It is raining in Vermont this Sunday morning. Our mud awaits !!
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But hopefully the black flies/won't be biting!Originally Posted by Jeff
It is raining in Vermont this Sunday morning. Our mud awaits !!
Have seen several posts questioning whether Scott can beat Jenn's record, which as a resident of Asheville I don't want to see. However his pedigree is unquestionable. Living in Boulder he has access to trails out his back door and can have training runs that climb several thousand feet. Running a :10/mi. for 167 miles is superhuman!
The only questions I have are his logistics sound from the Whites through Katahdin and by how many days over Jenn does he want to set the record?
I had another chance to meet up with Scott in MA on Friday. Like last week, he was still in good spirits and moving strong. Here is a quick write up about this week's adventure.
http://www.backpackingengineer.com/o...tt-jurekagain/
I played a bit with my calculators- looks like the plain jane NOBO one fits him the best. Which I suppose makes sense as this is his first hike of the AT after all.
It uses Map Man's NOBO averages per section and twists it a bit to make the whole trail relative to that pace.
The first section is a bit short, so the Fontana to Damascus section is a better indicator of overall trail.
I came up with 44.4 MPD over days 4-10 to (roughly) cover that section. Since my calculator doesn't depend on exact miles to be hit- it doesn't matter if he covers the exact miles in full days.
47 days on the dot... So a nail biter on paper too.
Scott is Scott, and the North half of the AT is what it is. Likely they will meet someplace in the middle.
It will come down to two simple things if you like to keep things simple- weather and health.
Like Matt- I hope that Scott plays it safe. Or rather, play it respectfully.
It certainly worked for Matt.
If you like things a little more complicated...
If the trail likes Scott well enough it will let him stay close to the record while everyone gets to know each other better.
He will likely be given an opportunity to do what he has done well in the past- capitalize on a chance and seize opportunity with extreme mental and physical effort. Or rather more accurately, transcend extreme mental and physical effort.
I think that's the way it will go, and the record will pass to his hands by a slim margin.
No matter how you feel, something perhaps to consider, though you may not agree.
Scott is not competing with Jen.
Jen has already won. She can't lose.
They can only compete with themselves, the "winner" is typically the one who surrenders most deeply to the trail.
The record belongs to the trail, much like the Cup that recently came to Chicago, it simply changes hands.
It's not given or taken, but quietly earned.
We were hiking south yesterday from the Wilbur clearing camp site to Greylocks summit and we may have passed Scott going north? I have seen his mug shot of course in here and in the media but not sure if it was him . He was running, or should I say speeding north with a woman in tow...very athletic and gave us a big smile and a friendly hello as they bounded along the trail....anyone know if he would have been around the Mt Williams area around 10.45AM?
Mt. Williams would have been too early for him yesterday.
As per weather: most a human's energy is "lost" as heat. Cooler weather, like Vermont's rain, can only go to benefit the energy-expending athlete, even one as well adapted to heat (and output) as Scott. The muddy conditions won't help, naturally, but he's well-versed in running through ALL kinds of conditions, including that provided by the Appalachian molehills. He has won many competitive events in rain, snowstorms, hail, wind, and brutally hot conditions. Rain is one of the more welcomed ones. The steep scrambling ahead will be the crux of his record attempt...that and a sleepless night or two filled with fast walking, not some rain or mud. (He's already alluded that Jen "must've been a machine," so he appreciates that he's got his work cut out for him, and that his secondary goal--beating the record by days--is out of the question.
His health is the biggest concern. Mentally there are no concerns. He'd be the first to joke that he's not stable, and that that's not an issue (beyond the difficulties it already presents). But the physical considerations, well, therein lay the worry (if any worry exists, which it does not, since this is entirely done in the name of fun and challenge). All it takes is one misplaced footstep and the journey ends. One slip down a muddy rock, or a lurking root. One handshake or hug with an virus-stricken adoring fan and he could fall ill with a cold, depleting his mojo. But Jurek feeds off people (a quiet extrovert) and the energy gathered from others helps fuel him. As long as he has help, he'll be fine.
Ok redseal, thanks for the update.
Cooling the body uses lots of energy so if you can get rain to cool you down you can ramp your metabolism to a higher level (assuming you are a world class athelete). This is why the two groups of athletes who can maintain the highest levels of prolonged metabolic activity are bicycle racers and cross country skiers. Skiers because they are cold and bikers because they move through the air so fast. Bikers can go faster if they put an aerodynamic cowling over their bike to cut down on wind resistance but it only works in the shot term as the cyclist overheats.
I would like to know where you got this bit of information.
You don't have to be a world class athlete to experience that effect. Having run Vermont 100 a few times, I experienced the re-energizeing effect of cool rain. I'll take rain anytime during an endurance event over heat and humidity.
What Odd Man Out stated is pretty much standard knowledge in extreme endurance sports or activities. A quick search returned this for you. I'll let you dig deeper if you really are curious about it. Any marathoner can tell you how much easier it is to run fast when conditions are cool vice hot. Or any fast hiker will verify such.
http://breakingmuscle.com/endurance-...durance-sports
Great blog post redseal! Respect your ethics WRT private conversations.
Trillium
+1 I find it strange when one posts private conversations.
Read this. It's been around a while, but the science is still sound. The jelly doughnut bonfire is fun.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ring-Truth.../dp/0394556631
According to his GPS, yesterday (June 27) at 10:45 AM he was here:
Capture.JPG
Your science is sound. I grasp the contrarian view. I always loved to run in the rain. I was never an endurance runner, but used to run a 7 mile loop daily. The rain did wonders cooling the body. I can imagine that if I pushed the limits, that cooling would eventually not be a friend.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln
Thanks for the GPS info Odd Man Out!
so thats how you know.....
What kind of treats would Scott and Jenny appreciate the most? I can pack cold things in dry ice if necessary. I plan on meeting up with him on the 8th hopefully to do the Bigelow Range with him and his crew. Thanks for any advice.
Jon
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