30+miles and training

imported
#1

Has anyone ever hiked 30+ miles a day on the AT for a thru hike. If so, How did you prepare/train?

snail

#2

There’s a stretch in Maryland/West Virginia where a 40 mile hike is done on a particular one day hike every year by many people. One could conceivably hike 30 miles in one day on the AT in the Shenandoah area if they were very motivated.

If you mean averaging 30+ miles per day on an AT thru-hike that would be craz…I mean, not advisable for most people. A time saver would be to just beat the bottoms of your feet with a baseball bat, then hire someone to kick you in the knees periodically over the course of 24 hours – to simulate Pennsylvania have them chip a couple of your teeth with a crescent wrench too.

The most I hike in one day on the AT during my Year 2000 thru-hike was 27 miles. What a slog with a bug headnet that was. Those gnats followed me for 27 miles too – boy, they must have been awfully tired at the end of the day. Bzznzzewrzzzzzz…

Datto

Datto

#3

I ran up to 30 miles a week every week 3 months prior to departing on the PCT. I knew that I would be able to do 25 mile days right off the bat so I knew I would get skinny quick. I packed on 15 lbs of muscle from Jan. to May lifting weights 3-6 days a week, rockclimbing 5 times a week, running and going on very hilly (for ohio) day hikes that went up to 23 miles. Nearing my departure I started to run bleachers (actually stairs up a dam) a couple times a week while incorporating 4-6 miles road running with hills and 1 mile cool down runs on hiking trails. Two weeks prior to leaving I tapered my workouts to only weightlifting 3 times a week, mountain biking every couple of days and eating as much as I could. I weighed about 172 at 6 ft. when I started and about 145 when I hit the Canadian border.

Everybody trains differently but I think crosstraining and having a strong core is important for endurance. Long hikes with a pack on let you understand your body a little better. I noticed that I wasn’t that strong on downhills and I translated that into my hiking strategy. In the beginning of my thru-hike I tried to stay away from long downhills at the end of the day when my body was tired, it helped. I once heard from another hiker that the only way to train for a thru-hike it to thru-hike and I believe that. I hope this helps Snail…Good luck on your training and have a great hike!

Spigot

#4

I forgot the part about training.

Easily the most important training I did was to hike all the name-brand trails in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan over the course of the twelve months prior to starting my AT thru-hike. Those in the midwest considering a thru-hike of the AT might want to hike the Knobstone Trail near Louisville, KY since that is very close to the terrain you’ll hike in Georgia on the AT.

In addition to hiking for about 3 weeks out of 4 every month, I did treadmill training while wearing my backpack, hiking on the treadmill at 3.6 miles per hour at 10%-12% incline for 30 minutes four days per week.

What you may discover after your thru-hike begins is there are muscles, particularly around your knees and ankles, that you don’t use very often because most of the time your legs are going forward and backward without much sway side-to-side. On the AT, your knees go from side to side due to the weight and sway of your backpack and that alone puts a bit of strain on your knees and feet. That’s why it’s important to train with your backpack on while at home. not just go for walks at night.

Still, it’s not so much the physical regimen that frequently knocks people off the AT during a thru-hike. Heck, most people who start a thru-hike are in great trail shape 30 days from the start.

It’s the mental discipline required, not wanting to be alone so much, missing people back home and lack of experience of hiking during inclement weather that knocks a good deal of people off the trail during a thru-hike. That and running out of money.

It’s said the 2nd weakest part of the human body is the knee.

Datto

Datto

#5

Theres a guy over on white Blaze that claimes hes gonna attemt to hike the AT in like 30 days or something like that, thats about 72 miles per day, he’ll never get threw the first day, if so he wont make a second.:lol :lol

Backtrack

#6

When I went back for the AT the second time around I averaged about 24 miles per day over 1150 miles of hiking. While well shy of the 30 you are referencing, boosting this to 30 would not have been too difficult if I had:

  1. Used a hammock. Unlike the PCT, I couldn’t hike until dark and just throw out my bag under the stars. I needed to start looking for campsites at 7 or 8, effectively cutting off 3-5 miles of hiking.

  2. Been more interested. The AT, for me, isn’t that interesting of a place to put in big miles: It just isn’t that scenic. So, the monotony of logging long days got to me after a while and I began stopping earlier and earlier to hang out with people in shelters.

