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?

How to Know if you Did Your Best in Your Race, Even if You Aren't Sure

As runners we can be pretty hard on ourselves at times, when we probably shouldn't be.  At the same time, many runners may find they don't quite believe they worked hard enough.

So, this post is purely to give a little food for thought on the subject.  As for, if there is a right or wrong in any aspect of it, well that is up to each individual runner to decide.
As, all runners come in different shapes, sizes.  All have different goals, speeds.  Every runner out there is awesome, and it doesn't matter if they come in first or last, they are after all out there running and for that it deserves some respect!

However, if you have ever found yourself asking any of these questions, this post may give you a little bit to go on:


How do you know if you really did your best?  

Was your best good enough? Could you have done better? 

Or are you being too hard on yourself?  

Or maybe should you consider be harder on yourself?


Asking yourself a few of these questions below MIGHT get you the answer your looking for.


I finished my race, and missed my goal time by X amount.  Did I do my best? Maybe I could have done more??? If you find your asking these questions after your race, try asking yourself these.

Did you put in all the training time needed, not rushed?
Did you put the miles and/or speedwork in ahead of time in training to get you to your goal you wanted to achieve?
Were you healthy, injury free the day you ran the race?
Did you remember it was a race, did you push yourself as you practiced in training?
Did you put it all out there, as you crossed the finish line did you feel you gave it the best you could the entire race?
In your training, did you train for the terrain and climate the race had?

If you answered YES to all of those.  You did your best, you gave it your all, there is no reason to come down on yourself or put yourself down for not doing better.
Be proud of your AWESOMENESS, because you did the best you could do.
If you want to do better in the future or hit higher goals, go back to the training board and start a new training program that will help you achieve the different goals you want to hit.


If you answered NO to any of those above.  Then there is your answer, right in the question you answered no to.  You can still be proud of your efforts, as all efforts are something to be proud of.
But try not to come down on yourself, because if you didn't put all the work in ahead of time or didn't train correctly for the goals you wanted to achieve. Those are things that are definitely something that is easy to work on for the future. Maybe knowing you can do better will be the exact thing to drive you and push you harder in the future.

If you were sick or injured, that is something totally and completely out of your control. So its best to never feel let down about how a race turns out in situations like those. Not every race will be this way, and you can just look forward to the next when you are healthy without the uncontrollable holding you back.
The key is to be happy with how your race ended. After all unless your an elite athlete your out there doing it for fun, and doing it mostly for yourself or as inspiration to others.  If you want to do better, next time put the work in, do what it takes to hit new goals. After all, that is the great thing about running, you can try again!

Next Question

Why am I not getting faster?  Is it even possible for me to get faster?
If you find yourself asking this, POSSIBLY the below will help you with finding a solution:

Are you well trained?
Did you build up your mileage first and did you get very comfortable running the mileage before you began any speed work?
Did you do speed work? Did you practice in training to push and build yourself to new speed levels, and trained for the race pace you were hoping for?
Are you running consistently, are you training enough?
How is your weight, are you at a healthy weight for your body height and type?
Are you training specifically for one race, to hit your goals?


If you answered YES to all, then you are PROBABLY on the right track.  However, if you're not hitting faster goals, consider your age. It's possible, you may have already hit all your PR days, and now it is time to re-look at things and start aiming for placing in the top in your age group or seeing how many younger runners you can pass and leave in the dust instead? (Don't worry about this, we will all hit that point eventually!)
Or consider taking a look at the races you are choosing, maybe they are not suited for you based on your training or where you train.
 Also, so many runners these days get caught up into race after race and forget that the body needs time to heal correctly. It can become impossible to train for PR's if you are racing too often and not allowing the proper recovery time and training to make it for one big goal race.


If you answered NO, to any of the above, then POSSIBLY you aren't putting in enough work. Getting faster is possible for most anyone but if it was easy then let's fact it, everyone would be running sub 3 hour marathons or 15 minute 5k's.
Instead, look at your weight, do you need to lose a few pounds?  Those extra pounds lost can actually shave minutes off your time alone with no additional effort or training than you are already doing.
Are you working on distance and speed at the same time?  Because if you are, you are already training incorrectly, you should always work on distance first, then after you can start on speed, never both at the same time as it can easily bring on injuries.
Maybe you are running too many days a week and over training, adding 1-2 rest days weekly are actually needed for many runners to run at peak performance.  Or maybe your running too few days a week, you can't hit most goals if you are only running a day or two a week.
Re-evaluate what your doing, and consider your options and come up with new plans and goals, after all that is the beauty of running we can always go at it with a new approach until we figure out what works best for us!

