I’ve been very lazy in getting started with physical preparations but I’ve finally gotten moving. I started yoga and am enjoying the classes immensely. That’s something I’ve wanted to do for years any way but it took a groupon to get me started. I also started running again, sort of following the Couch to 5k program. I actually started with their week three workout and will probably move through the workouts faster as long as I continue to feel okay. I like having the structure though, and the permission to walk for intervals.

Back in November I took a self defense class, which was a lot of fun and I thought very useful. The teacher discussed potentially having “fight nights” to continue with the self defense theme but that never materialized. I thought about taking some karate classes but with all my other preparations going on, I decided I just did not have the time. I am looking for other one-off self defense courses though and hopefully will get one more in before hiking.

One thing I’m finding it hard to do is find the time to go on hikes. I really need to do more hiking with a full pack on but as there are not challenging trails near me, that involves several hours in the car to get to and from somewhere with elevation change or rocks. I’ve also read that just getting out and walking for a couple of hours every day is great training but I don’t always have the motivation to walk around with no purpose. If I was going somewhere in particular, or if I had someone with the time to walk with me, that’d be different.

They say that the only way to really train for hiking up and down mountains every day is to hike up and down mountains every day. It seems a lot of people just start the hike with low mileage days and the first couple of weeks is their training. I’d like to be a little more prepared than that but probably won’t be much more.