A New Hobby

As ski season came to a close this year, I swore to myself (as I do every year) that I would keep in shape through the summer so that my ski legs didn't wither away to nothing. See, I come out of ski season with some pretty baller legs every year. But then summer arrives and I just don't keep things up as I should.

This year I swore (again) to myself that things would be different!

Running

I've tried time and time again to get into running, but ultimately I break down and can't do it any more. Typically, my weak ankles (injury from my competitive swimming career) are the culprit. If I don't break down, I simply slack off and quit simply because I do not enjoy running much.

However, with great influence from reading about fellow bloggers' running pursuits, I was more motivated than ever to get out and give it a go. Reading others detailed accounts of their fitness pursuit, I decided to give it a go..again. I decided I would take it slow this time and only run a few miles at a time and build up slowly. You know, like training an endurance horse.

I was doing great. I logged 21.7 miles in March. Most of my runs in the 1.5 to 3 mile mark. I never felt sore. My cardio improved. My mentality improved. One morning I completed a nearly 5 mile run before 6am and even that run didn't bother me much - just mild soreness. Hurrah!

Encouraged by the 5 miler success, at the very the end of the month I ran 10 kilometers. That is more than I have ever run in one sitting before. I didn't even stop and walk during it! I felt GREAT nearly the entire run. I had some issues with my mental game a little bit, but beyond that, I felt awesome. I was so thrilled. I thought I'd finally figured it out. I decided I would try to do two "long" runs like the 5 and 6 miler every month and keep the rest of my running pretty short.

Except I came up lame a day or two after the 6 mile run. My right foot more than my left, but both were unhappy unless I was in a shoe with a stiff, inflexible sole. Diagnosis? I'd bruised my metatarsals. It seemed to be a common enough injury due to inadequate footwear / doing too much too soon. My shoes are not new. Very, very far from it. But, with Kenai's surgery (pre-saga) looming in the near future, I couldn't exactly afford new shoes yet. And besides, I felt I needed to justify to myself that I was going to stick with this running thing for real before I dropped lots of $$$ on shoes.

I took two weeks off from running, my feet felt better, and then I gave it a go again. I ran a mile with minimal pain, then called it quits to be conservative. By that afternoon, I was regretting running at all. The pain was back. Fortunately though, it went away a lot faster (24 hours). I took another two weeks off all the same and then tried running on soft ground (a hay field) a couple times. I had no more pain.

I found myself very discouraged despite this. Once again I'd tried running and been thwarted. I just didn't really care to keep trying at something that had a history of breaking me. Why try so hard to enjoy something I simply didn't gain a lot of pleasure from? It wasn't worth it.

Mountain biking

Still determined to keep my legs in shape and pursue cardio, I pulled my hardly-used mountain bike out and sent it to the shop for a tune up.

As you know, I spend my weekends in Canaan Valley in Tucker County, West Virginia. This area is chock full of some of the best (and gnarliest) mountain biking trails in the country. Many of my fellow patrollers bike during the warmer months, so there was a positive influence around me to get involved in a sport I'd never truly tried.

I was totally and completely blown away by how much I LOVED it after only one outing. The trail obstacles on that first ride were a bit terrifying (narrow boardwalks, rock gardens, etc.), but I loved every minute of it despite that. I fell off my bike two or three times (once I swear it bucked me off like a horse!), but I still had a blast. And admittedly, I loved finishing the ride covered in mud and sweat. (Worth noting: my first official outing was during a thunderstorm. Rain be damned, I wanted to give it a go.)

The technical trail consumed every iota of my focus. Gone were any worries I may have had about the world and the rest of my life. All that existed while I was spinning my legs was that moment, the trail, my bike, and me.

I've logged nearly 60 miles on the trail since May. My bike handling skills increase with every ride, as does my fitness and my comfort level on different terrain. I am having so. much. fun.

Last Friday (thanks to my dad who found the clinic and paid my entry fee), I took part in a women's mountain bike clinic where I received one on one instruction to help me fine tune my bike handling skills. I learned new skills, as well, and all in all had an absolute BLAST. I even climbed >1,200' on my bike traveling >12 miles that day!

The video above is a series of four "pumps" set up on an incline. It is much steeper than it appears. I'd never done anything like that prior to the clinic. Additionally, the photo above the video is the group of ladies I rode with in the afternoon. My mother is in the bright blue; she kicked ass all day doing something she hadn't done before (she is an avid biker racking in 50+ miles a week, but not on trails).

I'm in better shape right now than I have been in a very, very long time. While often bruised, my legs are definitely in outstanding shape. My horseback riding has improved as a result, too. It's awesome. I love having yet another passion to round out my fitness pursuits.

