Mileage Total as of Feb 13th, 2010
John - 14.1 over two hikes (approx 4000 ft elevation)
Joe - 14.1 over two hikes (approx 4000 ft elevation)
Sean - 7 in one hike (approx 2100 ft of elevation)
Duke - 15, one hike, he covers twice the distance but is great to have around
I have to say my quads and calves are pretty sore today. Good hike yesterday but a couple of things I learned. One, bring more food. I totally bonked at the peak and my blood sugar and electrolytes crashed. Thank god it was all down hill from there... gravity and hunger pretty much pushed me home. Two, I love the fact that we man'd up and hiked in the rain. I was pleased with our early speed and I think the hike was a real confidence booster for Sean. Duke (super lab) was a stud as well. He'll be a main stay in our weekly hikes and is a real charmer with other hikers on the trail. Three; I'm also happy that without really talking about it we managed to ebb and flow together and apart as we hiked. Giveing each other a little space when necessary and staying together when it felt right. That will be important for our 100 mile journey.
We ran to REI and picked up maps of Tiger and Cougar Mountains for our training. I feel optimistic we can get in a shape conducive to 100 miles over 10 days. Especially since our winter has been so mild and it's only the middle of February.
Next big challenge will be putting Tristan on my back for some of these hikes. Time to add some weight and I can't think of better weight to add.
Look for more pics from John and some video entries from the trail as we progress.
Cheers,
J
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Cougar mountain is excellent for conditioning.
ReplyDeleteAnd, in my experience, once you can bust out 10 miles a day with a full pack, you're more ready than you think. Distance hiking turns your body into a calorie burning furnace, so the biggest problem after the 1st day is continued damage to your feet and other places that receive constant abrasion (the hips come to mind).
Generally the pattern is: day 1 hurts, day 2 sore, day 3 starts levelling off. By day 5 your feet turn to hooves and you can gallop over mountains all day long.