Читать книгу Fastpacking. Multi-day running adventures: tips, stories and route ideas онлайн

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Height gain and loss

What is the total daily ascent and descent? This is critical to how far you can cover each day. In fastpacking you will be generally walking the climbs and running the descents and flats and this is how you gain time compared to walking, thus allowing you to go further. But if your route is exceptionally hilly, with lots of steep climbs, technical descents and little flat, you may find that it’s impossible to run and you will actually be no quicker than a hiker.

Following a balcony path on the Grande Traversata delle Alpi, Italy

Difficulty of the terrain

This is crucial to your safety and also how far you can realistically travel in a day. How technical is the terrain? Will you be on smooth, easy, well-made trails that are easy to run on? Will rocky, rough ground slow you down on the flat? Does a steep, technical descent mean you won’t be able to run downhill? Will there be river crossings that slow you down or require a lengthy diversion? Again, very technical terrain means that you may not be able to do much running.