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Interesting facts about carrying weight .... reasons to lighten the pack

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Things to know…. lighten the load and enjoy the Camino…..
See you on the Camino this April/May.


One pound on your feet equals five pounds on your back.
This old backpacking thumb rule holds true, according to a 1984 study from the U.S. Army Research Institute. They tested how much more energy was expended with different footwear (boots and shoes) and concluded that it take 4.7 to 6.4 times as much energy to move at a given pace when weight is carried on the shoe versus on the torso. In practical terms, this means you could carry half a gallon more of water (a little over 4 pounds) if you buy boots that are a pound lighter, which isn’t hard to do; and that’s a lot of water. Now imagine the energy savings of backpacking in light trail running shoes rather than heavy, leather backpacking boots over the course of 7-day backpacking trip.

One pound on your feet equals 5% more energy expended.
Heavier footwear doesn’t just affect you because of its weight. Heavier boots are stiffer and less responsive as well. This reduces the efficiency of your body’s stretch reflex on hitting the ground. Five percent doesn’t sound like much, though, so how does 5% translate to run times? Well, 5% would slow your mile pace time down by 30 seconds, depending on how long you’re running. But, the faster you attempt to run, the more that 5% will affect your performance.

Every 1% of your body weight in your pack makes you six seconds slower per mile.
Carrying weight in your pack isn’t free of cost, though. Each 1% of your body weight carried in your pack makes you 6 seconds slower per mile. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, each 1.5 pounds of weight in your pack slows you by 6 seconds per mile. For a 150-pound hiker, on an extended trip, cutting your pack weight down from 40 to 30 pounds saves you 40 seconds per mile.

A 10% grade incline cuts your speed in half.
Grade greatly affects speed. By “grade” we mean how much terrain incline or decline there is. At 10% grade, for example, for every 10 feet you travel forward, you’ll travel 1 foot up. In terms of angles, 10% equals 5.74 degrees. A 5.74 degree angle doesn’t seem like much until you’re humping up it mile after mile. You’ll know how hard it is because you’ll move twice as slowly over it than over flat ground with a given load. That last little part—with a given load—is important. A 10% grade will cut your speed in half no matter if you’re carrying 45 lbs. or 80 lbs.

Going up slows you down twice as much as going down speeds you up.
Don’t believe you’ll make time up on the other side of the hill. You won’t. You’ll only make half the time up. Why don’t you gain as much by running downhill as you lose running up? Braking forces. As you descend, you have to brake your speed with your quads to keep yourself under control. The steeper the downhill, the more braking. This added load on your muscles further affects your uphill performance if you have repeated bouts of up and down work.


Credit to:

http://www.backpacker.com/skills/be...y-rucking-rules-every-backpacker-should-know/
 
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Let me introduce you to my new shoes! 350 g each, infinitely adjustable with the weird lacing system. I sincerely hate the colour, but I expect them to carry me far. Now I just have to put enough km of walking into them to make sure they're OK for February 17th...

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Good comment! People do however loose common sense when it comes to weight: tearing pages from their guidebook after each section to save weight comes to mind, buying new unmentionables instead of washing and trashing those worn, no books for the evening, not carrying enough clothes so e-v-e-r-y evening is spent washing clothes and worrying if they will dry, which weighs more an apple, a pear, a banana? Alongside knowledge there is also quite a bit of unfathomable - lets call it misperception.
 
I'd also add that for some footwear is a trade off between weight and ankle support. I would have broken my dodgy ankle three times over on the CF without extremely solid support on my boots.

Horses for courses I suppose. On a 30km walk I can live with arriving at the albergue at 2.12pm rather than 2.00pm though.
 
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Things to know…. lighten the load and enjoy the Camino…..
See you on the Camino this April/May.


One pound on your feet equals five pounds on your back.
This old backpacking thumb rule holds true, according to a 1984 study from the U.S. Army Research Institute. They tested how much more energy was expended with different footwear (boots and shoes) and concluded that it take 4.7 to 6.4 times as much energy to move at a given pace when weight is carried on the shoe versus on the torso. In practical terms, this means you could carry half a gallon more of water (a little over 4 pounds) if you buy boots that are a pound lighter, which isn’t hard to do; and that’s a lot of water. Now imagine the energy savings of backpacking in light trail running shoes rather than heavy, leather backpacking boots over the course of 7-day backpacking trip.

