How to Keep Pace on a Hike

Video Transcript

"Hi! I am Kate with Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com talking to you about hiking and backpacking. When you are hiking, you are going to be wanting to determine a good pace for yourself for the day. If you want to get a really good cardiovascular workout, then you will be starting a pretty steep pace. I like to think of it as the marathon though. I’m not going to waste all my energy in the beginning. I have a heavy pack and I kind of want to endure nice and at the end, if I can pick the pace up to get home, then I’ll have that extra strength left. A good idea is depending on the terrain, your pack, all those things should go in factor and what kind of pace you are going to want to do. You have a heavy pack, you want a slow pace. I like to do a rest step with a heavy pack. It’s just keeping my back leg straight while I step forward and resting each time. Otherwise you can have a pretty steady pace. Stopping might ruin your pace. You might get in a cardiovascular rhythm and taking a break might ruin that rhythm for you. If you have guests with you, make sure you are not going any faster than the slowest person and you can make it home. You don’t want to wear yourself out half-way through and not be able to make it back to your car. Keep all those things in mind so when you start out in the morning you're not wasting all your energy right away, and you'll have a great day and a really good workout. By the time you get home you'll be exhausted and you can't wait to get food."