Tips To Survive An Unexpectedly Challenging Hike

In this episode, I explore a few simple tips you can put into place to help you survive a hike that is out of your comfort zone (and which you unexpectedly get the opportunity to tackle).

​Episode Transcript:

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. And in today's episode, we are talking through some simple tips to help you survive and thrive on an

[0:09] unexpectedly difficult hike. Now, this is a topic I've covered a few times on the podcast before, but it is something that regularly comes up with my hikers for both the people who I regularly work with and also people who just follow me and send me questions. So I definitely think it's worthwhile covering again. and essentially this is the situation which often pops up. A hiker is going out doing their training, they're building up their strength, they're building up their fitness, they're building up their hiking. Everything's going smoothly, they're having a really good time and then at some point there comes an opportunity to step up into a hike which they were not planning for, to step up into a hike which is a bit beyond their normal capabilities and step up into a hike which sounds really exciting, but it's also pretty scary. Common situations where this come from is, you know, if there's been a hiking group or a tour which had a last minute dropout and there's this space that someone's asked you to fill and you're like, oh my gosh, you know, I'm stepping out to something which I'm not ready for, but it sounds amazing. It sounds like an awesome opportunity. The stars align in regards to dates and I want to go out and do it.

[1:17] Or it may be you have a friend visiting and they're like, they're a big hiker and they've got their eye on a particular hike they want to do and they really want to get out and do it and they invite you to come along. And that sounds amazing because you get to spend time with your friend, you get to get out there and enjoy yourself, but it does make you a little bit nervous because it is something that's a little bit more difficult than you're ready for.

[1:38] Or realistically any type of situation like this, where you just get this opportunity to go out and do something, but you know it's just a little bit beyond where you were initially planning for at this time.

[1:51] But you want to make it happen, you want to get out there, and you want to give

[1:55] yourself the best chance possible. Now, in this situation, nine times out of ten, if someone asks me, is this a good idea, I usually say, you know what, go out and make it happen. Because realistically, hiking hiking is fun. Hiking's enjoyable. And if we get an opportunity to go spend time with friends or take on an adventure, which sounds amazing to us, but maybe we don't have another opportunity for a while or whatever it is, nine times out of 10, I'll be like, yeah, go out and do it. Make it happen. We'll figure it out and get through it. There may be the occasional situation where I'm like, oh, you know what? That's not a great idea. And that's specifically in a situation if someone's dealing with pain or injury history and we're like, oh, this may be a bit of a step, too big of a step up and it may put you at risk of flaring things up. But outside of that, it's often worthwhile just making it happen. But if you're in this situation and you're stepping into a hike, which you are not ready for, you don't want to just wing it. You don't just want to turn up and just go for it because more than likely, it's not going to be a huge amount of fun.

[2:56] If you're going out with a friend who's fitter than you, who's more experienced than you, trying to keep up with them and just keep up all day, the amount of stories I've heard from people who have done that and just tried to wing it. And they're like, oh my gosh, the day sucked. We had to get picked up like three quarters of the way through. Or you know what? I got to the end of the day and I was like, just had nothing in me or whatever may be. Same thing with a tour or a trip. Some people like if they just wing it and just turn up, you know, they don't have a really good time.

[3:22] So if you are in this situation, what can you do? What is the things that you can control? If you may not have a huge amount of time to train or prepare, what can you actually go about. So I'm going to talk you through a few really, really simple tips to put into action.

[3:36] So first and foremost, we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to control as many variables as we can. And what I mean by that is some of the things that will often challenge us when we go on these adventures is if we go out and we go out with a friend or go out with a trip and they just set a cracking pace and something you're just not ready for. And if you're going out and already you're stepping onto a hike, which maybe is rougher terrain than you used to, or maybe a heavier pack weight than you used to, or maybe a longer distance than you used to, or whatever it may be that's pushing you out of your comfort zone, if you combine that with a cracking pace, that can really, really, really trip you up. On top of that, quite often, again, if you're going out with someone a bit more experienced or has their own routine, quite often people will go out and they won't really have a huge amount of rest. And that's fine if it's something within your comfort zone, but if you're already pushing yourself to something that's a bit more challenging, you want to be smart with your resting as well. So the first thing you want to do in this type of situation is if it is at all possible, have a conversation with the person you're going out hiking with or have a conversation with the group and just say, hey, I'm really, really looking forward to this hike.

