Build up - Preparation

With the New Year has come a mix of thoughts and emotions.  I have not made an New Years resolutions as I have so many goals already in place that there really is little room for more.

Being 2012 I now feel like I need to really prepare for the hike more seriously, more diligently, more thoroughly.  I need to be fitter, smarter, and healthier then 2011, I need to be more focused on my goals.

Speaking with my personal trainer - Marcus Bourne of M power Personal Fitness - Marcus suggested that I create a calendar of goals so that I can map out what objectives I need to achieve in preparation for my departure.

For those of you who are local, I invite you as often as possible to join me in training.  Receiving your encouragement and support through your participation in some training has to this point been motivating and I look forward to having fun training with you all at some stage this year.

Here is the "Game plan"

February

We will welcome our 3rd child this week so training and personal goals will take a back seat to being a father.  We look forward to welcoming "Andie Grace Belanger" on February 1 via C-section surgery.
February really becomes a month of maintaining my current condition.

This will consist of 3 gym sessions a week to continue to build a solid core strength and muscle conditioning.  Although "big"muscles aren't required for hiking I do believe in having an overall strong physique as you never know when it will come in handy.  In my trip with Dad "Wow! What an Eye opener" see past article.  We came to a section which had our weight sliding downward left across a small cliff.  Unfortunately for Dad, the humidity had got to him and he fell upside down pack and all and was perched in a couple branches inches from falling 10 metres down a cliff into a fairly dry creek bed.  Knowing that I am able to pull him & his pack up quickly and safely if worth carrying a couple extra kilos of muscle.

I will continue to ride my bicycle about 100km each week which has become easier now that I have sold my car..... I partially sold it so that I am forced to ride or run to work or other venues and force myself to train more during a standard business day.

I want to increase my running kilometres from about 15km per week up to about 25km per week.

And of course as always I need to watch my food.  It seems every week I learn something new about the food I'm eating.  Whether its a new tasty recipe, or that a certain food no longer agrees with my digestive process.  I guess I'm more aware these days.

In 3 weeks I have a weigh in and body fat test with Marcus Bourne and my goal is to for the first time in my life have less than 11% body fat.  Let me say that at 11% that is still the healthiest I have ever been.
My goal before my departure is to get down to about 8 or 9 % body fat.

I will also mention that this month as part of training I will be running the "Richard Rancie memorial run" around the "Tan" in Melbourne.  This is an annual event to remember a friend who died about 4 Christmas' ago.  See you local fellas there!

March

I do not plan on changing much about my personal fitness through the coming months.  I will still continue with 3 gym sessions per week of which 1 every 2 weeks with be a tough session with Marcus Bourne.  He always gets 110% out of me each work out.  I physically cannot do anymore by the time the session is over.

I will continue with my 100km approximately of bike riding per week but I will increase my running kilometres from 25km to 40km per week.

Part of preparation which I haven't really touched on but is a given for anyone doing this much exercise and planning on achieving any athletic achievement is the "mental toughness" required to succeed.  Tim Marsden & I know the Australian Alps Walking Track will throw up some challenges & we will have to be mentally fit to take them on and sort them out if we want to complete the track and do so with little errors.  In order to push my mental intensity and plan to participate in 2 fun events that will also be great endurance training for me mentally & physically.  First is the "Tough Bloke Challenge" which is an obstacle course with 15 obstacles set over a 6km trail.  This will be a light hit out early March in preparation for "Tough Mudder" which is 18 more difficult obstacles set over 20km and will no doubt test my mental & physical endurance.

These are the goals I have set for the next 2 months.  It would take people all day to ready the blog if I did the whole years goals in one segment so stay tuned for the rest of the goal setting schedule.

The itinerary for the AAWT

Well last night Tim Marsden & I sat down with the 50 or so maps that cover the entire Australian Alps Walking Track and the official trail book to work make a schedule for our adventure.

We also used Karen Cody's log sheets as a reference for the trip.

Some of the things we discussed were length of days, difficulty of days, what types of days do we have ahead of us or had just done.  Also at what stage of the journey we were at, are we concerned about starting off too hard before our bodies got into a grove or are we happy to push from day 1.  How many rest days do we want to have and where?  How do we feel about track conditions and how they may effect us.


The following is what we came up with as an itinerary for our adventure....

