Training For The Kokoda Track: Interview With Marika

​In this episode, I interview Summit Strength hiker Marika, who recently successfully completed the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. Inside, she shares how she trained and prepared for this strenuous trail, and gives some insight into her experience on the trail. 

Episode Chapters:

0:12 Introduction to Marika
1:57 
Training Approaches and Goals
4:51 
Training for Kokoda
8:45 
Overcoming Challenges
10:44 
The Trek Experience
17:26 
Reflections on Completion
19:41 
Future Hiking Plans
21:23 
Advice for Aspiring Hikers
22:43 
Closing Thoughts

​===

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

Check out the Online Summit Program: https://www.summitstrength.com.au/online.html

​==

How Marika Got Fit And Strong For The Kokoda Trail 

Episode Transcript:

[0:00] Light hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we interview Summit Strength Hiker Marika, who has recently come off a successful

[0:09] trip on the Kokoda Trail in Papa, New Guinea. And in this episode, we talk about her trainings and her preparations for this absolutely strenuous trail, as well as talk through her experience and her insights going through this amazing adventure. So for anyone who's dreaming Kokoda or maybe thinking of hiking in the jungle one day, this is a fantastic episode. So I really hope you enjoy it. All right. Hello, hello, Marika. A big welcome to the show. Hi, Rowan. How are you? Yeah, I'm good. And I'm very much looking forward to diving into things today. And yeah, just hearing a little bit about this trip you've just very recently come back from. So with that being said, to start things off, I'd love a little bit of introduction to the listeners. If you could just let us know who you are, where you're from, what do you do, and what is your background in hiking?

[1:04] Okay, my name is Marika. I'm from a small little community on the coast just north of Foster on the midcoast in New South Wales. I'm an accountant, been in the accounting industry for a long time, like about 35 years now. And I've just recently resigned from a position I've held for about 26 years so I'm yeah I'm just in that space of trying to work out what the next year is going to look like for me and what the next step is um and hiking wise mum introduced me to hiking but it wasn't that long ago it's probably only about 10 years ago um and she, got my daughters and I, my two daughters and I, to go with her on a group hike on the six-foot track in the Blue Mountains.

[1:53] It was a supported hike. And so we all had a really great time. And that was probably the start. I was going through a divorce at the time. And so it was just a really good way to keep me occupied. And yeah, so I've been doing, I've done a number of hikes since most of them have been supported. But yeah, some of the Blue Mountains, some in Tassie, New Zealand for a little bit and um before this one my largest my largest hike was Larapinta a couple of years ago, Then before we started working together, how did you typically approach your training?

[2:32] It was pretty relaxed, to be fair. I had a regular 30-minute personal training session a week, and that was about it. If I was coming up to do, like, say when I did Lara Pinta, I would just go on other walks. I, you know, I would just add walking into my routine, but my, up until starting to work with you about, what was that? Probably nine months ago. Um, I, you know, my, my activity levels were pretty minimal and it wasn't a big focus of my life. No. Fair enough. And then I guess before we started working here, before we, I guess, started chatting, what was the big goal that you'd set for yourself? And was there a particular instigator for this goal at all?

[3:30] Yeah. So the goal was Kokoda. And it was obviously, it was a track, I think most Australians know of it. And it was a track that was, you know, in my mind, but not really in my mind for something that I would do I always assumed it was way out of my skill set my ability but my partner had always had it on his list and again not something that um that I thought I would join him in but he booked he booked um the trek about a year ago and I did not I was gonna be his thing um but after a couple of months I thought oh gosh all right let's go for it um and yes I'm going to put all the blame squarely on Paul but it was um it was a really good challenge to jump into.

[4:22] And then for all the listeners who are not in Australia, Kokoda, the Kokoda Track, is an awesome trail in Papua New Guinea, very, very part of Australian history. And, yeah, it's a very, very big one for Aussies to go and accomplish. And, yeah, very, very, very challenging, but very, very rewarding.

[4:43] So, with that being said, with Kokoda in your sights, tell us a little bit about the training you did through Summit Strength.

[4:52] Oh, sorry. No, I'm ahead of myself. What made you decide to reach out for extra help? What were the things you kind of felt like you needed help with leading into this trip?

