Endurance And Speed On The Pacific Coast Trail

Hello All,

http://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/10239/

A daunting challenge
It’s a grueling trail (more people have climbed Mount Everest than successfully through-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail). Fox’s ambitions are not only to complete it, but to *run *it, and beat the 65-day record as well.

Fox, who went on from Wheeler to Yale (where he was a four-year letterman in track and field), is currently in the Oregon stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs along the spine of the West’s highest peaks, from the Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon, along the Sierra Nevada in Northern California, and down through California’s coastal mountains to its terminus in Campo, CA.

The math

http://www.golocalprov.com/images/remote/http_images.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/samfoxrunning.jpg

44 miles per day, for two months: Fox, running
computes to an average of 16 hours a day of running, 44 miles a day, every day, for two months. For even a devoted athlete like Fox, who lettered 15 times in four sports while a student at Wheeler, it’s a daunting challenge. Over its 2,650 miles, the trail climbs 60 major mountain passes and descends 19 major canyons. It passes more than 1,000 lakes and traverses 3 National Monuments, 7 National Parks, and 24 National Forests.

http://vimeo.com/26181517

http://vimeo.com/26856656

http://talk.brooksrunning.com/...pacific-crest-trail/

The Pacific Crest Trail spans 2,256.5 miles and the entire west coast—from Canada to Mexico. It climbs nearly 60 major mountain passes and descends 19 canyons. Fewer people have thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail than have climbed Mt. Everest. Yesterday morning, Sam Fox completed his journey across the entire Pacific Crest Trail. It took Sam 56 days to complete the trail. That’s an average of 42.3 miles, or 14 to 16 hours of running, every single day.

Cheers,


Neal


+1 mph Faster

Years ago when I was hiking the West Coast Trail (WCT) on Vancouver Island, I saw 2 fast packers running the opposite way. I have no idea how long they were taking to do the 75Km trail but were heading East to West.

Now, you may think that 75Km (47 miles) wouldn’t be an issue for a day run, you’d be right IF the trail were anywhere close to normal. But it is not. The West end can be considered normal but the Eqst cannot. As an experienced hiker in the Rockies, even on steep trails I would average 4kph minimum. On the East side of the WCT I was reduced to 1kph. Add in climbing up and down rotting ladders, trekking over moss covered logs to get across deep gullies and using self propelled cable cars to span rivers and you have a very difficult trek.

There’s an ultra marathon that I like to run in San Diego. PCT 50 mile. PCT is very technical from the southern border but a blast.