Running with Q and Griffin

In an effort to mix things up for the horses and also keep myself at the fitness level I have achieved through skiing all winter, I've been running with the horses lately. Well, rather, I've been running and I've taken each of the horses once so far. (My other runs tend to be from my doorstep instead of from the barn.)

Running in front.

Griffin seems to be a much better partner than Q on first impression, granted the running environments for both horses was quite different.

I did a 2 mile run with Griffin on the road by the farm a week or so ago. He was a GREAT running partner! Demanding in the best of ways by keeping the pace going. His ears were up and he was alert for the whole thing, too - he seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit.

Griffin chose to run beside me and even in front of me (we did some tailing), but never behind. There were several times when I just put my hand on his neck or withers and let him help my legs into an even faster pace. I had fun throughout the run trying to pace my feet to his front feet hitting the ground. It was fun having such a game partner who kept me motivated to push myself.

Q and I did a 3.5 mile run on the trails earlier this week. Leaving the farm, she weaved very shallow serpentines behind me, clearly confused about what her job was when the human was running where she would typically ride! We walked up the first STEEP hill into the woods, and then I took off running again...only to have Q apply the brakes and refuse to move out. As she is typically prone to be sticky through this short section of trail when we ride anyway, and as it is the muddiest of all the trail we'd be on, I hopped up on her and rode her about 0.2 mile to better footing for me. (Avoiding excess mud in my shoes early on seemed wise.)

In which the human runs and the horse wonders, "What fresh hell is this?!"

Once on better footing, I dismounted and off we went. Q followed the whole time. Our run away from home was all slightly uphill. On the steeper of the uphills (still not very steep!) Q would slow to a walk, forcing me in my already out-of-breathness to cluck and kiss and encourage her to move out again. Come ON, mare! Perhaps she thought my heavy breathing indicated I should take a break or else I would die, Strange running human might die. Must make strange running human stop. However, once we turned for home (backtracking), Q was more apt to keep pace. Running on a slight decline and in the home direction likely aided in this.


I ended up having to ride Q for about 0.4 mile as I had *something* in my shoe that wouldn't come out and was causing quite a bit of pain in my foot. I dismounted in the creek to rinse off my feet and legs, but the pain didn't subside. I would discover afterwards that with the help of mud and debris in my shoes (it was a muddy, wet trail in places) I'd managed to get a freak blister on the arch of my foot...and then burst said blister. OW. At least I had Q there to carry me for a time so it wasn't any worse!

I look forward to more runs with the horses both on the road for self-trimming and on the trail for cross training!

These shoes were made for runnin’

 In an effort to boost my own fitness and that of Griffin + help stimulate his feet/wear them down between trims, I’m going to pick up jogging again.  Ho boy…  I had a bout with running in the fall.  I was doing better than I ever had in the past; even getting up to run times of 30 minutes (I never focused on distance, only time).  I felt as if I could go longer a lot of the time, but stopped because I didn’t want to over-do it and hate running all over again.

I contributed my success to the new way I was running – fore-foot striking, that whole “barefoot” minimalist approach to running.  I’d listened to Born to Run on book tape in October and picked up a lot of information from it and got really inspired to run again.  The science behind a lot of what the author said made sense to me, so I went for it. 

It worked…for awhile.  I know I must have been doing something wrong, pushing a little too much too fast probably.  My weak ankles from old injuries didn’t help matters either.  But I was able to run for a good month prior to these difficulties.

I’m going to give it another go, slower, and this time with a horse at my side.  Won’t we look silly to the neighbors? 

In my first pursuit I ran in some of my mom’s old water shoes, you know, the kind you pick up cheap from the store that have mesh tops and next to near no sole.  The idea is that shoes with a bulky sole encourage heel striking, or in my case, encourage the twisting of an ankle.  I’m a clutz.  I’ve lusted after some of the newer minimalist shoes developed for the growing popularity of “barefoot” running, but they’re all so pricy!  And, I’m sorry, but I just don’t care for that whole Vibram Five-Fingers trend (don’t even get me STARTED on the idiots that assume those shoes qualify as rock climbing shoes…)

However, ask anyone who knows me and they’ll confirm I’m the queen of finding deals on things I want to buy.  Internet shopper extraordinaire, right here.   I may or may not also be addicted to getting things in the mail – it’s really a toss-up.  So, I managed to score some Merrell Pace-Gloves for <$25, slightly used.

These babies retail ~$100.  It’s a little bit of a risk on the whole sizing thing as I don’t own Merrells yet, but I’m optimistic.  And besides, its not like I’m out on that much money anyway if they don’t fit.  I’m a bit excited to get moving, er, running now. 

PS - Hope those of you who don't read in Google Reader like the new header.  I'm becoming a photoshop champ and felt like playing around last night.  I'm pretty excited about it!  So if you ARE reading in GR - pop over here and take a gander!

