All Evergreen and pentathlon karma

Spent most of the weekend at the Evergreen Hunter/Jumper Classic at Marymoor Park...big horses, going fast, jumping high. Although I have been to 3-Day Eventing events, it was pretty valuable to see how the whole hunter/jumper world works. I think I could easily compete in some of the smaller fence events as the fences were 2.5 to 3 feet. Eventually, I need to get up to four feet though. I spent a lot of time watching riders warm up and get instruction from their trainers. Laura, as an eventing coach, is an awesome all around coach but both she and the national coach said it would be a good idea to get some training from a jumper now and then. In addition, since as opposed to other equestrian events, in the pentathlon I compete against other men only (in most equestrian events, men and women compete against each other), I've also been told that it would be good to find a male coach for training every now an then as well to work on some of the sports psychology aspect of the pentathlon.

So this is where the good pentathlon karma started. On Saturday I met Shelley and Jeff Campf of Canby, OR. They seemed to have a really good report with their riders and a great 'vibe' overall. Turns out that Jeff has trained a couple pentathletes and is interested in multi-sport training as well. Since there is a great fencing club down in Portland as well as a couple pentathletes, taking some occasional trips down to Oregon will be nice training opportunity.

On Sunday, the $25,000 grand prix was held. Lots of big names and lots of spectators. The course was all dolled up with flowers and fancy fences...and they were petty high five plus feet or so. The course designer did a walk through and explained some of the technical aspects of the jumps, as well as how the riders will respond to them.

More pentathlon karma...When the jumping started, I went into the VIP tent to get a few pictures of the riders over a red, white and blue fence (thought it would look good on my pentathlon page). I asked a group of people at table near the jump if I could sit for a moment to take pictures. When I explained that I was training for a pentathlon they said that a pentathlete used to train at their barn...turns out it was Mike Jones, the former pentathlete I run with on Wednesdays. Pretty crazy!

Early swim, Evergreen, excellent ride

Did my swim at noon today so that I could head head out to Redmond to watch the Evergreen Classic hunter/jumper event. I felt really good going into the swim, but ran out of energy pretty quickly. I think it was because I hadn't had lunch yet. I did get my best 100m time yet though and did push through the full workout, so I felt pretty good about that.

The Evergreen Classic was great. Big horses going fast and jumping high. I spent the first hour or so watching the amateur jumpers jump 4' fences. When that was over I watched the hunters for a while. They have a lot more rules about how to look and ride...so I think I prefer the jumping. I plan on watching the rest of the week and catching the Grand Prix $25,000 finals on Sunday. I got really tired during the afternoon...I guess missing my afternoon nap is not an option anymore.

Laura was preparing for an eventing competition down in Auburn today, so no lessons tonight. I did go out to the barn and ride Howie though...just to get some riding time in. The ride felt awesome. It took some time to get Howie back in the right form (his head is back up) and under control (he still wants to go way too fast), but by the end of the workout everything felt really great.