Best way to train for a 14er?

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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CaptainSuburbia
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Re: Best way to train for a 14er?

Post by CaptainSuburbia »

Best way to train would be to start up a lawn care business. I mow 25 lawns a day and never need to train.
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ltlFish99
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Re: Best way to train for a 14er?

Post by ltlFish99 »

+1 On the bear peak via fern canyon recommendation, and also the sniktau recommendation.
Cupid is nice to add to sniktau if your feeling good.
VickieLynn1121
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Re: Best way to train for a 14er?

Post by VickieLynn1121 »

Keep doing what you’re doing as it sounds like it’s working for you. Congrats on the healthy changes! Continue to lose the extra weight as that will be the biggest help to you. If you can do Bear Peak, up through Fern, you can do quandary. If you have a 4x4 vehicle, I would actually recommend doing Huron over quandary though. It’s a really beautiful climb and just about the same stats as quandary.
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madbuck
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Re: Best way to train for a 14er?

Post by madbuck »

Dave B wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:52 am I actually like the book (and TftNA) a lot, I think they're great tomes on developing an advanced base of endurance and a lot of people have found a lot of success implementing their recommendations and training plans. But, I also think the audience they're geared towards is not the standard 14erering weekend warrior type, who just wants to be able to do hikes on the weekends without feeling like they're going to die. For that group, just hiking more will work, without worrying themselves too much with heart rate zones, ADS, metabolic pathways, and macrocycles. TftUA a $100 solution to a $0.05 problem for most people, and it makes training god-awfully boring to boot.
Fair enough, since you singled it out I thought you disliked the book and people who liked it, which surprised me because it seems to me to be interesting but approachable science, and you're a fellow scientitious-like person.

But your observations of being overly-reductionist are also spot-on. In a more practical, holistic approach in the general sense, you're right: adherence, avoidance of injury, and optimizing limited time would be considered more. A balance of cycling or swimming does sound better than running slower miles and hating it.
CaptainSuburbia wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 1:48 pm Best way to train would be to start up a lawn care business. I mow 25 lawns a day and never need to train.
Definitely a noticeable difference between sitting on your butt all day vs. being on the feet. And other practical exercise. Snow shoveling is also a solid workout! It adds up when we can find ways to sneak in some exercise (and often saves money) instead of avoiding it at all costs.
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Hiking_TheRockies
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Re: Best way to train for a 14er?

Post by Hiking_TheRockies »

I would recommend hikes in Golden Gate Canyon State Park, which is 20-ish minutes from Golden. You can get there from Denver in 40 minutes to 1 hour. There are lots of great trails there, as well as some more difficult trails such as the Windy Peak trail, which takes you to the top of Windy Peak, which is 10,000-11,000 ft tall I think. It's a great hike, if I remember correctly it's around 7-10 miles long. I also enjoy doing hikes in the Indian Peaks area where there are tons of awesome peaks and trails, though it is pretty far from Denver.

I hope you have a good time doing your first 14er. Happy trails! :-D
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Wish I lived in CO
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Re: Best way to train for a 14er?

Post by Wish I lived in CO »

Wrong thread title. Should instead be: Training for a 14er: What it takes

lol. Welcome to the forum. Caution: 14ers are addictive. You will be hiking many many more 14ers. But that's good. You are not too old, and hiking the 14ers (and training for them) helps take the weight off. Have fun !
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Bryan W
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Re: Best way to train for a 14er?

Post by Bryan W »

I'll jump on here for perspective although maybe I'm a little late to the party as I don't check this that often since I live in IL. For years I'd come out to CO and hike 14ers and get terrible calf soreness, almost to the point that it was debilitating for a couple of days. This had been a problem for me even when I would go for a run at home. I knew I was in trouble before I finished my first 14er. Usually you wake up the next day sore and I was sore before ever getting back to the car. After 3 seasons of this, I had enough and needed to try a different approach besides running and going for long walks (it's Illinois, so not many hills). What I was able to find was a State Park nearby with about 75' of elevation change (basically a bluff above the Illinois River). I'd hike a 1 mile loop 2 or 3 times (75' elevation change) and then I found another hill out there that was the same 75' elevation change and I would just hike it up and down 6 to 10 times in a row. Ultimately I'd get 700-1,000' of elevation gain during a hike and I would do this 3 to 6 times per week depending on my schedule and the weather. Since then, I barely get any soreness the next day after a 14er climb/hike. If it's anything, it's quad soreness since I've worked myself up to the harder 14ers. This year I'm trying a bunch of weigh lifting and other leg workouts to combat that as well as the bluff hikes. I'm hoping to find out how well that works in about 2 months. If you get the legs working, don't be as concerned about the lungs since you already live in CO. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is to get yourself out there hiking a 750-1,000' hill (you'll burn a 1,000 calories or so) 3-6 times per week. It's worked for me and I'd imagine it will for you. Good luck on Quandry. I'd say if you are feeling confident, go for something a little harder (maybe Yale) since you'll never forget your first one.
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