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This is the home page for Boy Scout Troop 1116 based in Sugar Land, Texas.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Hiking Socks
You need to have good hiking socks before you purchase new boots. You'll want to be wearing your hiking socks when you try on the boots. I have had pretty good luck with Thorlo brand. The scout shop sells Boy Scout hiking socks (made by Thorlo) for about $12.00. Oshman's, Academy, and REI sell Thorlo hikers for about the same price. The socks you get should not have ANY cotton in them. Orlon is a good synthetic, wool is a good natural fiber.
Another strategy is to wear two socks on each foot. A thin pair of wicking synthetic fiber like polypropylene against the skin with a thicker, usually wool sock over that. The idea is that the inner sock wicks the moisture away from your foot and into the outer sock where it can evaporate.
I have gone on some fairly long runs with very wet feet. One run in San Antonio had about 1/4 to 1/2 mile of the trail under 2 inches to 2 feet of water. I ran the whole thing (just under 8 hours) without any blisters wearing the Thorlo thick running socks. I changed into dry socks halfway through but they were wet again within minutes.
Another strategy is to wear two socks on each foot. A thin pair of wicking synthetic fiber like polypropylene against the skin with a thicker, usually wool sock over that. The idea is that the inner sock wicks the moisture away from your foot and into the outer sock where it can evaporate.
I have gone on some fairly long runs with very wet feet. One run in San Antonio had about 1/4 to 1/2 mile of the trail under 2 inches to 2 feet of water. I ran the whole thing (just under 8 hours) without any blisters wearing the Thorlo thick running socks. I changed into dry socks halfway through but they were wet again within minutes.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Next Weeks Training Plan
Here is my training plan. There are two goals to this plan.
1) Build leg and back muscle strength.
2) Build aerobic capacity.
We start out small and build up. Here are the basics:
Each workout during the week is :30 minutes. We'll do three workouts
during the week. That's 1:30 minutes each week. These workouts can be
accomplished on our own. Each weekend we'll do a longer workout together
and push the distance and weight up. The first week will go like this:
Monday :30 min walk
Tuesday :30 min walk in boots with mostly empty pack
Wednesday off
Thursday :30 min fast walk
Friday off
Saturday 3 mile walk
Sunday off
Subsequent weeks will push the pace and/or the weight on the 30 minute
workouts. We'll try and get up to 10 miles with full pack on the final
weekend. The progression will go like this:
May 14 3 miles
May 21 5 miles
May 28 5 miles w/ light pack
Jun 04 6 miles w/ light pack
Jun 11 5 miles w/ med pack
Jun 18 7 miles w/ med pack
Jun 25 5 miles w/ heavy pack
Jul 02 8 miles w/ heavy pack
Jul 09 10 miles w/ heavy pack
Obviously we can be flexible. The more we do, the easier the trip will
be. Altitude will be a factor so we need to train aerobically. Biking
and swimming will help as will stair climbing.
1) Build leg and back muscle strength.
2) Build aerobic capacity.
We start out small and build up. Here are the basics:
Each workout during the week is :30 minutes. We'll do three workouts
during the week. That's 1:30 minutes each week. These workouts can be
accomplished on our own. Each weekend we'll do a longer workout together
and push the distance and weight up. The first week will go like this:
Monday :30 min walk
Tuesday :30 min walk in boots with mostly empty pack
Wednesday off
Thursday :30 min fast walk
Friday off
Saturday 3 mile walk
Sunday off
Subsequent weeks will push the pace and/or the weight on the 30 minute
workouts. We'll try and get up to 10 miles with full pack on the final
weekend. The progression will go like this:
May 14 3 miles
May 21 5 miles
May 28 5 miles w/ light pack
Jun 04 6 miles w/ light pack
Jun 11 5 miles w/ med pack
Jun 18 7 miles w/ med pack
Jun 25 5 miles w/ heavy pack
Jul 02 8 miles w/ heavy pack
Jul 09 10 miles w/ heavy pack
Obviously we can be flexible. The more we do, the easier the trip will
be. Altitude will be a factor so we need to train aerobically. Biking
and swimming will help as will stair climbing.
