If you've ever been to the Grand Canyon, you know it's incredible beauty and size. My brother, brother-in-law and I will be doing the Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim hike sometime in November 2026 and this is my training journal. For the past couple of years, I have been an avid pickleball player and so this training is requiring that I put that on the back burner for awhile. That also means, I'm not in particularly good cardio shape coming into this. My history is as a runner - I picked up running sometime around 2009-2010, innumerable 5Ks/10Ks, a bunch of half-marathons and two full marathons. I was a cyclist for a couple of years in there as well - so endurance sports aren't foreign to me, but I'm curious to how my body will respond to this challenge. Our goal is to complete the R2R2R hike in one day, 42-some miles and over 11,000 feet of elevation gain.
Update: Found out that the North Kaibab Trail (NKT) is going to be closed Oct 2026 - February 2027 so the R3 hike is not going to happen. Trying to figure out something else to pivot to.
5/15 - 70-minutes of pickleball; this has been good for my legs post long-run the past two weeks. It gives me a chance to move and get the lactic acid out, but isn't demanding to the point where my legs are more sore afterward. 26+ mile walk tomorrow...
5/14 - 60-minute run; ran midday and while it was only in the low-to-mid 60s, I definitely felt even the 10 degree difference from what it's been lately. Last half of the run was more of a challenge, but got it done. Calves are pretty achy but I think that's just from higher than normal volume. No sharp pains, just sore.
5/13 - Rest Day
5/12 - 45 minute run late in the day - weather was great, beautiful evening. Felt pretty good; seeing definite improvement in pace compared to effort.
5/11 - 30 minute run follow by 90+ minutes of pickleball. I had previously been doing my run after the games on Monday, but this time I did it before. Felt about the same, maybe a little more lethargic during the games that I otherwise would have been. Legs felt fine.
5/10 - "Rest day" - power-washed and did a lot of work getting the backyard ready for summer. My lower back is really starting to ache again. Weighed in at 188.1.
5/9 - It was tricky because I'm solo parenting this weekend, but got the ride in. 26+ miles on an absolutely perfect weather day (50s, sunny). Had the wind in my face most of the way out but was flying on the way home. Unlike the past few rides, this one was almost all roads. Felt strong - took a couple of GUs along the way and going to start incorporating those into longer cardio efforts.
5/8 - Played pickleball for an hour - it was great to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in awhile since I've backed off of playing. I was a little sore from yesterday's run coming into today and then my legs felt great afterwards. It was a good low-intensity workout after the long run yesterday. Hope to get a long ride in tomorrow.
5/7 - 60 minute run - felt great today, for most of the run it felt easy and my body felt good. Towards the very end of the run by feet were starting to feel it but that's all. Did some compression therapy afterwards for 15 minutes.
5/6 - Rest Day, ran out of time
5/5 - C wanted to run with me, so I ran 5K of the run with her, then she dropped out and I finished out 45 minutes. This is the first run since I started back in a month ago, where I felt pretty good. Ran a sub-9:00 mile for the first time in awhile.
5/4 - Did about 90 minutes of pickleball and then ran for 30 minutes. The goal of pickleball was to not make my lower back worse, and I succeeded. Run afterwards felt fine. We discovered today that our plan to do a R2R2R is in jeopardy. The North Kaibab Trail in the canyon will be closed from Oct 2026 to Feb 2027. Current thinking is that we might end up doing a south rim to river to south rim hike, but that would be quite a bit scaled back from the R3.
5/3 - Ended up taking another rest day due to how worn down I felt. Got some mulching in around the yard, but that was all the activity I could manage.
5/2 - Went for a longer bike ride (25 miles) in absolutely perfect weather. Very little wind and about 50 degrees. I definitely felt how out of shape I am on this ride; was completely worn out by the time I got back. Part of it was that I hadn't eaten prior to this ride and only brought four tootsie rolls as fuel during the ride.
5/1 - Rest day, ran out of time
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April Stats: 40.8 miles running, 48.6 miles cycling, 9.9 miles walking, 6 hours of pickleball
4/30 - Ran late in the day again while listening to the Wild beat Dallas (which made this run go by fast). It rained the whole time but that didn't bother me. ChatGPT talked me off the ledge from the disappointment I was feeling yesterday - just gotta keep being consistent and by week 6-8 or so, I should start feeling better. 45 minute run at E pace.
4/29 - Pretty discouraging run today - was not trying to run hard at all, just a 45-minute run at an easy pace and easy pace felt hard. It's discouraging because it doesn't feel like this is getting any easier. I expected not to feel great that first couple of weeks, but now I'm almost a month in. After the run I used the compression gear for my legs which felt good.
