I’ve come to actually love walking now, weirdly enough. Feels meditative. I think part of the key is focusing on form, which leads you to sometimes forget your physical existence.
Be strict about not going anaerobic. Try to get 8-10 hours of cardio a week, with 25%-50% of that on a weekend hike, and ideally one other day that’s 90 minutes or so. Also do some strength training.
But volume is king. If you try to go too fast you’ll only train your anaerobic ability, which you can’t sustain in a hike. You want to be extremely good at going fast at a low level of exertion.
I’m nowhere near 4 mph at 15% incline. More like 2 right now. But I’m gradually getting there with all this volume, and I only started training two weeks ago for this season (before this I was trying to only focus on weights). I also plan on adding a lot of low intensity stair climbing soon.
Despite how much time I’m spending, my body feels great. It’s not like running, which beats you up.