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Training Calculator Guide

How the Training Calculator Works

This page explains what the calculator does, what it uses, and how it builds your training plan step by step.

Overview

The calculator takes where you are now, where you want to go, how quickly you want to build, and how many training days you can realistically use each week. Then it turns that into a week-by-week plan for hiking, elevation, pack weight, strength, and cross-training.

It is trying to answer a simple question: what is a realistic way to move from your current hiking ability to your trip goal in the time you have available?

Sometimes your selected build speed is enough to get you there. When that happens, you will just see your standard plan. Sometimes your timeline and goals require a faster rate than the one you selected. When that happens, the calculator also shows a more aggressive plan so you can see what it would actually take.

The plan is not just a straight line from low to high. It includes easier deload weeks for recovery, a taper near the end so you are not arriving tired, and optional pack-practice work starting in week 5 if you choose that option.

What the Calculator Uses

Current abilities

  • • Current comfortable hiking distance
  • • Typical elevation gain
  • • Current pack weight
  • • Local Terrain Type (TBD)

Trip goals

  • • Longest single day mileage target
  • • Average daily elevation gain target
  • • Target pack weight
  • • Weeks until the trip

Training preferences

  • • Balanced, mileage, or elevation focus
  • • Build speed of 5%, 7.5%, or 10% per week
  • • A 1- or 2-week taper

Training schedule

  • • One weekly hiking day
  • • Optional pack practice starting in week 5
  • • 0-2 strength days
  • • 0-2 cross-training days
  • • A maximum of 6 training days total

The Two Plan Types

Standard plan

This uses the build speed you selected: conservative at 5%, moderate at 7.5%, or aggressive at 10% weekly progression.

Full goal or higher-rate plan

This appears when your selected rate is not enough to get close enough to your goals. It uses the required rate calculation, adds a buffer, and caps progression at 15% per week for safety.

How It Works

1. Required-rate calculation

The calculator compares your current numbers to your target numbers and works out how much weekly progression would be needed over the usable progression weeks.

Required rate = (target / current)^(1 / progressionWeeks) - 1

It does this for distance and elevation, then uses the higher of the two as the key rate. Pack weight is handled separately in 2-pound increments.

2. Peak-week timing

The calculator tries to place your peak before tapering starts. If that ideal peak lands on a deload week, it moves the peak earlier so the plan does not peak inside a recovery week.

idealPeakWeek = totalWeeks - taperWeeks

if idealPeakWeek falls on week 4, 8, 12, etc., move it back by 1 week

peakWeek = max(idealPeakWeek, ceil(totalWeeks * 0.6))

3. Focus logic

The calculator changes what gets the biggest weekly push depending on your selected focus.

  • Balanced: both distance and elevation progress, but the one that is further behind gets the bigger push.
  • Mileage: distance gets the full rate, while elevation and pack weight move more slowly.
  • Elevation: elevation gets the full rate, while distance and pack weight move more slowly.

4. Deload and taper rules

Every fourth week is a deload week unless it is already part of the taper. Deload weeks reduce training volume so your body has room to recover and adapt.

Deload weeks: distance and elevation drop to about 75% of current training volume, and pack weight drops toward a lighter recovery week.

1-week taper: final week drops to about 50% of peak volume.

2-week taper: final two weeks drop to about 70% and then 50% of peak volume.

5. Pack-practice logic

If pack practice is turned on, it starts in week 5 and skips deload and taper weeks. It alternates between a heavier-pack focus and an elevation-focused session.

  • Heavy pack weeks: about 30% of the main distance, 30% of the main elevation, and about 20% more pack weight than the main session.
  • Elevation weeks: about 50% of the main distance, 75% of the main elevation, and the same pack weight as the main session.

6. Safety mechanisms

  • 10% warning: the calculator warns when the required weekly rate goes above 10%, because injury risk starts climbing faster there.
  • 15% cap: aggressive plans do not go above 15% weekly progression.
  • Goal buffer: higher-rate plans use a 15% buffer over the strict goal rate to account for weather, missed training, and normal real-life variability.
  • Basic validation: at least one trip goal must be above your current starting point, or the calculator will not build a progression plan.

7. Goal-achievement analysis

After generating the standard plan, the calculator checks whether your final plan gets close enough to your trip goals. If distance, elevation, or pack weight finish below about 95% of target, the calculator creates the second, higher-rate option.

8. What each weekly output includes

  • Distance, elevation, and pack-weight targets
  • Primary focus for the week
  • Training day breakdown
  • Peak, taper, and deload indicators
  • Pack-practice details when that option is active

Summary

The calculator uses progressive overload, planned recovery, tapering, and simple compound-growth math to turn your current hiking ability and trip goal into a safer, more realistic training progression.