Mental vs. Physical Preparation

A lot of people have asked me if and how I am going to train for the Appalachian Trail. When they ask this question they are referring to the physical aspect of the preparation and are usually surprised when I tell them I am trying to train more mentally then physically. I actually read from a hiker who swore that running 20 miles a week before the trail is the best thing you can do. Personally, I think a complete thru hike is more of an endurance of the mind rather than an endurance of the body. Don't get me wrong, definitely a whole lot of body endurance necessary, but it's normally your mind that ultimately convinces you to give up.

So when I say I am preparing mentally, I am not talking about meditation or research (which, I am actually doing a ton of) or anything like that. Its more that I am trying to prepare myself to being uncomfortable, tired, exhausted...overall, very far from being in my comfort zone. If I can understand that these are feelings I am likely going to feel, I think when it comes time that they happen, I've already anticipated it. It's not going to make that tired or pain go away, but at least mentally, I will have seen this coming and hopefully have more of an awareness to overcome the adversity.

A perfect example is this evening. Tonight I played pickup basketball with some friends and to say I'm tired would be an understatement. It was three hours of sprinting, high impact, physical sport, which has caused everything from my feet to my shoulders to ache. Sort of how I should expect to feel after 5 straight days of 20 mile hiking in 90 degree sun.

To make things worse, I have this lingering cold that has literally lasted over 2 weeks. I'm popping two Walgreen's brand nyquils as I type this. (Why pay an extra $3 for the brand name? Money saving tip brought to you by Frank Corrado!) So I really feel like crap.

I get home from basketball, tired, sore, coughing up a lung, and feeling completely drained. Even worse, our house is at its usual 64 during the winter. My teeth are chattering. All I want is some food and a hot shower. Perfect - half a DiGiorno's pizza left out for me, made by my roommate, Joe, earlier. Heated that baby up in the microwave and my stomach was full of cheesy deliciousness in no time. I even sat back and watched Anderson Cooper 360. Holy Crap - Libya seems a lot worse than people are were originally indicating!

So I got to relax and eat some re-heated, pre-packaged pizza. Then I took an amazing hot shower. Oh my God, it felt awesome. Just what I needed. But as I was drying off (sorry for all of these references about me being naked here) the stark reality of just how pampered I currently am, hit me like a ton of bricks.

I think there are a few events, feelings, and emotions that I felt tonight that I am expecting to feel on the trail. Tired. Cold. Hungry. In need of a hot shower. But on the trail, there is no hot shower. There is no DiGiorno's pizza. There is no Anderson Cooper 360. What I need to do is mentally except that my pampered lifestyle, at least in the short term, is quickly coming to an end.

So when I'm miserable, and want to quit, and hate life for a night or two, if I can call back to the fact that I expected this, I think I might have a better chance of continuing on, instead of running 20 miles a week.

Thanks for reading!

Frank

PS - Just thought of another one. Tonight, when I go to sleep, I can be comforted knowing that I just have to sit at my desk tomorrow. No physical movement to cajole my soreness. Whats going to happen on the trail - another 15 mile day with a 30lb pack. Bring it on! Woooo!

Introduction to Food Preparation

Food will be necessary to hike.  It's the fuel needed for walking, climbing, and keeping the body's core temperature above hypothermic levels.  About 5 to 6,000 calories will be expended per day while on the trail.  Thus, food will be a critical logistic component of our everyday lives (more than it already is).  Luckily, I like food so this aspect of preparations has been particularly enjoyable.

The food-plan is multipronged:  One method is to procure rations in the towns that we'll be crossing through.  So, roughly once a week Frank and I will emerge from the wilderness and haunt small towns scavenging for something to eat - and lots of it.  I have been diligently stashing away cash so that I may buy food items at stores; buffets will also be an oasis for thru-hikers.  In addition to purchasing groceries we'll be receiving "mail-drops" in said towns.  (Thank you, Tiffany!)  Post offices, hostels, and other facilities will hold packages until I arrive to claim the goods.  "Trail Angels" are also known to manifest randomly at trail-junctions; they are kind people who go out of their way to specifically feed hungry hikers.  Despite thru-hikers' best efforts, due to pack-weight constraints and because of the constant walking, the average guy can expect to drop about 17 pounds in weight.

I have been preparing some home-made meals in advance so that I may receive them via mail-drops.  For my birthday last year Tiffany gifted me a dehydrator.  It is awesome.  I can dehydrate virtually anything type of fruit or vegetable.  The device is composed of five trays that stack on top of one another; the trays are then placed on a central fan that circulates warm air from a heating element inside the base of the dehydrator.  Thus far I've successfully dehydrated a whole array of delicious produce: apples, bananas, mango, kiwi, scallion, pineapple, tomato, garlic, celery, grapes, mushrooms, carrots, and definitely some other tasty things I cannot recall at the moment.  My objective is to create meals that utilize these excellent sources of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and fiber.  Here are two photos of my food preparation:

[Mushrooms, scallions, and tomato about to be dehydrated.] 

[Vacuum-sealed "lunch" (pistachio, cashew, almond, dehydrated banana, and probably something else.)]

.....

It's getting late so I'll leave tonight's post at this for now.  I get so excited about food; I could write an entire book about preparing food for the trail.  I'll expand some more in the near future about this topic (e.g. I have an alcohol stove so I have to conceive of delicious meals that only require hot water to be added.)

