Fitness

The biggest challenge that I see in this journey is actually getting in shape to hike the trail.  It usually takes between 8 and 14 days to hike the trail, which results in an average 1500-2500 feet (500-750m) elevation gain per day.  However, there are long slogs up hill followed by equally long walks down.  All with a backpack. 

The way I look at it, I need to work on the following:
- First, build up my cardiovascular endurance,
- Second, build up my lower body strengty,
- Finally, build up my stamina. 
Of course, these three goals are not mutually exclusive, I'll have to work on all of them basically at the same time. 

To start, I bought a Fitness Program for my Wii to help build up my cardio and lower body.  The amazing thing is that I've even exercised four times in the last week.  This is where I'll need the most encouragement, as well the most time in my schedule.  I haven't figured out a good mechanism of tracking my training yet, but since that's what I do for a living, I figure I can do that. 

Over the course of this blog, I'll be spending quite a bit of time on this topic (or at least I should be).