Why "three to five"?

august plans
6...watching pentathlon nationals, San Antonio they picked the team and cancelled the last pentathlon in favor of more training

discoveries
-sports drinks (like gatoraid) and sporrts bars (like powerbars) and I don't get a long well

bug counter
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shooting...not shooting yet, just observing and learning sport psychology

fencing...open fencing, Mon and Wed nights

swimming...8 lap warm up, length interval pyramid to 2 full laps on, 8 laps hand paddle, 8 laps just arms, 4 laps legs; long swim on Sat or Sun

riding...workout on own Tue afternoon, lessons on Thu evenings

running...intervals 2 min off, 1:15 on - Mons Portage Bay, Weds with Greenlake group; long run on Fri

Thursday, August 31. More turn than flip and a little wild on Waco.
Had a generally good swim today, cut another two seconds off my 100m time...slowly but surely I'm going to get this down to a minute. The challenge still seems to be the flip turns for me. I'm practicing on the swim during my warm up now, but still have some pretty basic issues to deal with. I do the first few flips just fine, but then I start turning in my flip and end up wanting to go sideways. Practice makes perfect I guess.

I rode Virginia's Waco tonight at riding. I'm going to Spokane this weekend to help Virginia groom and tack for a polo tournament. Waco is pretty wild when he gets started up so one of my duties over there will be to warm him up for Virginia. So...Laura was showing me some things to do in order to get him warmed up well for Virginia. We did some straight line work, then a lot of trot-canter transitions also working on the straight line. In the canter it became pretty obvious that Waco doesn't really like the straight line work so I had quite a time getting this to happen. But...it did with both Waco and myself for the better. Its always good for me to try my hand and new horses. We'll see how it goes this weekend.

Wednesday, August 30. Greenlake gears and abfab fencing.
I took another 28 seconds off my Greenlake time! The only bad thing about continueing to take my times down like this is that I have to keep pushing so much harder each time. This is a good thing, but wow...these runs are getting fast. I did a warm up lap before the run, which was at about an 8 min mile. My guess is that I'm still at about a 6:45 during my workout. Next week I'll do a workout mile around the track to check my time.

Had an absolutely fabulous night at fencing. I beat four out of the six fencers and did pretty well against the other two. Considering I just did my big run and fenced to 15 touches with six fencers in a row, I'm pretty pleased that I could stay 'up'...no bonk or anything.

Tuesday, August 29. Fast horse, strong swim, clear mind.
I rode Vesty again for my Tuesday afternoon ride. It felt much better than last Thursday, so we must be working out our issues. The balance felt good, he still has a lot of attitude, but we seemd to have come to a mutual respect. The difficulty this time around was keeping him under control. He had a lot of energy and was really strong so had to work a lot on walk-trot and trot-canter transistions. Overall a really good ride though. Once again, Vesty is the horse that Laura says can take me over any fence, so I'll be working on him a lot to get ready for my first jumping next spring.

The swim this afternoon felt surprisingly good, surprising in that I was pretty tired (no afternoon nap) and hadn't eaten since lunch 5 hours earlier. I started by trying out some flip turns during my 8 lap warm up...nailed most of them, but 3 or 4 were a big mess. Unfortunately, my timer didn't start during my 100m, but I felt really strong and am sure this was my fastest yet. Finally, I did a full lap of strong leg work during my leg workout portion that left me pretty tired out.

I was really excited to start up Yoga again tonight. Its been many months since I last took a class so was really looking forward to it. It was better than I remembered. Yoga is so great for making you really aware of how you are holding your body and how tiny little changes can affect posture, energy, balance, etc. I can certainly use the stretching, but since you actually do what they call "active stretching" in yoga I'm not just getting a good stretch, I'm getting a good workout. I was sweating by the end of the class and my muscles were shaking. I LOVE IT! On top of this, yoga really helps you center and focus your mind. Sounds hoaky, but it does work. As one of my coaches once said "you have to respect the intelligence of the body".

Monday, August 28. Fantastic fencing, even better run.
It was such a nice day on the lake I almost felt like taking the day off...but I didn't and am pretty pleased that I didn't. Fencing went really well. I got 12 touches on the guy that won men's epee at our last divisional meet and did really well against other I fenced as well. Watch out when I get a few lessons under my belt.

