Saturday, July 8, 2000
Rough run...literally
Well, I'm in Nebraska now for a week and a half visiting my grandparents and aunt and uncle. Its 95 degrees outside and the humidity is at 91%. Not the best running conditions, especially for a sea-level athlete like myself. I decided I would try it anyway and waited until evening, around 8:00pm, when it cooled down enough that I could actually leave the house. I was sweating before I even started the run...but that's OK. Unfortunately, the highway just down from my aunt's house doesn't have a shoulder so I had to run on the dirt road directly west. This would have been fine if it were actually dirt. The county had just recently put down fresh rock on the road which made for really poor running conditions. I did an interval set, 2 minutes off 1 minute on for 10 minutes out and 10 minutes back, about the same time frame I've been doing back in Seattle. This went well enough, I survived and all, but it took me almost an hour after stopping to stop sweating and my poor legs were all wacked out from the fresh rock. Next time, I'll take my chances on the highway.
Friday, July 7, 2000
Great run and boxing: round 6
The run this afternoon felt the best yet. It was my endurance run and today I added 10 more minutes so was out for 50 minutes. My feet/legs didn't fatigue at all and my cardio felt awesome as well...I'll be running half marathon's in no time!
Had my last "Box Fit" workout tonight as well. Considering last week, when I was really tired after my endurance run and the whole boxing session was a little 'tired' to say the least, this workout felt awesome. I had plenty of energy and was really pleased with my form as well. I'm off to Nebraska for a couple weeks, but will sign up for the next class as soon as I return.
Had my last "Box Fit" workout tonight as well. Considering last week, when I was really tired after my endurance run and the whole boxing session was a little 'tired' to say the least, this workout felt awesome. I had plenty of energy and was really pleased with my form as well. I'm off to Nebraska for a couple weeks, but will sign up for the next class as soon as I return.
Thursday, July 6, 2000
Swim like a slug and ride like butta
The swim started very sluggish today. Well...sluggish until I got into the water any way. Once I was in it felt really good to stretch out in the cool water and get going. I added a 200m after my warm up to start keeping track of my times. I swam it at about 75% and didn't do flip turns which gave me a 3'14" time. I'm shooting for under a 2'30" time so I have a ways to go. I'm up to about 44 laps now which is over a mile and is about 1100m. I need to get this up to over 2000m though which would be another 4 laps...very doable.
Went for a solo ride tonight. I had my lesson last night since Laura and much of the barn was off to a competition in Whidbey Island but Laura suggested that I still put in a ride tonight. Howie and I worked onthe same things we did on Wednesday, mainly rythem. I spent most of the time at two-point trying to feel and control his rhythm. It felt really good and Howie was responding very well to the aids to slow down..."it felt like butta".
Ricky, the horse that was having GI problems last night is up and doing fine after a long uncomfortable night...for Ricky and people observing him.
Went for a solo ride tonight. I had my lesson last night since Laura and much of the barn was off to a competition in Whidbey Island but Laura suggested that I still put in a ride tonight. Howie and I worked onthe same things we did on Wednesday, mainly rythem. I spent most of the time at two-point trying to feel and control his rhythm. It felt really good and Howie was responding very well to the aids to slow down..."it felt like butta".
Ricky, the horse that was having GI problems last night is up and doing fine after a long uncomfortable night...for Ricky and people observing him.
Wednesday, July 5, 2000
Rough run and ride rythem
The run at Greenlake wasn't the best I've had...my shins fatigued pretty quickly and stayed that way the whole time. I mush have had bad form or something. But I did finish and did take a minute off my time. I did the 2-off/1-on workout and was able to stay pretty close to one of the running groups ahead of me...pretty happy about that.
Tonight at riding we worked a lot on rhythm. I spent a lot of time at two-point, both at the trot and the canter, counting measures. Then Laura placed three poles on the ground for us to ride over at the canter. Had to work hard to keep Howie at a consistent speed and going straight, but we did pretty well over all. He's getting much better at keeping his head down.
On a side note, one of the other horses in the barn was having some GI problems, possibly colic. Its been a while since I've been a round a horse in this situation...pretty serious stuff. Laura and all at the barn did a good job of keeping up and about until the vet came as I was leaving. The horse should be OK, but it makes me wonder if I'm ready for horse ownership...now as much emotionally than financially. Its a great thing owning a horse, but its also a lot of responsibility. I could see myself getting really into it, especially with a horse like Meyou - a jumping and polo horse - the question is how would it affect my overall training. Would the responsibilities of owning and training a horse eclipse my training in other events. Hmm...
Tonight at riding we worked a lot on rhythm. I spent a lot of time at two-point, both at the trot and the canter, counting measures. Then Laura placed three poles on the ground for us to ride over at the canter. Had to work hard to keep Howie at a consistent speed and going straight, but we did pretty well over all. He's getting much better at keeping his head down.
