Siesta swim

Since I started my 5:30 am - 1:30 pm shift at Nordy's today I had the afternoon off. So, since I missed my swim day yesterday, I decided to make it up today. The pool wasn't crowded, and I was feeling pretty good so had a pretty good swim...I did my standard workout. I still feel like my technique is not where it used to be, but with a little focus I was able to keep it acceptable. I think the weights are affecting my stroke somehow, I feel like I'm not moving as fluidly as I used to. I think I'm going to tone down the weights a bit for now, don't want to get big anyway. I'd rather do erg workouts and build back muscle that way than direct weight workouts anyway. This biggest problem was...and I wouldn't want to spare the reader any of the realities of being an athlete here...breathing only out of my mouth since my nose was a little stuffy. Just another challenge to overcome I guess. I'm also starting to bike to and from work every day, about 5 miles round trip. Not much, but its a every little bit counts.

Morning weights, evening gates

Did my upper body weights workout this morning. I did go up in weight on several of the lifts, so was pretty happy. I'm going to look for some weight routines that will help with the pentathlon events, swimming in particular.

I picked up my orthotics this afternoon, so soon I'll be running. I also had some (...this is probably more than you ever wanted to know about an athletes real world issues but...) plantar warts medicated which means I won't be running for at least another couple weeks, BUT I'M GETTING THERE!

Had a great night riding tonight. The transitions from trot to canter are getting much better. Laura had me do a drill where I take my feet out of the stirrups and try to maintain my post...not as easy as one would think, you have to really work at holding the horse with our calves rather than your legs. But, the drill did improve my post. The other thing I worked on was going from canter to two-point and back, maintaining the canter through the whole drill. It wasn't perfect, but by the end I was doing pretty well. Pet still has his little quirks, but working through them will teach me a lot.

Leg lugging and saddle seat

Did legs this morning in my weight training. Once again, started with same weight I used...LAST OCTOBER!...when I last did weights. Legs went pretty well and I did a bit of an arm workout too. I noticed in lunges that my right leg lasted a lot longer than my left. Must be a side effect from fencing...hopefully the weights will even it out.

Had a major breakthrough in riding tonight. Worked a lot on trot/canter transitions again, particularly on making it a smooth transition. Not perfect yet, I need to work on my body position when I ask for the canter, but its getting much better. The breakthrough was staying back in my saddle at canter. I have a bad habit of leaning forward especially in the turns. I was finally able to sit back, keep Pet under control at the canter. This allowed my to take a lot of pressure of the stirrups which surprisingly also solved the problem of my boot getting too far back in the stirrup or occasionally even falling out. I was able to keep a light pressure on the stirrup and maintain a great canter...all while keeping good upper body, knee and hand position. YES!

A strong Sean

I have Fridays off in April so, after watching Laura ride at the barn for a while to get some good riding visual images, I decided to do a little weight lifting. My last weights entry in my journal was last October...yikes. I'll probably do weights 3 days a week, switching off between uppper and lower body. Gym time went pretty well, so we'll see how my muscles feel in a couple days.

