Super swim and "show him the way"

Had a great swim this afternoon. Few people in the pool and just felt really good with lots of energy. I did add another length to my pyramid so now I'm doing two full laps at top speed. I still need to take about 20-30 seconds off my time, but should at least be able to complete the full 200m at top speed soon without much problem. I think I will also add an endurance day where I just swim for an hour or so rather than doing drills.

Riding went really well too. Howie is such a great horse. I am still working with him to keep his head down, in the past he was allowed to hold his head too high. Laura's advice is to "show him the way to the ground" in other words use the reins to help keep his heed down and guide his head down towards the ground. This is accomplished by bringing the reins down whenever his head starts to pop up again. The trot and canter were great as usual, I could keep the Howie-the-speedster pretty much under control. For jumping we did a small cross rail, then changed up to a straight rail. I'm still working on keeping him straight after the jump, keeping my hands down, staying back in the saddle at the jump and allowing my hands to come up a little when Howie goes into the jump to give his neck room to stretch out.

I did let Laura know I am hoping to do my first pentathlons next spring. She said it would be challenging, but that I could do it if I put some more riding time in. So, I will be adding Tuesdays as a riding day going forward for sure. The other events are going well too...Athens 2004 or bust!