Improving Hiking Speed

Hiking is not a race. However, there are many hikers out there who want to improve their speed on the trail.

This might be a hiker who regularly goes out with a friend or group and feels like their speed holds them back...

Or a hiker who is booked on an organised hike with speed requirements.

Or a long-distance or challenge hiker who needs to get through certain distances in a day.

In many situations, improving your speed on the trail is a priority.

But the problem is that improving your speed while hiking can be a bit tricky.

And for many hikers, no matter how hard they try here, nothing ever seems to change...

If you are going down this route, you want to ensure that your training and physical preparation supports this. 

​So to help, today I want to share with you 3 areas of training which, if applied together, can make a genuine difference:

Improving Speed While Hiking 

1) Practising Quicker Hiking And Walking


If you want to train the body to get quicker hiking, you need to practice it! It is as simple as that. 


Everyone will always have a certain speed at which they are most comfortable and which they will 'fall back to' when they are not paying attention.


So, if we want to improve our speed, we need to expose the body and the mind to these quicker speeds - so they can get used to them and feel comfortable sustaining them.


I like to do this in a few different ways:

• Incorporate 'fast/slow/ walking intervals (where you walk around the local area and do periods of quicker walking interspersed with your normal pace)
  
  
• Train some 'quick-paced' hill or stair intervals (where you try to push your pace on a long climb)
  
  
• Occasionally do a 'time trial' hike (where you repeat a local non-technical trail you have done before and try to do it quicker than you have done previously) 

This 'quick pace' doesn't have to be done in all your sessions. But if you are actively trying to improve your speed, then getting some exposure to this in your week is important. 


2) Strength Training


Stronger muscles will be able to produce more force and will typically help you create and sustain quicker speeds on the trail.


On top of that, strength training can play a big role in reducing the chance of aches and pains creeping up - which is very common when you are trying to push your speed. 


3) Fatigue Management


When hiking at quicker speeds, you will be burning through more energy. If you don't pay attention to this, your increased speed may be short lived (and fatigue will hold you back).


Staying on top of regular fuelling and hydration is important for all hikers. But if you are trying to hike fast, this gets even more so!

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So, if you are trying to improve your speed on your hikers, make sure you are covering these three bases! And if applied consistently, they can make a genuine differnce to your speed.

And if you struggle with your speed and you haven't taken any of these areas seriously before, now you know where to focus!  

Yours in trekking,

Rowan