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Why "three to five"? current training schedule
jan | feb | mar | apr 2000 |
May highlights: Mariners, more cleansing, Opening Day Windermere Cup, Leavenworth run, Beat the Bridge, birthday run, San Antonio stories, second pentathlon... Thursday, May 31. San Antonio: A big five event practice day. Next it was ride time. I told Shane, the trainer that I'd been jumping 2'6", 2'9" or so and hadn't really done any courses yet. Didn't even phase her. I did get one of the easier horses to ride though. I was assigned Orion, a chestnut. He was a huge horse, even bigger than the ones I've been riding at Hilltop, but I could tell right away he had a good attitude. So there I was, with four of the other pentathletes about to do their usual practice. We started simply enough, with a single fence. Then a bending line. Next it two jumps in a row, about 5 strides in between. Then an oxer, a double, a triple and a grot (a ditch kind of thing). The bending line, double, triple and grot were all first for me...and the fences were 2'9" - 3'. I actually did very well though. I did a little of my usual leaning forward thing, but not as bad as I have been. The grot was a little weird because your distance is a little different since you go into a ditch. But it went well enough. Not bad for my first big pentathlon riding lesson. Afterwards, Amy, Emily and I decided to go for a swim at Ft. Sam Houston in the outdoor pool. Nice workout and a beautiful day. And yes, I did get a bit of color on my pasty Seattle skin. Next if was off to shooting. We did some warm up drills then went right into the practice competion format. I did pretty well, but discovered that I have to stetch my stance out a little bit for some reason when I do the competitions. Got several 10s, a lot of 9s and a lot of 8s. Didn't keep my score. Finally, it was fencing. I did very well here. I went 15-10 with the winner of the last pentathlon's fencing event. Yes. Then I took on guy from Ft. Worth, beat him 10-6. Finally, it was Will Brady, a junior who was a tetrathlon national champion. We were pretty much even. He's really going to go far. He's only sixteen and already taking on pentathletes that have been training for years. There you have it...five practice sessions for five events. I will sleep well tonight! Monday, May 28. Hilltop party, some fairly good fencing and a late night, smokey run. Came home, took a nap then it was off to fencing. Although I've been taking lessons, I hadn't fenced in over a month so wasn't sure what to expect. As usual, John Varney - one of my favorite people to fence but also arch nemesis - completely humbled me...10-0. I actually had a lot of 'almost-touches' but these just don't count for much. I did do well against two other fencers though, applying several things I learned in lessons recently. Ready or not, its pentathlon fencing round 2 next Saturday. I finished the day with a late night run along Eastlake. Turns out there had been a big fire earlier that night and the air along the route was pretty smokey. No fun. The run was another slow, steady-state run that felt really good. It was around five miles or so lasting just under 35 minutes. Again, about a seven minute mile. Turns out I missed a chance to go running with Susan on Monday, because I wasn't carrying my cell phone, bummer. She's a great running partner and coach and a run through Bridal Trails would have been fun, especially after the rain and storms we've been having. Hopefully catch back up with her for the eastside run on Tuesday. Sunday, May 27. Fast swim, steady run. I did a late breakfast with my friends from Canada, Ian and Kevin. We all had quite a late night last night, although I did give in around 2:30. After a quick run through REI, I dropped them off at the Titanic exhibit and went home for run before more meeting up with the boys again for the Sunday night festivities. I did the short Portage Bay run (three miles) at a slow steady pace again...about a 7 minute mile. Some good stretching afterwards and I was off to play for the rest of the evening. Saturday, May 26. Garik's grass, sunny shoot, a new ride, a long run. Next it was off to meet Susan, Sam (a potential junior pentathlete) and her mother Laura at the Kenmore Range for a shoot. The rest of the group got their late so I did my practice solo. Did pretty well, shooting a 170. The thing that threw me a little of, besides all of the talking going on, was the bright sun on the tarket and the occasion shadow that came across the target. My eye just wasn't used to the brightness. But I'm more than happy with a 170. Susan did well, shooting 7 out of 10 shots in the black. Sam had a great start too (first time with a pistol, she shot rifle before). She got on in the black and all of her shots on the target. Next, off to the Myles' (Sam and Laura's place) to try out Sam's horse Bobby. Bobby was a challenge for me in that she was smaller than most of the horses I've ridden. Jumping especially was especially hard as there was less horse under me. But Bobby is a fantastic horse and did well under this big guy. Susan did well too. Bobby is more sensitive than Merlin, so there was a lot of subtlety to get used to on Bobby. Bobby would back on the slightest rein pull for example. Last, but not least, I went for a run when I got back home. I wanted to do the Portage Bay run, but the University draw bridge went up so I did a 180 and went along Lake Union instead. Beautiful day and a scenic route made for a great run that felt great. Finally, I hooked up with some friends from Canada down for the long weekend. A little dancing was the perfect way to end a long day. I slept like a baby.
