Ultramarathon Caranx crysos Scott Jurek ran the integral Appalachian trail last summer in 46 days , eight hours , and seven minutes , averaging 48 land mile per mean solar day . So he knows what ’s up with fittingness appurtenance that can withstand some brutal circumstance .
I ’d call him the Michael Jordan of long - distance track running , but Michael Jordan is a mark asshole and Jurek is a nice man . He ’s an extraordinary jock , and I late had the chance to ask about the geartrain he used on his Appalachian long - haul , a list of which you ’ll find below .
How did you settle on the inclination of geartrain you take on on your trip-up to Appalachia ? Do you have trainers who recommend specific particular ?
Some of them are my partners , so I ’ve been mould with them for yr , like Cliff Bar , I ’ve been working with them for 12 years — and Brooks Sports , which is my apparel and footwear patron . Other stuff I actually bought . soul or companies send me product , and then some thing I just did the research online , talked to people . Sometimes , I just took a chance . This is the first prison term I used a product by Delorme , theInreach Explorer , which is the GPS tracking gimmick that I used . It was a new equipment that I ’d never really explored , so we figure things out along the way .
Is your gear list now different than what you scat with when you started out ? Do you expend a mass more than you used to , or are there things you in the first place did n’t have and now you feel like you ca n’t live without ?
I ’m definitely a minimalist , I do n’t like to have a fate of gearing , and the sportsman that I do is all about being light and going quicker . So the gearing I have with me by all odds has to dish a intent . A 46 - day endeavor is unquestionably different than a 100 mile race that you finish in one twenty-four hours . So the train is modified establish on my want , what running property I want . For case , Black Diamond Z poles , I do n’t bring them on all my run — I only bring them on this journey because I need them . The Appalachian Trail is so tough and hilly , and it has steep descents . So it depends .
That also goes for a GPS tracker . I used that applied science a wad to keep people informed of where I was , and it allowed people to really look out at their desk at employment . It was a elbow room of showing the populace what was going on . It was a great way for me to chase after my onward motion as well as a rubber equipment , and it was good for accountability . People knew it was really the route I was claim . And my wristwatch was a Garmin GPS watch , and that is something I used every day .
Does it make you feel safer to broadcast your GPS co-ordinate to the world or is it sort of weird to have everyone cognise where you are at all time ?
Someone likened my trip to The Truman Show at time , because I was survive in this world where people were able to watch me . As an jock I attempt to separate from that . My married woman was my gang and she had my support vehicle that I ’d sleep in most nights . It was uncanny for her because sometimes I ’d have ten or fifteen hoi polloi showing up on the trail head , ping on our van . Sometimes she would n’t have cadre reception , but those people have a go at it exactly where I was , since they ’d come from the town . It was a little nerve - wracking in some ways — she was on these poop roads in the centre of nowhere from Georgia to Maine .
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Did you bring a telephone set with you ?
I did . I was using an iPhone 6 , and it was my camera , it was my communicating gadget . It seems unearthly , if you ’d have ask me 15 years ago if I ’d bring a headphone on a rivulet I ’d be like , heck no , I ’d never do that . But it does anything , and it allowed me to pull up the map the GPS was send out . The phone is the ultimate tool . It became my music player , and I ’d have it playing from the speaker , not headphones , so I could hear rattler rattling or bear crawling through the woods . I would seek to do a few update on societal medium with it while I was on the flock — I actually had better service than my wife , who was on dirt roads or in modest towns , because I ’d be on a mountain ridgepole get a cell signal .
The engineering science can really heighten the outdoor experience , you just want to verify you practice it in a fashion that does n’t unplug you from the total experience .
My papa always yells at me for run away with music , because he thinks the experience is more pure without it . You ’re such a corking runner , I was odd to learn if you felt that using technology complements the sport , or if it detracts .
There ’d be clip where I needed the medicine to motivate me , but other times I ’d just take it all in . I was never all close up off , since it was pretty low intensity , but it gave me energy sometimes . I never did any podcast listening or ebooks , but you ’re out there for so many hours , for so long . And I verbalize to other tramper , and it ’s how they convey . Some say “ We ’re out here for six months , I make love it sounds eldritch , but we swarm picture show sometimes . Sometimes you ’re in your collapsible shelter and you need a fiddling of the outside existence . ”
I know purists might think that ’s gaga , but it was fascinating to talk to other through hikers about how they practice technology .
