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Intervals - The Quest Continues… March 20, 2008

Posted by kimayars Run Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 2comments

I have decided to renew my quest for the 8-minute mile.  I want to be able to run 5K in under 25 minutes by the end of the year.  Currently, I can’t run one mile at 8min without completely killing myself.  My plan of attack is intervals.

I only had about 40 minutes to run this morning. I was also mad. Mad that I was forced to choose between work and my riding, mad that I needed to vent to someone and couldn’t, mad that I have let my fitness slip so much.  I was ready for a fight. 

I set my intervals at 5.0mph and 7.0mph, running 2 minutes of each, alternating.  About half-way through I realized that I had energy to spare, and I could probably sqeeze out a little more. I upped the intervals to 5.5mph and 7.5mph.  I played “Take Me I’m Yours” by Squeeze and “Holiday” by Green Day over and over. I fed off my frustration and it worked rather well.

I’m now happy, calm, mellow, and have a clearer sense of what I’m going to do tomorrow.  I’m going to ride.  I have to leave North Bend by 3:30. That means starting the loading at 2:30. That means no meeting. Riding is very important to me.  It’s the only thing that is only mine, where I can disappear and just be me.  It’s become an integral part of who I am. To give up any part of it (especially when I have prepared for it) makes me cranky.  I don’t do cranky well. (Ask Jeff.)

Workout:

A Test of Character March 19, 2008

Posted by kimayars Uncategorized Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 2comments

Today introduced what I would call a character-defining moment.

My whole week has been a series of running from one thing to the next, sqeezing in this and squeezing in that.  Somehow, most of it has worked out. I have one big project for an organization I had to punt on, but it turns out that it worked well for everone involved to delay the finished product.  (Yet I still feel bad for missing the deadline.)

So, it stand to reason that I had Friday scheduled to the very minute. Jeff would take Samantha to school and I would take Veronica to school. I would be in to work at 9:00am, and get lots of things accomplished (did I tell you I’m optimistic?) until a meeting at noon. This meeting would last at most 2 hours, of which I would leave work to go home and get ready to haul my horse for a clinic an hour away.  My ride time is at 5:45, so a 3:00 departure from North Bend would give me ample time to get through rush-hour traffic with a horse trailer (oh joy) and get my horse settled.

Today I was told that the meeting time changed to 1:45.

Here are the facts:

  1. I really want to ride in this clinic.  I did a clinic with him in the fall and loved it. I have been looking foward to this ride for a few months, I only knew recently that I could attend because Jeff could take the day off to tend to the kiddos.
  2. I really want to go to this meeting. I love my job, and want to do it the best I can. This meeting will have a lot of information that I want to be there for. It was also rescheduled for Friday so that I could attend. (Normally it is scheduled on Thursdays which makes it difficult for me to attend because my 4-year-old is not in school).
  3. Jeff took the day off so I could ride.  I’m not sure it’s fair to him to ask him to still take the day off so I could work.
  4. My horse had been a handful this past few weeks. Couple that with a stressful last few days, an evening home with nothing to do is quite appealing.  It’s also my 7-year-old’s birthday that day. We’re celebrating on Saturday, so I rationalized that she would be okay with mommy not being around on Friday. I think however, she may take exception to that.

What I will probably end up doing is going to the meeting, then busting my butt to get Tigger ready and up to the clinic as fast as I can. And if we miss the ride, at least I tried.  The downside is it’s a $100+ ride. I should try everything I can to make it successful.

Jeff says I should tell the folks at work, “Sorry, I can’t make it. Fill me in later.” But I want to be there. It is important to me.

Oh, if only I could be in two places at once.

I’m going to take the night and think about it. Hopefully the answer will come to me in a vision… (Preferrably a half-naked-Brad-Pitt-kind of vision.)

5K Sport Training - Level Up! March 18, 2008

Posted by kimayars Run Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , add a comment

Today I did Level 3 on the “Sport Training 5k”.  I felt horrible when we started, but felt MUCH better afterwards.  There was a marked improvement in my mood. It was nice!  I did Level 3 at 6.1 miles per hour.  I couldn’t do 6.0 because the “0″ was broken on the treadmill.  :-)

Workout:

All systems are GO! March 18, 2008

Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse) Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , 1 comment so far

Yesterday we took a trip to Bridle Trails State Park with the ponies. This morning I had my lesosn with my trainer. It would stand to reason that Tigger would be a little tired, and maybe a little sluggish. Nope. Tigger be frisky. Tigger had a “go” button.