I dream of Audrey and stop the Z

Express entry (5:35 a.m.): Here’s one for the Dream diary…just woke up from the craziest dream. I’ll describe my dream first, then interpret later for the full crazy affect. So I had joined the Air Force and come in to my dream as I’m walking around a campus (I think it was UW) practicing my march. I’m not sure if I can enter the student union building or not with my wooden display/practice weapon so I head back to my dorm which is actually more like one of those portable classroom/trailers. Luckily some fellow recruits are there including Audrey Hepburn and Liz O’Malley a girl I used to work at the Nordstrom espresso bar with (she was the quintessential Irish girl with short red hair and a lot of personal style). I put on my Air Force cap and looked in the mirror and it reminded us of something Audrey wore in Breakfast in Tiffany’s because it was so big. So I asked Audrey to put it on which she did and it was very funny. Cut to the next part that I remember…Audrey kept all of her wedding dresses on the wall near the door of our dorm room. I came in to her trying on one of the dresses. So I snapped a few souvenir shots and then asked Liz to come over and play a few songs on her guitar. I was wearing the big Air Force had this time. The sun came into the room through a skylight and I couldn’t believe what awesome pictures I was getting; Audrey sitting down among her wedding dresses in that way only a super model could, Liz in front of her and the both of them singing Moon River. I finish the role of film, rewind it, but of course open it before the film is done rewinding so I’m not sure if I have the pictures or not. The was a fellow guy recruit sitting next to me, but I’m not sure who he was. He was pretty amazed by the incredible photo opp. as well. So now, interpretation. I’ve been seriously considering joining the Air Force reserves for a while. Serving the military is one of those things that I regret not ever doing. I was scared stiff of doing such a thing when I was younger. Didn’t think I could measure up if I remember correctly. But I think I could do it now and actually look forward to the self discipline and physical challenge that would be involved. In addition, I recently read a book called Audrey Style by …It of course talks about how she developed her personal style, which was a huge deal to the world but was never much thought for her as a person. The book was very inspiring, and she has certainly been on of my role models for a while. I remember watching an interview with Isabelle Rossolini where she spoke about Audrey as her role mode. They were at a fundraiser together and Audrey was at the podium speaking. There she was in her evening gown, looking amazing and giving an inspirational lecture, but Isabelle noticed that she had dirt under her fingernails as she leaned on the podium and put one of her hands over the side. It turns out Audrey had just flew in from Africa where she had been planing with some local villagers. Now that’s my kind of woman! Liz was one of the coolest people I ever worked with at the espresso bar. She was young, but super intelligent and spunky. The kind of person I always wanted to be. I think the dream spoke to the fact that I’m starting to feel a little more self-actualized; getting to where I want to be. Then again, it could have just been the cashmere cap.

Now back to training...started the day with weights, my first leg workout in quite some time. Did the same as my upper body…started out with the weights that I left of with last time I was lifting. No major feats, but it felt good to get back into it. Once again, I’m not wanting to get huge but could use some additional strength and wouldn’t mind some more definition.

My work stress and new training showed up in riding tonight. Laura said I really looked rigid and I could certainly feel it. She said my ankle was stuck in a Z and wasn’t moving. I almost felt like I was trying to relax too much. Part of the problem could have been Pet again. He still seems to have the upper hand in a lot of situations. He is tending to veer towards the inside shoulder. I couldn’t figure out if I was sending the signal or if was him being his usual pill self. Laura first though it was my rigidness but we figured out that Pet was doing what he often did with children riders…turning to the inside which results in the rider spending their time trying to get him back in line rather than forcing him into the trot. I ended up just letting veer where he wanted, but forcing him into the trot. Worked pretty well and I was able to get some shoulder in done before going up to the canter. Cantering proved a challenge given my rigidness, but I eventually pulled out some good laps and was able to work on getting my hand positioning correct.

“Three breath Change”

Learned a very important tool today. My yoga teacher kept asking us to do things in a “three breath change” What a great thing. You can accomplish so much in a three breath change, in yoga, in life…in anything! This will be a useful tool whether at work or in training. Also finally understood how yoga really takes you apart. Really minute changes in position, balance, etc. can really affect how you feel the stretch/energy flow. This realization has so many applications across my even - rowing, riding, fencing – all of these require micro-level control, whether it be a muscle group, balance, or mental focus.

After yoga did weights for the first time in MONTHS! I used data from the last time I kept track (for rowing), which was…yikes…September of 98. Got back home and did my usual cleaning requirement. I have a bad habit of letting everything go and then needing to clean it before being to sit down and get any home/reading type work done. Cleaned everything up and cleared up my desk, then set into to do some excel sheets for my weights training. I’m not intending to get big, but I do like the idea of tracking progress. And…started my diary! Checked out Adam Holland’s diary on Rower’s World for a little inspiration. I’m looking forward to movies with Ron and Dave tonight.