Seven weeks of Mission Dall’s Sheep are in the books now. Let’s review how things have gone.
On the plus side:
1) NAHC Members have provided a ton of great response and recommendations for training, for motivation, for packs and for boots. All are much appreciated and are a great source of inspiration to keep going.
2) I haven’t missed a single day of working out in these seven-plus weeks. Even when I’ve been traveling for business or for pleasure I’ve found a way to stick to the program. Sometimes outdoors when possible, other times in some pretty dank hotel fitness centers, but I get in the time and the miles.
3) As a result, the weight loss has gone well. According to the calorie counter built into my heart rate monitor, I burn 1,000+ in an hour’s workout and cool down each day, so I still get to eat pretty good. At last weigh-in I was at 215 pounds. Down 22 from my starting weight of 237.
My pace averages 4.5 miles per hour now and I can sustain that for the full hour. Last Sunday I stayed on the treadmill for 5.5 miles which was my longest distance in one shot.
4) My work out partner Emerson keeps me motivated. Even when we’re in places 2,000 miles apart, one of us always gets in the call to make sure the other one’s out of bed and ready to go.
5) Turkey season’s coming up fast so I’ll soon get to test out this newly found fitness chasing the birds around the Black Hills of South Dakota.
On the minus side:
1) It’s an odd schedule I’m on now. To get in the hour before I’m to work at 7:00, my alarm goes off at 4:18 a.m. Monday through Friday. I’m a guy who needs at least seven and better yet eight hours a night to stay healthy so that puts me in bed no later than 9:00 p.m.
Doesn’t leave much time in the evening to spend with my wife or the dogs, let alone take care of personal business.
2) The treadmill is getting boring. Spring flirts with us in Minnesota so it’s no sure thing we’ll be outdoors soon. It’s hard to leave the treadmill for other equipment because the results I’ve gotten there have been good, and I know how to precisely control my heart rate there, which I believe is the key to the weight loss success.
3) Even though August 10 is less than five months away now, it almost seems farther than when I started. Got to get a clear picture of that ram fixed in my brain again. Maybe even focus a little anger at him for all the sleep I’ve lost and all the aches and pains he has already caused!
That’s the straight shot on where Mission Dall’s Sheep is at. I’ll just use all the old clichés to get me through the tough spots – you know – “No pain, no gain…” and “Pain is weakness leaving the body…” and “We hunt sheep the old fashioned way; we EARN them…”
Bill Miller
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