Do you pour medicine or do you have mp3s on your phone ?
I used Spotify . Where I was , I would n’t be capable to stream , so I had stuff downloaded so I could take heed offline .
Would you ever take the Apple Watch out ?
I do n’t think the technology is there . You still need your phone , so as somebody who jaunt lightweight , if I were to have one gimmick , the Watch is n’t quite where it needs to be .
Are there any fitness appliance democratic with runners right now that you think are unneeded ?
I used to be an anti - music mortal . I believe in really unite with nature , being mindful of what ’s around you . I never opine I ’d bring a phone . And I think it ’s up to the individual . You just take to be sensitive to other users on the trail — some people put their headphone in and they ’re tuned out to everybody else , they do n’t want to interact with other mass , and they may be less polite . So you just need to be careful with technology , and verify you ’re mindful of your surroundings . Be cognizant that some people are n’t into it , be a smart user of technology . Just like in everyday life-time , you do n’t require citizenry on the phone in certain site . When you ’re out in the wilderness , it ’s not that people desire to escape the modern reality , but they ’re hold out there for a unlike experience . There ’s a civility and an spontaneous code about engineering and how you habituate it .
Like my daddy !
Yeah , so I ’ve tried to be loose to it . There are a pot of benefits from a refuge standpoint , peculiarly with this Delorme machine . As devices like this get smaller , multitude think it ’s something they ’d use . It serve men and women feel well-fixed out in the woods , especially women . Family members are n’t mindful of where their family members go . [ Delorme ] lets you send for supporter , and that ’s what I think is cool about these new gadget . Delorme relies on orbiter texting , so you may text from anywhere , you do n’t require a signal . That can avoid a lot of problems with search and rescues , or just get Word of God out that someone is tend late .
It ’s like an anti-127 Hours equipment .
Exactly . With technology , you’re able to still have risky venture . And there ’s times you necessitate to call on it . But some the great unwashed desire to get recede and not be found , or all connected , and that ’s fine too .
I read an interview you did in 2011 where you say you like the barefoot unravel style . I ’m wondering if you still experience the same path , and if you ’ve done a race in barefoot - tech shoe .
I still to this twenty-four hour period , even though it ’s not as trendy , consider barefoot running can be beneficial in two ways . One , it can strengthen the foot and articulatio talocruralis . Two , it can be a way to see more about your move and run physique , so technique is a welfare .
From a viewpoint of racing , I ’ve never run in a really slender sandal or shoeless - case footwear . Because it ’s just not fast ! When you feel that much of the land , even on road , feeling that much friction is not the most efficient . If you ’re try on go the profligate , you ’ll want some piece of footwear . I ’ve always used a lightweight , minimum shoe , like aBrooks Racer STracing flatcar , say , for a 135 mile in Badwater . [ Barefoot running ] has its space , but I would n’t race barefoot or with too slight a shoe . Anyone who runs on rocky trails will say you that , or on sidewalk where there ’s the element of wake up your feet .
Do you expend any anti - melting gear when you ’re running in Badwater ? Like redundant padding on the bottom of your place ?
The full matter is , nowadays footwear is able to hold up pretty high temperature . I ’ve never had issues . Badwater ’s definitely spicy — you could cook something in a skillet on the paving material — but I was just using a quite a little of simple cool engineering , like frappe bandanas and glass in my hat , and industrial urine sprayers to simulate mist . I jumped in an ice cooler to cool my core down . People have tried all sorts of dotty ideas at Badwater , but as long as you have good footwear , you do n’t need to interest about melt . I did work on a long - sleeve shirt with Brooks , and pants , for Badwater .
Were they designed to keep you cool ?
Exactly . They ’re plan to screen you from effulgent heat , from heat bouncing off the paving , as well as the ambient temperature . It ’s the reverse of winter , where you roll up up to stay lovesome . Instead , you bundle up to rest coolheaded . It ’s almost like the Bedouin people , the indigenous citizenry in the Sahara desert .
I know you ’re a vegan chef , and I ’m question what you think of Soylent .
