[Philmont] Conditioning

O.K., this is what works for us.

Our Troop and Venturing Crew Crews make a habit of arriving out west from
flat Florida 5 days early in an attempt to better acclimate. I believe the
experts have said on this posting in the past that one needs more like 90+
days to fully acclimate. However, I personally feel that it helps if by no
other method than getting your body exposed to high physical activity before
arriving at Philmont so you know what to expect and can mentally compensate.

During our pre-Philmont trip we stay at hotels at elevations between 5.6K
and 9K ft. For these five days we do not sit around, but have lots of
physical activity everyday, including mountain biking, white water rafting,
rock climbing and a day hike up above 12K ft. This year we climbed Mt Yale
(just under 14.2K ft). Website postings said it was 8 miles round trip
starting from a parking lot at 10K ft. About of half of our 20 person
contingent summitted and the other half made it up to 12.7K ft. This last
activity is not attempted until we have been above 6K ft for at least three
days. These activities keep everyone in shape and push the body to start
compensating before we get to Philmont.

All our adults began physical conditioning at least 12 months ahead, but
most did not get serious about it until 6 months ahead of the trip. We
conduct monthly weekend backpack trips covering 15 to 25 miles during those
6 months. Our terrain is very flat (no topo lines on most of the locations
within 6 hours drive), so we push ourselves to walk fast to try to
compensate all we can for not having hills/mountains to climb. Most of the
youth didn't do a lot of extra conditioning beyond sports and the weekend
trips. However, the adults had daily programs for activity. Some walked
fast at least 4.5 miles every night after work with about half of those days
carrying a 30+ lb backpack. Most interspersed workouts on the incline
machines at the gym at least twice a week or walking fast or running up and
down the bleachers at the high school football stadium. I found
interspersing workouts on a bicycle on the road worked worked well for me
(25 miles in under 90 minutes). Everyone has someplace different they
workout. I think the important thing is that you work up to doing something
aerobic every day for at least an hour by the time you head out for any kind
of sustained physical activity trip. As long as it involves multiple groups
of muscles and pushing yourself to keep improving or at least performing at
a high level, I think it will do a lot toward getting you to your goal.

Oh yeah, the goal. That is pretty important, too. In fact, I think it is
the major factor in the differences I read about on this posting. What I
mean when I say this in this context is what level of performance/comfort do
you want to have during the trek? Do you merely want to survive, or make
into camp every night and collapse into your tent and go again the next day,
or do you want to be able to enjoy the trek without having to worry about
your physical conditioning? My goal was in the last category. I know that
a lot of adults out there that go on these trips will never do it again and
are just doing it so that their group of kids can have the time of their
lives. Nothing wrong with that. But if you don't get yourself into good
shape before hand, then you are likely to be miserable during the trip. I
personally think that most folks that have not done much backpacking or
other long term hard physical activity have no idea of what they are getting
themselves into. Therefore, they do not know how hard to train or the
importance of pushing yourself hard during training in order to be
comfortable doing the really hard activity later. Most people also do not
like to push themselves, particularly after a day at work or school.

Our adults had trained physically and mentally to do a super-strenuous trek
this summer. We were granted trek 31, but that got altered due to the fire
situation in mid to late June. We ended up with trek 30, which added more
altitude up and down and at lest 10 extra miles. I was very glad that I had
pushed myself hard during training when it came to the last two days of that
trek. All the adults had been out west before and realized the importance
of adequate training. My training was enough for me. I felt great during
the trip. I encourage everyone to get themselves into good shape before
attempting this type of trek. Who wants to be hurting during the whole trip?
That's just pure craziness. Work hard before the trip so that you can fully
enjoy the experience.

Sorry for the lengthy response. Time to let somebody else up on the
soapbox.

Best regards,
Gregg Nuessly
Venturing Crew 2125
Wellington, Florida

On 8/9/06 3:07 PM, "Stephen Readett" <spreadett@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Would anyone care to report on the success or failure of their preparations
> for Philmont.
>
> Specifically, should you have better prepared for the physical demands?
>
> Steve R.
> Preparing for '07.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
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Received on Fri Sep 8 17:42:22 2006