4/28 - Rest Day.
4/27 - Got a run in pretty late, didn't get started until 8:30p or so. 45-minute run, didn't feel all that great, partly from soreness from the bike ride yesterday and partly from still digesting dinner.
4/26 - Today the weather was perfect (upper-50s and sunny) and so went for a longer ride. Was originally going to go 20 miles, but went a little farther than that because I explored some of the longer sections of trails from our house. Ended up going 22.5.
4/25 - Saturday was another travel day but I managed to get a morning walk in (~2.25 miles). I thought about running yesterday after we got back, but it was later in the day and I was tired.
4/24 - Had a work trip to Tampa and well, I'm really not good at maintaining a schedule when I'm on the road...so I missed a few days. L came with me on the trip so we decided to make a weekend of it and spent the day at the beach on Friday. I'm not the type of person to sit at the beach, so I spent the day walking. 3 total walks, about 6.5 miles of walking. 26,500 steps for the day. Legs felt good. My lower back is still bothering me, but it's mostly when I sit for a long time or in an uncomfortable chair.
4/20 - Got a late start (8:30p) because of kids activities but was a beautiful night for a run, cool temps and little to no breeze. Kept a pretty easy pace for 45 minutes.
4/19 - Hour long bike ride in perfect weather (sunny, about 50). Been massaging and keeping heat packs on my back which provides at least some relief, though the pain is nearly constant (low level). It didn't hurt during the ride though - I made a couple of adjustments to my bike before I left and it was about 200% more comfortable than last week's ride. Wind was right in my face the whole way out and then more of a side wind on the way home.
4/18 - Played my typical Saturday morning pickleball game and right in the first game, I managed to tweak my lower back pretty good - I think it's the Piriformis area and was perhaps an aggravation of mild piriformis syndrome. That seems to explain my symptoms pretty well. I finished out an hour and half of pickleball and then ran a couple of miles. Outside of my back hurting, I felt fine.
4/17 - Rest day outside of 'Dad's Gym Night' with the kiddos.
4/16 - Another 40-minute timed run; ran with C for most of it and she did pretty well. For whatever reason, this run felt hard, even though the pace wasn't up. I had eaten dinner about 30-minute prior so maybe that was part of it, but also my legs just feel heavy. Not sure if this is just part of getting back into it or what.
4/15 - 40-minute timed run - I was expecting to feel better having a had a day off, but legs felt heavy and what should have been an 'easy' effort didn't feel all that easy. Did an ice bath afterwards for about 7-8 minutes.
4/14 - Rest day but still got 10K steps in. My lower back has been bothering me the past week - its the worst in the morning, doesn't really hurt at all when I'm running or doing other activities.
4/13 - An hour and half of pickleball followed by a 30-minute run. My focus is more on the time spent on my feet rather than mileage/speed. Legs were very tired afterwards.
4/12 - Rest Day.
4/11 - Pickleball game Saturday morning for a couple of hours. My body is tired.
4/10 - Went home a little early from work to get a bike ride in. I got a new hybrid bike last Fall and had never really ridden it. Also got new shoes that had new pedal clips. So...it took a little bit to get everything ready to go. The seat -- very uncomfortable. Other than that - it was an enjoyable ride...it's always surprising to me how different cycling feels than running.
4/9 - Ran in the evening and definitely had too much pizza for dinner. Outside of that, I felt fine and completed another 30-minute run (3.15 miles), this time outside. Weather was pleasant. Charlotte ran with me for the first mile but a side ache took her out after that. Back has been feeling better/less tight but the new pain is right under the very center of my rib cage. Looking forward to when I don't feel doughy and weak.
4/8 - Took it easy yesterday and basically did nothing. My lower back was very tight yesterday and did some stretching in the evening. Still tight this morning, but it didn't hurt to run. Decided to do a timed run, 30 minutes (3.2 miles). Felt good, felt like I could have gone longer. I'm trying not to go crazy out of the gate and then just end up with some kind of injury, so this first month will be pretty light mileage, base-building, etc. Weighed in at 189.8.
4/6 - I guess this was the official start of training. Last night I played pickle for about 90 minutes (I have a regular Monday night game) and then afterwards I ran 2 miles at a relatively easy pace. Right at the beginning of the games there were a couple of points that tweaked my lower back and as I write this on 4/7, my lower back has been singing quite a bit this morning. Legs otherwise feel good - going to take it easy today and see if that doesn't help my back.
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