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So, let's get out into the woods! I have been doing challenges with the assassins for over a year, and my fitness goals are still more assassin-y than anything else, but with the weather warming up (please?) I am increasingly fixated on hiking/camping. I live in a relatively rural area in central Massachusetts, in a sort-of communal-ish house (a poly/queer extended family), on 18 acres of mostly wild land. I am self-employed and work from home when not travelling, so I get to spend a lot of time wandering around in the woods behind my house with my dog. I've gone on occasional day-hikes at the nearby mountain (well, barely a mountain) but I've gotten the urge to do some more long-distance hiking. My life won't presently accomodate more than a few days, but that is a good place to start. First adventure is the Midstate Trail, because there is a trailhead right down the road from my house. No dog on the longer hikes, unfortunately. She loves running around in the woods, but she punks out after a few hours. THE PLAN Conditioning! Wear a ~35lb pack on my daily dog walks, total of ~4hr/week. I've been doing this for a few days, with no trouble, but it is only about a half hour walk. Get my camping gear sorted! I've got a cheap camp hammock and tarp, which I like very much. Backyard testing last night shows my current insulation is comfortable to around 30F, but needs some modification for comfort and ease of setup. (I make/modify most of my gear. I am cheap.) Overall, I have a fair idea of what I'd need to pack for the trip, but I need to actually get stuff together. Test run! What kind of miles can I reasonably do on a trail? I have no idea. So I plan to start with a 2-day trip, just go as far as seems reasonable, camp wherever I end up, and then come home. Calibration! This should happen next Tuesday/Wednesday, depending on weather and life. Do this thing! Plan and execute a 4-5 day hike along the Midstate trail, out and back. I'm aiming for something around May 7, but we'll see. ALSO, I will be maintaining baseline healthy habits: Yoga every morning. About 20 minutes of Ashtanga. Take my vitamins/etc morning and night. Strength training three times a week. I'd been doing the "Starting Strength" barbell program, but I may do abbreviated home workouts for a while. It isn't my #1 priority right now. "Healthy adult meals" - 3/day. For a while now I've been making these sort of standardized meals, with roughly 1c veggies, 1/2c meat/egg, and 1/2c starch/legume/fruit. Often pre-packed into little 2c containers, but sometimes ad hoc. Sometimes just one is enough, sometimes I'll have two. Three portions like this is only about half my total food intake. The rest is just "eat when hungry". On a longer hike, however, I'll eat whatever is convenient, tasty, and full of calories.