Training To Hike The Tour du Mont Blanc: Interview With Jill & Dan

​In this episode, I interview Summit Strength clients Jill and Dan, who have recently come off a successful adventure of the Tour du Mont Blanc. Inside, they share some insights about their training and preparation for this iconic trail, as well as some very interesting insights about the trip itself.

A great listen for anyone who has the Tour du Mont Blanc on their bucket list, or who is interested in high altitude hiking.

How To Train For The Tour Du Mont Blanc

"We could keep up with the 20-year-olds and the guide".

How a personalised training plan helped this couple in their 50s conquer the Tour du Mont Blanc and keep up with hikers half their age.

It was great to have Jill & Dan on the Training For Trekking Podcast to talk about their second time round training with Summit Strength, as they prepared to hike this iconic high altitude adventure.

Inside we chat about:
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• The training that got Jill from struggling with her hip, to feeling much more comfortable hiking
  
• What surprised them most about doing 10 days back-to-back with zero rest days
  
• Their honest take on what they'd tell another couple in their 50s considering a trip like this

Episode Transcript:

Q: Do you just want to give us a bit of a background about yourselves? Just let us know who you are, where you're from, what do you do, and what are your backgrounds in hiking?

Jill: We're both from Northern California, the Bay Area. I'm an engineer, I work for a consulting firm. Before we started working with Rowan, my hiking background was really just hiking with friends, four to five miles once in a while on the weekends, plus very occasional backpacking.

Dan: I'm from the same place, since we live together, we're husband and wife, and I'm also an engineer. I spend a lot of time sitting down, and it feels like we've known Rowan a while since we worked with him for our Kilimanjaro hike in 2023. Before that, maybe five years ago, some of the hikes I did were just little three mile hikes going up a hill, and I'd be out of breath. So I really enjoyed the training for Kilimanjaro, and then again for this Mont Blanc hike, it was really helpful to have disciplined training.

Q: So I guess let's start with your typical approaches to training. Before we started working together, what was each of your typical approaches to training or exercise?

Jill: The last few years before we started working with you were just classes at the gym, a mix of dance, yoga, and weightlifting.

Dan: That's me. I would do my own training, which really wasn't training, I'd go use a machine, lift weights a little, then go on the treadmill and look at my phone, read emails or whatever. Nothing real disciplined and not with a real purpose. I enjoyed the classes I was doing, and then with your program we started working on certain things with routine, trying to improve our strength and stamina along the way, so that helped a lot. I kept doing classes as well to improve cardio and strength, so a combination of things, but I stepped it up trying to meet your challenges with the routine every day.

Q: Tell us about the big goal that you had set yourselves for this time around. What were you particularly trained for, and what was the instigator of this specific trip that you chose?

Jill: We wanted to do some kind of hiking trip, he wanted to go to Europe, so I came up with the Tour du Mont Blanc because I wanted to push us a little more. Since we'd done Kilimanjaro a few years earlier, I knew that if we worked at it we could get to the point where we could do it, even though in my head it felt like it was going to be harder.

Dan: When Jill said Mont Blanc, I was looking at pictures and thinking, wow, this is beautiful, we've got to do this. Then she told me it's ten consecutive days, and each day is at least five hours of hiking, almost ten miles a day, going up and down mountains with a lot of elevation gain. I thought, okay, this might be more challenging because of the longer days and distances, and there's no break, no off days. So my goal was, can I do this thing? I didn't want to be the guy who gets a ride from the hotel to the next hotel or hostel. My goal was to keep up with everybody, and it worked out, it was successful.

Q: What did make you decide that you needed a little bit of extra help with this? Were there any specific things for each of you that you needed to build up or work on to make this upcoming trip a success?

Jill: My endurance is weak, and having to hike every day for six hours was something I was concerned about, especially with 3,000 feet of elevation gain each day. That was my big motivator, I knew your program works if I'm consistent about doing it. I appreciated that you'd ask how I was feeling, whether I had any aches or pains, and you included stretching exercises for my knees and hips that I made sure to remember to do. Because of work we couldn't hike every day, so being able to hike on weekends as part of the training was great, but doing the exercises every day for an hour or so helped strengthen my knees and back muscles and reduce the pain.

Q: Tell us a little bit more about the training you went through. What did a typical week look like? How did it change along the way? Give us a rundown there.

Jill: For me, the program was two or three days of strength training each week using hand weights, plus interval training like stairs or running, and loaded pack walks on our weekly hikes. I think what helped the most was that, because I have a labral tear in my hip, you had me doing individual leg strengthening, and that was a huge help. It made the hiking, well, I won't say pain free, but as I got stronger it was less and less pain, and on the actual trip I didn't have any pain at all, except that my feet got tired.

