Fall 2017 IRL
| November 3, 2017 | Posted by Melinda under Training journal |
Fall is when the colors on the trail are my favorite, the long stretches of 100 degree days back to back are mostly over, and you get a rain shower or two but nothing that interferes with footing on the trail (usually). It’s the perfect time for birdwatching, long runs and rides, kayaking, camping, and visiting parks that get too much traffic in the summer.
With my emphasis on seasons I’m doing these IRL recaps seasonally (every couple of months) instead of monthly. In the part of California where I live, September and October are Fall.
Endurance is equal parts JUST GETTING IT DONE THROUGH SHEER FORCE OF WILL, finding a way to make training automatic without using willpower at all, and small choices every day that add up to something more in the end.
I haven’t been able to train consistently since moving jobs (again) in July and dealing with some unrelated blog/running/riding bullsh*t that has sapped all my mental and emotional energy since the beginning of September. I’d try to get runs and rides and other self-care done and fail over and over so I knew I needed to put in the work to figure out the what when and how training (and blogging) gets done in my current life. It took most of the two months of fall to figure it out, but I think I learned some really good lessons (yes there will be a post) and I’m back on track.
September-November 2017
Running
- 22 total miles of easy runs
- 4 mile, 1 hour “adventure” run. Can’t call this a run as it was more navigational bush-whacking. (Thank you Jo for the company)
- 3 powerhike practices
- 1 Long run of 15 miles
- TOTAL mileage: 41 miles (remember that is is over 2 months)
Most of the mileage happened in October once I got my schedule figured out and I finally got my groin to stop cramping after runs. It was the weirdest thing. I tried running the evening after I got home from Juniper Lake camping (and lots of hiking carrying Fig) in early September and it cramped during the run. Not a strain – a cramp like a charlie horse, but on one side of my groin. I aborted the run and walked instead. A couple days later the groin did a serious “you-aren’t-walking-or-standing-go-ahead-and-finish-surgery-on-a-stool” not associated with a run and it really really sucked. I tried running a couple of times and post run I could feel it “saying hi” even though it never cramped as badly again. Skipped a bunch of run, monitored how it felt after the short runs I did get in ~once and week and after about a month it felt fine!
My obvious conclusion – I’m getting old.
The most exciting news of the month is that I found a running group! They do a longer run on Sunday mornings with options from ~8 miles to up to 20. I have to drive an hour but it is SO WORTH it to be able to run long runs on someone else’s route where I don’t have to think about it, and have a longer run definitively scheduled on my calendar so I can’t make excuses. The people are great and it’s a casual affair that’s great if you are looking for time on your feet and mileage and not obsessed with your pace per mile. That’s how I found myself doing 15 miles last sunday, which is exactly 3x longer than any run I’ve done in the last four months. *EEK*.
The most obvious thing coming up is the Western States 100 mile lottery. I’m equal parts torn between “any year is a good year to get in”, and “Oh God please not this year”. From past experience and talking to other people I’m fairly confident I could get myself ready in 6 months if I get in this year. I register this weekend and find out the results of the lottery in early December. Back up plans for 100 mile qualifiers next year are Tahoe 100 mile (July) and Run Rabbit Run (September, in Colorado).
MerryLegs – a coming out
- 4 arena rides. Including one where we schooled around the arena like real adults!
- 1 Home trail “ride”. Actually more of a handwalk since she at no time resembled something I wanted to ride
- Granite Bay trailer out 5 mile/2 hour
- Oroville trailer out 6.3 mile/2:20hr
This season was ML’s coming out party. She has a bridle of her own (Thanks N*!), we have figured out steering with a bit and bridle, and can do a passable walk/trot session in the arena that actually looks (and feels) like riding. Both of our trailering out adventures started with me very skeptical that I would ride her that day (or ever) but 13 minutes later had me in the saddle having a BLAST.
She’s making all the right choices on the trails and is an incredible ride. Her attitude is 100% “let’s go DO THINGS” and she gallops up to me every day and can’t wait to shove her head into the halter.
Folks, I’ve NEVER had a horse do this. It’s incredibly ego boosting.
At Granite Bay Folsom Lake
I’ve haven’t felt this attached to an unproven horse since I saw Minx in a pasture for the first time. I sincerely hope she wants to do endurance because it would be SO HARD to let her go and I can only afford 2 horses. With Farley retired, if I want to do endurance it’s gotta be her.
Our biggest block right now is her mental stamina. At about 2 1/2 hours she starts to shut down mentally a needs a break from navigating trail, organizing her feet, and figuring out communication from me. I think some buddy rides, a camping trip, and simply time will help.
Looks like I may have solved my “horses aren’t fun” funk I’ve been in all summer.
Farley – what does retirement look like?
- 45 min ride on home trails (a complete effing disaster of a ride that I spent mostly on foot doing ground work)
- 3 arena rides
Well, we all know how the fall season worked out for Farley.
Practically, retirement doesn’t mean “off work” for Farley. It just means she isn’t the priority any more.
I ride her when I have time after ML.
She doesn’t get the fancy expensive supplements – instead of Platinum Performance CJ I’m going to see if I get similar results using the cheap feedstore MSM.
She does still have to learn new things – like lateral movement. (Farley: “I HATEZ YOU FOR FOREVER”)
When I do ride her I try to do things in a new fresh way. We’ve spent a lot of our career trotting. So now I tend to walk or canter. We do more arena stuff. I let her have fun over ground poles as long as she keeps it down to a dull roar (Farley: “I LOVEZ JUMPING SO MUCH LET ME JUST CHARGE AND BUNNY HOP PLEASZ!!!!!!!!!”
