Training for Peak Vacation Enjoyment

Brochures and Web sites depicting action vacations such as walking, hiking, cycling and kayaking emphasize the natural beauty you’ll encounter on the trip, the chance to get away from it all, the opportunity to see other parts of the country or the world and the vacations’ re-energizing potential.

Read further, exercise experts say. Pay attention to the part that tells you how far you’re likely to hike, cycle, walk or row.

Being properly prepared for action vacations can make or break a trip. And proper preparation doesn’t stop at packing the right gear. Training is crucial, even for travelers already in good physical shape.

“The industry is focused on ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get you there,’ ” says CC Cunningham, a Chicago exercise physiologist who has cycled coast to coast and specializes in training adventure athletes. But how well you train, she tells clients, can mean the difference between seeing the back roads of Italy from your bike or from the back of the support van that rescues dropouts.

Before booking, find out the daily distance, total distance and level of difficulty, says Richard Cotton, a San Diego exercise physiologist and spokesman for the American Council on Exercise. It might be too much for you--or too little. Get a sense of what you will be doing on a typical day. On Web sites, many adventure travel companies list detailed itineraries, down to the miles covered in a day and the type of terrain.

Armed with that information, you can design a training plan. For a moderate-to-difficult trip, if you are in pretty good physical shape, plan to spend four to six weeks training specifically for the trip, Cunningham says. Sedentary travelers should allow three or four months to get in shape.

Gradually build the amount of exercise you do, but be sure to mimic the activity you’ll be doing on the trip whenever possible. If you’re going on a hiking trip that involves six or seven hours of hiking a day, “you should know you can hike for six or seven hours,” Cotton says.

It sounds obvious, but Cunningham says she’s found that many active travelers think if they jog regularly, for instance, they can easily do a walking trip, or if they take an indoor cycling class at their health club, an outdoor cycling tour will be a snap. Not necessarily. Indoor cyclists, for instance, are usually in a different position and balance differently than outdoor cyclists.

Mimicking the activity in training is probably hardest for kayakers. Cotton suggests training on an indoor rower.

Walkers should train outside whenever possible, instead of on a treadmill, and carry the pack they are planning to take.

Hikers should train on mixed terrain, Cunningham says. Everyone worries about uphill, but training downhill is vital too. Practice hiking on trails, she suggests, and on stepping on roots and debris. Wear your pack so you’ll get used to the feel and weight.

Cyclists should be sure their seat is comfortable, because saddle sores are the No. 1 destroyers of cycling vacations, Cunningham says. Padded shorts are a must. In training, she advises, focus on the upper body, hand and shoulder muscles.

Kayakers often focus on their arm muscles, thinking those are most important. Not so, Cunningham says. Focus instead on strengthening your abdominal and back muscles, where most of the effort is felt during kayaking. Do oblique crunches (which require an up-and-rotate motion). Improve your hand grip by doing dumbbell work.

Train in the weather you may experience. If it’s raining, don’t automatically head for the gym to train, Cunningham says. Practice drinking water while in motion.

The biggest jolt to many action vacationers is the impact of the day-after-day exercise, Cunningham says. In training at home, they may work out every other day. But on the trip, the hikes or the cycling probably will occur every day. To get people accustomed to back-to-back exercise, Cunningham designs training programs in which people work out three days in a row, take a couple of days off, then work out on consecutive days again. She suggests that vacationers-in-training work out at night, then get up the next day and exercise for 15 minutes to feel what it will be like on the trip.

Then, to get used to the feeling of constant motion, Cunningham suggests taking a jump rope to work when the trip date is near. Once an hour, head to the restroom or an out-of-the-way spot to jump rope for two to five minutes.

And if you plan to take new gear or shoes, buy them far enough in advance to break them in.

Healthy Traveler appears on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Kathleen Doheny can be reached at [email protected].