Pet telepathy

It was back to Pet Step this week. Its been a while since I've ridden him and I was really looking forward to it. Pet is such a great horse. Didn't have any of the ususal 'pet-the-pill' problems getting started. He went up the the trot without much effort at all...and a really nice trot after Waco. I was the only one riding tonight so was getting all kinds of extra instruction from other riders. "Isabelle" especially was dropping lots of good hints. The ususal problems came up, closing my hands around the reign, keeping my shoulders back and legs relaxed. Ms. Isabelle, helped me use the half halt to set up my turns and other changes correctly. Pet was more than ready to go to canter. Laura quickly figured out that I was asking way too hard for the canter. So, she had me work at doing a half halt, then 'using my mind' to ask for the canter and finally asking very lightly with the canter aid. Voila! It worked. Now I just have to work on keeping my butt in the sadle.

Almost ready to run

Had my orthotics casting session today. I am SO ready to start running again. It will be nice to start up again since running is something you can do whenever you want; day or night rain or shine. It doesn't require a lot of eqiupment, and you can do it anywhere; when I'm home, at work, trevelling etc. My follow up appointment is April 20th, so look for a running entry very soon thereafter.

A little less fencing

Didn't fence much tonight as my shoulder fatigued pretty quickly. I think it was a little leftover soreness from a lot spring cleaning and moving around I did over the weekend. But, I did have a lot of opportunity to watch other fencers. Several of the foilists fenced epee tonight in hopes that it would stretch their extensions out a bit. They were all pretty high level foilists, so it was quite a wild time. Much more of what I picture pentathlon fencing will be like. I did fence Swann though. He beat me 15-10, but I felt pretty good about the bout in general. I did plant some pronate shots finally, just under his hand past the bell of the epee.

A little more polo

It was another Waco night. Had the usual problems at the walk and trot...a bumpy ride. We had a little difficulty getting up to canter, my balance was a little off again, but once we figured that out, it was smooth sailing. Jason, a polo player that recently moved to Seattle from Yakima, stopped in just in time to watch Virginia and I pick up the foot mallets for some polo work. Jason corrected my mallet grip and gave me some pointers on balance as well. A little improvement at the trot, but my attempts at hitting the ball (or orange cone in this case) at the canter were pretty poor. I was always late with my stroke. But it was fun and once again, polo help to correct some issues I had in riding...namely being comfortable with the trot/canter transitions. I don't think I'll ever be a polo star, but it sure is fun and has been valuable in my overall riding.

Quiet night at La Salle

There was a big fencing tournament in Kansas City last weekend, so Salle Auriol was pretty quite. I fenced with Julie and George, took a lesson with Garik and then fenced with Konstantine. I finally beat George! My point control is getting a little better and I was able to strategize compound attacks a little better. Most of all, I used the "Aim for the path". The lesson with Garik was really useful, as always. We worked a lot on point control, distance and going for openings. Konstantine was quite a challenge. He's a much more experienced fencer and although I did get a few touches on him, he definitely owned the bout. I'm going to try and squeeze (I speak of money here) another lesson with Leon in on Saturday.

Leçon avec Leon

Went to the Saturday epee lesson for the first time. This is a class that Maître Leon Auriol (the founder Salle Auriol) started a couple weeks prior. The class started with eight students, but was now down to 3 (probably because a major tournament is coming up). Bernard, a fencer that I've fenced regularly on Monday nights, was one of the students. I've been wanting to take a lesson from Leon since I started, but felt that I wasn't good enough yet to warrant a lesson from him. Actually, I took my first fencing lessons from Leon back at the University of Washington in 1990. Now that I'm at a point where I can appreciate his guidance, I'm honored to be back under his keen eye.

Leon was giving a private lesson to a French woman when I arrived. Its been great getting lessons from Garik in Russian, but listening to Leon give a lesson in French was also appealing. I hope I can some point take lessons in French since, as with Garik, its easier for the instructor to communicate in their native language. Not that they can't communicate in English, but their emotion, intonation and general observations are much more prevalent in their native tongue. It turns out that Leon originally came to America to train our Olympic pentathletes and has been a part of most of the Olympic, Goodwill and World cup games for most of his life (he is 72 now). Leon is about 5'6" or so, gray hair, stocky. He smiles a lot, has a great sense of humor and has that classic French under-his-breah laugh. He's definitely one of those people that you want to please you feel priviledged when he notices you. During our drills, he paid a lot of special attention to me, particularly in my point control. I hope this means that he is truly engaged in me becoming a pentathlete (as opposed to an instructor that might give you a lesson simply because you're willing to pay for it). The class went really well and it was clear that I do need a lot of work on point control, as well as more attention to compound attacks. Bernard was especially patient with me.

In between the drills and the open fencing portion of the class, Leon took a moment to fill his wine glass. Now that's the kind of coach I like!