Friday, May 25. Fred Denman and a quicker swim. Thursday, May 24. Great Garik lesson, more and more Merlin. Tonights fencing lesson with Garik was really great. We did a lot of the drills: flip-flop, push-pull, one-two, etc. Garik seems to pull the best out of me. I'm not guessing as much as I used to and my point control seems to be improving as well. He's gotten my feet to quiet down too. I hooked up with Susan at the salle and then we headed up to the new barn so Susan would know where it is located and for her to get another chance to ride...her second time on a horse. We started our barn visit with a run. We had hoped to find the trails that we knew has to be in the area, but the longest one we could find was only 100 yards or so. Should be able to track them down eventually and there's a golf course nearby so no worries about finding good running. Tonights jumping course was a doozy: two oxers, a double, a couple challenging turns and some other filler fences. I did well enough. Just my classic problems of leaning into the turn and leaning into the jump. My biggest issue is still trying not to fight Merlin. He rushes the fence and then I overreact to keep under control. Susan did great at her first attemps at the trot/posting. By the end of the evening she was doing quite well. If all goes well, we're going to try to get a regular pentathlon ride on Tuesdays. Tuesday, May 22. Susan's birthday run. One of the big things I noticed was how much I felt the sweat. In rowing, you don't feel this as much since there's enough air going by to dry your sweat pretty quickly. I actually liked it, I felt like I truly was working out. I need to do a lot more of these workouts to prepare for penathlon #2 on June 2nd. As Susan told me, birthday calories are free. So I guess that means I don't have to feel guilty for the cinnamon roll I had for breakfast, the huge peanut butter cup I had for dessert after lunch or the lasagna, wine, chocolate decadence and Guiness I had for dinner ;-) <--wink and a big Smile. Monday, May 21. Man am I sore. The shoot left a lot to be desired, I shot a 161, but I think I have a couple good excuses: 1. I opened the garage door behind me so there was a light source from behind. This is more like real shooting, but different than my usualy basement shooting format. What this changes is my view of the sights, rather than having the sights be nice and clean since there was no light from behind, now they blend in a bit more. Needless to say, I need to do more of this; 2. with the garage door open, there were a lot more distractions, lawn mowers, birds, cars, etc. I did make it to fencing...but forgot my orthotics so didn't do any actualy fencing. Instead I went home and did some of the plyometrics stuff I'm supposed to get started on: situps, pushups, etc. - torso type stuff. My swimming coach, Ed, gave me some stuff to do. Went well enough for the first time through. Did a little yoga too...ahh, felt good. Sunday, May 20. Beat the Bridge 8k. Susan on the other hand...kicked butt! She got her sub 30 and a PR for the 8k. Congrats Susan! I'm hoping to hook up with her and the Eastside runners on Tuesday...the eastside stuff all depends on traffic. In other news, I watched an interview with Milt Campbell, 1956 Decathlon Gold medalist, on CNBC on Saturday. Really inspiring. I hope to find more motivational material on him at some point. Thursday, May 17. Major Merlin. Wednesday, May 16. Running faster, swimming slower. The swim on the other hand isn't going as well. My timed piece was a full 200yd...my time was 2:55. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I did do better in a later 100, coming in at 1:22. Not sure why I've slowed down so much. I know my turns could be better, but still, that's significantly slower than my times before. Its definitely time for some more coaching...or something. Tuesday, May 15. A swim is a swim is a swim. I was planning on a run tonight, but it turned out to be a nasty, stormy night here in Seattle so I decided to do the plyometrics stuff...pushups, situps, other ab work, etc. Even got a little yoga in. Once I figure out my various vinyasas for the different pentathlon events, I'll post them here. I'm working on the 'swim salutation' right now since it will have the most asanas. Monday, May 14. Sweet shoot! Mondays are also the days I'm supposed to do my weights and plyometrics...I wimped out on this one. Saturday, May 12. Some awesome shots, fast 8k. The run today was even better! I brought my 8k time down to 30:39, a full 1:30 faster than my last time. Still looking for that sub 30 time though. The race is next Sunday...I can't wait. Friday, May 11. Better swim, steady run. I just did a nice slow steady state run tonight to stretch out my legs. It felt good and my strides are still feeling nice and long. By the end, I'm sure I picked up the pace a bit since I was feeling so good. But, I didn't feel fatigued or