just got back from a trip to Joshua Tree NP, met up w/ the same group of guys that I ran the Rim2Rim2Rim in the Grand Canyon last spring the traverse is 38 miles, w/ a gain of 4500' of elevation- we started at the North entrance and ended at Black Rock Canyon we were able to stash water at roughly the 1/2 point as the trail comes very close to Ryan's campground I was using my new-ish Ultimate Direction AK pack- small and light, but able to hold two 20 oz bottles up front w/ a liter in the rear pocket- along w/ food, extra clothing and some emergency bits the run really ended being two runs- the first half pleasurable and completed in decent time (under 4 hours, the second half the wheels came off- severe calve cramping, bouts of nausea and with the reduction in pace a real chance of running out of water I think there were several contributing factors- the surface was tough to run on, lots of loose sand which sapped strength, the heat- it wasn't hot (got to 79), but when you've been training in the 20's and 30's it sure seemed hot, the elevation gain was more than I was expecting (we'd have been better off running in the opposite direction) and lastly my training has really centered around 20-ish miles, so 38 was definitely pushing it a bit I did have a trail angel looking out for me though at ~ mile 27 while climbing a steep ascent, I spied something in a large thorny bush- I pulled out a Gatorade bottle that was full of water- it was there for some time as the cap was cracked and discolored, but the water was just fine! I made it back to our camp in 10.5 hours, tired and sore, but still thankful for the wonderful experience in a very beautiful wilderness this is where all the woes disappear
Too cool man. I look forward to the day that I have that kind of stamina. 1 Mile is about all I can muster right now lol. They say it is all in your breathing and heart rate. Have any tips for me about that?
run AND walk, start small- say a 2 or 3 mile loop, when you need to walk, walk- when you feel like you can run, run- after a couple of weeks you'll notice that the ratio of running to walking will be increasing, and pretty soon you'll be able to run the entire distance- then just very slowly build that distance up from there I only started running two years ago and couldn't run a 3 mile loop when I started