The run went well too. I took another 27 seconds off my Portage Bay time and fell great at the end of it. I'm pushing to for my next time to be sub 20 minutes. I also want to run a track sometime soon to get a better feel for how fast my mile time is. Should be able to squeeze it in on Wednesday at Greenlake before the lake run.

Sunday, August 27. Long swim, faster turns.
Since I spent Saturday at the fencing tournament, I did my long swim today. Felt pretty good the whole way through, nothing spectatcular to report. I did practice some flip turns at the end though. I'm getting better and quicker and plan on doing them during the warm up for the next swim.

Saturday, August 26. "Blood, Sweat and Tears" at Boeing.
Spent all of Saturday watching the "Blood, Sweat and Tears" tournament, sponsored by the Boeing Fencing Club. My plan has been to start competing in the different pentathlon events next spring...but I should have brought my epee to this tournament as I think I would have done very well and gone home with a medal. Its probably better to stick to my schedule though. It was a small tournament compared to the WWD mid winter, so it gave me a chance to watch all the events in detail. The party afterwards was a great time as well. The Boeing club really knows how to host a tourny.

Friday, August 25. Late lakeside run.
I intended on going home after work, taking a short nap, going for my long endurance run, then heading to a after work party with some co-workers. Well, housesitting on a lake on a beautiful day lends itself to LONG naps, so didn't get my run in before the party. I did go lightly on the food and beverages at the party so that I could do my run post-party. And thats just what I did. I have to say that it was my best long distance run EVER! I felt great the whole way through, my legs/feet didn't feel fatigued at any point. I probably started at a seven minute mile but was probably at about a 6:30 to 6:45 at several points during the run. It was a beautiful night along Lk. Washington, so I think that helped. I love this stuff. If only the penthathlon was distance races.

Thursday, August 24. Early swim, Vesty games and talking to animals.
Becuase of the animal communication class I was taking in the evening, I had to switch my schedule around a little today. I did my swim at noon. Last time I tried this, I didn't have the best swim...I was just really tired. This time, however, it felt pretty good. I beat my 100m time by another 3 seconds. The pool was really full for some reason and I had to swim circles. This didn't really affect me much though as I was pretty much even with the two women in my lane. I didn't get a chance to practice flip turns.

Since the woman teaching the animal communication class is a friend of Laura's, Laura was more than willing to let me switch up my riding lesson to 4:00pm. Today, I started back on Vesty. Vesty, Vesty, Vesty. Vesty is one of the few horses in the barn big enough for me and that can make it over the fences I will need to jump. He's also very sensitive to balance and looks for any excuse to over-respond to you. My problem was my muscles. I was strong on my aids so he enjoyed doing things to try to rile me up. He'd start going at a trot that was way too fast so when I put a small mouth aid on left and right to slow him down...he'd come to a complete stop. When I wanted to make a nice wide circle at the end of the arena, he'd avoid my leg aid until I put it on stronger...then he'd turn on a dime. If I let him walk for a bit with no aids, he wouldn't follow the arena walls around, he'd walk straight at a wall, turn at the last minute and make sure to scrape my feet on the wall. Some of these little games were certainly my fault due to balance issues, but Vesty is very known for playing little psychological games with new riders and he was definitely trying them with me. Laura was snickering. I've actually jumped Vesty before, but its been a long time so I think he was trying to establish where I was in my riding. By the end of the lesson all was well though. Laura was really impressed with how I did eventually get back on track, particularly she was impressed with the canter I got with him, but Vesty and I still have some more bonding to do.

The animal communication class with Joan Ranquet was fascinating...a skill that will definitely come in handy in dealing with unfamiliar horses in the pentathlon.

Wednesday, August 23. Fast run, fast fencing.
I guess my time last week around Greenlake wasn't a fluke. I actually took another 17 seconds off my time this time around. I was pretty surprised by this as last week I was running with someone that pushed me just enough that I took almsot two minutes off my time. Well, I took some more time off and it felt pretty good so hopefully I can keep this up going forward. The Greenlake group just got a new coach for cross country this fall, so I'm looking forward to startin this up when I get back from Sydney.