I give her a mash first, before we ride to change her emotional response to “getting out”.
If everything works out financially and weather-wise I’m going to toss her into an endurance ride of LD-ish length at Thanksgiving. I bet she has enough base fitness to do it and she still loves rides (I think). If she doesn’t, I won’t try it again. But if she does and we still have enough base to git ‘er done (and once we do one, we just need to do one every couple months) what’s the harm in letting the old lady have a couple more hoorah’s on her terms?
I think that’s what retirement should look like if you (hopefully) get to clock out with a sound body and mind. You still learn new things, you eat your dessert first, and you stay active doing the things you want to do.
“Cross training”
I’ve decided that for me cross-training is other outdoor activities that contribute to self-care and sorta-kinda physically support riding and running.
That’s a fancy way of saying there’s no way I’m going to the gym. Or weight lifting in my garage. Or doing anything I don’t love that’s support-work for my other activities. Maybe later in life I’ll feel differently, but right now I’m too busy kayaking (excellent upper body and core!), hiking (feel the lower body burn, especially when carrying a kid), and camping. Here’s the adventures I had during the fall.
Camping trip to Juniper Lake in Lassen National Park with hiking and kayaking
Still can’t believe the incredible camping site we got.
Paddle boarding at Kaweah Lake
Hiking in Sequoia National Park. (yes, this was the 5th National Park I went to in a span of about 5 weeks for those of you counting – Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Lassen, Whiskeytown, Sequoia).
Kayaking in Oroville 2x!
The real question is whether dropping a poptart in the water makes it more edible?
Kayaking at Englebright AND I did overnight kayak camping there twice!!!!
One of the few remaining waterfalls on the lake this time of year (you can’t see it in the picture)
Boston Bar boat-in campground
Rocky Bluff boat-in campground
The short nature trail that is off of Boston Bar. It connects to another trail that had horse signs and fresh horse poop. I have no idea what trail it is and how to get to it!
Kayaking at Whiskeytown Lake
I (wrongly) assumed this would be the last kayaking trip of the season. It was so windy and cold we shoved Fig into a hand-me down wet suit to help keep her warm, especially if she got wet!
Checked out one new local trail – Black Swan Preserve. It’s a pretty 2 mile loop perfect for power hiking practice and a picnic.
I’m going to write about some of the lessons I learned about training this Fall, and why I’m looking forward to winter in a future post, but until then I want to know….how was your Fall season? What did you learn and what adventures did you have?
PS – Here’s some things me and Fig did that were NOT blog related this fall.
Going to the Sacramento Fairyland park
A joint carousel ride.
Local rock, gem, and fossil show. Thanks Aurora for the picture!
She stole my apple slushi at the pumpkin patch!
I have always enjoyed your writing style and it’s only gotten more refined over time. That bit about what retirement should look like actually made me tear up a bit!
That means a lot to me, thank you so much!!!! I don’t do a lot of editing here and I strive to keep it very real, but readable and enjoyable. Thank you so much.
It looks like you’ve had such a wonderfully fun summer of family activities and all of the things you love. I absolutely adore ML – she’s such a beauty!
Hands down, my favorite lines of this whole post have to be, “I think that’s what retirement should look like if you (hopefully) get to clock out with a sound body and mind. You still learn new things, you eat your dessert first, and you stay active doing the things you want to do.” I couldn’t agree more with this statement, especially the staying active doing the things you want to do part. I love this approach.
Cheers to you and yours these next couple months. I hope the bit of drama going on comes to a close!
It’s why I blog – because I didn’t have that phrase in mind until I had written the paragraphs leading up to it…and then it just all came together and I realized what needed to be said and I had never thought of it that way before in a concise manner. It’s amazing wtih writing and self reflection can do.
I’m another fan of your version of retirement–where do I sign up?
And Fig, Fig, Fig: she’s growing so fast, and she’s doing so many fun things!
Question: If Farley is cool with the LDs, do you think you would take both of them to a ride? How do you think the two of them would do camping together, and if one was to leave camp?
They would probably be fine. Both mares are confident, independent mares even though they get along and like eachother. I tend to be attracted to the type of horses that aren’t attached to a “herd”. Comes with its own set of problems for sure! But having trouble with a buddy is not usually among them.
When I had two competing horses (Minx+Farley) I did take them to a ride together ONCE. It was so much extra work I swore I would never do it again. It wasn’t fun, it was mostly just a lot of work. Couple that with me not really enjoying multi days and I’d rather focus on one horse and ride at a time. Even if Farley was fine with LD’s it wouldn’t change my perspective that she is “retired” and if I had a ride coming up where both horses were ready for it, ML would get preference because she’s the focus. The only way I see both horses going to a ride is if I was going to let someone else ride Farley for fun,
I never got around to my fall lessons learned, but for posterity, here they were:
– I can do 1-2 things after work but that’s it. That includes errands.
– I’m done by 7pm. Nothing gets done after that.
– A scheduled weekend block for “me time” to get a chunk of riding or running in is really important
– With all the possibilities that fall weather allows, to make sure the imporant stuff gets done (riding and running), it’s important to remember the “one thing principle”.
– don’t do projects in the fall that can be put off to the winter.