Dan: My training was a little different because I was already doing other things, and you acknowledged that, so we adjusted, like the core exercises and the stretching, which was very helpful and I want to keep doing. I focused on one area at a time rather than trying to do everything every day, so I changed it up daily. The cycling you had me do for cardio, the slow high resistance one for strength and the fast one for cardio, helped a lot. I felt really good on the mountains going up and down, didn't have any issues, pain wise it was all manageable. I felt like I could keep going another few days, just because I enjoyed it so much, being out in the nature and beautiful scenery was great, so it was really helpful. And by the way, we're not 20 year olds, 30 year olds, or 40 year olds, we're a little older, so that's why we were concerned about trying to sustain this for 10 days.

Q: Any type of training journey is never smooth, there are always things that come up along the way, always roadblocks. For each of you, were there any particular roadblocks that came up along the way through the training, and if so, how did you go about overcoming them?

Jill: Some days I wasn't motivated. I remember one of your podcasts talking about just going out and doing five minutes, and telling myself I could quit after that if I still felt like it. Every time I did that I'd end up finishing the whole thing, but that mental idea that I could quit after five minutes helped a lot, because once I started it always felt good. In my last month of training I thought we were a little behind, then I got a cold and wasn't feeling well for a week, got over that, did a couple of hikes, and then ended up with food poisoning. So my last month didn't go well, but I ended up okay.

Dan: For me the roadblock was just time, having enough time to do everything I like to do besides work. Work gets in the way, and I also play softball and tennis and like doing gym classes. I liked that you say to just do what you can, and if you can't finish all the sets that's fine, just keep at it. One thing we never did was miss hikes, we kept up the three week hike rotation, and even on the recovery week we'd still hike anyway, with progressive weight. That helped us manage and understand our hiking pace, and it turned out we could keep up with the average hiker based on what we'd read online about Mont Blanc, which was a good sign going in.

Q: For the listeners who love the numbers, what numbers did you come up with for the average speed? Can you remember off the top of your head?

Dan: 30-minute miles on average, so faster downhill, slower uphill, depending on how steep it was. That was fine for our group, we didn't hike with the fastest group, we could keep up with the 20-year-olds and the guide while other people in the group were a bit slower.

Q: Let's get into the adventure. Tell us all about it, how did it go? Take us through the journey, give us the whole rundown.

Jill: We started off in Chamonix. We went on a guided tour, and we used the luggage service, so our bags were taken from place to place each night. I would strongly recommend that, especially since we're in our late 50s, it just made the trip more enjoyable. There were some amazing people on the trail, some were running the whole route, and we saw three people biking it, so there were some very fit people out there. But it meant we could socialise more and enjoy the scenery, and because of the training with heavier packs, my actual pack never felt as heavy as what I'd trained with, so it never felt like a burden.

Dan: Just getting to that place and being able to enjoy the landscape was great. We went in late spring and there was a lot of snow that year, so everything was blooming, I've never seen so many wildflowers. We were appreciating that along the way, plus the glaciers, snow capped mountains, and the rivers, so it didn't feel like time was dragging, you'd be halfway through the hike before you knew it and ready for a lunch break. Sometimes it was grueling going up a mountain, but the guide gave us enough breaks. He could tell, because he was in his late 20s and could keep gliding along, but he saw our pace and didn't push us, we'd take plenty of breaks and snacks.

Jill: Having our stuff moved from place to place was a good way to do it. If you're more hardcore you could backpack the whole thing, but we're past wanting to haul thirty or forty pounds every day for ten days. In general the TMB is uphill for the first half of the day, then lunch at a peak, usually at a refugio with food, drinks, and a bathroom if you buy something, then downhill. So it's lots of up and lots of down.

Dan: We were lucky with the weather in some ways, it was hotter than expected, but that meant less snow, so we never needed the micro crampons, though if we'd gone two weeks earlier it would have been a different story. We crossed some snow but it wasn't hard. We were prepared for any kind of weather, and only had one day of actual rain, which was refreshing. We did have one day of really strong wind though, right before the rain started. I was pulling my rain pants out of my pack and they were going sideways in the air, and while I was trying to put them on I think I lost a glove because it blew off the mountain. There was some weather but nothing too bad, though we're not used to it. She grew up in Kansas, they have tornadoes there, but I'd never experienced wind that strong out in the elements. It was kind of fun but also a little scary, my glasses flew off and I almost lost them.

Dan: Jill had an experience on the ladders they have there. We're strong enough to climb them, it wasn't a big deal, but they say if you're afraid of heights to be cautious, so it was a little nerve wracking. I think going up is better than going down, so I'd recommend always going in the direction where you climb up the ladders rather than down them, that's a good tip for anyone who's not a big fan of heights.

Q: You've mentioned some weather, the wind, and the ladders. Was there any other major challenge you faced along the way, or anything that was harder than you kind of anticipated or expected?

Jill: Honestly it was easier than I expected, I think I'd built it up so much in my head. Except for the last day, those ladders were tough. I don't love heights, so the ladders were hard to begin with, but more than the ladders, some sections have wood beams nailed into the rock, and those felt scarier because there's no handrail, there's no nothing, and if you fall, you fall a long way.