I also found out from Eli that the run in pentathlon these days is only a 3k run, less than two miles. I REALLY need to work on my sprints and speed endurance.

Fencing went well again tonight. My peanut/chocolate chip/raison trail mix that I concocted (what I call my PCR mix) seemed to give me a good energy boost after my run. I beat a couple very good epeeists, including Brooks who has been eluding me for quite some time, and scored quite a few points on others as well. George beat me though...a good humbling is good for me now and then.

Tuesday, August 22. More Howie and a late swim.
Turns out that Howie hadn't left the barn yet for his new home in CA so I got another chance to ride everybody's favorite horse. Had the usual little problems with Howie, but overall it was a really good ride. Talked to Laura about doing a shoe lease on one of the horses to start getting more time in as well as if I'll be ready to jump/compete next spring. Looking good so far.

Because of traffic coming back from the barn on the east side, I didn't make my 4:30 swim time. This gave me a chance to grab a bite to eat, take a nap and head back to the pool for the 7:30 swim. The late swim didn't feel much different than the other times of the day that I swim. Maybe a little more energy, but my arms felt a little heavey, due to - I believe - an arm weight workout I did the last time. I did take a few more seconds off my 100m time, but I wasn't really trying too hard. I did another mini flipturn practice at the end of my workout. I did pretty well, got most of the turns just fine. I still have to take the turns pretty slow though for it to work out right.

I found out last night through my friend Peter that another friend of ours, Batina, is quite the shooter. I had no idea, so I'll try catching up with her to find out where she is shooting. Its in Bellevue, so it will be easier than Kenmore for quick shooting trips. Also found out that Peter has some relatives in Sydney that I will be able to catch up with.

Monday, August 21. Sydney or bust, free pistols and late lake run.
I finally confirmed my trip to Australia! Here goes...

Dropped by the range tonight to watch the free pistol practice. I just dropped in to watch since 1. I'll be shooting air pistol and 2. I don't have an air pistol yet. Vic, my future shooting coach, was there and gave me a few more pointers. The shooters were all really neat people, very experienced. Tonight was a great exposure to pistol shooting...there were men and women, a wide range of skill levels and many different pistols being used. I was most surprised by the preparation involved in pistol shooting. I remember some of this from my rifle days, but nothing like what I observed here. Its all about psychology and getting into the zone.

Went for my run when I got home from shooting, around 9:00am. The run felt really good and at the fast pace that I started out at...I almost felt like I should/could be running faster during my on intervals. Well, I did...and ended up paying for it by the end. Since I was housesitting I ran along Lake Washington so it was a there and back run rather than an around Portage Bay sort of run. I ran for 15 minutes out and 15 back doing my intervals and ended up about 100 yards short of getting back to where I started. I just put too much into the first few interval sets. Lesson learned.

Saturday, August 19. More shooting and the long swim.
I missed the pistol match at 9:00am this morning as I was trying to get my flight to Sydney settled...still working on it. But I did make to the range around 10:00am and got a chance to to talk to Vic Alvarez, one of the trainers at the range. Vic worked with Mike Jones and Ruth Hayes, former pentathletes in the Seattle area. He's also worked with many other high level shooters and his own son has done very well both in the Navy program and in general competitions. Vic gave me a lot of good information on the sport and some more advice on purchasing my first pistol. I think I'll wait until Sydney though to get a feel for which weapons are out there and seem to work out the best. I'll be heading back on Monday evening to watch a free pistol match.

Did an endurance swim this afternoon...60 minutes of straight swimming. I was definitely tired at the end, but it felt pretty good overall. In these endurance swims, you have a lot of time to become one with your stroke. After about the 4th set of 10 laps, I could really feel the technique of my stroke and make little tweaks here and there. At this point, don't plan on doing a whole lot of endurance stuff, either in the run or swim, but it will help build a better base. Gone are the days of two hour crew practices at 5:00am in the morning, so I need to do something to stay in shape.