[4:50] I'm very, very excited for it, but it's a bit of a step up than I've done recently, and I am a little bit nervous. Do you mind if maybe we just set a bit of a slower pace? And do you mind if we plan to have some relatively regular rest, maybe a short one every couple of hours or every 90 minutes for five minutes or 10 minutes? Simply having that conversation before the hike actually starts, before you get to the trailhead, before you get to the tour, and actually express your concerns and express your situation. That can be incredibly powerful.

[5:28] Because if you just do it at the start of the day, more often than not, people will like, you know, respect that for the first half an hour, 60 minutes, but then they'll forget about it. And they'll end up just pushing the pace, pushing the pace. And it can be a little bit difficult to sort of say, hey, do you mind if we reel things back? But if you can have that conversation before and just be aware of it, like outside of the hike, It can sink in a little bit more. People can respect it a little bit more. And it's very, very, very powerful. Now, I fully understand sending out that message to maybe someone who, you know, if you're not super close with them or don't really know them so well, maybe it's a hiking group or something like that. It can be a little bit tricky to actually take that step. I fully, fully understand. But if you are stepping into something which is a little bit beyond you or be going to be stretching your physical and mental capabilities, it's definitely worthwhile. while. Let them know pacing if we can keep it relatively casual and resting if we can aim to have regular rests. And then when you get on the trip, just remind them at the start of the day and just be like, you don't have to be like real naggy and really like this. Because again, sometimes we can feel a bit self-conscious bringing this up. But just sort of mention it once at the start of the day and just say, hey, do you mind just if we keep it relatively slow? Most people are pretty happy with that.

[6:40] So that's number one, have that conversation. Number two is when we're actually on the trail, we wanna be doing everything we can to ensure we're complementing our energy and supplementing our energy and minimizing fatigue as much as we can. Because a lot of hikers can get through a long days of hiking, not being really thinking about this. But if you are pushing and stretching and you want to make sure you have the best chance possible of having a good time, we want to make sure we're doing some really, really simple things to help our energy. Now, these are really simple tips that I've covered on the podcast dozens and dozens of times, but I'll cover them again and make sure you are absolutely nailing this. First of all, nutrition. You want to make sure you're on top of your nutrition because your fuel, what you put in the body, makes such a massive difference to your energy levels. So first and foremost, we want to think about pre-hike nutrition. Making sure you're entering the day of hiking or entering the trip each day of hiking with some fuel in you.

[7:41] If at all possible, if you are not hiking at the absolute crack of dawn, make sure you get some breakfast in you. Get something with some carbohydrates, something with a bit of protein, maybe a little bit of fat, a well-rounded breakfast if you have time for that. If you don't quite have time for that, and say you are hiking straight up, you wake up, you get to the trailhead and you go, and you don't really have time to sit down and make breakfast, or you don't really want to spend the time digesting that, make sure you get at least a little bit of carbohydrates in you. Something that's relatively easy to digest. So it's not going to sit in your stomach, it's not going to be gross, but you've got something in you. So this may be a case of just having a piece of toast if you're going from home. A piece of white toast, that'll digest pretty quickly. Maybe a case of having a piece of fruit or some dried fruit. Maybe a case of having a hot chocolate or something and just having something sugary drink like that, or just having some type of fuel in you. At the very, very, very least, if even that is just like, oh, I just can't bring myself to eat anything in the morning, at least make sure the night before that you have a good dinner and you have a reasonable amount of carbohydrates in that dinner.

[8:46] Make sure at least you're starting your hike with some stored fuel, and stored fuel is your carbohydrates, and make sure you're setting yourself up there.

[8:54] Now, beyond that, when you are hiking, you want to make sure you're on top of your snacking. Because as I said, most hikers don't really eat enough. I've said that a million times on the podcast before, and that's fine for surviving. But if you are trying to really complement your energy, you want to be smart about this. So you want to be thinking about in between your meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever you're doing, depending on the trip. Make sure you are regularly snacking and regularly topping up your energy. I usually recommend trying to have a bite or two of something every hour to 90 minutes or something. And that doesn't mean having a full-blown snack and a full-blown muesli bar or something every hour, because that will make you a little bit sick. But the idea is we're kind of constantly grazing, constantly just snacking on things as we go. Now, when we're looking at these snacks, what we want to be thinking about, high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein, low fiber. The idea behind this is carbohydrates is what you're going to be using predominantly when you are actually exercising and moving. So we want to be replenishing that carbohydrate as we go through so we can complement our energy. Low fat, low protein, low fiber, the idea behind that is all of those things slow digestion down a little bit. Now, in day-to-day life, when we're sitting around at home or sitting around an office, having snacks of high fiber, high protein is good because that keeps us fuller for longer and we don't end up overeating. But when we're on the trail, we want the opposite. We don't want food sitting in our stomach.