Take Care All!

-Adam

Official Resignation

Good evening, All.

Well, it is official - I've resigned from my job!  Effective exactly one month from now, I will be unemployed from company obligations and employed full time by passionate pursuits.  I have spent nearly four years working with a consulting firm here in Boston and I have learned a lot; I am grateful for my fortunes and for the opportunity to further explore my path in life.

Frank (who I believe you've "met") and I have set a date for stepping on-to the Appalachian Trail: April 12, 2011.  Now that we have a day in mind things are starting to get real "real".  Food preparation is in full swing; I have fruits dehydrating in my basement as we speak (more on that later).  Physical exercise has been maintained, finances are in order, water is bountiful, meals are being prepared, maps are being analyzed, gear is assembling, and I am psyched.

I hope you all are enjoying your days - and nights - and I look forward to shifting AT preparations into high-gear.

-Adam

New Gear!

REI is my version of crack. I'm addicted to that store. Yeah, you will pay a little more, but hands down, they have the best customer service, very knowledgeable staff, and probably the most customer friendly policies I have ever seen. Not to mention the fact that they host an abundance of free clinics on everything from Orienteering to Avalanche Training (I've attended both).

Due to this, I make it a point to give them my business. Today was a little slow at work, so I cut out during lunch and made a trip over to the Denver Flagship REI. This place is awesome. It has everything an outdoor enthusiast could want. It even has a 30 ft tall rock climbing wall in the middle of the store. Pretty cool.

Since the hike is less than two months away, I thought it would be prudent to obtain a somewhat crucial item for hiking...a backpack. I've actually tried a couple out and have returned them both (again - REI lets you return anything...ever) so I figured its time to buck up and just choose one already. I've done my research. I've looked at all the specs. I've read all the reviews. Why is this so hard? It might be my inability to make decisions. Hmmm....

Anyway, after trying a few more out and grilling one of the sales guys (who, by the way, really knew his shit. He hiked the Pacific Crest Trail) I landed on the Osprey Kestrel 58. I won't bore you with the details, but I think I've found my pack! And while wandering around the store with the pack, fully weighted on my shoulders, I browsed the hiking pole section.

Now I've never used hiking poles before, but the people who do use them, they say its the only way to go. Plus, they are supposed to take a lot of the pressure off your knees, which for me, is the one area I think can doom me. I think my mental state is there. I think my physical fitness will improve on the trail. Its just those damned knees.  I guess training for and running a marathon didn't help, but I truly fear that if I drop out, my old man knees will be the reason. Let's hope they are the miracle workers everyone has been telling me they are.

Thanks for reading!

-Frank

Hello Internet!

Hi Everyone!

Adam and I have been talking about setting a blog up for some time now, but I’m glad Adam, the go-getter he is, actually started it. I wanted to introduce myself to those who may be reading this and don’t know who I am.  Adam and I go all the way back to the distant past of 2008 where we met through the mutual need of cheap rent in the ever-expensive town of Boston. Well, Cambridge to be exact. I remember hitting it off pretty quickly. When you have a lot of things in common, it’s not too hard.  While living together, we definitely collaborated on a lot of ideas, but Adam also introduced me to some new things that I hadn’t experienced much in the past. Chess, French Press Coffee, and the Flaming Lips are just a few things that come to mind. Another is hiking.

Yes, I admit it. I am not a seasoned hiker. I am still a newbie to the game.  I had camped in the past, but nothing more than a car camp. I had never backpacked. If you've ever read A Walk in the Woods, I was Katz, without the drug and weight problem. Fortunately for me I had a new roommate who was also an Eagle Scout. Adam introduced me to the world of hiking and took me on a couple trips. I have had the bug ever since. Hiking forums are now among my online bookmarks. I subscribe to Backpacker Magazine. I am excited to spend my Friday night at REI when I have all the time I want to ogle their beautiful hiking goods. While I am slightly more experienced than before, I am still no expert. (I can see the bets being made now on how long I last - put me down for $20 at 2 months!)

I have since relocated to Denver, Colorado (great hiking lies out here as well), but during our time living together, Adam and I had always talked about one day hiking the Appalachian Trail. It was a pipe dream, yeah, but we always had the lofty aspiration to actually get out there and do it. And with our shared philosophical views as well as a ”If not now, when?” mentality, I think it was only a matter of time before we decided to do this.

I don’t know if it was the thin air of the mile high city or Adam’s itch for something new, but we kept up conversation about the trail until one day, Adam decided he was going to do it. When he told me, I was happy for him, but didn’t know if I could join (as much as I desperately wanted to).

After some personal thought and soul searching, I realized that the path I hoped to take in life could accommodate an attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. But it was a small window and if it would ever happen, it would have to be now. If not now, when?

This was all about a year ago. We are now less than 2 months away from hitting the trail in Georgia and while I can’t wait to start, the anxiety of making sure I’m properly prepared is starting to set in. I just know I’ll be the first hiker in the history of the AT who forgot his tent. I know it.

So that is a little about me. Definitely excited. DEFINTELY NERVOUS. I’ll keep up with how my/our prep is going (I bought a couple pairs of hiking boots today! Yesss!) and any other thoughts or ramblings that may come to mind.

Thanks for reading!

-Frank