[at-l] Room for improvement

[Mark Hudson]

<<Maybe, Maybe not...

I remember climbing a mountain in Maine after six months of walking up
mountains thinking "Why is this still so damn hard?"

The only difference from Georgia was recovery rate - a pause,and my
heart rate, breath and lactic acid would return to near-normal.

Your heart may be doing beter than you think, is all I'm sayin'...
;-)>>

I noticed my recovery rate improving quite early on, but I did start
out in pretty good shape.
Two other factors I noticed in the difficulty of particular climbs -
coming uphill out of town with a full pack
is significantly harder than descending into town with an empty one.
Somehow this always seemed to come as a surprise.
I vote that we move all the trail towns to the top of the ridge so we
can climb with an empty pack <g>.
The second one is whether you're doing the climb at the beginning of
the day or the end of the day. In comparing
notes after my hike with past trail mates I would mention a
particularly grueling climb (Tesnate Gap), to be met with
a blank look, then would be told of another grueling climb that I had
no memory of at all... And it was all dependent
on where we started or ended our days....
Pacing is important, but for me so is being in shape.

skeeter