[5:02] Oh, gosh. As I mentioned, I wasn't much of a trainer. And so this was such a leap that there was just no ability for me to even put together a training program or even know what I needed to do so I I sort of realized that I needed to get some assistance with that and so thankfully I think I must have seen summit on Instagram and and reached out to connect with you guys um and so that worked really well because it was what I mean I don't know but for me going up hills is just like the most torturous thing in the world to do I you know can walk all day if it's relatively flat if it's downhill don't have a problem but uphills I I become a whole different person and and you know looking at the um looking at the map of Kokoda that was going to be a really big challenge for me um also around the time that I reached out to you Rowan I was having I'd just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and so there was some other sort of little medical concerns that I had as well so I just wanted to make sure that what I was doing um you know was appropriate for for my health and for where I was medically and yeah just really looking for that support.

[6:21] And then tell us a little bit about the training we did do together and that you did through Summit Strength. What did your actual program look like? Yeah, I am. So I think it was about eight weeks before the trek itself, eight weeks, eight months before the trek itself. And I could see that I could commit to four sessions a week. And so I typically did two strength sessions a week, an aerobic session. And then there was like a loaded pack or a stick or a hill climb in session that we were doing. Most of those sort of took somewhere between, say, you know, 50 minutes and an hour on most weeks. And then we threw in a hike every three weeks and they would progress. There would be additional weights in the pack and, you know, various different lengths. So that's what that's what that period of time looked like for me. There was also I also did, aside from the stuff with someone, I also did some yoga and bits and pieces. But that was that was the core of what I was what I was doing. And then was there anything in there that was maybe a little bit different than what you'd done in the past? Absolutely. Pretty much most of it.

[7:43] I've never focused on strength training before. My PT sessions were mostly aerobic.

[7:54] And even when I did my other hiking, I really didn't train with a loaded pack or a weighted pack or do really any significant or dedicated hill climbing. So that was quite unique. But the big factor for me that I noticed was the specific training with like the nose breathing pace. I was someone who used to think, oh, look, let's just get in and get this done as quickly as possible. And so that was really new to me. But it made such a difference in my ability to uphill climbs on hikes. And then through the training process, as we always say, there's no process

[8:42] that's ever completely smooth. There's always things that come up. So in your story, were there any particular roadblocks that came up along the way? And if so, how did you go about overcoming them? I am...

[8:56] I certainly had a bit of a mind block with some uphill training that I was doing and we were doing, and there was a local track that was the perfect track for us to be training on, but I just had a number of really negative experiences on that track. And so every time I went there, I just, you know, I ended up getting really quite worked up and a bit anxious about how it was going to look and normally had a pretty woeful life.

[9:26] I would be huffing and puffing and I'd be stopping and I just would be talking myself out of that process. And so I really appreciated we caught up about that and we sort of set a bit of a plan in motion where we sort of hit pause on that track for a while. We just continued with my nose breathing training and my training in general and then set up a timeframe. I set up a timeframe where I would go and do that track on my own, just really took the pressure off myself but strangely enough it was it was a beautiful day and I was able to walk it was it's a short track and it's all uphill so it's you know two k's which is not very not very long but it was just it's all uphill there's no relief from that and lots of stairs involved but this day turned that all around and I was able to to walk up there I didn't stop. I just took my time. There was no pressure. And yeah, that was such a big goal for me in the preparation of this because it gave me a lot of confidence. And in the end, in the lead up to Kokoda, I was doing that hike on repeat. So I'd hike up, come down, hike up, go down and back up again. So that was so important for me to be able to overcome that.

[10:44] My mindset on that trail and then let's talk about the trip now so we've done the training you put in the hard work you built yourself up over those months you flew over there got on the trail how did it all go give us the rundown give us give us the whole story it was amazing it was oh gosh it was so tough it's the toughest thing I've ever done um it was pretty humbling but it It was sort of you'd go through those moments where I'd be, you know, partway up a hill and all of a sudden I'm like, oh, it looks like I just live here now. I'm obviously not going to get to the top.

[11:23] And I don't want to go back because there's more hills backwards. But it was just, but then within two minutes you'd be, you know, you'd just be in awe of the people you're with. The jungle was just so beautiful. and yeah it was it was it was really quite amazing how hard and tough it was but at the same time, it was just really such a delightful experience which seems a bit weird because it it was pretty um it was pretty tough we were with a really great group of people there was about 20 people on the tour um and everyone was really supportive of each other I had I had a porter and his name was Aaron and he was he was just an angel so he spent he probably spent I don't know maybe 70 percent of the 100 k's that we walked holding my hand whether that was uphill or downhill uphill was probably to help me with my pacing and downhill was to make sure that I was you know I didn't sleep but it was yeah it was pretty tough and.

