Ah, the best intentions . . .

Last year I headed into the winter months with a conditioning plan to make Whitney 2010 a lot easier than 2009. Between family emergencies, hiccups at work, and an excessively wet winter/spring, my plan went mostly down the tubes and I arrived at Whitney at about 50%. I managed to tough it out, but swore (again) that "next year" would be more disciplined.

So far this year, though, the plan is in place and working. In previous years I would consolidate hiking with mountain biking, static upper body and core workouts, and whatever else struck my fancy. This year it's all about hiking. I logged 289 trail miles last year with a pack, but my goal this year is a minimum of 400, with a bold goal of 500.

I'm fortunate that I have an NPS-managed park with two mountains about 15 minutes from the house (Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park). It has a nice network of trails that lace the two mountains, and after years of hiking these trails I've put together a 6-mile training network that gets me about 1700 feet of elevation gain in an hour and forty-five minute workout (15 pound pack). I've managed to stick to my goal of hitting this trail network an average of twice per week, regardless of weather (did it in a fair amount of snow two weeks ago!), and have kept to it for about 4 months now. From a conditioning standpoint, I'm way ahead of where I was a year ago.

The plan is to ensure I continue to hit these trails twice per week at a minimum, increasing distance through the spring until I'm at the point I can approximate a Whitney dayhike (sans altitude) by doing this route four times in a day (24 miles, 6800 feet of gain). Last year, just prior to Whitney, I reached the point where two circuits were the max I could do in one day - and it showed once I got to the Sierra.

At 53, this is about as aggressive as I can get with training. In the past I've felt it was important to have a variety of workouts in place, but after two times on Whitney with not as much leg strength or stamina as I really needed, hiking uphill with weight on my back has taken precedence over everything else. I'll get other training in here and there, but hitting the mountains is Job One to ensure I've got the legs for the next trip to the Sierra in July.

This year on Whitney Joe won't have to pause every couple of hundred yards on the uphills to wait for me to catch up . . .