Australian Hiker

In February of this year I was talking to a work colleague about my long distance hiking plans for the year and realised that there was a strong likelihood I was going to be doing the Heysen Trail. This realisation prompted me to start doing some serious physical preparation. Given my issues with my last two long distance hikes, the success of my trip was dependent on attaining the level of fitness I achieved for my 2018 Bibbulmun Track trip.

What this meant for me was an increase of physical training over and above my normal fitness routine, starting six months out. My biggest challenge was that at the start of 2021, I was at the heaviest I have ever been and around 12kg heavier than I like to start a long distance hike. As I write this post with just over 5 weeks to the start of my trip I still have 8kg to go and in all honesty while I will loose another 2-3kg, I’m not going to reach my goal. On the plus side, my fitness level is heading towards a fairly high point so I’ll cope with the additional weight and with the amount of weight I expect to lose on this hike, this is not a bad thing.

My fitness regime includes daily walking totalling around 6km, a weekly hike of up to 20km, two weight sessions a week, two cardio sessions, hill walking and pack training. I integrate pack training into the last two months of my preparation and I am now using a pack that is permanently set up and now weighs in at 18.5kg which is around my maximum pack weight for this walk. While this physical training is extremely important, it has an added side effect of preparing me mentally and as a solo hiker this can’t be overlooked.

Every hiker prepares differently for a long distance trip and my lead-in preparation has been developed over a number of years. I know what I need to do to be prepared; I just don’t always do it!