[10:21] Making us feel a bit gross while we're exercising. We don't want food sitting in our stomach and bringing blood into the gut to digest and force that. We want stuff that's just going to digest really, really easily. So high carbohydrate, low fat, low protein, low fiber. Things like white bread or bagels or fruit or dried fruit or breakfast cereal or crackers or biscuits or chocolate or lollies or anything like that.

[10:46] Constantly grazing, having little bits and pieces. Make sure you're on top of that. And if you are doing that and the other hikers are not, that gives you an advantage. So make it happen.

[10:57] Next up is hydration. Pay attention to hydration. Drink regular water. Keep on top of it. Make sure you are not just having water at lunch and having water at the end of the day. Regularly sip. It's pretty common sense, but so many people miss that. On top of that is if you're going for a hike, which may be four hours plus or whatever it may be, definitely worthwhile considering bringing some electrolytes. Electrolytes very very useful for aiding hydration even more important when we're in like hot weather and very very very useful just to help with your endurance performance while hiking on top of that if you can get electrolyte supplement which has some carbohydrates in it again that's an easy way of just getting extra fuel i personally recommend whatever you're taking whatever you're bringing make it up in the morning before you start get moving make up a water bottle with all the electrolytes you're planning on taking the day so it's done so you don't have to mess around at lunch. You don't have to forget about it. It's all there. And you just sip it through the day. Simple as that.

[11:53] And on top of that, so we talked about pre-conversation around pacing and resting. Nutrition, make sure you have pre-nutrition and during nutrition. Stay on top of your hydration. And on top of that, just be willing to have that conversation again during the hike. And I know it can be really, really tough. But if you're getting absolutely exhausted, just be like, hey, do you mind if we slow down a little bit? I'm actually really tired. Or hey, do you mind if we just take a little bit of a rest because I'm pretty knackered? Or hey, maybe I'm just going to meet you at the top of the hill instead of me trying to keep up with you or whatever it may be. Because what typically happens when we're on the trail is sometimes things start to get on top of us. We're like, oh my gosh, I'm getting really tired. Our friend or the group doesn't really realize. We decide, you know what? I'm not going to make a fuss. I'm not going to make a big deal. So I'm just going to push through. And we get more tired and more tired and more tired. And then eventually, either they notice we're knackered or we're like, oh my gosh, I'm so tired. Can we have a rest? But by the time it gets to that point, you're knackered, you're tired, and it takes a lot of recovery. If you can get on top of this early and just pull back the pacing a little bit earlier until you feel like you really, really, really need it or get a rest before you're absolutely exhausted, this can really, really worthwhile. That power of conversation, it's just so, so, so useful.

[13:20] That it can be tough, so I fully understand. But ultimately, when it comes down to it, if you do get the opportunity for something like this, a spot comes up on a group, a spot comes up on a trip, a friend comes to town, whatever it may be, most of the time, outside of pain and injury-related concerns, I would say, give it a go, have a crack, but make sure you're being smart, you're giving yourself the best chance possible of getting through this, surviving this, and making this a positive experience. Because not only for you, That's an amazing thing, but then you can head out with your friend another time and it doesn't feel like the last time was not much fun or whatever it is. So really, really simple stuff, advice that I've covered on this podcast many, many, many times before, but hopefully for some people who may get in this situation, this is just a nice reminder to give themselves a good chance. And on top of that, all of this advice is really, really good for any type of hiking as well. So you can put into action anytime you want. So that being said, I think we'll wrap things up here. so thank you for listening hope you've enjoyed this hope you got a little bit out of it and we'll talk to you very very soon bye.

​Want to get
fit, strong and resilient for your
hiking adventures?

Check out
The Online Summit Program