exercising for long backpacking treks

CreekFisher

Read the May 2015 blog post "How to use Heart Rate Training" and calculated my exercise heart rate target zones.
Now I'm looking for which exercise zone applies to backpacking. I usually carry a 35# pack including water and food, which is less than 25% of my body weight. The exception is week long solo treks when I carry 40#.
My guess is zone 1&2 would be best to build up endurance, but I'm not sure.
Should I spend time exercising in heart rate zone 3 or 4?
I'm not doing zone 5 because of previous knee injuries and age (73).

BrianSharpe

First off, glad to see that you're still active in your 70s, you've got a few years on me but I hope to be kicking butts and taking names for quite a few more years.

There are probably 2 aspect to the type of training you want to do. For endurance you actually want to be in zone 3 / 70 - 80% max HR (that's where your building your aerobic base).

Depending on how long you plan on hiking for you may also want to spend time in zone 2 - many endurance athletes train their bodies to burn fat as a way of tapping a significantly larger fuel source than glycogen. Depending on how frequently you plan on stopping to eat this may be less important.

In reality, I'd probably train more based on perceived exertion rather than being a slave to a HRM (unless you've actually had a stress test the calculations for the zones may be way off). Find a comfortable pace at which you can carry on a conversation, with hillier areas you'll be pushing the effort level higher but never so much you find yourself gasping for breath, with any luck you'll have access to terrain that closely mimics where you'll be trekking.