April IRL 2016
| May 11, 2017 | Posted by Melinda under Training journal |
Most important lessons learned this month.
1. The simple trick to getting conditioning miles done
If I have time to squeeze in a run or run….DO IT NOW, don’t put it off. Don’t give up a 30 min run (or ride) now in favor of a planned 1 hour (or more) session tomorrow. Just go running. Because according to my log book, runs (and rides) that wait are runs that don’t happen.
A quick run at Granite Bay after work.
2. Time waited isn’t time wasted
The fascinating thing is how much ML improves even when I’m not doing anything.
I don’t drill or do much repetition with my horses. My tendency is to put stuff off until I need to do it and then cross my fingers and hope they make good decisions because I’ve run out of time to practice. (I know, “hope” is not a strategy or a plan…). ML is responding well to this failing of my so far.
Need is a great motivator and so 99% of the time it goes well because it has to go well. Someone pointed out this is probably the reason it’s working for me – high success rate and a smart horse.
*shrug*. I dunno for sure, but I’ll admit it’s opened a whole new line of thinking of how else I could do less but do it better when I am doing it.
Small fry at the fish hatchery during a rainy Saturday
April’s In Real Life Training Log
Life is good. The blog has been quiet this month because after a winter full of rain and mud and much gnashing of teeth, I might be going a bit overboard on spending every bit of spare time I have on the trail.
Which isn’t a bad thing.
As long as you aren’t a long-suffering Dear Reader of this blog who misses the regular products of my squirrel brain published here. I do know there are some of you out there :). Don’t worry, it will settle down soon.
April was better…but it still rained A LOT. As evidenced by this mare camp picture taken by Aurora (redheadedendurance.com)
Another hatchery picture.
Proof that I don’t just run, ride, work, and write. There’s Easter!
You want another cute Easter picture right?
Just one more?
A family dinner after a day hiking at Whiskeytown with family.
Running
- 57.2 miles
- 8 runs
- Longest run was 19.2 miles
- One other run that was double digits, for a total of 2 runs over 10 miles.
Yuba South Loop with Tess
This month’s running was a mixed bag . My goal is 3 runs per week. It’s a good balance between recovery time, leaving time for horse riding, family, yet still keeping my legs “in the game”. I know for most ultra runners this seems ridiculously low, and sometimes I will do 4-5x a week during peak training – but mentally and physically for almost 20 years, 3x/week is the magical number for me for sustainable distance running.
Best trail dog!
This month I regularly got 1-2 runs in but always ran out of time/procrastinated my way out of a 3rd. (see lesson 1).
Looking forward
I’ve only changed my season plans about a million times. So. As of this very moment….
- …I’m not doing Ohlone this month.
Why? Because the closer I get the less I’m excited about it and it just seems like a lot of work. Work to make the logistics happen, to squeeze it into a weekend that already has a lot of “must-do” things in it that have nothing to do with the race. I kept procrastinating my entry and when I finally forced myself to sit down and make a decision instead of letting the entry deadline slip away, I found out that doing the event sparks zero joy at this point. Too many other things on my plate. So, the Ohlone 50k waits for another year.
Ugh, oh how I would like to not post pictures like this on the blog. BUT, I get comments all the time how much people enjoy seeing me and my REAL body out there doing stuff, so I try not to self edit the unflattering pictures out. You don’t need to be a stick to do ultras!
- I’m still number 14 on the wait list for the Tahoe 50 mile run
Wait list hasn’t moved at ALL this month. This is the only run still left on my schedule this season so far.
Pic by Funder at Fairytale land, gazing at our Krakens, I mean children.
MerryLegs
- 2 tacked up arena session (some mounting, but no riding)
- One epic trail ride (6.5 miles, 2.5 hours) and a lot of firsts.
- Switched horses on the 30th – trailer ride to Mare Camp.
Did I mention it still rained a lot in April?
Ideally I would have liked to do more but we were still dealing with some rain and I always do what I can. See Lesson 2.
Mash nom noms
How can you not love this horse?
Looking forward
Just keep plugging away. She’s 5, a hella fun ride, and one of the sweetest horses I know. I feel like we already have a partnership. I can’t see myself seriously moving forward with her endurance career until Farley is retired so I’m waiting until my gut says “now’s the time to go to work”.
Farley
At mare camp all month
Looking good! Mare camp photo by Aurora (redheadedendurance.com)
18 years of head flipping practice (pic by Aurora redheadedendurance.com)
Pic by Aurora redheadedendurance.com
Looking forward
She’s back home this month and we’ve been hitting the trails. What rides are we doing? Gold Country 50 mile at the beginning of July and then whatever else I think we need to get ourselves through Virginia City 100 miler in mid September. The specifics, my Dear Reader, TBD at some future time. I don’t have a clue how much horse I have this season and I intend to find out in the next 6 weeks. Yee Haw! Give me some sunshine and some dry-ish trails because it’s time to see if this 18 year old sassy mare can do a 100 in 4 months!
