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



Great post Joanne, I enjoyed the thought provoking dialog you had with Karl
King. There seems to be a lot going on in the body during ULTRA type
activities whether it be thru hiking or running a long trail. Much can be
gleaned from the work and observations of other endurance athletes, but I
think thru-packers are a special group onto there own. And you were correct
with your statement about no research on thru-hikers and the effect
conditioning for a thru-hike has on obtainment of goals. In fact, in all my
background research into hiking, very little has been done with backapckers,
and that which has been done does not focus on long-distance hiking. (There
is however a lot of work done with Mt Everest expitioners).
You write:
>   Rate of recovery from a thruhike should tell you how well trained you
> were and how much you beat your body up (overtrained).
True, but is there more to this story, say maybe your nutritional status
through-out the hike? Could there be a connection to those who lost the
motivation to hike further and what they ate? We are probably delving into
some complicated issues that will not be easily explained, but a little
research may help us gain a foothold of understanding that will allow for a
move toward the optimum. And thus my interest in PCT thru-hikers and their
diet, and the development of PCTResearch (
http://www.skyrocket.com/pctresearch ) I am curious about what constitutes a
successful trail diet or even whether the diet effects the physical and
mental stamina. Can we eat to accomplish our goals or is training and mental
discipline the greater factors? It does appear that the more you hike the
easier it gets, but why do some people just "burn out"? Stay tuned for some
ground-laying  results...
(As a side note, one way to keep track of the "overtraining" syndrome is to
keep a record of your waking resting pulse rate. Take your pulse before you
get out of your bag. Find your baseline then be alert to increases of 10% or
more as a sign of overtraining.)

--
Rusty "MyTie" Johnston
pctresearch@skyrocket.com
http://www.skyrocket.com/pctresearch/


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