No one seemed to answer your reply. I've been training since April for my first elk hunt in Colorado Unit 75. I'll backpack into the Weminuche Wilderness area and hunt form about 11,400' up to treeline. I had a set-back when I injured my back -- not training, getting up from the breakfast table with a twisting motion one morning when I was till stiff from sleeping -- and also had to make a couple of out of town trips.
Anyway, my training has two components -- running and strength training. Lately I train for 6 days and take 2 days of rest. I run on days 1, 3, and 5 and do strength training on days 2, 4, and 6. I run indoors on a treadmill and have built up to 4.5 miles broken up into a first segment of 1 mile, a second segment of 2 miles, and a third segment of 1.5 miles. I alternate between no slope and 6 degree slope dialed into the treadmill on every 1/4 mile. I stretch between segments one and two. I rest about 8 minutes between segments two and three. The strength training includes sit-ups, push-ups, curls with 25 LBS dumb bells, squats holding a 25 LBS dumb bell in each hand, lunges, and a variety of other exercises to build strength in arms and legs. I'm thinking about adding in some running on strength training days -- maybe just a couple of miles. This regime makes me feel a lot stronger than in the past when I only ran -- and for shorter distances and without slopes dialed in -- and when I only did sit-ups and push-ups.
When I increased my intensity of my work-out I began to feel muscle pains that didn't seem warranted by the intensity. I'm 50 years old just this past June, and my body may not respond the same as it used to. I have been concurrently reducing my weight, and I decided I wasn't giving my body enough protein. I began taking a Whey Protein Powder with milk after my runs and after my strength workouts. This seemed to help a lot. I think this may also help to build muscle mass quicker, which is something I was hoping to do also -- particularly in my legs to assist climbing in the mountains.
I take the stairs at work whenever I can rather than the elevator. All of this helps I think. Any exercise is better than no exercise. Whatever you can do is better than nothing. I have read the regimes that some others go through, and I know I don't have time or will to work that hard. What I'm doing is enough for me.
