through the rims.
I want this trip to be super fun and a once in a life time great experience. So heck ya I am going to train well and properly for it!

If your wondering, everyone coming will be doing their own version of the same type of training. For those who don't have the luxury of hiking inclines to train with. Treadmills set at 8-10% inclines for 1-5 hours will work with a mix of outdoor bleacher repetitions of 1-3 hours will be used instead of hiking hills. (Which may be me some weeks too.)

I've talked to several people who have done this before, or who do this often and based on my own opinion and their recommendations are how I determined what training needs to go into it to have the most ENJOYABLE trip!

Have you hiked R2R before?
Have you hiked R2R2R before?
Or is hiking the Grand Canyon on your bucket list?