What do you consider "In Shape"?

Did 3.6 miles with 65 lbs in the pack. Then hopped on the elliptical and did 20 mins worth of intervals. I'd like to get the pack weight up to 80 before I leave on the 8th of Sept. Overall, not bad. Really need to find a daily diet plan to help shed about ten more lbs. I'm stuck at 205 it seems regardless of what I eat.

I'm 6'0" 185lbs I figure being in shape is keeping up with my wife, 5'4" 115lbs running and staying infront of my hunting partners on our 10-12 mile hikes. I always hike with a full pack and by the time the season comes around you hardly notice it.
It also helps if your wife taunts you about not being ready for elk season, that will make you get off your butt everytime.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting pretty close. I don't think I need to be in as good of shape for my Wyoming elk hunt as I will for my New Mexico elk hunt so I still have a little while to get there.

I took a week off during vacation and my calf muscles had some knots so I layed off a week for that, but I'm back at it. Only getting in 3 jogs a week, but getting pretty close to where I want to be.

5 miles right at 50 minutes. I slowed down a bit on miles 3 and 4, but picked it up on the way back to the house on mile 5 to finish right on a 10:00 pace.



I've been running some hills on shorter runs and feel pretty good on my jogs, not like I'm sucking wind and falling on the ground when I finish.

Pretty slow for a bunch of you guys, but I'm happy with it. Lost 9lbs in the last 3 weeks too. Weighed in at 232lbs this morning.

I did it! Ran 6.01 miles Saturday morning in 59:58!! Had to pick up the pace a bit the last 1/2 mile but was very comfortable and had no problems at all. Broke the 230lb mark on this last weigh in as well!

Still dreading the elevation gains I'm looking at on my New Mexico elk hunt that is less than a month away now, but hopefully I'll be able to deal with them without too much of a struggle. I'll be starting out each morning at 8,000' and will be climbing to 9,500' - 10,500' each day so no matter what it won't be a picnic.



I'm going to run a 10K this weekend and that should bring me down to earth pretty quickly as I'm sure I'll finish very close to last place, but I'm very happy to have met my goal.

Working on hill work on my shorter runs and starting to get in some hills with a heavy pack wearing my boots as well once each week. Only problem is that I can't replicate a solid 1,000' elevation gain because our biggest hills here are about 150' elevation gain. I'm going up and down but you can catch your breath when your going down each time. Still better than nothing though.

Hope everyone is in the shape they wanted to be in!

Nathan

Okay, I think this will be my last post to the thread. This was my peak run of the year before my New Mexico elk hunt next week. 8.02 miles in 1:18:55 for a 9:51 pace! That included some elevation gain going down in the canyon and back up too.



Here's my splits. Walked up the steepest part of the hill coming out of the canyon and then felt great and pushed it on in. Pretty happy that my fastest miles of the entire run were miles 7 and 8.



I sure hope this pays off next week humping the 3,000' of elevation gain each morning in the dark!

Nathan

Nathan. Way to go putting in the miles. It will pay off, but it might not feel like it....But believe me it helps.

Good Luck in NM.

I said I wasn't going to update this thread, but I guess I lied!

The hard work over the summer and fall did pay off on being in shape for my New Mexico Elk hunt. We covered just over 50 miles and 12,000' of elevation gain and were tired, but not to the point where we weren't able to tackle whatever we wanted the next day. The year before I felt like if I didn't shoot my bull on the 2nd day I might not be able to make it back to where they were again.

Since I've been back I've kept on working out and ended up getting in 6 miles in a 8:56 minute pace the other day! This was pretty much the same route that I ran in an 11:18 pace back in June and I was actually proud of myself then. That's over 12 minutes faster over the 6 miles now than just 5 months ago.



Still pretty slow compared to real runners, but it keeps getting easier and easier. I still don't think I actually "enjoy" running, but I sure do like the results that it provides. So far I've run or hiked 378 miles in 2011 and burned over 65,000 calories! That ends up being right about the amount of weight that I've lost based on 3,500 calories per pound lost. You can see based on the number of activities per month that I really didn't even get started until May last year too.

