Well, I think I'm finally getting pretty close to being in shape. I actually reached my goal of running 6 miles in 60 minutes anyway!
I was sick this past weekend so I didn't get in another long run, but last night I got in a great workout going up the steepest hill out here and still kept my overall pace under 10 minutes per mile! I did end up walking up the steepest part of the hill, but I'm still pretty happy with the overall results.
You can see where I walked from the pace line, but you can also see where the elevation gain was. On the 6 mile run I posted it looks like there was a bunch of ups and downs on the graph, but it was actually a pretty flat run. Those ups and downs were 5 feet here and 10 feet there so on the scale it looks like they were steep, but in reality they weren't hardly even noticeable. The hill I ran last night is VERY noticeable!
I've started to try to get in a little extra hill work just hiking up and down the canyon by our house as well. At one point I was going to see how it would work to haul Eli around in the backpack, and I actually ended up hiking about a mile with him in it, but I ended up swapping him out for some weights when I started going up and down the canyon. Here's a picture of him in the backpack when we were checking it out to see how he would fit.
When we actually went for the hike he ended up standing up in the backpack and that was a little more comfortable for him.
My New Mexico elk hunt is just a few weeks away. I'm a little apprehensive about it as I have still never set foot on the place and there are a lot of uncertainties with what the weather will be like that time of year and lots of other things as well.
I selected that particular area based on previous success rates and drawing odds and for 2007 - 2009 the success rates varied but were pretty close to 50%. The harvest reports for 2010 were recently released and the success rate for 2010 for the tag I have dropped all the way down to 10% for some reason, so that has me concerned as well.
Oh well, all I can do is prepare and do my best when I get there. I've been looking at google earth quite a bit and I really think the key will be to be in shape and be able to get back to the back of the area where no one else will want to go. We'll be starting out at 8,000' elevation and climbing to 11,000' in just a little over 3 miles so I'm going to keep working out and maybe we'll be able to close the deal on the first or second day while our legs are still fresh!
That's it for now. Nathan
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