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John

I do 800 meter sprints with 400 meter jogs in between. A warm up mile to start and a cool down mile at the end with three of those sprints in the middle. They really, really suck....especially when it's hot.

Marathon training for me, will try to run KC marathon in October. Have ran 127 miles in the last 5 weeks. Long run last Saturday was 12 miles.

Trying to push myself on the uphill stretches for cardio. Doing some telephone pole intervals during the weeks. Try to run at least 2 four mile-runs during the week at a killer anerobic pace (for me). Ran a 6 mile lung gasper last week that left me more debilitated than my 12 mile long run :)

Have lost 45 lbs. since March. Feeling pretty good.

Bake

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ACzuyD-v0eI

At this point in the game I think your upper body lifting is kind of wasteful with the limited schedule. If you've been working the upper body all along, you should be in more than satisfactory shape in that arena. Concentrate on the lungs and legs. I think you would be happy with the decision to remove the upper body training altogether at this point (or maybe just throw in some short maintenance work). I like to ease off the throttle a little right before the trip, and usually there is plenty of other things that require your time by then.

For sure you will be at max heart rate on your hunt...and high elevation...hustling to cut off a bull elk.

Bake, great job on the conditioning and the weight, congrats. On top of that I'd bet a good deal of that extra was replaced with muscle which is heavier. Lost more than that 45 in reality.

Agree cardio is key. In fact having bigger stronger muscles will burn more oxygen and energy. Have a tough time just running for cardio, the knees just won't take it. I can run on the beach and that helps a bunch. But you have to pick your times.... in the heat of the day when the scenery is better or in the evening when it's cooler but the bums come out....

Most of my workouts have been in the evening with the bike. Not cursing around but pedaling hard as I can on trails and such. Then you can use the bums as traffic cones in an obstacle course....

With 10 Miles on a road bike, 6 x a week, hiking 120 stairs 4 x every other day with 30 lbs in the pack and mixing Bowflex programs and jogging in, I've dropped 17 lbs, down to 215.

In coming weeks I've got a few 10-20 mile hikes planned with a bowshoot in NJ.

Of course shooting every day .

The preperation feels great, keep at it everyone.

For me, I'm in recovery mode. If you're leaving in three weeks, you aren't going to see drastic improvements between now and then. The worst thing you could do is try to ramp things up too much in a last ditch effort and injure yourself. Be smart about things.

Whatever your're doing is great. If you can add more variety to your workout, do it. Biking is a fantastic way to get a great cardio workout in without heavy impact to your legs. However, the impact workouts also have their place in that they dramatically strengthen your bones, tendons, and ligaments.

Lastly, don't overlook total body workouts for your cardio. I've been doing Insanity for over a year now. It's fantastic. I mix it in with my other stuff and don't follow the program to a "t". Rather, I do it two or three days a week depending on what I'm training for. The beauty of this is that it strengthens your core and gives you completely different ranges of motion than what you get simply running.

I did the route of just running one year. I had great cardio, and I also fought nagging little injuries all year. Now, I mix up Insanity, mountain biking, running, and backpacking. I'm a better runner, in better shape, and I have zero injuries.

Good luck all.

Packing my food right now.....

I'd load the pack with at least 10 lbs more that your max hunt pack weight, grab my poles and hit the nearest hill, hopefully a steep one. Try to do a 2K elevation gain in your one hour workout and do that everyday until a week before your departure. My local hill here in NJ is only 350 ft high, but it's steep, and if I do 6-8 reps (takes me a little longer than an hour though) I can get the desired elevation gains I'm looking for.

Then I'd do the same daily hike without the pack for the last week. You want to maintain at the end but reduce the risk of an injury. Any gains you may give up by backing off a little during that final week won't be noticeable.

The best practice is doing exactly what you'll be doing on your hunt, that is, humping a heavy pack up steep hills. And doing an awful lot if it.

How many guys are running around in the mountains without a pack while they are hunting in the high country?

What you are going to get is functional strength (i.e. help you pack in uneven terrain) and injury prevention for your running and/or backpack workouts. If being injury free doesn't help you in the mountains, what will?

I'm currently extending my weighted pack hikes every other day, hiking with only a day-hunting pack on alternate days. 3 or 4 days a week this includes scouting.

I intend to start the season up around 10k feet, higher than I've ever hunted before, and work my way down through different zones to about 7000. Since this is a "learning season" for my new area, I'm less concerned with killing something and more focused on figuring out where critters go as the season progresses, relative to hunting pressure and likely September snow.

My real dilemma is where to start the season, since I've now located elk in different spots from 5k to 10.5k.

Wish I could still run but after almost 40 years my hip won't allow that anymore. Funny, but elliptical and bike are no problem.

With that said I do a little running and sprints for cardio. But I think hiking with weight is more important for being ready for hunting.

Ed, that video was awesome....you guys making another one on this year's hunt?

Mark

Yes, you need to be able to walk all day but usually one walks 1-2 hours in the dark and then you move real slowly into the elk. Slow stalking with lots of stopping to glass and keep an eye on the elk. If you can't get into them, you back off get a vantage point where you can keep an eye on them or travel routes, followed by a leisurely lunch. Lunch is then followed by an intermittent nap while keeping an eye on the bedded elk. Once the wind shifts a hike is in order to circle around to get the wind in favor. This can be strenuous but once again no running. Do what you can to minimize sweating. This is followed again by very slow movement and waiting for an opportunity to move in.

Sure, I have had ten, twelve mile days with lots of vertical but the miles have usually been broken up nicely. Packing an elk out is a whole different story but for hunting the ability to move slowly and quietly is paramount.

I would focus on becoming comfortable with hiking/climbing the steepest hills/mountains you can find. I just finished an 8 day solo trip through the Sawtooths. It was a good test for the body but more importantly it was good for the noggin, keeping the brain quite, focus on surroundings and being immersed in the environment. You can be in superman shape but if you can't control the self talk or are uncomfortable with your surroundings you are at a real disadvantage.

In a few years the threads will evolve from sheep shape to hunting meditation threads;)

et