tired at all a the end. Thursday, May 10. Garik's great lesson, shooting at last. I finally got off my butt and filled my airgun cylinder so that I could start shooting again...I haven't since the last penathlon. YIKES! It went OK, I got a lot of two 9s, lots of 8s and some 7s. Also got a 4, two 5s and a 6. Yuck. But not bad for just getting back into it. I'm going to make one shooting day a week a drill day, so stay tuned for some crazy drills that I come up with. I'm also going to start doing more weights and plyometrics (mostly ab/torso kind of stuff), so stay tuned for more on this too. Wednesday, May 9. SLOW swim, fast run. Tuesday, May 8. Leavonworth run. Leavenworth is a beautiful place, especially over the last couple of days as it was sunny and warm. It is a little Bavarian style down on the east side of the Cascade mountains, about two hours from Seattle. I had been there once before for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, but that was way back in high school. It was pretty quiet, the tour season hasn't started I guess. On Monday, I took a quick walk around town to check out all the little shops, mostly touristy stuff. The cuckoo clocks and lederhosen, which I might have been interested in, were way too expensive too. I then did the river walk and discovered that it would be a great place for a run. It made me think that Leavenworth might make a great place for a pentathlon too. I know they have lots of stables around, they have a great pool at the high school, the town has a lot of character...hmm. I ended up doing supper at Cafe Christa, owned by some friends of polo Jason. Great German food! Afterwards, I tried to follow up on a couple friends of George Dill's, another polo player...they were all out. I spent a big chunk of the evening driving around up in the orchards on the hills overlooking Leavenworth. Sunset over acres of blooming apple trees, the warm day and their sweet fragrance were intoxicating. Definitely one of those times you needed someone special to share it with. Tuesday, I got up and did my run down along the river. It couldn't have been more invigerating. The dry, sweet smell of the eastside pine forests, the birds all around, the river trickling by and forest all around. Nice! Did breakfast at the Icycle Inn and then headed out to Sleeping Lady where the conference was going to be held. Turned out that it didn't start up until 11:00 so I asked the front desk for a good horse contact. They directed me to the Bavarian Village Vetranarian who just happened to have someone on his way in that was interested in getting jumping started at his barn, Icicle Valley Stables. We did hook up and talked a little about doing a pentathlon. Cool. That afternoon, the conference at Sleeping Lady was really great. The Dept. of Ecology folks are really great and had a lot of great questions about what were up to. In the end, great trip...both professionally and for NW Pentathlon. A final note. Found a new favorite radio station: KOHO radio in Leavenworth. With jazz, classical, bluegrass, and lots of editorials, it reminded me a lot of Northern Exposure. Sunday, May 6. Opening Day Windermere Cup, and a return to rowing? Afterwards, went back over to the new barn with Jason, one of the local polo players who also takes jumping lessons from Laura, to help out some more in the big move. The place truly is beautiful and getting better by the minute. Its great to see Laura's dream come true and be a part of it. Wednesday, May 2. Slippery swim and run. My swim times weren't great, but it sure did feel good. There was a young whippersnapper swimming in my lane that kept passing me by so I finally decided to pay a little attention to his technique. Overall, he was very fluid and relaxed, yet still seemed to fly by me. He had a different hand entry that, when I tried it, made me feel like I was both reaching farther, pulling/pushing harder in my stroke and twisting better in my body. It didn't reduce my times or strokes across the pool right away, but I was putting a lot less effort to get the same results. I'll keep doing some drills to get better at the new style. The run felt INCREDIBLE! I felt really light and fluid, well oiled would be the best way to describe it. My strides felt longer and higher, yet less energy was required to take them. Could it be that the cleansing is working? Getting ride of all that junk in my cells and muscles? Or is it the yoga that loosening me up? Not sure, but it sure felt great. I start the juice phase of my cleansing today. Thank you Odwalla for making it so easy to buy a lot of great juices. Tomorrow I will start the cleansing tea, consisting of dandelion and other herbs. I've heard good and bad stories about the cleansing tea. Some people say they feel even better through the process. Some, like my friend Angela, have a rough 'intestinal' time with it shall we say. Stay tuned... Tuesday, May 1. A Mariner May day. |