Camp to Camp	Distance	Difficulty of terrain
Day 01 Walhalla-Talbots Hut site	24.8	4
Day 02 Talbots Hut - Stronachs Camp	21.5	3
Day 03 Stronachs - Red Jacket	21.8	2
Day 04 Red Jacket - Black River	26	2
Day 05 Black R - Rumpff Saddle	14.9	1
Day 06 Rumpff Saddle - Low Saddle	17.5	2
Day 07 Low Saddle - E Barkly Rd	12.4	3
Day 08 E Barkly Rd - Chester Yd	15.3	2
Day 9 Chester Yd - Mt Speculation	17.7	3
Day 10 Mt Spec  - Viking Saddle	9.7	3
Day 11 Viking Saddle - Barry Saddle	6	1
Day 12 Barry Saddle - twins track	23.9	4
Day 13 Twins -  Diamatina's Hut	23	4
REST DAY WT FAMILIES AT HOTHAM	0	0
Day 15 Diamantina H - Cope H	23.3	4
Day 16 Cope H - Tspur River junction	19.7	5
Day 17 Tspur - Mt Bogong -Cleve Cole	12.1	4
Day 18 Cleve Cole H - Mt Willis H	18.6	3
Day 19 Mt Wills H - Gill Creek Camp	12.3	1
Day 20 Gill Creek Camp - Mitta Mitta R	13.8	5
Day 21 Mitta Mitta R - Beloka R	16.2	2
Day 22 Beloka R - Buenba Ck	19.6	3
Day 23 Buenba Ck - Buckwong Ck	18.3	3
Day 24 Buckwong Ck - Limestone Ck	15.9	3
Day 25 Limestone Ck - Cowombat Flat	21.9	2
Day 26 Cowombat Flat - Cascade FT	21.6	5
Day 27 Cascade FT - Dead Horse Gap	20.7	5
Day 28 DHG - N Mt Twynum	20.2	4
Day 29 N Mt Twynum - Whites R H	14.5	2
Day 30 Whites R H - O'Keefe H	30.6	5
Day 31 O'Keefe H - Happy H	26.4	5
Day 32 Happy H - 4 Mile H	14.5	3
Day 33 4 Mile H - Witses H	20.3	4
Day 34 Witses H - Hainsorth H	22.3	4
Day 35 Hainsworth H - Dunn's Flat	23.7	4
Day 36 Dunn's Flat - Orroral R	22.4	3
Day 37 Orroral R - Namadgi Info Centre	21.9	4

We do expect to have one other day of rest for either recovery or poor weather so we are actually allocating 38 days for the journey.

We are going to try and find a way so that everyone can follow our progress online.  We have a couple products to look into so will keep you all posted.

Product review - OR Sunrunner cap

So my last article was about Christmas and how it is useful to top up your pack.  I haven't done  product review really at all so here goes my first attempt at one......


Outdoor Research Sun runner cap




This versatile hat has a removable, adjustable skirt that gives shelter from harsh rays or can be removed when you just need ball cap coverage.  The lightweight fabric provides a UPF 30+ sun protection.  Mesh side panels let air flow over the sides of your head.


I am not a big fan of wearing head gear when hiking, I like to feel the air on my head.  Having a hat on my head seems to be a barrier between me an nature, I feel cheated like I am unable to breath in the full freshness of the air around me with one on.  But of course there is the practical side of wearing a hat that it keeps sweat from dripping down into my face, protects my face and in this case neck from the elements which on hot days will no doubt make the trek less pleasurable.

I've been wearing my new outdoor research sun runner not only on my morning 4.2km runs but for much of my physical training and really any outdoor activity, cutting grass and washing the car included.  Its really lightweight which makes it almost unnoticeable.  The brim is not thick and heavy but instead very lightweight and pliable.

During my first couple runs I put the breathability to the test.  In the past I have found wearing a hat has increased the amount I sweat.  I could take my old caps off and I would feel a rush of cool air hitting my heated head.  This was not the case when I took of the sun runner.  There was no temperature change when removing the cap which to me says the vents are keeping my cool not adding to my temperature and sweat.

The featured removable neck and face protection are easy to attach and remove while on the move but does increase the heat retention around my face when clipped up.  That being said when hiking I do not believe it will have such a noticeable increase as I will not be working as hard as when I do my runs.

Take a moment to hear direct from the staff at Outdoor research about their product.