Friday, August 18. Short shooting and the long run.
After work, I finally made myself head up to the Kenmore Range to check into starting up my shooting training. I had been out to the Weapon's Safety range in Issaquah, but was told by several people, including Mike Jones (a former penathlete in the Seattle area that I run with on Wednesdays), that Kenmore was the place to train. I got some basic info on joining the range, as well as some good advice on buying my first air pistol from Bill. There is a shooting match tomorrow at 9:00am with some people shooting regular pistols and then the air pistol range is open to the public at noon. I plan on dropping in on both to start getting a feel for the whole shooting thing again. Although I shot rifle as a youngster, the pistol thing is all new to me. Bill said he would bring in one of his air pistols as well for me to take a look at. Didn't spend a lot of time at the range, but got loads of information to get started with.

Went for my first long run in quite a while, a 60 minute run this time (I'm adding 10 minutes each time to build up to a half and/or full marathon one of these days). The endurance runs are mainly to help get in better shape overall. They don't help with my pentathlon training directly since the run is only a 4K in pentathlon, but it cerainly helps build a better cardio base. Plus, they are just nice and relaxing as I generally do them along north along the Burke Gilman trail. The run felt great, especially after about 40 minutes or so. When I was training for triathlons I remember that the 40 minute mark was generally where I got in the 'zone' and could run forever it seemed. If only the pentathlon was an endurance race.

Thursday, August 17. Just another swim.
I know...not a very imaginative title for today's entry. But that's the best description for my swim today. Nothing stellar stood out to mention. The swims are feeling really good overall. Its best to enjoy them for know, because as soon as I start training with a coach, I'm sure they won't be as pleasant.

No riding tonight as Laura is off at an event.

Wednesday, August 16. T minus two minutes and a few fencing bouts.
Had an incredible run at Greenlake tonight. I took 1:48 off my time! I was running with another fellow from the Wednesday night group that helped push me a long. We were doing my interval workout, but we kept each other going at a really good pace. The fact that I talked a lot of the way makes the time even more impressive...to me at least.

Only had time for three fencing bouts tonight. All went pretty well, but its clear that I'm ready to start taking lessons. I have pretty much the same attacks all the time and even though I am getting touches and winning bouts, I have lots of room for improvements.

Tuesday, August 15. Howie countdown and short swim time.
I did my Tuesday afternoon ride today, no lessons, just a ride to give me more time in the saddle to work on some things. I got to ride Howie again. A big chestnut...the kind of horse I will need to do the kind of jumps I watched at Evergreen this last weekend. Howie's actually done a few Grand Prix events, so he's a great horse to learn big jumps on. The ride on Howie went really well, he's back to the point where he responds easily and quickly to my aids...keeping his head down, slowing down to the pace I ask for, etc. Unfortunately, he's going to California this weekend to reunite with his owner. Everyone at the barn is sad to see him go. He's a great athlete, so he will be missed.

The swim went well later in the afternoon as well. Took two seconds off my 100m time which was pretty good considering I felt like I was putting in about 60%. Overall, my workout time has dropped about 10 minutes from when I first started. My workout now takes about 40 minutes. When I get back from Syndey and start working with a coach, I expect this time will go up. I discovered that of the lifeguards at the Y give private lessons. I worked on my flip turn a little with one of them today, but in October, when their summer schedule is over, I'll get some stroke skill work too.

Monday, August 14. Fast fencing, fast funning and fencing in the red.
Excellent night of fencing tonight. I had lots of energy and my point control was really on. My third bout was with a fellow who placed in nationals. We did three 5 touch bouts 5-3, 5-3 and 4-5...I was amazed I actually beat him one of the bouts!

Had a really great run after fencing. I took another 32 seconds off my Portage Bay time which means I'm at about a 6'45" mile. I felt great the whole way through and may even bump my interval on time to 1'30" next time as I feel I could maintain the higher speed longer. I want to continue to challenge myself, but don't want to go overboard either. The plan was to bump the interval times up 15" each month, but I'll see how Greenlake goes and decide if I want to bump up early or not.

