June IRL 2014
| June 30, 2014 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
I predicted in the May IRL post that June would be a quiet month based on the sheer volume of work I had done in May. Sure enough, June brought reduced mileage, runs, and rides – but not necessarily for the reasons I predicted. Instead a hamstring injury and family tragedy sidelined me for most of the month.
As with anything, there are 2 sides of the coin. I can choose to look at June as “rehab and recovery” or “lazy and unmotivated” and I think my Dear Reader will wholeheartadly agree with me with the choice of “rehab”.
After all, it’s not every month that can boast of starting with a can-longer-walk hamstring injury and finish up with a that-interval-run-felt-fine. And we will just leave out the part where I didn’t realize I had an injury until three quarters of the way through the month, but oh how convenient I hadn’t done anything stupid like *run* in June?
That’s me, the eternal optimist.
Merrylegs
What was new in the month of June
- Tapes at 14.3 1/2 @28 month. This is a 1 1/2 inch increase from last month. <:o. Seriously filly. I think you are beautiful and talented at UNDER 15 hands. No need to be one of those *true* 15+ hand arabs.
- Worked on our first endurance style in hand trot outs. We need…ummm… *practice*.
- Got her first pro trim. She was so good.
- Went on a 1 1/2 hour trail walk. Loreleigh rode Farley bareback and followed me and ML in the lead! A couple of spooks in place from nasty little bouncy rodents that were kicking up dried leaves in the brush and one bolt forward – but NOT into my space – when she experienced the “*whipping branch” for the first time. Overall relaxed and begging to eat as we went along (NO! *NOT* the yellow star thistle!!!!!!).
- Introduced the very first foundations of ground driving.
Why does Merrylegs get to do “so much” every month? Because she’s an absolute joy and pleasure to work with. And makes everything easy (Farley, are you taking notes?). I’m not pushing her at all right now – just sorta experimenting and seeing what’s easy and what’s hard for her. She gets lots of time where we just hand out and I groom and scratch – no drilling or real “work” right now – she’s just a baby!
*whipping branch = that long flexible branch on the ground that stretches forward as you walk past it only to have it whip back into the unsuspecting creature behind you.
Farley
The first 2 weeks of June I was out of town. Farley got out 2x/week when I returned which was over and above what I thought would happen….but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m especially happy with how much those 4 rides prepared us for ride and tie championships in 2 weeks.
The June 18th ride was a low key bareback ride that my sister did on her. A good ride…but not a ride that contributed to her fitness.
The June 29th ride was a bit of disaster. Distance and time is a complete guess. A couple miles into the ride she was moving really funny. I’m almost positive it was a muscle cramp. Was completely gone after I trailered her home (1 hour) and turned her out. Muscle cramps are out of character for her, but I think it was a perfect storm of events. She was a complete and utter ASS and spooking at various things because she didn’t particularly feel like being out there that day. We had a discussion with a crop of what exactly I expected of her since lack of work ethic+behind my leg = “permission” to spook at sticks and branches on the ground. Combine that with her being a little tenderfooted from being trimmed really short (whole ‘nother story there) and I had forgotten to boot her fronts and she was doing some fancy footwork trying to avoid rocks. So, probably from side ways spooking + getting whacked with crop and surging forward + fancy rock avoidance footwork caused something? Or was it related to the treeless saddle – this was the first major trail test for it. Even if it is as minor as a one-time muscle cramp, still doesn’t make me especially happy 2 weeks out from a major event.
There is some backup plans for Team Hot mess if Farley can’t do championships….but it would be nice if something went to PLAN for a change. It’s a bit much to expect a team made up of a pregnant lady, AND a recent hamstring issue partner, AND wtf-different-horse-at-last-minute to have a stellar ride….but again our name *is* “Hot Mess” so what did I expect?
4 rides, no dressage, slower than average, and a weird lameness event…Not much to be happy about..but that’s what these IRL posts are for – a look into the unedited version of what other people are doing, so there it is.
Running
5 runs. One of the five was classified as a “interval” run, but the purpose of the run was recovery, just like the other 4 runs. Today’s interval run was to see how far along in hamstring rehab I was, and was less of “high speed intervals” and more “accelerate the pace and hold it for short periods of time”. The verdict? The hamstring is 99% there and feels GREAT.
When I crunched the numbers I realized that June 2014 looks a lot like March 2014 which is great news, because March was foll0wed but some really awesome running in April and May. If you take a look at my upcoming events on July board at the end of this post you will realize I have some big plans for July and August.
The big questions for the upcoming month of July are….
- Farley is definitely fit enough for a conservative 35 mile effort – but will that weird cramp thing come back and shatter the dreams of team “Hot Mess” at the 2014 ride and tie championships?
- Will my hamstring handle the rigors of a long course ride and tie in good enough shape to do a “test” 50 mile run at the beginning of August?
- How little can I ride and still successfully do a 50 miler on Farley at the beginning of 2015 season (and have one more mark towards our decade team)?
I’ve changed my weekly goals for weight training/Farley/Merrylegs slightly for the month of July, and cemented my if-I’m-not-on-call race schedule for the summer and fall.
I liked the look of June’s board so much that I kept it the same for July, and just changed the content slightly.
***Random note: I realized that June was the first month that I wasn’t able to add a picture to my “accomplishments” section. It was a tough month in a lot of ways, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do stuff I shouldn’t be proud of (try and make sense out of all those double/triple negatives, but you get what I mean). I decided to put the graphic from my rnt essay on the board. A bit unusual compared to the rest….. but it was an accomplishment all the same and win or lose, I’m proud that I put something together that I felt OK about submitting.
Time for random picture of the month.
This may or may not become a regular feature.
Sometimes I end up with a picture I really love and want to share…..but can’t for the life of me figure out how to make it relevant to anything.
And really, even though it’s *my* blog and I blog about what *I* want to – a side effect of no one paying me to do this, and in fact *I pay money* to host it – I do try to keep things related to endurance, horses, running, and what I *do* in life.
This is a simply a picture of me standing there. With Matt. At his older brother’s wedding last month.
It is also taken by one of my favorite local photographer, who I had the pleasure of attending high school with way back in the day. Tina Evans makes taking photos fun and always gets awesome shots. This was casual photo on the lawn and after making me put down my wine glass, she snapped a few photos just because.
And that my Dear Reader, is a wrap for June.
First time visiting my IRL posts? Wondering why I blogged about the mundane?
These “In Real Life” posts are designed to show how a conditioning program is being applied “real life”. It’s one thing to talk about the ideal program – it’s quite another thing to see how an actual person is applying it real life horse. Maybe you are a new rider that is trying to find the balance between rest and miles. Or maybe you are like me – you’ve been doing this for a while with varying levels of success and you are interested in seeing what other riders are doing.
To view previous IRL posts, go to the category “Conditioning” and look for the tag “IRL”.
Good read as usual! About Merry Legs height: you might want to start stretching. I bought Major at 6 and he grew another inch. I haven’t measured him in years, he’s probably 15.2. A true 15 hand Arab just means you get to teach them to stand in ditches, next to trees and truck bumpers too.
Can’t wait for the upcoming ride and tie fiasco, I mean adventure!
I think the thing I’ve worked on the most with Merrylegs so far is “this is a mounting block. This is how to stand quietly next to it.” LOL.
Adventure, fiasco, whatever :). Regardless of what happens it will make a good story (I hope). 🙂