I lunged him first because I just had a feeling. He was a little more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed than I had imagined he would be.  He was peppy, but listening. So I got on.

NORMALLY in a lesson, he starts out a bit fast.  About 10 minutes in, the edge is gone and I have to work a little to get impulsion. Not today. He actually finished the lesson stronger than when we started. At one point my trainer asked, “How are you doing?” I replied, “To be honest, I’m wondering when this lesson will be over.”

Don’t get me wrong, it was FANTASTIC to ride a horse that was sensitive, forward, and listening.  However, I was on the edge of my comfort zone the entire time. He was so forward I felt like he was on the edge of chaos. Yet it never got out of control. Well, not too far out of control.

He was a good boy, and I had a good time. Every day is a new adventure!

How to fry your nerves… March 16, 2008

Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse) Digg! this story! Digg! this story. , add a comment

Do you know the saying, “If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger?”  Well, today’s adventure fit that perfectly.

I think Sherene and I knew we had to do this, and we knew that we were ready, but it was still terrifying.

We took the horses on a road trip.

And not just a road trip, we were going to RIDE.

To seasoned horse people with dead-broke horses, this probably sounds a little wimpish. But Sherene and I wouldn’t consider ourselves seasoned horse people. And our horses are NOT dead-broke.  She has an Arabian and I have a… well… whatever he is he can be tightly wound sometimes.

We loaded the ponies in the trailer and drove up to Bridle Trails State Park.  Our original plan was to meet up with some friends and ride the trails, but even before we got there we knew the possibility of this was slim. We arrived to a nearly empty parking lot (yay!) and immediately unloaded the horses.  So far, so good.  Sherene’s horse was pretty mellow, and that helped calm Tigger’s fears. In fact, Tigger was much better than the previous weekend.

We tacked up, grabbed our lunge lines, and headed for the vacant arenas.  As we entered the arena, Sherene casually mentioned, “This is going much better than I expected.”

I staked out a portion of the arena and sent Tigger out on the line. He walked on. Then stopped. This wasn’t a “HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT” stop. It was a, “This looks like a fine place to take a nap” stop. Wasn’t this the horse that was out of his mind last week?  Hmmm… I’ll bet he’ll blow up in trot. Nope. He was steady eddy. Sherene shouted across the arena, “Does your horse need a sedative?”  I casually glanced over to see Sherene expertly lunging her tail-flagging-nostril-flairing-fire-breathing-smoke-snorting fiery steed. SOMEBODY was a bit jacked up.

This is one of those moments when you’re looking at a horse and thinking, “My goodness, he’s gorgeous.” When Shazam puts on a show, he is striking. The downside is, when he puts on a show it usually means his mind is on something else other than Sherene. But Sherene is good at this, and I never worry about her being able to handle the situation.  She knows Shazam like the back of her hand, much to his chagrin.

After much lunging, we decided to actually get on and ride.  Sherene held Tigger for me and I hauled myself into the saddle from the ground. (Note to self: Need to work on some stretches.) I was fully prepared for Tigger to take off.  He just stood there.  My legs were shaking so bad I knew that he knew I was terrified. But, he stood there. Relaxed. It was nice. Sherene mounted and we proceeded with our flat work.

I was VERY pleased with the arena work.  He was still distracted, but didn’t rush nearly as much as last week.  He was listening, and felt very controllable. I actually was able to relax. Even when our friends returned from the trail, he was pretty good.  We had to go say hi, but he was well-behaved and seemed pretty relaxed.

One of our friends stayed behind while the other two headed out. We decided to try the trail a little bit.  Unfortunately, that didn’t go as well.  The horses kept getting amped up as we headed toward the trail system. by the time we got to a trail everyone was sufficiently fried, so we aborted. Sherene and I are all about having fun, and we had just crossed the line into “not fun”.

We continued our flat work in a larger arena, and I had some lovely canter moments with Tigger. He continued to be a very good boy.

The trip home was uneventful, and both horses seemed to enjoy their outing. Overally, it was VERY successful.  Things like this are very important for my show in a few weeks.  Hauling him places and getting miles under him makes the next event not so scary (for both him and I).

And our friend, who owns this VERY nice American Warmblood (TB x Clydesdale) asked if Tigger was a Hanovarian.  *giggle!*  That made my day!