Re: [pct-l] Drop-out, decompression, and conditioning

[Bighummel@aol.com]

goforth writes:

<<  Rate of recovery from a thruhike should tell you how well trained you
 were and how much you beat your body up (overtrained).  >>

I sense from your posts that you over stressed your body's capabilities in 
your thruhike.  I suggest either your pace was too fast or your diet short on 
some vital elements.  

I found a completely different response at the end of my hike and wonder how 
it fits into your thinking.  There was no physical recovery from my thruhike. 
 I finished feeling energized and strong and feeling like I could run back to 
Campo!  I had no feeling of being "beat up" or "overtrained".  At no time in 
my hike did I feel the need to recover from the physical.  I didn't expressly 
train before the hike, although I came off of college basketball shape (all 
sprinting and jumping, things you don't often find yourself doing on the PCT, 
although I'm sure it didn't hurt).

The only recovery that I felt after Manning was one impacting my mental 
outlook.  Truly a mixed emotion: On the one hand a mental let down of a truly 
attractive alternative life style and companionship, on the other a mental 
boost of confidence in my capabilities and directions.  At times during the 
hike I felt the need to recover from the mental challenges I had encountered.

Perhaps my pace and food intake was balanced to my body's characteristics and 
I didn't overload it with too fast of a pace or under fuel it with too few 
calories and vital elements.  If it was balanced, it was by dumb luck and 
certainly through no conscious planning.  Unconscious pacing, settling into 
my natural pace, may have played an important part.  
 
 
 <<Interesting also that many of these people were traveling faster than I
 was.>>
 
Another argument for leaving earlier and traveling slower!  I averaged 16 
miles per day if I had walked every day, but actually walked only 6 days per 
week on average.  The most that I averaged over more than a few days was a 
section in southern Oregon where the mosquitos were bad and there was nothing 
else to do.  For that week we averaged more than 25 miles per day.  A small 
amount compared to today's ultra light, ultra fast hikers.  But we knew, 
subconsciously, that keeping this pace up would not be conducive to long term 
enjoyment and satisfaction.  We planned to take days off and take short days 
in the anticipated "best" parts. 

For future thru or section hikers, IMHO, I suggest that you hike your own 
hike and take the ultra fast strategy with a grain of salt and instead be 
realistic of your body's natural pace.  It may not be fast enough to thruhike 
in a single year!  No shame, no harm, simply the recognition of your body's 
limitations.

IMHO,

Greg "Strider" Hummel
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