@@juanbackpacks, I'll look forward to that update. After watching your videos, I'm considering putting the Allegheny 100 Challenge on my radar... no promises! However, I'd be happy to discuss and help with your goals for next year. (I'm a 23-year, injury-free, Ironman Triathlete & Coach (side hustle)).
Regarding your food plan: I recently finished a 100 mile section of the Appalachian trail having 7 to 10% grade ups and downs in 6 days. I am 6' and 230 lbs and even with consuming 4500 calories a day I lost 5 lbs. Those 9000 calories don't seen to be nearly enough.. Assuming 5 hours per day down time you'll be hiking 2.5 mph for 100 miles. if you weigh 200 lbs with a 29 lb pack your calorie needs would be 22,000 with a 1% to 5% trail grade.
You are absolutely right. I’m running a deficit intentionally. I’ve done it many times on my long trips up to 260 miles. I know my body and its tolerances. I function perfectly fine at 2,500 to 3,000 calories daily on hikes up to around 200 miles. I do it because it is impossible to carry higher calories per day on big stretches where resupply is not possible and I simply do not have room for more food.
That sounds amazing! I've been looking more into stoveless meals myself, I'll have to see about some of these! I like the electrolytes idea - whay are those?
The electrolytes are “Salt Stick” brand. I picked them because they are very popular among ultra runners and seem to be a reputable company. The are also one of the only companies that give real directions on how to use them.
I like not cooking when fast packing because the focus is on covering miles and not necessarily on lounging at camp. Don’t get me wrong, when I’m just backpacking I really prefer preparing one hot meal at the end of the day. The cool thing about how I do my “no cook’ food plan is that I basically just buy bulk packs of things (cheaper) figure out the number of days and calorie count I want teach day then make sure I have enough total calories for each day in all the bulk foods I bought… I then just repackage things and divide up into days. One one gallon zip lock for each day typically.