Cloud 9

Last Thursday I went to the local swim team’s first meet.  Oooh thememories.  I swam competitively for ten years, six on the Otters.  I miss it, I really do.  But theres not much I can do about that now.  I’m too old.  Sigh.  C’est la vie.  It was great to go back and watch the first few events though.  Watching the kids (ages 5 – 17) get out there and give it their best.  Writing in Sharpie all over themselves.  I miss that.  Five events was the max (I think?) that you could do.  Event numbers from 1 – 80 or something.  Girls were odd numbers guys were even.  So to remember we always would take a Sharpie and write the #s big on our forearms.  9, 19, 39, 59, 69 etc.  I don’t remember what my events were, but there were always five of them.  I was an over-acheiver like that.  “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.”  I needed to staybusy and get in the water.  I also miss writing in Sharpie all over my back.  Drawing otters, emblazoning the message “eat my bubbles” for all to see.  Sillyness.  And,oh, how I miss it.  And I’m so glad to see that all of the sillyness continues.

My first week of work ended smoothly.  Nothing much to report there.  My fingerprints passed – oh  boy!  Still waiting on the background check…  I haven’t had a speeding ticket (yet – knock on wood) so I don’t anticipate it being an issue.

Saturday I headed to Canaan Valley bright and early for the first Nat’l Ski Patrol meeting for candidates – and I was the only one to show up.  Glorious.  All we did was set dates for the class to begin and I wrote the check for the course.  I’m super excited.  It’s a dream for me – and an item on my 30 before 30.  We start the last weekend in July and have classes every other weekend from then on out.  December 1^st is our test out for the medical stuff and then on-the-hill training will begin.  The resort has just been taken back over by the state which means more $$ and getting things done – hopefully.  The goals are to move the tube park, put in a few new slopes, open old slopes back up, and increase snow making.  All awesome, and all going to contribute to it no longer being the quietest resort around  (Timberline and Snowshoe tend to get the traffic).  I enjoyed Canaan growing up because of its lack of lines and crowds.  But this will be great for the resort, even if I have to deal with lift-lines.  Wait – HA – no I won’t.  Patrollers get to skip.  Booya.

After a visit to the valley to get stuff in line for later in the summer/fall I headed to the 4-H horse club’s meeting to help judge the girl’s presentations.  They were very impressive and Iwas excited to see the direction they’re going with things.  Great little horse-women in the making!  While there I was gifted with and also borrowed numerous books on natural horse care and other equine pursuits.  Super excited for this new reading list!  Already delved into some of it.  I’m so excited I really don’t know where to start so I’m kind of bee-boppin’ around between them all.

From My Hands to Yours I've already read, actually.

I’ve also recently been addicted to watching Heartland since it has become available on instant-play on Netflix.  GLORIOUS!  I read most the books as a kid and loved them.  It was filmed and aired in Canada and I hadn’t been able to watch – now I’m nearly through all the episodes.  So horse-crazy as of late.  Its bad.  But I’m loving it.

New addition to my life: running.  If I didn't have Kenai, I wouldn't do it.  But I do have him, and so I'm running.  Just a mile every night, not to lose lbs or burn calories so much as to get him out and just get some light conditioning for myself.  I'm enjoying myself so far.

Orion is – wait for it – SOUND again.  Hoorah!  I was beginning to forget what riding a trained horse was like!  Pegasus is doing phenomenally, but its kind of annoying having to constantly urge him and reassure him that its all okay.  That and I haven’t been above a walk in two weeks!  So thrilling to break into a brief gallop on Orion yesterday.  We’re getting a lesson this weekend in centered riding.  I’m not familiar with it.  I haven’t had a lesson in 12 or so years though, so it’s bound to be good for me – and Orion!  And beginning this weekend Orion will be staying at my friend’s place north of where he is now for a few weeks.  A rail trail is there to afford me with lots of milage.  I am PSYCHED.  Bring on the trotting.  As long as he remains sound, we’re going to catch right back up to where he was and begin to accelerate our endurance training.  Have I mentioned how excited I am?!

Mr Pegasus and his momma, Gracie.

His feet are slowly changing for the better.  I’m trying to be a better caretaker.  We’re getting there.  Suzanne was thrilled tonight with his progress.  And I was thrilled to hear that - not to mention we'd just had a phenomenal ride!  Only forty-five minutes long, but goodness!  That time off must have done him good.  He was energetic, forward moving, so ready to run.  He was anticipating places to gallop.  So awesome.  Today was the first day I finally felt connected to him the way I used to feel towards Stan.  I'm on Cloud 9.  The weather was perfect - low 70s - partly sunny, and just plain gorgeous.  Aaaaah happy!!