Be Aware Of Flat Hiking

In this episode, I talk about common problems a lot of hikers run into when they are tackling flat hiking and walking. 

​Episode Transcript:

[0:00] Right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, I want to talk you through a situation which you should very much be aware of when it comes down to your training and your hiking and something you want to

[0:11] keep top of mind to avoid the risk of aches and pains creeping up. And essentially, this particular episode was inspired by about four separate stories I've heard over the last couple of weeks, which basically had the same issue.

[0:26] And I feel like needs to be taught. So one of the most common aggravators when it comes down to pain and discomfort when you're hiking and when you're training is your walking speed. In the sense of if we are walking at our own natural pace, whatever our normal pace is, where if we're just walking around the shops, whatever it may be, that's all well and good and that's fine. And usually our body is pretty good self-regulating around how we feel.

[0:56] Alternatively, if we're walking at a pace which is just a little bit quicker than our natural pace, and if we're pushing things a little bit more, this does lead to some extra stresses through certain areas of the body, whether it's the feet, the ankles, the shins, the knees, the hips, a bunch of other things. Everywhere just does take a little bit extra pressure. Now, if you don't have a history of aches and pains, never have an issue at all this isn't a big deal for you but if you do have a bit of a history in regards to anything in your lower body getting a bit aggravated from time to time this is something you really really want to pay attention to because one thing that can trip people up very very easily is when they go out and do a walk or they go out and do a hike and it's really really flat and easy we end up going really really quick and this does get people into trouble so a few examples of this to put in context around what I'm talking about, is we had someone recently who's been training with us for a little while now, not a huge amount of time, but a little while now. They've been building up their strength. They've been doing their cardio. They've been doing their hiking. That's all been going relatively smoothly.

[2:07] And then they had an event just the other day where they actually had a walking event, but it wasn't a hike.

[2:13] It was a walk, which was just around a normal route. So it was a walk that was on pavement, which was for a decent amount of distance. Now, the distance itself wasn't a huge amount extra than what they've been training for, which is fair enough. But what happened was they went on this walk.

[2:30] And the next day, they pulled up with a lot of discomfort and a lot of pain. And they're like, oh my gosh, what's happened? And we were looking at things. And we're like, okay, what's sort of going on here? Looked at sort of what they'd done. and all of a sudden we realized when they were walking on this walk their speed because they've actually been wearing a tracker so we could see this their speed was really really really quick and it was significantly quicker than anything they've been doing hiking and this is purely for the fact that they were on this nice manicured surface they were on pavement they were on foot paths everything was pretty flat so they were just pushing the speed a little bit more a little bit more a little bit more than usual and if you do this in a little little period not that big a deal but if you're doing this for hours and hours, this can sometimes lead to aggravation. So this was like, okay, that's what's going on. Another situation was another client was doing just a load of pack walk and they'd been training for a hike. They've been going out doing their hikes. They've been doing lots of pack walks and they went out and did a pack walk, which wasn't too much different than what they'd done previously. But again, they pulled up with some random pain. They're like, what's going on? And then digging into it turned out that, okay, they actually were doing this pack work, it was on the concrete. And what they've been doing was because they're on the concrete, again, they were pushing the pace pretty significantly and they were really, really power walking along. And they led to some discomfort there.

[3:48] So what I'm trying to say here is just something you want to be aware of. Typically, when we're hiking, if we're going up or down hills, we're pretty good at self-regulating. And when we're on rougher terrain, we're pretty good at self-regulating pain because we're just restricted from self-regulating speed because we're just restricted from speed there.

[4:09] However, if you're going on a hike, which is considered easy, or if you're doing a walk, which is considered easy. So if you're walking on footpaths, if you're walking on manicured surfaces, if you're walking on a fire trail, if you're walking on just a nice, easy hiking trail, which is nice and flat, this is all well and good. But just make sure you manage your speed. If you catch yourself power marching along, if you catch yourself ramping things up, just pull yourself back to your normal pace. This one simple tip can just be so dramatic in regards to reducing those aches and pains creeping up, helping you feel comfortable and helping you get things through. It's a little bit funny because a lot of us don't really talk about or think about this flat walking being an issue. A lot of us don't really think about these easy trails and these easy surfaces being an issue, but it does happen more often than you'd think. So rule of thumb, if you're going on a nice easy trail, if you're on the flat, if you're out doing walks, whatever it may be, just keep your pacing normal. Keep that top of mind, make that happen, and I promise you it'll make a big difference in regards to the risk of aches and pains creeping up. So keep this top of mind as you're going through your training and as you're going through your hiking, and I think it will really serve you well.

[5:24] So with that being said, that's enough from me today. Hope that makes sense. Hope it helps a few people, and I hope a few people can keep this top of mind and help them feel much more comfortable. So thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you very, very soon. Bye.

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