To most people, what I did for training is overkill. It’s not necessary to have a 6,000 mile with 500,000 feet of elevation gain in a year. However, I wasn’t aiming to train my fitness level; I was aiming to train my mental level, body durability and more technically my heart rate volume. Using some proper strategy and love of endurance I was able to train to some pretty extreme levels in 2025. Sticking to a five to one milage ratio with cross training, for every mile I ran or hiked I cycled five. Essentially my 6,000 mile year was 5,000 miles of cycling and 1,000 miles of running/hiking. Sticking to this golden ratio for injury prevention I built an incredible base fitness and durability. By using more strategic suffer and suck days I built mental toughness.
The Adventures
Every single New Years, I come up with a list of things I want to do. I did it the year I hiked the Long Trail, and 2025 was no different. And so, my list of adventures I wanted to accomplish were pretty wild:
Finish the Non AT North East 115.
Be the first to cycle the Adirondack Blue Line.
Cycle around Lake Champlain.
Cycle to Maine and climb the Non AT 4,000 footers.
Backpack around Katahdin.
Cycle 100 miles without stopping.
Get into randonneuring, the act of cycling 150 or more miles with no maps or destination in mind.
Do a single year ADK 46.
Get two FKTs and do the Taconic Ridge Traverse.
As you can clearly see in this map my year was wild. So this is the foundation of endurance I needed to work for. How on earth, do you train for something like that?
The Training
Using the five to one ratio you can build some unbelievable endurance. My typical week involved cycling 100 miles and running or hiking 20 miles. When considering my heart rate I kept myself in a 60-20-10. 60% zone 2, 20% zone 3 and 10% zone 4. And since I’m not training for any races, I didn’t need to hit my threshold, and (hot take) zone one does absolutely nothing for building fitness. Cross training is absolutely key here. Because if you do this with just one sport you are begging for an injury. My two sports are cycling and hiking/running. Cycling is such a good cross training sport because it takes away the impact that occurs when you are striking the ground. That does not mean it does not absolutely suck sometimes though.
Why, Mr. Peaks, did you mention your adventures? Simple. Mental toughness. Willpower is a muscle, and in my very biased opinion, is the hardest one to train. That’s because it is the reason
that people quit. Their willpower gives out and then they fail to achieve their goal. Exercising it is like grinding nails on a chalk board, forcing yourself to smile as blood drips from your ears. Actually going out and doing adventures forces you to test that willpower in live situations. Go out and adventure when it’s cold, wet, and miserable, force yourself away from all comforts except what you carry. Quit substances like Marijuana and Alcohol. Love the uncomfortable situations then your willpower will begin to show and grow and all of the sudden you’ll start smiling when you really shouldn’t.
In my previous blog post I went into depth about the gear I bring. What’s so fucking important is that you bond with your gear. And you gotta love it and train with it, and if you don’t love something… swap it out.
Recovery
Do not underestimate recovery. Because recovery and durability go hand in hand. Having a high durability means you need less time to recover back to 100%. So if you ‘recover max’ you should only chip away at your durability meter slowly because your recouping that with proper rest and mental preparedness. Nutrition, mental relaxation and proper sleep allow you to achieve pretty incredible recoveries. So finding out what lets you recover to your maximum every night is a key element to going the distance and preventing any injury along the way.
So after a hard training week, get that ice cream, take that extra long hot shower, play the game you’d really like to play. Rest for several weeks or have an off season where you aren’t pushing your body to the max. Let yourself heal. Love the body you have.
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