My busy season at work is just starting and it is going to be tough keeping it up through April, but I'm going to at least attempt it. Who knows, maybe I'll draw a mountain goat tag this year and then I'll need to really be in shape!

This is unreal - you are a technology freak. Nice update npaden. I am inspired to say the least and way impressed. Having 'withdrawls' and this is motivating me to get going for next season. Congrats again on your elk hunting success and perserverance this season! Love the detail you put into these threads - although I am the exact opposite.

I am not in "physical"shape but the German is so stubborn in me that i refuse to quit.

Nathan- That is awesome! Nice to see your hardwork paying off.

I used RunKeeper for a while, but I quit using it. It doesn't work as well on my home PC's as it does on your smart phone. I have a Garmin 305 to track my runs so I am able to log every run by pushing a button! Pretty cool what technology can do.

For me as a flatlander, I found it harder and harder to get into elk hunting shape as I got older. (I guess it may be an age thing, not terrain!). I picked up running and haven't looked back. I run year around, and I am in the best shape of my life. (I am 46) I am able to spend 30+ minutes daily at the "Y" on my lunch break. I throw on a weighted pack about 2 months before season and this has worked well for me. The most elevation change we have is an interstate overpass or a flood dike!

On a two week elk hunt, fitness or fatigue were never an issue.

I have adopted the best way to be in shape is to not allow myself to fall out of shape. I am too old to be on the fitness roller coaster.

I've always been pretty fit. But I don't know - my body seems to have changed in the last year. Looks like somebody inserted a weather balloon into my belly button, and then inflated it. Or, it could be the beer. I gotta start running, I guess.

I went back and read through this post and thought I would revisit it nearly a year later now.

After meeting my goal last year and feeling that it really helped during my hunts, I decided to take it up a notch to the next step on my poll and try to run a half marathon in under 2 hours this year. I had no idea when I made the poll options how much harder it would be to break 2 hours instead of keeping it at the same 10:00 pace I set for my 6 mile goal, but I decided to stick with it and try to make it.

In the first 4 months of 2011 I ran less than 10 miles and after setting my goal last year I stepped it up and got in almost 300 miles by the end of the year. Working toward a sub 2 hour half marathon, I've already run over 450 miles in the first 4 months of 2012! I was able to make my goal this past weekend running my first ever half marathon in 1 hour 55 minutes and 43 seconds for an average pace of 8:50 per mile.

I'm not posting this just to brag (although I am pretty proud of my accomplishment) but to try to help show that it can be done by just about anyone. It does take some time (I'm running around 6 hours a week) but I've tried to run at times when I would have otherwise been sitting on the couch or surfing the internet so I don't feel that I'm taking too much time away from family and other responsibilities.

I posted pretty extensively in the heart rate monitor thread, but I've really enjoyed running more than ever this last year mainly because the vast bulk of my running is at an easy pace that really doesn't require a lot of effort. If you are running so hard that you are not able to carry on a fairly normal conversation while you are running you are running too fast. If you are really wanting to get faster you may need to work in some faster runs, but usually only 1 or 2 times a week even then. The goal is to build a strong aerobic base and that is what we need to be in shape for hunting!

With all that said I am by no means any kind of a running expert, but slowing down and running at an easy pace really made the difference for me especially from the standpoint of maybe even enjoying running for the first time in my life. The crazy thing is that now my "easy" pace is faster than what I was running when I was sucking air on less than a year ago. Based on my reading, if I keep this up my easy pace may be faster than my race pace now after a few more years.

Oh well, I'm pretty pumped and thought I would share my progress with everyone.

Nathan

IMHO, you have unlocked a secret to improving your running. It seems counter intuitive, but it works. You do not necessarily need to train faster to race faster. Run more miles and slower. Since I have adopted this philosophy, my times have improved while staying healthy.

I am now running more miles per week than I ever have, and have continued to improve race times.

