<story><title>What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike</title><url>https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body-thru-hike</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Dowwie</author><text>I came across three emaciated, bearded men on the continental divide trail in glacier national park.  When I asked one of them where he was from he looked at his buddies and they all replied excitedly, in unison, &amp;quot;Mexico!&amp;quot;.  It was at that moment that I came to realize that these men were  one day away from completing the entire thru-hike.&lt;p&gt;I vividly recall one of their dinners: Dried ramen noodle, straight from the bag.&lt;p&gt;They slept in their bags exposed, beneath a basic light tarp.</text></comment>
<story><title>What Happens to Your Body on a Thru-Hike</title><url>https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body-thru-hike</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>justinator</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve done quite a few very strenuous, multi-week races on bike, including riding the Colorado Trail in 7 days [0], and riding to, then summiting all the Colorado 14ers in 34 [1] - as well as participating in the Tour Divide [2] twice.&lt;p&gt;I would call my fitness before these races as &amp;quot;peak&amp;quot;, but I wouldn&amp;#x27;t call myself anything but near, &amp;quot;onset of over training syndrome&amp;quot; afterwards. The only thing I experienced similar to the author&amp;#x27;s was a slight bit of fat loss. Every other part of my body was wrecked, which took months to recover from.&lt;p&gt;One thing that stuck out with me is that they only hiked for 8 hours&amp;#x2F;day. That seems like a light day! compared to these races, where 5 hours of sleep is spoiling oneself. I guess the moral of the story before doing a, &amp;quot;thru hike for fitness&amp;quot; is to not to overdo it. It also seems like the author was in pretty alright shape to start out, with a fairly low pulse and overall bodyweight.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.climbingdreams.net&amp;#x2F;ctr&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.climbingdreams.net&amp;#x2F;ctr&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;
[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;longranger.justinsimoni.com&amp;#x2F;tour14er&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;longranger.justinsimoni.com&amp;#x2F;tour14er&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tourdivide.org&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;tourdivide.org&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>