Good Fitness Test?

[tttoadman]

My knees are pretty shot. I do almost all of my workout at 10deg on a treadmill. I stop every 2 miles and do a short little round on a bowflex. At my current pace, I should shed about 20lbs this month and be close to 180. Based on what I have seen from others, I should then load up one of my old packs with 45#(that is about what my 10 day pack weighs in at), and get after it some more. I think strengthening my legs with relatively low impact has helped pull my knees together and made down hills much easier on me. I think a good goal for me by july/Aug would be 8 miles in a day with a (med)pack on and not be burned out and sore the next day. This is all a little new to me in the last few years. Getting old and sitting at a desk everyday really takes a toll.

If I bump the speed above 3, I start getting the lungs burning a little. I assume this is what I should be doing to help train for high altitude?? I am at a whopping 350ft EL in the Willamette Valley.

[Doe Nob]

Got a new personal record tonight! 3.5 miles in 25 minutes which is a 7:08 pace! Pretty stoked! I live at 7500' as well so I hope I can stay in shape over the summer so that I will be ready for September 1.

That is hauling serious ass, congratulations on that. I had someone at work bet me I couldn't run a 7 minute mile, been training for that, got it down to 7:13 so I'm right there, can't imagine doing 3.5 @ that pace!

I have to say having just come back from a week in New Mexico, that air quality is definitely something I'm noticing. The pollution and the ozone and humidity and heat here are definitely something to struggle against. At 10,000 ft in NM, I could tell there was less oxygen, but the air was very pure.

[Colorado Cowboy]

As the weather has gotten warmer, i started bumping up my workouts. Been doing some new leg work at the gym and did something to my right knee, sore as hell for a couple of weeks. Got an appointment with the ortho Doc Wed, hope I didn't screw it up. Same knee I had scoped 2 years ago. Don't want to have any major surgery this late in the year as it will really put a damper on my hunting this fall. We'll see Wednesday.