1234

Where do I go from here? (Read 1322 times)

npaden


    Okay, I am a very goal oriented person and I just met my goal of a sub 2 hour half marathon thanks to some perfect weather for race day.

     

    Now that I'm done with that goal, I don't have any short term goals planned other than being in shape for elk hunting this fall and it looks like I'm not going to draw a tag for my more physically demanding hunt so that isn't going to be very hard to do.  Last year I was in decent enough shape running 6 miles in an hour.

     

    My long term goals are still to be in shape to hunt mountain goats if I ever draw the tag and to run my age in a 10K.

     

    I was up to around 40 miles a week before my taper and while that was fine from a physical standpoint, I'm not sure that I (or should I say my wife) is ready to for the time committment that it would take to keep that up.  I have a ton of other hobbies and plenty of responsibilities and she thinks I need to scale back on my time spent running.  At my average pace I was spending about 7 hours a week running to get in those 40 miles.

     

    We talked about it some and 4 hours a week seemed like a good compromise to us both for a while.  That would get me in about 25 miles per week at my current average pace.

     

    I plan on running in as many of the local running club races as I can, there is an 11 miler next weekend that I've always wanted to run in and I'm signing up for it, but not going to try to kill myself to make a great time on it or anything.  After that the races shorten up for the rest of the summer pretty much with some 10K's and one 10 miler mixed in until the fall comes back around.

     

    I guess I'm typing this out more for my own benefit, just trying to figure things out.  At some point I would like to run a marathon I guess, but it isn't something that I have a specific time goal or anything like that.  I honestly feel like I could probably suck it up and run a marathon in the 4:45 range next week if I wasn't worried about torturing myself, but I really don't want to do that or risk injury.

     

    So is 25 miles a week enough to maintain where I'm at?  If I train smart can I still improve on my 5K or 10K speed with that low of a weekly mileage?  Summer is pretty much here so shorter runs are probably a good idea anyway.

     

    I'm planning on keeping an hour of hillclimb mode on the elliptical in my weekly routine as that seems to help keep the legs stronger for climbing hills believe it or not, and as the fall gets closer I will probably be doing some hill intervals with a weighted backpack and fun stuff like that. 

     

    I would like to be able to run another half marathon this fall or winter.  Trail runs seem very appealing to me, and I think they would do more good for me to train for my hunting, but they are few and far between around here, especially during the summer.  I have hunting applications out in just about every western state right now so I won't really know my hunting schedule for another month or two, so it's hard to plan for anything in the fall right now for sure.

     

    If anyone has any thoughts, suggestions, or anything else that they think would help me figure this out that would be great.  I just struggling to figure out where to go from here.  I feel great and want to keep running, just feel like I need to set some goals and develop a plan or something.

     

    Thanks, Nathan

    Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

    Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)

    Slo


      So is 25 miles a week enough to maintain where I'm at?  If I train smart can I still improve on my 5K or 10K speed with that low of a weekly mileage?  Summer is pretty much here so shorter runs are probably a good idea anyway.

       

       

       

      A very quick answer to that question is yes. 25 miles a week is enough to maintain where you are at because...in terms of running fitness, it's really more than what you are doing now.

       

      Sure, In the last 5 weeks you averaged that but after march (with the exception of Jan) you fall off quite a bit. If you truly maintain 25 mpw over the next year you will likely get faster.

      npaden


        Thanks for the reply.  I started to work up a tentative schedule for now anyway.  At least that's a start.

         

        I started out with 6 miles on the elliptical in hillclimb more every Monday and then 4 to 6 easy miles on Tuesday and Thursday mornings that I can get in before I take my son to pre school.  I put a 8 miler on the schedule for the weekend and that gets me right around 25 miles per week and hopefully I may be able to throw in an extra few miles here and there, either on an unscheduled run or adding some miles on some of those.

         

        I put everything down for just easy miles right now.  I will try to think up some different workouts to add in there to add some spice and help with speed.  I might be able to just do those as my extra workouts, things like skipping and things like that. 

        Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

        Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)


        Feeling the growl again

          Given what you've been doing and where you are at, consistently running 25mpw should be fine for maintenance.  In terms of improving at 5-10K....it's a big maybe.  Maybe with being relatively new at this, that consistent 25mpw will allow you enough base to continue to improve for awhile.  Maybe if you throw in a month or two of faster workouts in there you can peak and get a faster 5-10K.  Hard to say.

           

          Frankly, I'd hold off on the marathon until you are in a place where you can put at least 6 good months into a buildup to run one well.  I'm sure you could finish one now, but I just don't recommend them on 25mpw.

           

          Just be consistent and have fun with it.  Good luck with the draws, I only put in for a point in Colorado this year.  Kiddos need me at home more this fall.

          "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

           

          I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

           

            If you continue to run 25 miles per week, you should be in good shape for any distance up to a half marathon.  I ran my first half marathon in 1:57 on a 20 mile per week base, and peak week of 27 miles.  Try for an 8 to 10 mile run every week or two and you will be in good shape for your hunting goals. 


            SMART Approach

               

               

              I started out with 6 miles on the elliptical in hillclimb more every Monday .......

               

              Doing the Elliptical should not be counted as running miles.

              Run Coach. Recovery Coach. Founder of SMART Approach Training, Coaching & Recovery

              Structured Marathon Adaptive Recovery Training

              Safe Muscle Activation Recovery Technique

              www.smartapproachtraining.com


              Kalsarikännit

                 hunt mountain goats

                 

                What. The  Fuck?

                 

                It's gotta be a joke.  I can get within 200 meters of them when hiking.  It sound like hunting my neighbors golden retriever.

                 

                I'm not starting a hunting debate, and I don't need a response.  I just had absolutely no idea anyone did this (really, I have never, ever heard of it), and it makes my angry, but mainly it makes me incredibly, incredibly sad.

                I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

                 

                npaden


                  Hard to respond to that.  I love having people come on my post and give me a good cussing and tell me I'm an idiot.

                   

                  You must be right, I'll need to start hunting golden retrievers for more of a challenge.

                   

                  Believe it or not, there are plenty of  folks who draw a goat tag and are not able to fill it.  The two main reasons are weather (you hunt in the fall and it snows in the mountains in the fall), and not being in shape (once they feel pressure the goats try to get where people aren't and you have to climb up after them).

                   

                  With that said the most difficult part typically is drawing the tag.  As a resident of Texas there are no mountain goats here so I have to hunt as a nonresident.  There are probably less than 50 tags in the entire lower 48 for mountain goats for nonresidents and plenty of folks are applying for them.  The odds tend to run from 4% on down for each tag so it might take 10, 15, 20, or even longer to draw a tag.  At age 44 that means that I will need to be in good shape maybe into my 60's and even then there is no guarantee that I will draw a tag by then.

                   

                  If you would like to start a hunting debate I would be more than willing to participate, just please don't do it by cussing at me in this post.  I feel very strongly that hunting is ethical and critically important in wildlife management.  If it weren't for hunting and the money that it provides, there wouldn't be mountain goats or bighorn sheep in most of the western states anymore. 

                  Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

                  Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)


                  Kalsarikännit

                    Who started a hunting debate?  Not me, otherwise spaniel and I would have gone at it a million times.  I was expressing surprise and shock that people hunted mountain goats.  For crying out loud, go out west and you will find the animals feeding at dusk on the sides of the roads.  Some hunting skills.  I see them almost every time I go hiking in the Rockies.  They just stand there and stare at you and keep eating.  They don't even try to run away.  Hunting mountain goats earns the same respect I would give to someone hunting cows in Wisconsin.

                     

                    That tag argument is silly.  It has nothing to do with anything.  One of the most important lessons in life:  Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

                     

                    As for calling you an idiot, I don't see where I wrote that.  I said it makes me sad.  Because it really does.  If I wanted to call you an idiot, I would do it for labeling the riding of the fat girl machine as "running".

                    I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

                     

                       If it weren't for hunting and the money that it provides, there wouldn't be mountain goats or bighorn sheep in most of the western states anymore. 