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Those are just a few examples of questions and things to consider if you find yourself wondering if you did your best or if you can become better.
Because let's face it, we are only human and those thoughts come through likely many runners minds from time to time or after each race.

However, not everyone has it in them to push and PR and shoot for goals, nor cares to. If you don't then just enjoy your runs. Fun runs can be just as satisfying if that is the type of running your into.
The key is train properly regardless of fun or goals so you don't risk injury or death but I think the most important part is to just have fun. Enjoy the fact that you can run, because not everyone can!


Have you ever asked yourself if you are doing your best?
What process do you use to narrow down the problem area's you want to work on in your running?

Running, Training & Frightmare's

This past week was crazy busy, I am still searching for a day to get caught up on blogging and get myself back to being ahead on posts.  But that doesn't look like it's going to happen for a little while. One thing that I haven't slacked on is keeping up my running, no matter how busy the days get.

RUNNING

Monday - 4 Miles
Higher elevation running at 7,500 feet on a relatively flat course.

Tuesday - 4 Miles
Hilly course with steeper inclines and declines.  Legs got tired.

Wednesday - 5 Miles
Mostly flat course.  Legs still tired.

Thursday - 9 Miles
Very hilly course, first 4.5 miles all gradual and steep uphill climbing, the last 4.5 back all downhill.
Ran on very tired legs, as they had been all week.  Really pushed it more than normal on the uphill, which forced my lungs to really work hard and sting.  Last 2 miles of the run my legs were pretty spent.  This is by far the most beneficial run I have had my body to do yet.  Wasn't easy, but pushing it on a tired body and pushing my lungs the way I did will help me move up in fitness level and mileage.

Friday - Rest Day
Ended up having to work 6 hours on my feet, had a tiny tendon flare up by evening because of it.

Saturday - Rest Day
Decided since the tendon flare up from working yesterday was still a bit more swollen than normal to hold back and let the inflammation go back down to a manageable level.  I'll recover and start on fresh on Monday.


Overall, I am pretty happy about the week.  My legs felt tired almost each day, which for me was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to really push them.  Which is only going to benefit me in the coming weeks!  So I really couldn't of asked for a better week.

I am really enjoying getting back into a steady lower mileage routine with a few medium mileage days in between.  Listening to my body and the healing injuries has really been paying off.
Fortunately, having many years of running behind me, helps me to know when to push things to get the biggest benefits.  It also allows me the insight that eventually things will get easier and eventually I will be back to where I want to me, and hopefully even better than before!

NEVER SAY NEVER

Last week I mentioned I wasn't going to run any races this year.  Well I really need to learn not to say things like that.  Because when I do, I pretty much jinx it:)
A running friend of mine who just ran a marathon last weekend heard I was running again.  She said her running group always take on a fun half marathon around Thanksgiving hear in Utah.
She invited me to come and run it with them if they chose one.
I told her to let me know when they pick the race, and I will see....
I am currently NOT in half marathon shape, but a lot can happen in a month.  I am not really going to start training for one, I am just going to continue with my own plans.
But if they pick one, and I feel I can finish it in (a certain time) then yes I will probably run it with them.  If I don't think I can pull off a (certain time) I will not run it. (When I say certain time, I am not meaning anything really fast, but I'd prefer my first official race comeback to be an okay race and not to finish long after others I know in the race, LOL.)

An odd fact about me; I have actually only raced eight 13.1 Half's in my entire life. They have all been at the same race, Canyonlands Half Marathon along the Colorado River and Redrocks of Moab, Utah.  Even crazier I haven't ran a Half race in probably 7 or 8 years.
I have run dozens of 5k's and 10k's, but again not raced either of those distances in 8 or more years either.

You'd think living in Utah where we have several to choose from on pretty much any given weekend that I would have done more.  But, nope....
I have been so "goal" Marathon focused for several years, that I haven't even entertained the thought or even considered the idea of entering another distance.  Until now....maybe....

I spent Saturday with two adorables:) my niece and nephew.  We have an amusement park in Utah called Lagoon, that during the month of October they turn it into Frightmare's for Halloween.  These are just a couple of fun pic's from our fun night together!  Even took these cute kids in one of the adult haunted houses and they loved it.  Of course I told the 3 year old that Scary was meant to be funny and laughed at.  She's young enough, she bought it!  The baby just thought all the loud noises and crazy scary things popping out at us were interesting as he was all smiles and wide eyes even in the dark.

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How did your week go?  Did you get some good training days in?
Have you been to any fun Amusement Parks lately?