My training wasn’t extensive. I ran a 6.5 mile loop about 3-4 times a week. The course included some hills. I was carrying a very light load, which helped a bunch. I wouldn’t worry too much about putting on muscle, since the AT is snow free, you’re on a trail the whole way, and you’ll probably have a light pack. Muscular strength (aside from leg power) isn’t needed very much in trail hiking, though once you begin to deal with serious snow or off trail conditions, you tend to need it.

Suge

#7

Pony express averaged just shy of 30 miles per day during his AT thru hike in 2004. Here are his stats.

Trip Miles 2183.20
Total Number of Days 73
Total Number of Zero Mile Days 3
Total Number of Hiking Days 70
Average Miles per Day 29.91
Average Miles per Hiking Day 31.19
Average Miles per Week 209.35
Number of days in Trail Towns 3
Number of nights in a Shelter 58
Number of nights in a Tent 5
Number of nights in a Hammock 0
Number of nights Under the Stars 0
Number of nights in a Hotel 5
Number of nights in a Hostel 4
Number of nights in a House 1
Number of Day Hikes 0
Longest Day 65.60
Shortest Day 1.2
Number of Days over 20 miles 64
Number of Days between 15-20 2
Number of Days between 10-15 2
Number of Days between 5-10 1
Number of Days between .1-5 1
Longest section with no days off
Miles: 1315.9
Days: 40
Most consective days off 0

Ed

#8

That’s good stuff, Suge. Based on my two previous long hikes, I was thinking of increasing my 20 mile-per-day average for the AT (I thought briefly about a 100-day pace). Then I read Karen Berger’s book about hiking the triple crown and she makes it very clear that hiking PCT miles on the AT is not feasible, as Datto alludes to. 30 mile days aren’t routine for me, but they’re not rare either–I’ve done up to four in a row on the CDT. But I’m not going to expect many of them on the AT. I would like to try the four-state challenge, though, if my partner’s up for it. I’m starting to realize that there’s really no reason to rush the AT, it’s a long season, so why hurry? Like Suge says, the AT is as much about the people as the scenery.

My training philosophy is doing a lot of fast 10-mile hikes, and one or two strenuous 20-mile day hikes in the months before the hike. I’ll be very careful not to injure myself. And I’m most definitely not a runner or a gym person. I agree with Datto that the best way to get in shape for hiking is to hike.

garlic

#9

That, I think, is one of the great advantages to thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

The weather window is wider.

You have time to enjoy the adventure without always having to worry incessantly about daily mileage.

There’s time to appreciate the beauty of The Cliffs. Or the rounding a bend in The Smokies to discover acres of yellow wildflowers blanketing the trail just ahead. There’s time to visit places like Gettysburg along the trail or take a few minute side trip to see the monument where Colonel Benjamen Franklin had some folks out surveying the countryside one day long ago.

Or have ice cream at The South Mountain Inn where all the dignitaries hang out. Right on-trail mind you. Or visit Washington, DC and see The Smithsonian, or spend an extra day or two in places like Hot Springs or Gorham.

To see the fall colors, to live in the spectacular fall colors of Maine for weeks on end.

To cross the Kennebec and realize you are going to make it, you’re actually going to make it! As unbelievable as it seems. That nothing will stand in your way. No blizzard, no mountain, no river.

To carry your home over Mt. Avery and realize it’s not about the speed or the accomplishment but to realize what these people had gotten involved with so long ago and had persevered, had accomplished for the betterment of mankind.

To stand in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson as he had hiked down to a spot where you are now standing alongside the AT.

To answer the thru-hiker twenty questions for the umpteenth time on your adventure and to still see the lighting of the eyes in the listener, the stranger, when you tell them of your journey. That light must have lit a hundred times on my thru-hike.

Ah, and to realize the people of America are great.

That is part of what makes the Appalachian Trail the most magnificent trail in the world.

And you have time to enjoy it, to relish the experience. And still arrive at the other end, arrive at your destination, or what you started out thinking was your destination.

Only later to discover it’s that of a beginning.