[12:29] And then talk us through, like, I know there's more and more and more challenges because I've been on that trail. I've experienced it. I know just how tough it can be. So what were the other challenges you faced? Like, what did you come across? What, how did you overcome them? Like, talk us through that. It was, okay, I studied the elevation and the, and the map before I went. And I sort of, I documented all that because I'm sort of someone who likes to know what, what's coming. And that was really helpful but probably 90 k's of the 100 was either really steep up or really steep descents it was it was neither it was it wasn't overly comfortable hiking we had it was the start of the um the wet season so the track was wet um which meant the clay was really slippery, and in fact it was actually better when it was raining I found it was less than it was actually in the afternoons when it was raining. And then you'd sort of think, oh, that's great. We're not in clay anymore. We're in the jungle. There's some more tree roots. But the roots were slippery. So you just had to be really careful about where you're putting your feet. So most of the time I walked with my head looking at either my feet or my porter's feet or the person in front of me. I also ended up with the flu on day four, which I –.

[13:51] That really knocked me around for a couple of days. So that was, it was tough to sort of stay in a really positive mindset when your body was just feeling all of the things that you normally feel with the flu. Some of the, it didn't really matter. It was probably the first time I've ever hiked where sometimes going down was just as bad as going up. So it was so, some parts were really technical. We'd have, you know, porters in front and behind us to sort of make sure we didn't slip. But sometimes it just felt like it was almost vertical trying to get up and down the terrain. It was really challenging. There wasn't too many moments in a day where you're like, you could just relax.

[14:42] And then aside from those particular challenges, was there anything else you ran into on the trail that I guess maybe you hadn't first considered before you set off? Yeah, probably. I was really concerned about the unity, so I'd given that a lot of thought, but what I hadn't really considered was the consequences of that. So being wet from the time you started hiking to the time you finished and not from rain, sometimes actually the rain was really welcoming in the afternoon, but just from perspiration, I didn't really expect that I'd just be so wet all day. It was really interesting and something that I hadn't considered at all. Um and the lack of sleep like I my bed set up was I was really happy with that I was really comfortable but just sleeping in a really small area with such a group of people like there was probably 20 of us on the tour and then we had I don't know we probably had another 30 porters with us who helping us on the track and cooking for us and doing all those wonderful things and so you've got 50 people in a really small area um.

[16:01] That was, yeah, that was interesting. So eventually I remembered I had earplugs, so I did drag those out. That helped a lot. But I did rather than concentrating on getting sleep, I just really focused on just resting of a night time. There was a number of nights where I didn't, I don't know that I got too much sleep at all. There was one particular night where it was raining. There was quite a number of us in a hut. And it was quite well known that there were rats in that area and I woke up to some scurrying. So after that there was no sleep for me. And I'm not overly worried about critters. I grew up on a farm, but, yeah, there was no sleep after that one for me.

[16:51] So talk us. All right, you go, sorry. No, I was just going to say, but most of the, like, I felt really, the thing that surprised me, was that I woke up and I wasn't overly sore so I felt really prepared physically for the trip and I'd worked with Kyle from Valley to Peak on my nutrition and making sure that I had you know a really good mix of snacks that would support me through there as well. So I feel like I feel like I ticked off a lot of boxes but yeah those couple of things were a bit of a surprise.

[17:26] And then talk us through, you got through, you know, this massive trip, you got through all of these challenges, you got to the end. Like when you're sort of finishing up, how did everything feel? Like what was going through your head and did you do anything in specific to celebrate afterwards? It was really quite, it was really beautiful. We hiked out and we finished on Remembrance Day, so the 11th of November. Um and while you know on different days there might have been a bit of distance between us we only had about we only had about a k and a half to walk out on the last day which doesn't sound like very far but it was all vertical it was all uphill um and so we all were quite, sort of we all headed off in our normal sort of um order um and then before we went under the archers we all sort of stopped and waited and everyone sort of came through together and there was a beautiful sort of honor guard from the porters it was really it was really overwhelming um it yeah it's it it was a beautiful experience to have with everyone that we just spent, nine days with and it's amazing how you get to know people so well on those sort of experiences So it was, yeah, I felt incredibly proud of what I'd achieved considering the.

