This is week 1 of a 24-week plan. The week below comes straight from the app. Nobody wrote or tidied it by hand.
Simone isn't real.
She's one of six made-up people we use to test the app. She's active and hikes often. Her goal is an overnight trip up Mount Teneriffe with a full pack, 24 weeks from now.
The hike is 13 mi · 3,800 ft up (20.9 km · 1,160 m up), which works out to 20.6 effort mi (33.2 effort km). A heavy pack counts for 20% more, so her plan is built for 24.7 effort mi (39.8 effort km).
The numbers are real.
They come from the same engine as a real plan, checked by the same tests, using the same route data. If this page ever stops matching what the engine builds, a test fails.
Some of them will change.
We're still working out a few training rules with the coach who advises this project. So these numbers are today's answer, not the final one. That's also why we show one week instead of all 24.
Climbing is what makes a hike hard, and flat miles hide it. So every 500 feet of climbing counts as one extra mile (in kilometres: about 95 m of climbing per extra km).
A flat 6-mile (9.7 km) walk is 6.0 effort miles (9.7 effort km). Little Si — 3.7 miles, 1,300 ft up (6.0 km, 395 m) — is 6.3 (10.1). Your legs already knew those two are about the same amount of work.
How the numbers work — the rules behind your plan.
The app suggests one route that fits:
Stair repeats: 200 flights total, rest as needed. Coming back down counts too — that descent is training, so take it deliberately. Lower slowly and under control; keep the knee tracking over the toes.
2,000 ft (610 m) of climbing.
Brisk walk, 70 min (~3.5 mi)
In km: Brisk walk, 70 min (~5.6 km)
Core, 2 exercises, 2 sets each: a dead bug or plank, then a side plank or a suitcase carry (any heavy bag or water jug in one hand). Do it on one of this week's walking days — it doesn't count toward the week's target. Have a resistance band? A Pallof press or a band chop can stand in for either.
Descent work (learn control, bodyweight), 10 min: Step-downs 2 × 6–8 per leg; Reverse lunges 2 × 6–8 per side; Slow eccentric squats 2 × 8; Calf lowers 2 × 8–10. Real downhill when you have it: short, gentle descents. Leave a day or two between this and your long day if you can — ideally 48 hours, and once a week is plenty. If your week is too tight for that, fold a smaller dose into one of your other sessions rather than adding a workout.
3 walking days, 1 day of descent work and 3 rest days. Strength sessions share a day with a walk. Every week has at least two rest days.
The stair session is a real instruction.
Not “do some stairs”, but how many, and how to come back down. Going down is where people get hurt, so the plan tells you how to do it.
Every session has a target.
That's how a staircase, a flat walk and a mountain trail can be compared at all. It's also why week 2 will be a measured step up from this one, not a guess.
The long day gives you choices.
The plan sets how hard. You pick where. If nothing on the list is near you, the app can make you a loop from wherever you're standing.
Want to see every route?
They're all in one list, and it's where the long day above found its route. Inside a plan you don't have to search it: the app picks out the few walks near you that fit the day you're training for.
Browse the routes →