Datto

Datto

#10

I hiked the first half of the AT quickly I started march 19 and got to harpers ferry on may 21st. that is not world record fast, but it is not doing 10 mile days either. The most I did on the AT in one day was 50.2. Your mileage you are talking about is not unheard of on the AT, but to do it the whole way is not very common. I did a few back to back 30’s and they hurt. The best I ever did was from Delaware water gap to the Bear Mountain Bridge in 4 days. I think you could try to do it in that fast a pace, but you are more likely to get hurt. That is what happened to me. I was able to finish though. I think 25 miles is do able on the AT for some people though.

youngndum

#11

I was 62 and had been a marathon runner for many years prior to my thruhike. I had not been a hiker and people told me hiking used different muscles. So for the year before my hike I stopped running and hiked with a full pack most every day. Four days a week I hiked 5 miles. Fri, Sat, and Sun I hiked 20 miles. I started my hike averaging 20-25 miles/day. I started increasing to 25-30/day. Then I got poision ivy which turned into cellulitus and I ended up in the hospital. Got out and continued at about 25/day pace and got a staff infection. I did not have any problem with injury from hiking, just problems from the poision ivy and all that it caused. While I really do agree with all that advise you to take it slow and enjoy the hike, I sure do enjoy completing a high mileage day. Too many years running against the clock I guess. In general I would advise a training regimen that mixes running and hiking. The hiking should be with a full pack and should include several back-to-back days of high mileage. Anyone can do a long day, it’s doing a bunch of them that gets hard.

Stady On

#12

Pony Express and I hiked most of California together, splitting apart at Ashland, on the PCT in 2003. We started the same day and he finished 5 days before I did. His AT hike was at a much, much higher pace than his PCT hike. This, perhaps, should at least cause people to reconsider if PCT miles are possible on the AT. Moreover, perhaps you can average more miles per day on the AT. After all, in the first 48 days on the PCT, I averaged less than I did on the 48 day section hike on the AT. Just a thought.

Suge

#13

During my thru-hike last year I averaged about 22mpd…but there were several days that I did over 30 miles. (I think about 10). In all, I spent 100 days actually hiking and it was a very difficult hike. I honestly don’t think I could have stepped it up a whole lot more without killing myself. Especially since Maine was the hardest state to hike through and it was at the very end. I know people have done 30 mpd avg (ie Pony Express, Flyin’ Bryan or Skurka), but in my opinion, it would really take a lot of the fun out of it. Some places, even if you hike from 6 am til 9 pm you just won’t be able to do 30 (ie the Whites or southern Maine).

by all means…hike your own hike…this is just my 2cents,

lakewood

#14

Benchmarks are for labrats. get to know yourself as you walk and nevermind the digits. H your own H.

ringspun

#15

Even though my journal doesn’t give the stats exactly right, I have calculated that I avereged over 35 mpd on the days that I hiked. However, I also had to take a lot of zero days due to a massive snowstorm in the beginning and promotion of my charity along the route and church (which I did every Sunday).
To do those big miles, I worked out 7 days a week for 2 1/2 monts prior, doing core strengthening lifts and then at least 2 hours on the treadmill/stairmaster with a pack that weighed about 50 pounds on my back. I got a lot of looks but it was worth it.
I would have really kicked butt in the beginning, but since this was the first backpack that I had ever done, my shoes weren’t right and I had a lot of first-timer backpacker mistakes to fix.
My big miles came from Northern VA on. I had plenty of 30 mile days… and I did the 100 mile wilderness in three days with time to spare.
THE ONLY REASON THAT I HUSTLED: I had to get back by August to get a teaching job.
OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE TAKEN 7 MONTHS… I HIKED WAY TOO FAST!!! You have to stop and smell the roses sometime.

windex

#16

Thanks for all the replys. I appreciate them all

snail

#17

Just curious, but why is anyone hiking the AT or any other trail in a hurry? Being in a hurry is for the rat race in too many peoples day to day trudge. Probably the best thing my new wife of 3 years has done for me is to get me to slow down and smell the roses. Prior to her coming into my life, I was big into “time trials” as I put it. How many miles in how short a time. Quality of the hike beats quantity of miles any day. HYOH.

Boquack

#18

I agree Boquack.

It’s very rare that you ever hear anyone say that I wished I’d hiked faster. Maybe someone who ran out of time and was snowed out in the end. The vast majority of hikers would probably say they wish they had taken more time.

As for the training with a full pack. While I agree that an occasional hike with a full pack is good training. I find the value mostly in realizing how much weight you want to carry and making minor adjustments in equipment, etc…
My concern with doing vigorous full pack training, such as on a treadmill, is that your adding a lot of stress to your knees.

I think most knee specialist would blanch white if they heard of this practice. Of course they wouldn’t be too keen on the idea of hiking 2100+ miles either.

I would focus instead on strengthening the knee and leg muscles while avoiding as much unneccessary pounding.

Stryker

#19

I was thinking I’d pick the roses and smell them on the way. I am on a time constraint and need to get them 30+

Thanks everyone…

snail