[pct-l] Preparing for a Thru Hike

[Brick Robbins]

yep, that would have been me....

And FWIW, I ran a 50mi race a few weeks after I got back from my thru
hike, thinking I would be prepared.... I mean, no pack and everything,
and I found 50 miles of running with no pack was much harder than a
typical 25-30 mile day walking with a pack on


On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 11:10 PM, Jon Smith <considerizer at gmail.com> wrote:
> Regarding preparing for a through hike:
>
> There was a post a few years back that made a lot of sense with
> respect to conditioning for a long hike.
> It was a post by Brick if memory serves correctly.  He delineated
> fitness into three catagories:  1.cardio-
> vascular, 2. musculature and 3. bones/tendons/cartilage, saying that
> each has its own time increment to
> obtain fitness proficiency.  Every body has it's own unique needs,
> undoubtedly.  His observation went
> something like this:  4 to 8 weeks for Cardio-Vascular, 3 to 6 months
> for musculature and 1 to 2 years
> for bones/tendons/cartilage.
>
> The injuries experienced by unprepared thru hikers seem to emulate
> those injuries experienced by
> unprepared marathon runners.Lots of marathon runners experience
> physical stress injuries as a result of
> pushing themselves too far, too fast.  And many of the significant
> injuries are related to bones/tendons and
> cartilage, which take longer to heal.
>
> Therefore, if you are unable to hike regularly, a reasonable
> substitutue is running, because it emulates the
> repiticous impact and stress to the bones/tendons/cartilage
> experienced by long distance hikers.
>
> Considerizer
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