What Hiking Taught Me About Getting Ready
We were hiking in Alaska last week - Yes, I get to say that! I was hiking in Alaska last week. My son, one of them, is working this summer at a cruise line excursion destination in Skagway, AK, and we went up to visit him. Skagway is nestled between two mountains and there are mountains everywhere you look, so the hiking was great.
To get started, I’m going to combine a number of recent articles and episode topics: Hiking, travel, summer camp and healing.
Years ago, the same son signed up for a 10 day adventure to hike the mountains in New Mexico with his Scout Troop. Troops are invited to apply, for example, this year for next summer, and our troop was granted an opportunity to head to Philmont, NM.
Having a full year to prepare for the adventure was a really good idea. It provided many months for the scouts to fundraise to help pay for their trip. It provided many months for the parents of the scouts to pay a little bit monthly instead of a lump sum all at once. The full year of planning, with the adventure as the goal ahead, meant the scouts could ask for the necessary specialized camping gear and clothes and hiking boots as gifts for birthdays and holidays throughout the year.
Similarly, my youngest son had the opportunity to travel to Ireland this past March with the Illinois State University March Band (The Big Red Marching Machine to be specific) to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin. We knew about the trip for more than a year and, again, we were grateful for a lot of lead time to apply for his passport, find him luggage, make small payments, etc.
What a long lead time also allowed, at least for the Hiking trip, was time to condition. The scouts needed to level up their hiking skills and capacity. Part of the preparation process over the year leading up to the hiking trip were LOTS of hikes. The scouts started with monthly hikes that weren’t too long and didn’t involve backpacks, and progressed to longer and longer hikes with heavier and heavier packs. The goal before they left for New Mexico was to have successfully completed 10 mile hikes with 50 pound packs, which is what they could expect daily on the hiking trip in New Mexico.
When we were in Alaska, we thankfully started with the hardest hike with the tallest climb. We’re glad we started with the hardest because the second and third hikes were amazing but also easier. Muscles weren’t as sore, we weren’t as winded. That first hike, though, whew. A 500 feet elevation gain, and “easy to strenuous” rating”. It is a little daunting when not once but multiple times there were actual signs posted warning us that the “next 250 feet were treacherous, to stay away from the edge of the trail (which was also the edge of the ridge)”, etc.
Do you hike? When I am on a strenuous hike, it feels like my breathing is SO LOUD, and while I admire the beauty around me, I also berate myself for every missed day of exercise and every poor nutrition choice I’ve ever made that make this hike harder than it needs to be.
The good news is that the hike itself is the point, AND the views at the top are amazing and an added bonus. There was a huge and satisfying pay-off for the work with the best views at the top (though along the way is gorgeous too, don’t get me wrong!). More good news was that the other hikes we tackled in Alaska were easier. Less elevation gain, more sure footing and still stunning landscapes. Or, were they easier because after 4 days of increased activity, we were much better conditioned to hike? I think all the factors contributed.
Let’s talk about conditioning, deconditioning and reconditioning. And what all of this has to do with productivity and organizing.
First up, we need to condition for the life we want to lead, for the goals that we have in front of us. And if we don’t have goals, we may want to start there. And we use the passage of time as the opportunity to make progress, to condition ourselves for those goals.
For example, years ago, a client asked me to help him re-organize his closet as he wanted to shift from selling residential real estate to selling commercial real estate. He wanted to tighten up his wardrobe as he felt his career would benefit from updating how he presented himself at client meetings. He wanted to get ready for the life he wanted to lead.
As I was reminded this morning in a conversation, I am conditioned as a professional singer and flutist. I have built skills and muscles over time through practice and repetition to support singing and playing my flute well. It would be tougher for other people to do what I do because they haven't been conditioned for it, and I can’t easily do what everyone else does because I am not used to that. And that’s ok.
And as in all things, maintenance is key. I stay conditioned to sing and perform so that I can quickly say yes to opportunities when they come, but also because it is easier to stay conditioned than it is to catch up.
Catching up. Let’s talk about deconditioning. I first heard the term deconditioning in the context of a loved one who had been in the hospital and needed to build up their strength again before they could be discharged to go back to living independently. I will put it in personal terms, though, so I don’t have to ask permission. I mentioned a few months ago that I had another minor surgery to remove another basal carcinoma from my shoulder.
Deconditioning can happen when we have something to recover from, when we have time of inactivity like my mandatory light duty, the three weeks of not lifting heavy things because I had a 3 inch incision on my shoulder. I needed to heal but I also couldn’t maintain or build strength in the affected side during that time. I overused my right hand and arm since I couldn't use my left. My left arm deconditioned due to lack of use. If I were to continue to do that, I bet I would end up very lopsided! So, I needed to recondition my left arm and shoulder to build back up my strength.
We need to build things back up that might have gotten a little lax. In this case, it's actual strength. So I need to build back up my strength on that side that lost strength over those three weeks. I need to divert resources back to this area to catch up, so that I am reconditioned and ready for life.
And we all have situations like that. Maybe it's work. Sometimes we divert resources, time, energy, money or stamina towards other things. Our typical ways of doing things, our muscles real or proverbial, like our time management strategies and our focus and productivity, may decondition and need to recondition.
We condition, but then a situation comes along where we decondition. Maybe it’s a vacation, or a recovery, or a work project that takes our attention from our usual work and uses other resources or skills or muscles, metaphorically or literally. But it’s ok, we know we can also recondition. And we can set our goals so we know what we are conditioning for.
For example, my new fitness goal is “Ready to hike Lower Dewey Lake”. You may not know what that means, but for me, it is the tough hike that we tackled and it gives me a goal for conditioning whether I ever go to Alaska again or not. To condition for that future hike, I need to increase cardio so my breathing capacity is better, increase activity overall so my recovery at the optional rest points is quicker. Like the scout trip preparation, we can plan to regularly tackle 3-5 mile hikes one a month so that when the opportunities come for longer hikes again, we will be ready.
What does that look like for you? How can you apply these idea? Are we looking at professional, personal or health related areas? What are your goals, and what do you need to do in small steps every day to help you prepare for and also meet those goals? Take the leap with me this week, because obviously this article and episode aren’t just about hiking. What are you conditioning for? What do you want to be ready for, should the opportunity present itself?
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Once I have the goal in mind, what I need to do to condition for that goal becomes clearer. And I can know what I am aiming for if I need to catch up again after things slide a bit. There is no quiz or competition here, it is a tool to help me guide my actions. And your actions, too!
