Outside Magazine article:
outsideonline.com/outdoor-adve…tside%20Magazine-facebook
<snip>
Did Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail Ruin My Body?
Many hikers hope their treks will make them better at other sports. Instead, mine kept me from distance running for a year—a common side effect we don't discuss enough.
“The fittest a thru-hiker has ever been or will ever be is when they’re thru-hiking,” says Sara Boughner, a physical therapist, hiking trainer, and trail runner in Missoula, Montana. “I’ve met so many thru-hikers who think that fitness will translate to other sports when they’re done. But it doesn’t. You see thru-hikers jump into a marathon a week after they’re done, and it goes miserably.”
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Thru-hiking didn't ruin my body; just a short story applicable to the last paragraph above.
I've been a runner all my life; from high school until a few years ago when my back and knees said no more. Just before my thru I was running with a group of friends weekly at the loop around Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. Exactly a 5 mile loop; sometimes we'd do it once, sometimes twice. Depends who showed up that day. I lost 14 pounds during my thru, and my legs looked like they were carved out of granite. I was obviously in the best shape of my life. When I went to run for the first time after my thru, everyone was joking about how I was going to set a PR and just basically blow everybody away. I honestly thought the same. My recreational pace was an 8:00 minute mile; and that's probably what I was running when we started.
After carrying on average 40 pounds and walking at 2 mph for 5 months -- I made it about 3 miles and had to stop running and walk for a while. I was totally out of breath. The transition from moving slow to moving fast was too much for my body to handle.
It didn't take very long to get back into running shape -- but that first run was a shocker.
outsideonline.com/outdoor-adve…tside%20Magazine-facebook
<snip>
Did Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail Ruin My Body?
Many hikers hope their treks will make them better at other sports. Instead, mine kept me from distance running for a year—a common side effect we don't discuss enough.
“The fittest a thru-hiker has ever been or will ever be is when they’re thru-hiking,” says Sara Boughner, a physical therapist, hiking trainer, and trail runner in Missoula, Montana. “I’ve met so many thru-hikers who think that fitness will translate to other sports when they’re done. But it doesn’t. You see thru-hikers jump into a marathon a week after they’re done, and it goes miserably.”
=====
Thru-hiking didn't ruin my body; just a short story applicable to the last paragraph above.
I've been a runner all my life; from high school until a few years ago when my back and knees said no more. Just before my thru I was running with a group of friends weekly at the loop around Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. Exactly a 5 mile loop; sometimes we'd do it once, sometimes twice. Depends who showed up that day. I lost 14 pounds during my thru, and my legs looked like they were carved out of granite. I was obviously in the best shape of my life. When I went to run for the first time after my thru, everyone was joking about how I was going to set a PR and just basically blow everybody away. I honestly thought the same. My recreational pace was an 8:00 minute mile; and that's probably what I was running when we started.
After carrying on average 40 pounds and walking at 2 mph for 5 months -- I made it about 3 miles and had to stop running and walk for a while. I was totally out of breath. The transition from moving slow to moving fast was too much for my body to handle.
It didn't take very long to get back into running shape -- but that first run was a shocker.
2,000 miler
