“A big one”

[jacob thompson]

Im pretty sure this is the right place for the post.

40 miles in 11 hrs.

this is just following on from what i was discussing in the footwear thread. il just recap. I recieved my pair of Motrail Vitesse II in the morning and by 11 i was ready to leave. it was around 18C so i guess 65 – 75 F, raining for a few hours. i was completely wet since i had only a montane lightspeed and no umbrella or shelter.

As for the pack. i had also just recieved a golite breeze a few days earlier and had been toying about with the idea of doing “a long one” the shoes was what pushed me over the edge. Basically i loaded up with a thermarest prolite 3 full length which i would never really take out on a hike. I put a little bit of food in and 2 litres of water, to make things a little interesting i actually threw in about 2 or 3 lbs of dead weight (mp3 player, can of soda, the food). total packweight ~10lbs. now im a sub 5lb’er and i was only doing this to try and find out what kind of milage i will get on a thru hike with a few days food and water. i did about 5miles of quite intense trail walking through a national park, i did do a few stints of running through there. mostly i followed some advice i read somewhere on the web about ray jardine stopping for a few minutes every hour and laying on his back taking shoes off and elevating the feet. swapping socks and then puting the shoes back on. i had never tried this and ive never even done that many miles before and i must say it does make a lot of difference. that litte time gives your swolen feet a time to rest. i was also testing a pair of gossamer gear light trek plus poles (115cm). unbelievable. these helped me a lot through the rough walking before i hit the roads, even then the only problem was traction on the harder surface. anyways, after the 5 in the bush I went back to the road because i had run out of trees to walk though. i finished up doing 30 by road and then another 5 by trail at night,which was fun.

the reason for doing this is to try and get my daily average up to about 35 a day to try and cover more distance. im planning on a thru-hike of PCT in ’07 and at the moment im pretty much just trying to get up to a level of fitness where i can get this kind of distance constantly and not have too much discomfort. i think ive given myself enough time to get to that kind of level before i hit the big trail.

i think im going to be writing up a fair few reviews over the next few months so ill let everyone know when i finish some.

just for a little feed back. how many others here have done this kind of distance before? i worked it out at 4mph and i think thats a pretty charging pace. im sure i could never get it on a trail with less stable ground. my mother was always a really fast walker, and as a result of only being a child and constantly having to keep up with her i developed a naturally fast walk speed. however i didnt feel completely drained, i think if i had to i could have still gone further. do people who do this distance struggle to get that last mile out or is it more like stop when youve gone far enough?

the ironman

[Adam McFarren]

A friend of mine averaged ~29 miles/day on the later 3/5 of the PCT a few years ago. He tended to wake up with the sun and start walking. Stop for a brief breakfast or eat on the go. Take a ~1-2 hour break during the heat of the day for lunch. Kept walking until dinner, and then continued to walk until it got too dark and just pitched camp there.

I know from hiking with him that he’s not an insanely fast hiker, he just walked for many hours each day. I’m pretty sure he never went as far as 40 miles in one day.

He’s got quite a few pictures and journals posted online about his trip:
Chris Willett’s PCT Page

I recently took part in a 50 mile ultramarathon. I had a great time and hope to do some more in the future. The cut-off times for many ultras are near a 3.5-4 mph fast walking pace. I jogged maybe 2-3 miles of the ultra I did. People have walked famous 100 mile ultras like the Hardrock and Leadville. I believe you’re in CA right? Lots of ultras in your area.

My 50 mile ultra experience

Ulli’s Ultrawalking page – I especially recommend reading his “39 years UltraWalking” page

Oh, and congrats on your 40 mile day!

-adam (“chicken legs”)

[doug rawlings]

i’m a big man with a short stride…it takes me 132 paces to cover 100m, so covering ground fast isn’t an option, and frankly, not a concern…i plan my trips with plenty of time to spare…i think i could manage some 15 miles or so in 6 hours, but i really have little interest in doing more, or setting any land speed records….my goal is to enjoy the outdoors, and spend some time in camp kicking back…one of my favorite hikes is a trail in the white mountains of arizona, on a trail called the ghost of the coyote….it’s a 16 mile loop, and we usually allow at least 3 days, and sometimes 4 to do it…a leisurely pace to be sure, but there’s a lot to see out there, and i’d rather take it all in…it’s not a good hike for ultralighter, though, as there are no water sources of any kind along the whole trail….we try to go with 2 gallons per person if we’re going for 4 days…in the desert, you need it….

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