Link: http://www.vancouvertrails.com/trails/grouse-grind/

Originally I had planned to do the West Coast Trail this year. After a bit of research I decided it was best to postpone it until next year however.

So, to train for the West Coast Trail, I'm going to do the Grouse Grind weekly. BUT, I have to train for that one too.

See, the Grind is basically 2-ish kilometers of 'going up stairs'. Its probably one of the more grueling trails out there.

Because I have only really been getting active for the last couple months, I figured it would be best for me to train my body to get used to this type of abuse.

Here's my plan:

1) Couch to 5k - www.c25k.com is a great site to take someone like me, who isn't very active/fit, and turning you into someone who will be able to run (or jog) a 5km stretch. I've completed a week and a half of the program (you're supposed to run 3 days a week, I run 2, so I modified it a bit). So far the progress is pretty good, and I've been getting more jazzed about running.

2) Vancouver Trail Hiking - www.vancouvertrails.com is a killer resource for finding places locally to hike. So far I've planned to hike the UBC Endowment Lands, Two-Canyon Loop, Goat Mountain, Norvan Falls, among others. I did a 12km hike last Saturday at the UBC endowment lands, and let me tell you, it wasnt as easy as I thought it was going to be. 2 days later and I'm still sore.

3) Diet and Weight Training - I've been following the South Beach Diet (Phase 1) pretty strictly, with great results (15 pounds lost and counting). 3 days a week I do weightlifting/weight training as well, again with good results. I went from being able to barely do 5 pushups in a row to being able to do 25+ without stopping, I've increased my lift weight from 20 pounds up to 60...

I figure once I've gotten to late April/Early May, I should be somewhat ready to hike the Grouse Grind on the weekends. A friend of mine (who got me on this fitness thing) wants to kill his previous record times there, and I'd love to be able to do it in under an hour.

All in all, I've been having great results with this getting healthy bit, and its been phenominal being able to get out into the beautiful areas of Vancouver, BC.

I'll post more later.