I was also excited to find out at fencing tonight that my glove, which you could smell from across the room, was washable! Well...I neglected to discover that there was a red panel inside the glove that was just waiting to turn all of my white fencing clothes pink until after I washed the load. I rewashed everything (except the glove) with a little bleach in hopes that it will revert back to their original pristine white. I have to wait until after work on Tuesday to find out if it worked. On the bright side, if they are still pink I'll be motivated to finally get USFA certified fencing clothes (I now use baseball pants for for knickers, soccer socks and wear a heavy practice jacket during bouts). Update tomorrow...

August 11-13. All Evergreen and pentathlon karma.
Spent most of the weekend at the Evergreen Hunter/Jumper Classic at Marymoor Park...big horses, going fast, jumping high. Although I have been to 3-Day Eventing events, it was pretty valuable to see how the whole hunter/jumper world works. I think I could easily compete in some of the smaller fence events as the fences were 2.5 to 3 feet. Eventually, I need to get up to four feet though. I spent a lot of time watching riders warm up and get instruction from their trainers. Laura, as an eventing coach, is an awesome all around coach but both she and the national coach said it would be a good idea to get some training from a jumper now and then. In addition, since as opposed to other equestrian events, in the pentathlon I compete against other men only (in most equestrian events, men and women compete against each other), I've also been told that it would be good to find a male coach for training every now an then as well to work on some of the sports psychology aspect of the pentathlon.

So this is where the good pentathlon karma started. On Saturday I met Shelley and Jeff Campf of Canby, OR. They seemed to have a really good report with their riders and a great 'vibe' overall. Turns out that Jeff has trained a couple penathletes and is interested in multi-sport training as well. Since there is a great fencing club down in Portland as well as a couple pentathletes, taking some occasional trips down to Oregon will be nice training opportunity.

On Sunday, the $25,000 grand prix was held. Lots of big names and lots of spectators. The course was all dolled up with flowers and fancy fences...and they were petty high five plus feet or so. The course designer did a walk through and explained some of the technical aspects of the jumps, as well as how the riders will respond to them.

More pentathlon karma...When the jumping started, I went into the VIP tent to get a few pictures of the riders over a red, white and blue fence (thought it would look good on my pentathlon page). I asked a group of people at table near the jump if I could sit for a moment to take pictures. When I explained that I was training for a pentathlon they said that a pentathlete used to train at their barn...turns out it was Mike Jones, the former pentathlete I run with on Wednesdays. Pretty crazy!

Thursday, August 10. Early swim, Evergreen, excellent ride.
Did my swim at noon today so that I could head head out to Redmond to watch the Evergreen Classic hunter/jumper event. I felt really good going into the swim, but ran out of energy pretty quickly. I think it was because I hadn't had lunch yet. I did get my best 100m time yet though and did push through the full workout, so I felt pretty good about that.

The Evergreen Classic was great. Big horses going fast and jumping high. I spent the first hour or so watching the amateur jumpers jump 4' fences. When that was over I watched the hunters for a while. They have a lot more rules about how to look and ride...so I think I prefer the jumping. I plan on watching the rest of the week and cathing the Grand Prix $25,000 finals on Sunday. I got really tired during the afternoon...I guess missing my afternoon nap is not an option anymore.

Laura was preparing for an eventing competition down in Auburn today, so no lessons tonight. I did go out to the barn and ride Howie though...just to get some riding time in. The ride felt awesome. It took some time to get Howie back in the right form (his head is back up) and under control (he still wants to go way too fast), but by the end of the workout everthing felt really great.

Wednesday, August 9. Surprising run and super fencing.
Somehow...I managed to take 12 seconds off my Greenlake time tonight. I could tell on my jog over to the Greenlake shellhouse to do my erg warmup, that I wouldn't be in that running 'zone' that I'd enjoyed recenenly...I just felt tight - and tired - all over. During the quarter mile warmup, I think I hit my first lactose threshold as my legs got pretty close to not wanting to move at all. But I pushed through it. The run around Greenlake turned out to be an excercise in pushing through as well. My lower back and shins fatigued pretty quickly and the run just didn't feel as comfortable as it has in recent past. In addition, I took my on time for my intervals up to 1'15". This doesn't seem like much, but when your not feeling on top of things to start, the extra 15 seconds goes on forever. But I DID push through it all and ended taking off another 12 seconds off my time.

