Three Peaks Challenge: 24 mile, 2,153 meters of elevation and all in less than 10hrs
Logo created to illustrate the event and promote to family & friends
After what has been a very challenging past 12 month of everyone, and as we finally look ahead to what will hopefully be a much brighter, more manageable year, myself and my cousin have taken it upon ourselves to try a new challenge, something different from our cycling based challenges that will take us out of our comfort zone. And this new challenge is hiking.
As a longtime cyclist enthusiast who cycles daily and all year round, I decided to ditch my longtime winter indoor training regime of Zwift and instead head for hills and hit the trails hiking.
With the benefit of a good cardio fitness and strong legs, managing the up's and down's of a hilly Ribble Valley and surrounding areas hasn't been much of a problem so far, the real issue is the stresses and strains on my feet and ankles that's new to me when walking for 3/4hrs. My calves are tuned for cycling, so when on long hikes I've really felt the strain, and to compounded issues I'm wearing in a new pair of walking boots (Zamberlan GTX Ultra Light) which hasn't quite gone to plan as I've managed to strain my Achilles, leaving me unable to go for a long hilly walks. I suppose it's the equivalent of getting used to a bike saddle, takes years to develop a hard under carriage!
With better weather on the horizon, bright early mornings and well rested feet with softer boots, my training will soon begin in earnest and I should be back on track and up to speed to take on this new challenge, and hopefully manage some great walks and come up with some original creative ideas.
More to follow in the coming weeks…
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