On a side note, one of the other horses in the barn was having some GI problems, possibly colic. Its been a while since I've been a round a horse in this situation...pretty serious stuff. Laura and all at the barn did a good job of keeping up and about until the vet came as I was leaving. The horse should be OK, but it makes me wonder if I'm ready for horse ownership...now as much emotionally than financially. Its a great thing owning a horse, but its also a lot of responsibility. I could see myself getting really into it, especially with a horse like Meyou - a jumping and polo horse - the question is how would it affect my overall training. Would the responsibilities of owning and training a horse eclipse my training in other events. Hmm...
Tuesday, July 4, 2000
Howie hurries and a little more run
Started my Tuesday afternoon sessions with Howie this week. The objective is simply to get more time riding in hopes of starting jumping competitions this spring.
Howie was very strong today and, as usual, in a big hurry right from the start. Howie's walk was almost as fast as Duke's trot (Laura was riding Duke at the same time) and Howie's trot was as fast as Duke's canter. So I had to work really hard to keep Howie at the pace and rhythm that I wanted. Howie did eventually slow down a bit, but even at the walk at the end of the lesson he was a little speedster.
Laura and I talked a little about the possible impending purchase of Meyou, the horse Evan brought to the Tacoma Polo Club for Laura to consider for herself of one of her students. Meyou is exactly the horse I would be looking for...a jumper and a bit of a polo player, but I wasn't expecting to buy a horse until next spring. Meyou's even a chestnut, which makes him even more appealing...to me anyway. I'll be talking to the parents and looking at my budget very closely to see if "Me and You Forever" (Meyou's full name) will come to pass.
For the run in the evening I changed my workout to two minutes off, one minute on. Wow...how an 30 additional seconds can seem to drag on forever. But in the end, I was able to do it and actually felt pretty good during and after the workout. I'll continue this interval set for a couple weeks and then bump up again by 30 seconds.
Howie was very strong today and, as usual, in a big hurry right from the start. Howie's walk was almost as fast as Duke's trot (Laura was riding Duke at the same time) and Howie's trot was as fast as Duke's canter. So I had to work really hard to keep Howie at the pace and rhythm that I wanted. Howie did eventually slow down a bit, but even at the walk at the end of the lesson he was a little speedster.
Laura and I talked a little about the possible impending purchase of Meyou, the horse Evan brought to the Tacoma Polo Club for Laura to consider for herself of one of her students. Meyou is exactly the horse I would be looking for...a jumper and a bit of a polo player, but I wasn't expecting to buy a horse until next spring. Meyou's even a chestnut, which makes him even more appealing...to me anyway. I'll be talking to the parents and looking at my budget very closely to see if "Me and You Forever" (Meyou's full name) will come to pass.
For the run in the evening I changed my workout to two minutes off, one minute on. Wow...how an 30 additional seconds can seem to drag on forever. But in the end, I was able to do it and actually felt pretty good during and after the workout. I'll continue this interval set for a couple weeks and then bump up again by 30 seconds.
Monday, July 3, 2000
More swim
Did my basic swim workout again but added another lap of kicking at the end. Going forward, once a week I am going to do a 200m to start noting my progress. The swims are feeling pretty good, so its time to bump things up a notch.
Sunday, July 2, 2000
Tacoma polo
The club had a tournament this weekend, so I did the spectator thing this time around which was great since it would give me a good chance to really watch the game. Now that I've been playing, I was able to see and understand a lot more plays. There was some exceptional polo during the tournament with a couple teams that compete around at different clubs on the circuit. After watching the full on polo, I'm not too sure that I ever want to play at that level, it gets pretty rough and although I'm sure I may get injuries from pentathlon training and competition, I'm not too keen on getting injured in a hobby and then not being able to do the pentathlon. So I'll be choosing the slow chuckers for a while.
On another note, Even - one of the polo gurus at the club - brought a horse for Laura (my riding coach who was down watching a friend play) to consider for training...an 8 year old Chestnut named Meyou (short for "Me and You Forever"). Meyou has done some jumping and has played polo once...chestnut, jumper, polo, exactly the horse I would be looking for...just next spring. I had planned on looking for horses in the spring but with Meyou showing up, I may have to reconsider the timing. Keep an eye on my pentathlon journal for more news.
On another note, Even - one of the polo gurus at the club - brought a horse for Laura (my riding coach who was down watching a friend play) to consider for training...an 8 year old Chestnut named Meyou (short for "Me and You Forever"). Meyou has done some jumping and has played polo once...chestnut, jumper, polo, exactly the horse I would be looking for...just next spring. I had planned on looking for horses in the spring but with Meyou showing up, I may have to reconsider the timing. Keep an eye on my pentathlon journal for more news.
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