jacko1956 wrote:I start the AT on 22nd March with my 25yo son.
I have researched my a### off and now just need to do it.
My plan is to be on schedule enough with the 6 month visa limit to go slow through New Hampshire and Maine.
Nice pics Turfa!
Late February my trailjournal will be active and I hope to post daily updates and pics about weekly.
Turfa wrote:Hmmm, Those questions are tougher to answer....
There were many times that I wondered why I was persisting, and had thoughts of just stopping. But I'm pretty stubborn & always managed to push myself on. A couple of specific instances come to mind..... At about the 3/4 mark, after about 2,700km I was really fatigued, both physically & mentally. I had been pushing fairly hard non-stop for about 6 weeks & had covered about 1,200km without a rest day. I hit the White Mountains in New hampshire, which is beautiful, but tough terrain, and I kind of just crashed. I remember edging along this wet, narrow ledge with a 10m sheer drop to rocks below & thinking that if I did fall & break a leg, at least I could stop hiking........ That was pretty much when I decided I needed a day off..... Took a rest day in town 2 days later & it made a world of difference. That was probably the closest I came to actually quitting.
There is always an excuse to quit if you really want one. Just the constant pain that seems to develop could be enough. Knees & feet gave me some grief, just from the constant pounding they get day after day. Pretty much everyone else I spoke to on the trail said that they had the same kind of constant background pain. It did take significant effort to push through it every day
Sometimes the weather gets on top of you.....I had one stretch of wet weather where it rained every day for 3 weeks. Mould started growing on the outside of my pack, my wool socks developed this terrible ammonia stench (I think they were actually rotting on my feet), and my feet looked like this.
This bit was tough.
So yes, there were plenty of times when I thought about quitting. There is a lot of time to think about it & many 'good' excuses to do it. But I always found better reasons for keeping going........great scenery, great company, the serenity of life on the trail..........although sometimes it was just plain stubborness..........
As to when I thought I might actually complete it.... after 2 weeks I knew that physically I was capable of finishing. Mentally, after the 3/4 point I knew I could push myself to the end. The big unknown was injury. A lot can go wrong in that amount of time & distance...... but the last week was the most nerve-wracking......so close... don't stuff it up now !!!!
wayno wrote:the amonia smell might be from your skin flakes, the protein in teh skin has nitrogen in it which goes into amonia..
in athletics its known you ahve a six to eight week period where you can spike your training and competition, your body adapts to the extra work for that period of time and after that the body will start to pack up if you keep pushing it without break... athletes normally peak at seperate periods of six to eight weeks in teh year and target their hardest competitions for those peaks.
Phillipsart wrote:Referring to a mention that Aquamira are not available in Australia in and earlier post. Aquamira can be purchased in Australia. I recently ordered the liquid drops online here in Australia, arrived in the post the following day.
http://www.extac.com.au/McNett_Aquamira ... n41000.htm
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