6 December 2016 – Mileage: 48 – no poles – picture credit: Wikimedia commons
Again, I did not enjoy these miles. The sun didn’t show up. My feet hurt and the route chosen was BS.
But I did it. This time I start at 8 o’clock. I pack an additional layer for the first quarter mile. I’m still afraid of the cold weather because I don’t trust the awesomeness of my clothing. My gloves however have a problem: In cold wind conditions, when the outer layer cools down, they don’t provide enough warmth. I solved this problem by wearing a second pair of wind-stopper gloves over them. This solution however, is big letdown from my uberaesthetical approach.
The list of things I need grows again. Warmer gloves, the beanie a size bigger, lighter rain pants. The combination of my jackets however proofs to be unbeatable. While the down jacket provides warmth, the rain jacket provides protection from the wind. And I just love my pants. I never owned something better for my legs.
I wear the Brooks Cascadias and they hurt my feeds. The blisters are my fault: You just shouldn’t walk for 15 hours without airing out your feeds just once. You shouldn’t walk for 4 hours on pavements without one break. I will try other shoes. Hoka One One challenger ATR 3 and the Arc’teryx Norvan VT. Which both will be released in February.
Speaking of pavement: I follow the bicycle route. It is just a little bit better than following the lake street which is basically a highway with just one lane per direction. But in these gold coast municipalities you must walk for hours along these new-rich houses. They are gross, they are stupid, there owners are greedy and dumb, they represent a lifestyle who is responsible for a lot of things that went wrong in society. Everyone has his Porsche Cayenne or his Range Rover parked in front of the house. All houses look as uniform as the cars.
Everyone commutes to Zurich to work absurd long hours to fetch a bonus at the end of the year. So, they can afford the upgraded leather seats in their next Porsche. These are the kind of people who can be motivated by goals – regardless how stupid these goals are. I feel sorry for these folks. They have their kitchens full of Alessi, their wives collect Swarovski trash.
And everywhere there are Yoga studios. Yoga may be healthy, reconnect you with your body but once you saw this, you shiver when somebody just mentions Yoga. All houses have huge windows, the bigger the better. And everybody plants the same dull pines in front of it.
Once I pass a house whose owners have decided to use USM Haller furniture exclusively. There is a huge wall, just one compartment stands open. It’s the bar and it’s not even 8 o’clock in the evening.
These towns stink from money but the construction workers on their streets must shit in these small chemical plastic toilets. Which I use also, otherwise I would have to ruin somebody’s perfect but ordinary garden. It’s the kind of towns where you see the latest Cannondale carbon fiber mountain bike but the owner is too lazy to even oil the chain correctly. Or stickers with the “Sansibar” logo. It’s a bar on the island of Sylt.
When I finally cruise back to Zurich in the evening at 10, I feel relieved. On the lake, the police are on patrol, they muster me from behind by following me with their car in my speed. I don’t even look back. I know that it is the police – nobody else is even allowed to drive here. They can check out my clothing, so they know that I belong to this not especially poor city. I’m the only person walking along the lake anyways. All others are busy drinking in the Christmas markets.
As usual people test their engines in the city. Apparently, it is important for owners of German upper-class cars to test the ability of their engines once or so per day. Why would you do that otherwise?
Some of these cars have now engineered in faulty fire cycles. So, the exhaust system gives you a boom every now and then. Ferrari has engineered in the intermediate gas when changing gear. To make your gear changes more aggressive since intermediate gas is no longer required at all and modern transmissions are half-automatic. They let you choose the gear but everything else they do by them self. Such cars have also adaptive exhaust systems, steered by GPS signals, depending on the time. If you come home after 10 in the evening they automatically turn down the exhaust noise. The car knows where he is at home so you don’t anger your neighbors. I desperately need such a car.
When I started to do such mileage in the summer, afterwards everything hurt. The knees, the ankles, hips and the muscles anyways. Now the pain is gone – I just feel like I feel every day and that is without any pain or fatigue. I manage the blisters like a pro. I will try to do a longer path with 30 miles per day ASAP. It’s just winter now in Europe and my financial situation don’t allow for longer trips over seas.
However, sometimes it’s not about what you own or get in per month, it’s more about what you can do and why you do it. There are a lot of other individuals who can walk around this lake. Few of them do it. Next time I will sleep in Rapperswil. So, I can do the greatest paths down and back and cut my mileage down at the same time. But not too much. My watch tells me, that I did a speed of 3.4 miles when in motion.
Hiking like this is the all you can eat diet. I did loose 7 pounds. And it’s not just that you empty your liquid reserves. It’s about your body doing serious optimizing works. Your muscles grow bigger, at the same time your congestion works like in overdrive. I did eat junk the entire day. Do this without walking and you can easily get 2 pounds overnight. I did drink two liters of sports drink with a lot of sugars in it.
I didn’t take pictures – the one above is from Wikimedia commons. Everything was covered in thick fog and I have no idea how to take good pictures in the night. Although sometimes the view on the lake was amazing.
I know that doing this kind of mileage every day again and again is impossible for me. Mr. Meltzer, who holds the speed record for a supported thru-run on the AT, did the same mileage for 46 days. Mr. Meltzer is the most serious ultra-runner on this planet. I never did a marathon so far.