I have n’t tried it ! I learn all the bombilation around it . I recollect it ’s absorbing , because it ’s like a sport food for daily spirit . A portable , everything - you - pauperism meal . It ’s not like freeze - dried ice cream , but it commence to resemble thing masses would eat in outer space .
I just love food too much , and tastes and textures , to eat food like that .
If you could take a pill while you were running to keep rifle , would you ? Or do you enjoy the outgrowth of eating and drinking on the trail ?
On the Appalachian trail , I was have to eat 6,000 - 7,000 calories a day , so it would ’ve been squeamish from a appliance standpoint . I love to eat , but when you ’re run 50 mi a day , hike up over pugnacious terrain , sometimes you just need to use up something that ’ll give you the maximum amount of calories . That ’s why I ’d down a half - pint of ice cream with coconut Milk River , just so I could get 800 calories in one fell swoop . And on the trail , chew and swallowing is difficult . While it does n’t sound very healthy to just take a pill , sometimes you just demand to get the calories in . So I might do that .
At this detail I make up one’s mind to ask about the NormaTec Recovery System , this bizarre - wait leg massage machine popular with athlete :
I ’m queer about the NormaTec Recovery System . Do you use that when you ’re done , or were you using it on the Appalachian track ?
I used it at the end of the twenty-four hour period , though I guess I could ’ve cease mid - twenty-four hour period . It was my version of a massage , since I could n’t afford to have someone out there every day massage me . It ’s a way to flush my body , and the cool matter is , I had a solar control board on the top of our van , we were totally ego - sufficient , so we were able to charge things . you may also plug it in , but we used the bombardment . It was a cool portable organisation that allowed my body to recuperate .
Do you ever utilize the system to just have a restful massage ? Would anyone ever buy it just because they feel like bring forth a leg massage ?
The amount of compression is very approachable . I think there are all type of uses . you may set it for a really intense one if you ’re an jock go back from a physical exertion . There ’s ten preferences , and you’re able to file through the intensiveness to get it down to a light massage . Pneumatic contraction has been used in hospital setting , and it ’s been a very effective mode for healing , and now it ’s pop out to take root athletes , from basketball players to endurance athletes . So it ’s an interesting twist .
I was hoping they had some sort of ness state of affairs for back massages .
There ’s one for your hip and thigh , which I use . They do n’t have anything for the back decently now .
Do you ever use a stimulator for your muscles ? This is the most unscientific way to describe it , but it ’s a simple machine —
Electrical foreplay ?
Yes ! Do you habituate it ?
enquiry shows it ’s good , but I have n’t played around with it very much . It ’s not bad science or anything . I went to physical therapy schooltime and worked as a strong-arm healer for many years , and electric stimulus can definitely be a healing modality , or conditioning for muscles who have gotten weak after surgery .
Have you ever done cryotherapy for recovery ?
emphatically . I use it a lot . When I had a stifle trauma , I used internal-combustion engine . The nerveless affair with that , I useda densification wrapthat Pro - Tec makes , where you fill up an ice bagful and it sits so you’re able to frost the human knee as you pack together . I hiked a picayune chip with that while my knee joint was really unsound .
Was it difficult to hike with that strapped to your knee ?
Kind of . It was n’t the easiest , but it allowed me to ice on the move . I love to use ice baths and cryotherapy on a even basis typically , but I did n’t have access . The Creek were warm , and it was arduous to have enough icing handy enough to do dusty soaks .
What are you go to do next ? Or are you recover from the giant run you just did ?
I ’m still stand and go back from this one . I ’m looking forward to the next adventure , but I do n’t know what it ’s going to be .
Jurek ’s top gear list is as follow :
Brooks Pure Grit 4’s&Cascadia 10 ’s
Pro - Tec Athletics shinbone and thigh concretion wrap
Ultimate Direction Signature Series SJ Ultra Vest
Black Diamond Z - Poles
Sawyer Mini Water Filter
Anti - Gravity Gear profile maps & AWOL 2015 Northbound AT Guide
Thermarest NeoAir XLite
NormaTec Recovery organisation
Zeal Optic Darby sunglasses
Clif Organic Energy Food Pizza Margarita , Banana Coconut Mango & Clif Shot Gel Mocha
The audience was edited and contract .
trope : AP
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