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Miles today: 0.0

Continuing prep with 6 mile trail run every other day.Will be ordering a Packa today which will be my last piece of gear (wearable).For those that dont know, a Packa is a combination pack cover and rain jacket that is joined together and allows the hiker to cover his pack and reach over his/her shoulders and pull the coat out & put it on while trekking onward.Hence, there is no water running down your back. This will be the only foul weather gear I am taking.   Calculated risk cause legs will get wet. Thing is, move fast enough and everything should be fine.Was planning a 60 mile 3 day shakedown here is Central PA for this coming week, but new snow coupled with all the PA rocks makes this a foolish endeavor, IMO. So I will continue with the trail run and soon will add an additional 6 miles to it.   6 mile run followed by 6 mile hike with full pack weight. Shoot for 3 hour time limit which gives me only about 1:54 for the hike portion.   Toting 26-28# up the powerline should be loads of fun with 800 feet in a short half mile.Must be getting close to optimal cardio conditioning cause resting pulse rate the other day was 47, with my normal in low 50's.   Speaking of conditioning, and obviously there is a major difference between short duration conditioning and LONG day (s), long term conditioning.   Anyway I have a story from summer of 2010. Went on an extended National Park Hiking tour out West. 10 Parks.While in Yellowstone with 2 18 year olds, we did a rather fast blast up Bunsens peak (about 1300 odd feet in 2.1 miles) in under 35 minutes. Wasnt first and of course heard about it.   Later & after those two flew back from Seattle, my wife and I were at Crater Lake and had finished the boat tour and were driving around the rim on way to Northern California.   Coming around a turn I saw a pull off and a small peak to the east. Pulled in and checked what it was.Mount Scott - about 1320 feet up & about 2.2 miles.   Hmmmmmmmm   Old fire Tower at the top.   So I told my wife to look up there in 45 minutes with Binocs and I would be there.   Once I got started I thought about Bunsens Peak and that time of just under 35 minutes.   So the pace was excellerated. Dont have any fancy gear, just a cheap watch - so I count my breaths per 15 seconds.   Anything above 30 and your working pretty hard. Welllllllllllll, got to 30 rather quick and plataued out around 35 but kept pressing. Hit 40, then 45 and kept pressing. Was bound and determined to beat 35 minutes.I ran across snow the last 50 yards or so and finished in 32 minutes 40 seconds while drawing 60 breaths per minute. I assume this was the highest pulse rate I would achieve the rest of my life and have no clue what it was.I do know that about 1 hour later while again driving on the rim, I noticed very limited breathing, so I checked. And Checked again, AND again.I couldnt believe it.   SIX breaths per minute and I FELT GREATThe reason I mention this is because I dont agree with the recent article in Backpacker. I believe one must push themselves each training session to achieve better conditioning and a LOT quicker than the Integrate Heart-Rate training article.   My thought is:   PAIN before Springer should make for LESS PAIN TO MAINE.   Had ice forming on the back of my head & beanie yesterday after my run.   I LOVED IT TOO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~