Appalachian Assault: Karl Meltzer Training For Speed Run on the AT!

A few weeks back I posted about Karl Meltzer, an endurance athlete who is preparing for an attempt at the speed record on the Appalachian Trail. He’s scheduled to begin his “Appalachian Assault” on August 5th, but his preparation is well underway.

Updates to WheresKarl.com, the official site for this speed attempt, give us some insights into how he is preparing with about 11 weeks to go until he starts. Under the Latest News section we learn that Karl has been running quite a lot, as you might expect, and raced last week in the Jemez Mountain Trail 50 miler, where he took second place. Karl clocked in at 8 hours and 58 minutes for the event, with first place finisher Kyle Skaggs setting a course record and completing the event in 8 hours and 8 minutes.

He’ll need those kinds of days on the AT however, as he is hoping to to complete the 2,174 mile trail in just 47 days. To do so he’ll need to average more than 46 miles per day. He’s preparing for the changes in elevation as well, as the Jemez lists 13,000 feet of climbing amongst it’s many demands.

The recent updates to WheresKarl.com also include a new video of Karl going to work. Check it below.

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.