Are You Improving?

In this podcast I talk through some important measures to keep in mind to understand if your hiking is improving (or not). 

​EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

[0:00] Right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are talking a little bit about measuring your progress when hiking, and specifically measuring your progress when you're training for hiking. Because ultimately, when it comes down to training for hiking, when you're actually making the effort to put some sessions into your week, to do some workouts, to do some exercises, to build up your hiking, most of us enter in that having some specific measures that we want to improve on. You know, for some, it may just be a case of saying, hey, you know what, I just want to get ready for this adventure and I want to kind of be ready for this. But for a lot of us and most of us, we'll have some specific things we really feel like we need to improve on. So for example, a really, really common one is obviously improving breathing on steep uphills. And a lot of people tend to get really huffed and puffed and really breathless when they're climbing up hills. And a lot of hikers are like, you know what, I want to use my training to make that a little bit more comfortable. Or another one might be like, you know what, actually, the other day I went out and carried a pack and it sucked. It was not enjoyable. It was a real struggle. Or it may even be a case of, look, I carried a certain amount of weight. That really, really was difficult. And in eight weeks time, I actually need to carry double that weight. And I'm really, really uncomfortable about that. Or maybe saying, hey, I want to improve an ache or pain, like knee pain, foot pain, whatever it may be. Or really a dozen other things. Most of us come into our training having some specific things we want to improve on. And that.

[1:25] Is definitely a good thing because we always want to be aware of like what's going on, what we're aiming for, and just having these particular goals can definitely be really beneficial.

[1:34] And sometimes we can get a little bit obsessive about these things. And sometimes, you know, particularly when we've had bad experiences with these in the past, they can kind of just get ingrained in our head. And kind of when we're out on the trail, or every time we're climbing up a hill or every time we're putting on a pack or every time we're cruising along, sometimes this can just be at the top of our mind and it can just go turnover, turnover, turnover, turnover in our mind. And for the people who are seeing, doing their training and seeing regular improvements in these things, and you're like, you know what, every single week I'm feeling more comfortable with this pack or every single week I'm getting a little bit less pain or whatever it may be, this can be great. It can feel amazing. It can feel awesome. It can just really give you a huge amount of positive momentum.

[2:23] However, on the flip side, you know, sometimes things are just not quite as simple as that. And sometimes certain measures of improvement that you really, really, really want to improve on can be a little bit stubborn and can just not want to change or can just feel like it's not improving. And it may sometimes feel that no matter what you're doing or how much effort you're putting into your training, that you're not seeing progress. Because every single week you're getting out on the trail, you're going hiking, and every single week you're like, oh my gosh, I'm still out of breath. Or every single week you're like, oh my gosh, you know what, the pack is heavy. Or every single week you're like, oh you know what, my pace is still a little bit slow, or whatever it may be. And it can be a really, really, really tough thing. It happens all the time. So if you ever find yourself in a situation like this, and you've got a specific measure you want to improve on, but it's just staying in your head. It's been a bit stubborn. It's turning a little bit negative and you're really, really starting to beat yourself up. I have one really important piece of advice for you. Please take a step back and have a look at the bigger picture.

[3:32] Because ultimately sometimes we can get just so focused and so myopic around one area of progress. We can just miss all the good that is happening in other areas. And it's that sort of thing that's like, like you miss the forest for the trees. You're just absolutely focusing on one small thing, but you're missing the bigger picture. Because ultimately, when it comes down to hiking, there are many, many, many measures of improvement when it comes down to this, and you don't want to forget that.

[3:59] So ultimately, if you ever find yourself in this situation, and you're ever wondering, hey, is all my hard work and my training worth it? I want you.

[4:08] Take a step back, find a quiet place. I want you to think back to your past self. So before you actually started this recent training process or whatever you're doing. And I want you to ask yourself a few questions. Ask yourself, can you now hike at longer distances at the same level or easier of comfort and difficulty compared to where you were when you started? Can you now hike longer hikes at the same level or less pain can you now carry a heavier pack for the same distance or even longer or more difficult hikes are you feeling more confident in certain situations on the trail such as steep descents or rock hopping or whatever may be is your breathing recovering more quickly once you get to the top of a steep ascent So if you hop and pop up at a hill, when you actually get to the top and get back to the flat, is your breathing recovered quickly? More quickly? Are you recovering more quickly from either pain or fatigue after your hikes? Did you used to be in pain for days on end, but now you're only in pain for a few hours? Or did you used to absolutely be knackered for the rest of the day, but you know what, in an hour or two you feel like you go again? And are you finishing your hikes with more energy? you? Do you get to the end of the hikes and you're like, you know what, actually I could keep going if I really wanted?

[5:37] Now, if you answered yes to any of these questions, you can be pretty confident that you are seeing progress, that you are moving forward, that your hard work with your training is paying off. And yes, while if a certain measure that you want to improve on is being a little bit bit stubborn and it just doesn't seem like it's improving, I really, really, really want you to acknowledge your progress in other areas because it's so, so, so, so important. Because when it comes down to it, we are always our own worst critics. We always get sucked into the negatives.

[6:14] We always beat ourselves up and talk ourselves down. And if we do get stuck in this loop and you get stuck in this negative thinking, you're focusing on the things that are not improving, ignoring all these other things, it's a really fast road just falling out of your routine, falling out of your training, falling out of whatever good things you're doing right now, and ultimately just going back to square one, either doing the things you were doing previously which weren't helping anyway, or absolutely doing nothing. I've seen it so many times from people, both in the hiking world, but also in a bunch of other places, situations and training as well. And ultimately, if you do fall out of this, if you're doing things and you're seeing progress, but you're not acknowledging it.

[6:56] And you fall out of this routine, not only will this probably eliminate any chance of you actually improving those areas you want, if they're being stubborn, you need to keep on working with them, and eventually they'll get there. But it will also stop all that other great progress which may be happening. Because if you don't acknowledge it, you don't know what's going on, and you'll lose it. So ultimately, if you ever do feel like your progress with your training is slow, take a step back and really have a look at the bigger picture if you run through those questions or similar questions and you can identify some potential areas that things are moving forward and you're like yes i am progressing yes my hard work is actually paying off then great awesome super positive and then you need to make the decision saying okay i'm going to keep on this track i'm going knowledge i'm just going to keep on moving forward or what i'm doing right now is great, I just need to add a little bit more just to add for those other areas. Or alternatively, if you ask yourself those questions and you're like, you know what? I'm actually not seeing any improvements in any areas and I'm working really hard and none of that stuff's improving. Well, that's when it's a sort of clear sign saying, look, you probably need a change in one way or another.

[8:09] So a little bit of food for thought here. If you ever do find yourself in this situation and you're really, really, really getting myopic on those particular areas. It's very hard to be self-aware around this, but try your best. Take a step back, ask yourself those things and have a little bit of self-assessment. You may be surprised about what you're actually accomplishing. So with that being said, thank you for listening. I hope this gets through to a few people who may need this at a certain point in their training and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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