Training update

Three weeks ago I hiked a 44 mile week. In general, it went well but I felt my body was heading toward injury. I was not recovering as fast as I should, I was starting to have some right knee pain, and I was getting minor shin splints in both legs.

I needed some changes if I was going to continue training. First, I took a rest week 2 weeks ago and only hiked 22 miles. I also went out and bought a pair of road running shoes. I was training on pavement more than expected and it was taking a toll since I was in trail runners. After some research it seemed that tight calves could be part of the shin splint problem so I started stretching at least 3 times during training hikes. Finally, I reduced the speed of my hiking to roughly 3.5 miles per hour. In order to maintain a 4 mile per hour pace I hiked with a different gait than normal. I believe the exaggerated gait was causing a majority of the problem.

This past week I hiked 41 miles, 21 miles Saturday morning was my longest training hike to date. With the new shoes, additional stretching, and the slightly slower pace, I ended feeling very strong with no problems at all. Back to increasing mileage.