One pound on your feet equals 5% more energy expended.
Heavier footwear doesn’t just affect you because of its weight. Heavier boots are stiffer and less responsive as well. This reduces the efficiency of your body’s stretch reflex on hitting the ground. Five percent doesn’t sound like much, though, so how does 5% translate to run times? Well, 5% would slow your mile pace time down by 30 seconds, depending on how long you’re running. But, the faster you attempt to run, the more that 5% will affect your performance.

Every 1% of your body weight in your pack makes you six seconds slower per mile.
Carrying weight in your pack isn’t free of cost, though. Each 1% of your body weight carried in your pack makes you 6 seconds slower per mile. So, if you weigh 150 pounds, each 1.5 pounds of weight in your pack slows you by 6 seconds per mile. For a 150-pound hiker, on an extended trip, cutting your pack weight down from 40 to 30 pounds saves you 40 seconds per mile.

A 10% grade incline cuts your speed in half.
Grade greatly affects speed. By “grade” we mean how much terrain incline or decline there is. At 10% grade, for example, for every 10 feet you travel forward, you’ll travel 1 foot up. In terms of angles, 10% equals 5.74 degrees. A 5.74 degree angle doesn’t seem like much until you’re humping up it mile after mile. You’ll know how hard it is because you’ll move twice as slowly over it than over flat ground with a given load. That last little part—with a given load—is important. A 10% grade will cut your speed in half no matter if you’re carrying 45 lbs. or 80 lbs.

Going up slows you down twice as much as going down speeds you up.
Don’t believe you’ll make time up on the other side of the hill. You won’t. You’ll only make half the time up. Why don’t you gain as much by running downhill as you lose running up? Braking forces. As you descend, you have to brake your speed with your quads to keep yourself under control. The steeper the downhill, the more braking. This added load on your muscles further affects your uphill performance if you have repeated bouts of up and down work.


Credit to:

http://www.backpacker.com/skills/be...y-rucking-rules-every-backpacker-should-know/
 
There is a saying that I learned a long time ago from a seasoned backpacker: "You take care of the ounces, and the pounds take care of themselves" (or you can replace ounces to grams and kilos to pounds). This is so true, I learned how to weigh every single item that I carry with me and add it to a spreadsheet that helps me keep track of my weight. No more than 12 pounds on my pack when I walk the Camino. Oh, it has been a lifesaver for me.
The creator of the spreadsheet calls himself "Erik the Black" and he is very savvy. The link to his free spreadsheet(s) is:
http://blackwoodspress.com/blog/2755/backpacking-gear-planner-2/

Oh, and I found that if I carry no more than a liter of water is more than enough. Many places along the way to re-supply. Sometimes even a quart is plenty. Depends on the route:)

Ultreïa!

Mary
 
Saving weight in your foot ware is great as long as the shoes or boots are able to do the job. On my first Camino I wore very light weight boots and saved in effect the five pounds on my back. I also had so much foot trouble develop that could no longer get my red and swollen left foot in the ultralight boot and had to go home early. Next time I wore much more substantial boots, heavier certainly but they did the job. I found the same with packs, my ultralight pack caused back pain and began to come apart by the end of the trip. The key is to balance weight and utility. You want to be efficient but also effective.
 
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Some useful matters to think about here, although there are more matters to consider. Weight saving is vital so long as the prerequisite functional adequacy is achieved. Shoes must perform, backpacks must perform.

Regarding walking speed uphill, not so sure this info is useful, and the simple physics behind it does not directly translate to actual walking. I am not particularly strong or fast or in the best of fitness, and a bit heavier than a good weight - I walk about 4.5 to 5.0 km/hr on the flat. A few days ago I averaged 4.2 up 8% for 6.5 kms (nearly 90 minutes), then down at 4.8. Had a brief lunch and repeated, so 26 kms with 1,000m of climbing. Maybe I just have a low gear that works, and I suspect many others also have a low gear.
 

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