                       

                      How does money help mountain goats?  What did they do 200 years ago when they didn't get money???

                       

                      Although I agree that in absence of the natural preditors (which BTW hunters drove almost into extinction half a century ago) some wildlife management is necessary to maintain a healthy herd, not sure I would go this far.  Generally what happens when prey do not have preditors to hunt them is that they eat all of their food sources, have a huge popuplation decrease and start the cycle over again.  So at times the prey animals will be overly populated and at other times may be underpopulated. 

                       

                      I'm not against some controlled hunting, but I also do not think hunters should forget that they helped cause some of the problem they are now controlling...

                      npaden


                        If you want, go to the same mountains in the fall during hunting season and see if you can get within 200 yards of them.  I think you will find it to be much more of a challenge.

                         

                        There in Wisconsin you can see deer out in the soybean fields alongside the highway every evening until hunting season starts, after that you tend to see them a lot less.

                         

                        P.S. - Thanks for calling me an idiot again on the elliptical use.  Appreciate it.  Correlating my life long desire to hunt mountain goats to hunting your neighbors golden retriever wasn't exactly saying I was super smart.

                        Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

                        Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)

                          my life long desire to hunt mountain goats

                           

                          Homer: Marge, you're standing in the way of my boyhood dream of managing a beautiful country singer.

                          Marge: Your boyhood dream was to eat the world's biggest hoagie and you did it at the county fair last year, remember?

                           

                          (sorry, not to diminish your goal, just reminded me of Homer's many lifelong dreams). Carry on.

                          Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and rogues
                          We're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
                          Slo


                            There in Wisconsin you can see deer out in the soybean fields alongside the highway every evening until hunting season starts, after that you tend to see them a lot less.

                             

                             

                             

                            I don't have a dog in this hunt but...

                             

                            Hunting deer in Wisconsin requires no talent. That's not a very good analogy. Plus, in general, the population of Wisconsin understands the need to thin the herd.

                            npaden


                              How does money help mountain goats?  What did they do 200 years ago when they didn't get money???

                               

                              Although I agree that in absence of the natural preditors (which BTW hunters drove almost into extinction half a century ago) some wildlife management is necessary to maintain a healthy herd, not sure I would go this far.  Generally what happens when prey do not have preditors to hunt them is that they eat all of their food sources, have a huge popuplation decrease and start the cycle over again.  So at times the prey animals will be overly populated and at other times may be underpopulated. 

                               

                              I'm not against some controlled hunting, but I also do not think hunters should forget that they helped cause some of the problem they are now controlling...

                               

                              Market hunting (shooting animals for hides, certain choice parts of meat, etc. to sell for a profit) was the primary cause for the decline of most game animals.  Uncontrolled hunting with no seasons, bag limits, etc. helped as well.

                               

                              The big game changer was actually establishing and enforcing hunting laws which included seasons and bag limits and the Pittman Roberson Act passed in 1937.

                               

                              This has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of hunting equipment that has been used to restore nearly all the game animals across the United States.  They take animals from a location with a viable population, capture them and transport and release them to areas with habitat that will support the species, but doesn't have any at the present time.  The tax is only on hunting equipment, not backpacking or camping equipment that is used by folks who also seem to benefit from having beautiful wildlife to see on their hikes.

                               

                              Bighorn Sheep and Mountain goats are some that are being transplated even now.  Elk are now back in Kentucky and Pennsylvania and some other eastern states.  Even whitetail deer were restored to much of their old habitat with transplants funded with proceeds from hunting licenses and other taxes specific to sportsman. 

                              Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

                              Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)


                              Kalsarikännit

                                If you want, go to the same mountains in the fall

                                 

                                wasn't exactly saying I was super smart.

                                 

                                I was near them last fall while hiking in the Mosquito Range in the Colorado Rockies, the fall of year before I was extremely close to them while hiking in Montana.

                                 

                                Smart or not?  Ehhh...I'll leave that alone.  Having the voices in your head say, "kill, kill, kill" when you see this?  Messed up.

                                 

                                Image Detail

                                I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

                                 

                                1234