Waco wars

I rode Virginia's horse Waco again tonight. A great horse, but quite a pill too. You can tell, even while tacking him up, that he's going to be a challenge. Once again, as soon as I got on, he was ready to canter, so I had to spend a couple laps just trying to keep him at a walk. Quite a ride at the trot again as well. I felt like one of those paddle ball balls, still attached by a long rubber band, but bouncing all over the place. Waco is much more responsive to my weight changes, so he was constantly slowing down and speeding up in response to my balance. He's also easily distracted and very talkative, always moving his head around. The canter on the other hand was once again a joy. I still have some balance issues transitioning into the canter, but overall a really smooth, comfortable canter. Waco is teaching me a lot about my balance opportunities and overall security and confidence.

Paddle push

Did the same swim today, 10 laps each stroke. This time, in the hand paddle set, I really concentrated on the final push at the end of my stroke that Wendy pointed out. I can feel that this last push really does help my distance in a stroke. About two laps into the set, I could already feel the muscle fatigue in my tricep. Oh, but it hurt so good! The set after, in which I use the kneeboard, but no hand paddles, felt really good and strong. I will continue to build on this. Soon I hope to add some overall weight training too.

Like a fish, baby! and fence mending

YES! I did it. I did my 10 laps of each stroke and felt great. I was also pleased that my muscles were fatiqued long before my cardio started fizzling out. The pyramid felt great too. For the pyramid, I do one length fast stroke, one length slow, then two lengths fast, two slow, and finally three fast and three slow. Eventually, I'd like to get up to the point where I can do four full laps at full speed crawl stroke without a problem. Regardless, I was pleased with todays swim.

Fencing on the other hand left a lot to be desired. I did pretty well in the footwork section. But the energy I excerted in the morning swim was obviousely lacking during my boughts. Tonight I fenced Telles, Clark, Jones and, of course, George. I did well enough in all of the boughts, but I was really tired, so my foot and hand work suffered.

Somehow, I want to add weights and yoga into my schedule. Haven't figure out how to do it yet though. I did switch my swim to M, T, W though in hopes that I can start up a yoga class on T, Th.

Strong swim, rough ride

Had a great swim this morning. I did the same 6 lap per stroke workout as Tuesday, but it felt much better, both cardio and technique. I think I'm ready to bump up to 10 laps per stroke and add back in the pyramid I used to do back in my college days. Of course, more laps means more time so this means I'll actually have to be at the pool at 6:00am to get done by 7 and make it to work on time. No more lazy mornings.

I rode Virginia's horse "Waco" tonight. Whoa...completely different, but once again a good exercise for me seeing that I will have to be able to ride unfamiliar horses in the pentathlon. Waco is a polo pony like Eli and thus has similar characteristics...he reacts much quicker and stronger than Pet Step ever does. Waco isn't a school horse at all, so any of the dressage moves I tried took a lot of work. We also had a different bridle on Waco, so he had to get used to it as well. All these variables meant that the trot was miserable...for me and I think for Waco too. It was obvious that he - being a polo pony and all - preferred the faster gates. We suffered through and got it to work finally though. But oh the canter! Smooth as a shot of cold vodka! Waco's canter was wonderful, like sitting in a lazy boy. I could definitely play some polo with a horse like this...maybe even be able to concentrate enough to hit the ball rather than fretting about staying on the pony. The night may have started out rough, but boy was it good by the end.

A little more swim

Added another lap to each of my strokes this morning, pretty comformtably at that. So I'm up to 6 laps crawl, 6 feestyle with paddles and kneeboard, 6 with just kneeboard and two laps of crawl kick. I'm pleased as this means my cardio is slowly sneaking back up to where it used to be.

Aim for the path

Went to fencing for the first time in a month. I was a little rusty at first and my feet and wrist got tired pretty quickly, but I was surprised at how quickly my hand work came back. Because I tired quickly, I had to stay relaxed and use the "aim for the path, not the target" philosphy. I got many touches this way...with almost no effort at all. Fenced Anna, George and Greg. I also went up against a new fencer, Cash, who I had not seen at the club before, but since he had his name on his uniform, had obviousely fenced at high levels in the past. He had a very different style, was much quicker, longer and energetic than people I've fenced prior. I did get several touches though, so I was pleased. Not too bad for a month off.

Erg = Yuck!

Went over to the Pocock Rowing Center to do an erg in order to slowly get back into rowing. YUCK! I did a 1000m warm up and then a 10 minute piece. I lost everything! I will certainly be able to look forward to improvement here. In the end, I do think rowing will be a great cross-training...its just getting back to where I was a year ago.

Swim 0, ride 1

The swim was so-so this morning. I did go up to 5 laps each stroke, and I did feel like I was able to stretch out a lot more, but overall, my cardio still needs a lot or work. The ride was a different story however. Pet was very strong and had a lot of energy. It took a lot of effort to keep him under control, but this skill will come in handy if I happen to get a horse in the pentathlon that is similar. I spent most of the training at the canter and ended up as exhausted as Pet was by the end. A really good night of riding though.