Dan: I think we trained just enough, not overtrained, not underdone, so it wasn't as challenging as we thought it would be going in.

Jill: One thing that surprised me was reading online that there'd be way more bathrooms and water sources than there actually were, we had one day with about five hours between bathrooms, and the rest of our group was women, so that was a long stretch. For me, two liters of water was good for a day, but he drinks three or four liters, so I was always training with a bit more weight than you'd suggest, since I carry more water. It ended up being just the right amount.

Q: Outside of those challenges, was there anything else you experienced on the trail, or went through, that you hadn't really considered or read up about?

Jill: We didn't know all the details about where we'd be staying, I thought we'd be in dormitory style places, but it was nicer than expected. We had two or three nights that were pretty basic, but the rest were nice. I think they don't tell you in advance because they don't always know weeks ahead where you'll actually be staying, so they don't want to set expectations and then not deliver. We didn't go in with high expectations, so we were pleasantly surprised.

Dan: The thing I didn't think about was getting to the hotel after a full day of hiking, exhausted and ready to rest, and then finding out your luggage is down a flight of stairs and your room is up four flights, with no air conditioning anywhere, so it was hot. Carrying luggage up four flights after hiking all day is the last thing you want to do. Some of these mountain places are geared more toward the winter ski season, so in summer when it's hot they don't have air conditioning or even much fan ventilation, so it was hard to sleep some nights. That's something to be prepared for, especially with warmer than usual temperatures.

Jill: Our group was all from Malaysia, and we'd read that lunches would be cheese, bread, and lunch meat, plus local specialties. I don't love lunch meat, but I like cheese and bread, I just hadn't thought about having cheese and bread for ten days straight. It was a lot of cheese and bread, and I realised I was gaining weight while hiking six hours a day, so we had to back off that.

Q: Ten days on the trail, going through the mountains. You got to the end, completed it. How did you feel? What was going on for each of your heads at the end?

Dan: I felt like I could keep doing this, it would have been nice to do it for a few more days because I was enjoying it so much. Around the third day it felt like, wow, we have to do this for another seven days, can we do it. But after a while we got used to the routine, and I think we even got a little stronger as we went, getting used to the up and down and the slightly higher altitude than we're used to at sea level. I felt pretty excited that we did it without any injuries to speak of. She banged her chin, but overall nothing happened early on, no one fell, which was great, there's a lot of loose rock on those trails.

Jill: I was excited, I was happy I'd done it, and sad to be leaving the group we'd been with because we'd enjoyed them so much. By the time I was coming down I had some tendinitis in my leg, so I was ready to be done hiking by the time we got to the bottom, but that was just because I'd injured it. We still managed to enjoy a nice bottle of French wine and a nice dinner in Chamonix to finish it off.

Q: Now at the other end of this, having completed the Tour du Mont Blanc, previously done Kilimanjaro, what's ahead for the future? What's the plan of attack for the hiking moving forward?

Jill: I'd like to do a hike in Nepal, but I'm not sure he's willing. It might end up being the Dolomites or the Pyrenees next.

Dan: I wouldn't mind, but altitude is the concern. On Kilimanjaro we took Diamox and that helped, so it's doable, but you have to prepare for it. We also had someone in our group on Kilimanjaro have a medical emergency and have to come off the mountain fast, so we're a little hesitant about high altitude after seeing that. As soon as we got home she was already looking at what other long hikes we could do, so we might be calling you for help with another one.

Q: A lot of people listening to this have the Tour du Mont Blanc on their bucket list. If anyone is specifically considering this adventure for somewhere in the future, what advice would you give them?

Dan: Train sufficiently so that you can enjoy it and not be in pain on the mountain. I was happy with all the training I'd done, make sure you do your interval running, or whatever interval training you do, it helps with the elevation if you're coming from sea level.

Jill: Be prepared for any conditions, especially warmer weather if you're not used to it, we were lucky in that we already experience warmer daytime weather where we live, so try to stay cool. And if you really want to see the spring wildflowers, try to go early in the summer season, though we got lucky, if we'd gone even three weeks earlier there would have still been a lot of snow on the ground, which would have been a completely different experience. Going later in the season is probably hotter with different conditions, it really depends on the year.

Q: Before we wrap things up today, was there anything else we didn't get a chance to cover that you'd like to add?

Dan: One funny story, the group we went with from Malaysia were all friends already, and we were the only two people they didn't know. It was a smaller group, twelve people maximum, which was nice. If you're doing a guided tour I'd recommend going with a smaller group, you get more of a personal touch and a real chance to meet people.
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Jill: Before each hike the guide would have us do stretches, and on the first day everyone joked that we were being turned into professional hikers because we started stretching every day before setting out. The guide would line us all up and have each person share their favourite stretch, so we'd all take turns leading one.

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