[18:56] Yeah, considering where I've been 12 months before, I really wouldn't have suggested that I could have done that. So I was really proud of what we've achieved. And I had such a renewed amount of confidence and trust, not just in me, but in my body. Like it was really quite a wonderful experience. And then we all headed off to the war cemetery and got to experience a couple of hours there in a service, which, you know, which just sort of cemented the importance of what that journey was for not just us. There was about 10 people in our group that were ex-Army members and so it was a really very meaningful end to the trip.

[19:42] So now that you're home and now that the trip's, you know, a little bit behind, you're obviously not forgotten, but you're kind of getting back into the swing of normal life again. What's your intentions and plan of attack for your hiking moving forward? Are you thinking another big trip somewhere in the future? Are you going to keep things a little bit more casual for a while? What are you thinking on that front? I really had such a wonderful time, even though in moments and I did reread my diary this morning and there were some serious moments where I was doubting myself and didn't necessarily want to be there. I have such a beautiful experience and such wonderful memories. I would love to make sure that, you know, at least maybe once a year or once every 18 months I do something of that sort of significance. My daughters are travelling in South America in 26, So I'm hopeful that I'll get to go and do a hike in Peru. I don't know what that looks like yet, but hopefully something will happen sort of midway through this year in relationship to that. And then there's been a couple of treks on my bucket list, but it's sort of one of those bucket lists that you never think that you'll be able to achieve. But I think that they may actually be possible. So they're sort of more in the Himalayas, which is going to be a whole different sort of challenge. But yeah, definitely, we'll definitely be continuing.

[21:11] And then if anyone today was listening to this episode and they were one of these people who had the Kokoda track, you know, on their list and they've been dreaming about that for years and they're like, you know what,

[21:22] I really do want to make this happen. If anyone else was considering, you know, the Kokoda track, what specific advice would you give them? Oh, do it. Absolutely do it. It was such an amazing experience, but I definitely.

[21:40] Definitely know it's challenging and I don't think anyone in Australia you know would be surprised by that um but I would recommend you start training training as early as you possibly can and just stay consistent and that was that was sort of my that was sort of my um my focuses and yeah it sort of it made a really big difference to me um and if you don't if you don't know what you're doing training wise ask for help and and get someone to to put something in place for you, with um particularly with that that hike or with hiking in mind it was it made such a difference to my ability to to finish um finish the trek and not just finish it but to sort of come home with no injuries I didn't you know no blisters and not even you know I really wasn't even and sore afterwards, which was a bit of a surprise. But, yeah, aside from being tired, I felt really good. So I'd definitely do it. Go for it.

[22:44] Yeah, fantastic. And I think this has been super, super, super interesting to kind of dive into your story a little bit today. And it was really, really nice just hearing about some of the challenges and things you've overcome and all of that. So I guess before we kind of finish things up today, Was there anything else that we haven't had a chance to cover today or anything else you'd like to add that we haven't had a chance to talk about?

[23:12] I mean, aside from the fact that I could talk in great detail about the trek itself, so that I'd really like to, I mean, I really need to thank you, Rowan, for being available and to getting organised and having a programme that supported me in a way that let me be consistent with it and prepared me well. That was, it made such a difference to whether we did have someone, unfortunately, that didn't finish the trek on ours. So you could see how, you know, how important it was to be prepared. But, yeah, it was that made such a difference for me. Thank you. No, my absolute pleasure. And, you know, it was such a pleasure being part of your journey leading into it. And I'm so happy that all your hard work and your diligence with the training all paid off. So with that being said, I just want to say a massive thank you for coming on the podcast today. I think this has been a really, really awesome episode. I think a lot of people are going to really enjoy hearing your story and your insight, and I really do appreciate you coming on. So thank you so much. Thanks, Rowan. I really appreciate it.

[24:22] So there you go, guys. I really do hope you've enjoyed today's episode. If you were in a position where maybe you are eyeing off Kokoda and you wanted to be in a great position for this adventure, or maybe you're just looking at building yourself up for another multi-day or challenging hike, and you wanted to get in a good spot like Marika, I would love to chat with you. If you want to find out a little bit more about the program that Marika used to prepare for this trip, you can go to summitstrength.com.au slash online now on that page there's a big video which talks through our program and if it sounds like something you'd like to get involved with or at least learn a little bit more about there's a link on that page where you can book a free call with our team and we can have a chat about you your situation your hiking and ultimately see if and how we may be able to help you out so if you want to check it out you can go to summitstrength.com.au slash online and we can take it from there so thank you so much for listening hope you've enjoyed 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