Your consistency is a key ingredient to your success also. Running/working out in fits and spurts does not improve long term fitness.

Thanks for the input along the way Z Barebow, and good luck on your marathon coming up!

Congratulations man! That is awesome.

Congrats on your 1/2!

What some on here are speaking about (running longer but slower) is a training philosophy know as LSD or Long Slow Distance and it has quite a backing. Mark Allen, 6 time IronMan Hawaii winner used this training technique when he was racing in the 90's. Do an internet search and you'll find quite a bit about it.

As for using how far or fast you can run as a baseline for being in shape for elk hunting...I think it is a good start, but there is so much more to it than that. I actually do run ultras (50k's, 50-milers, and maybe even a 100 miler this year if things go well). However, I know that despite being able to run 50 miles, at the beginning of the fall, if I throw on a pack and go tearing off up the nearest mountain without solid backpacking during the summer, I'll be sucking wind pretty quick. I know some people who never run, but because of the amount of backpacking they do, they are in as good of "hiking shape" or possibly even better by the time elk season rolls around. I think running builds a great cardio base, but due to the different muscles involved in running weight free vs hiking with a pack, they don't directly translate to each other.

If you're starting to enjoy running and had a blast on your half, start looking into trail races! Your times will be slower, but they help strengthen a lot of the stabilizer muscles in your ankles, knees, etc..., the trail is easier on your body, the scenery is usually better, and they are a lot of fun!

Okay, bringing this thread back from the dead one more time. Pretty close to the 2 year anniversary of posting this thread originally, and I just completed my first marathon on Sunday.

In 2011 I met my original goal of running 6 miles in under and hour, in 2012 I upped that to running a half marathon in under 2 hours and met that with a 1:55:43 for an 8:50 average pace, and this year I ended up running my first marathon in under 4 hours which was my goal with a time of 3:48:09 for an 8:43 average pace.

If anyone wants to read the novel that I wrote for a race report on it, I posted it on my blog - http://padens.blogspot.com/

I have really enjoyed the difference it makes when I am out hunting, instead of sucking air and looking for excuses to stop and take a break, I look over at the next ridge and wonder what is over there. It sure doesn't hurt that I've gone from 245lbs when I started this thread to right at 200lbs now which is lighter than I was when I was a sophomore in college. I'm in the best shape of my life at 45 years old.

I'm going to switch gears this summer and shoot for a sub 45 minute 10K in September which is a 7:15 average pace. It's going to be tough, but whether I make it or not, I should be in plenty good shape when elk season rolls around!

Hauling 4-6 litres of water, and 1-2 boxes of shells around while chukar hunting throughout the fall while big game hunting has been a nice compliment.

npaden said:

Okay, bringing this thread back from the dead one more time. Pretty close to the 2 year anniversary of posting this thread originally, and I just completed my first marathon on Sunday.

In 2011 I met my original goal of running 6 miles in under and hour, in 2012 I upped that to running a half marathon in under 2 hours and met that with a 1:55:43 for an 8:50 average pace, and this year I ended up running my first marathon in under 4 hours which was my goal with a time of 3:48:09 for an 8:43 average pace.

If anyone wants to read the novel that I wrote for a race report on it, I posted it on my blog - http://padens.blogspot.com/

I have really enjoyed the difference it makes when I am out hunting, instead of sucking air and looking for excuses to stop and take a break, I look over at the next ridge and wonder what is over there. It sure doesn't hurt that I've gone from 245lbs when I started this thread to right at 200lbs now which is lighter than I was when I was a sophomore in college. I'm in the best shape of my life at 45 years old.

I'm going to switch gears this summer and shoot for a sub 45 minute 10K in September which is a 7:15 average pace. It's going to be tough, but whether I make it or not, I should be in plenty good shape when elk season rolls around!

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Congratulations Nathan! I read your RR. I have been following your journey and kudos. Ask yourself in a month or two if you will ever run another marathon. You need to develop some amnesia! LOL!

shooting for my first marathon in September this year...main goal finish before everyone goes home ...and live