RUNNING
The Secret Weapon to Improving Your Long Run Hiking helps promote mental fortitude, pacing and getting up and down those hills BY MARISSA TIEL IMPACT Magazine guest editor, freelance writer and photographer based in Campbell River, B.C. MARISSATIEL
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homas Rivers Puzey was still in university when he stumbled across a new way of training for long-distance running. The collegiate cross-country runner laced up for a local trail race in Costa Rica. He got his butt kicked. Anthropological curiosity led him to connect with the locals to find out how they prepared. It turns out that after the Ticos finished their day jobs, they would hike tourists’ 60-pound backpacks up the mountain by the light of the moon.
So Puzey, and later his brother, Jacob, joined them to hike. They’d make their way up to the mountain top with backpacks, take a break for refreshments, then run back down. With the focus on hiking in their training, both brothers noticed gains in their running. “I don’t know that there’s a way to quantify it, but it’s indisputable,” says Puzey. “When people take the time to hike, it not only makes them more efficient hikers, it usually makes them more durable
28 I Summer Outdoor & Travel Issue I IMPACT MAGAZINE
and more efficient runners as well.” When training for a long run, hiking probably isn’t the first activity to come to mind. But as more runners are discovering, hiking could be just the key to unlocking a personal best in your ultra or marathon. Hiking is one of the main activities runner and trainer Erica Van Vlack recommends her athletes incorporate into their training plans. She’s helped athletes prepare for races like Yukon’s trail ultra, Reckless Raven and the winter’s Yukon
