How to set SMART goals and a downloadable PDF

As we build our 10 week hiking fitness goal, it is SUPER important to work out where we want or need to be. Because if we don’t know where we are going, we can’t know if we ever get there. AND we can’t measure our progress. That’s why having a SMART goal planner is so important. As per our week one homework, here again are the steps. But let’s take it a step further and look at the immediate weeks ahead.

• IDENTIFY WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN 10 WEEKS TIME
  • Perhaps you have a scheduled multi day hiking holiday at that time or soon after that you need to boost your hiking fitness and skills
  • Maybe you are returning to hiking and your goal is to hike a local trail of 5km/3.1 miles or 10km/6.2 miles
  • Maybe you are simply wanting a pathway to longer term hiking fitness

• WRITE IT DOWN.  AND BE VERY SPECIFIC
  • ie my goal is to walk 10km/6.2miles a day each day for 5 days on a bush trail that is rocky underfoot carrying a 5-7kg backpack and wearing my Summer Hiking clothes.
  • OR my goal is to be consistently walking 5km/3.1miles, 3 times a week, including hills and being able to recover my breath quickly.

• WEEK ONE – LOOK AT WHAT YOU ACHIEVED.
  • was it all written down?
  • How did you feel?
  • What did it look like?
  • Was it overwhelm or excitement?

NOW that week one is behind us and we look forward to  week TWO, it is now time to increase one of the elements – either distance, pack weight or inclines. LET’S USE A FICTIONAL PERSON, SUE. HERE IS HOW TO BUILD UP OUR TRAINING PLAN Sue’s goal:

• On a Sunday in 6 months time be able to walk 10km/6.1miles on the Cobbler Trail and the next day walk 12km/7.45miles on the Smith Trail carrying a 5kg backpack.
• Where is Sue now?
  • Sue is currently walking 10km/6.2 miles a day several days/week
  • Sue is currently doing 250 stairs at a time
  • Sue carries limited items with her
• The GAP is this:
  • she is not used to the steep incline of the proposed trails
  • she needs to determine a way to carry items (ie a weighted backpack)
  • she is not used to hiking back to back (ie two days in a row) on the trail
  • She is possibly only walking on flat surfaces.

  SUE’s Training plan as an example How does Sue get from HERE to THERE?

• There are THREE levers we can pull and the goal is to ONLY change ONE AT A TIME and no more than 10% in the change. The reason for this is that our body needs TIME to get used to the change to avoid fatigue and minimise any risk of injury.
  • Distance
  • Weight of what you carry
  • Cardio

Here’s an example of how to do that for the next three weeks. Week one – determine where you are at Week two – as Sue has hills in her trail goal, it is best to start this one early.  Look to increase stairs or cardio from hills by about 10% from base. So if she is doing 250 stairs at a time, I would increase this to 275. Or if it is time based, then increase it from 20 minutes to about 22 minutes.  Remember cardio is the hardest. Week three – assuming that Sue has managed the increase in stairs well – that is no injury, calf muscles, ankles feel good, then the goal is to now change another variable.  IF in doubt about moving up to the next level or changing another variable, think about WHY. If it is fatigue or injury, stay where you are until it subsides.  If it is nervousness, that is ok and perfectly normal and you can move to or toward the next level. The goal, increase the weight in the backpack. So if starting out with water and it is 2litres/half a gallon then move to 2.5 litres/660oz AND keep the stairs at the higher level and the distance the same Week four – if the stairs are still going well and the backpack weight is causing no grief, then increase the distance by 1km/.62 mile (that is 10% over 10km)