Had another great fencing night. I did very well against two fencers that I hadn't fenced before and did pretty well agains Greg, one of our coaches in Seattle scoring quite a few points on him. Usually Greg leaves lots of bruises, but I think I got out of there with only one bruise this time around.

Tuesday, August 8. A busy swim.
Things were pretty quiet when I started my swim today...not many other people in the pool. I was feeling pretty sluggish so it was nice not to have to worry about running into others and to have lots of room to relax and stretch out my strokes. Before long though, the pool will full of people...more people than I've ever seen in this pool. Apparently, a group of women from the Y have been training for the Janskin Triathlon which was coming up this weekend and this week included some of their last big workouts. With two extra people in my lane I had to pay a little more attention to where I was going, but overall, it was great to have some really great swimmers in the pool. There were some really good examples of proper stroke technique and flip turns...skills I'm still working on since I haven't had a lot of coaching in the area.

I didn't do my 200m again, but felt that the swim went pretty well. Didn't get to practice flip turns either since the pool was so full.

Monday, August 7. First time: fence then run.
Because of a long nap this afternoon I didn't get my run in before fencing so planned on doing after fencing.

Fencing went well again. Since I didn't run beforehand, I had plenty of energy. I got 6 touches on a fencer that recently placed first in our regional tournament and beat all of the other fencers that I fenced. Its time to start thinking about getting gear and some lessons to be ready to compete next spring.

Had my best run time around Portage Bay yet, almost a full minute off my time. Perhaps I was warmed up from fencing, perhaps the cool evening air spurred me on, but it felt really good. I plan on pushing my on time to 1'30" in September so should see my times fall faster then.

Friday, August 4. To every swim, turn, turn, turn.
I went for a swim this afternoon to give my feet a little rest. The swim felt great. Even though I didn't do a 200m, I could tell I was swimming faster than ever. At the end of the workout I tried my first flip turns...got about seven good ones out of 20+ attempts. But, at least its a start. I should get better and quicker as I go.

Thursday, August 3. Small swim and the magic of Merlin.
Had to get some new lenses in my glasses and they were late getting out of the shop, so was a little late for my swim. So...I had to do a little smaller workout than usual, did everything but a 200m, which worked out fine as I was a little slow this hot afternoon anyway. The swim felt great, the sprints during my period were very fast and I felt really good technique-wise.

Tonight at riding I rode Merlin, a gray (almost white) 18 year old male. Merlin's known to give a little buck here and there and also has a very sensitive/responsive mouth. He's also very responsive to leg aids, as well as the rider's balance. The ride actually went really well though for me, everyone was impressed with how we worked together. Had a little trouble keeping at the trot gate that I wanted in the clockwise direction around the arena (he's slower in this direction) and had to do some mending to his canter as he likes to drop his hip to the inside. Overall, he has one of the nicest canter's I've felt so far.

Found a great link to Chad Senior on the NBCOlympics.

Wednesday, August 2. Greenlake T-30 seconds and honoring fencer George.
Ran into Allan Evans, one of the Salle Auriol coaches, coming off the track when I arrived. He's starting to run again. I'm hoping Allan will be what I'm calling my "coach/coordinator" this fall for fencing. He's a great coach and seems to be engaged in the pentathlon in general. He's also a good friend of Mike Jones, one of my pentathlon mentors in Seattle. The fact that he's running and can do some cross-coaching makes him even better for me as a coach. He'll be great in pushing me and establishing a training plan.

Did a short erg warmup at the Greenlake shellhouse then took another 30 seconds off my Greenlake time tonight. I'm aiming to get down to under a 6:30 mile so still have a ways to go.

Tonight, Salle Auriol honored George Hall, who received an award from the USFA for lifetime achievement and contribution to the sport. George, who I fence in epee and still have challenges beating, received his first lifetime achievement award in 1978. He's still going strong and it certainly is an honor to know and to fence him.

After a little champagne and cake, the rest of the evening went well. I fenced two fencers and did relatively well on both scoring 5-3 and 15-13 in their favor both times. I was very pleased since both are excellent fencers. The first bout was especially sweet as I usually can't get any touches on this fellow.