I fixed that link to the Pueblo agility pictures below. Too many http's.
The next couple weeks are crazy busy as I get ready for Regionals on 4th of July weekend. I have a NADAC trial down in Penrose (Canon City, about 2 1/4 hours away) next weekend but just found out about a fun match that same weekend to be held at the same place Regionals will take place. This is an incredible opportunity to build of a reward history at that venue since I can take treats & toys into the ring (obviously can't do that at a real trial). How much would it help? Hard to say. It might help with the table issues I've been having since both Cody & Lola have lovely tables at practice where they know they get rewarded. If I could reward in a different location in a trial like setting it would help a lot. But there's no table in the Grand Prix so it's not a priority at the moment. Plenty of time to deal with it after Regionals. Logically, it would be more helpful to my Regionals performance than the NADAC trial but often logic flies right out the window when dealing with dogs.
NADAC is a low priority for me at the moment, I signed up for the trial as a tune up for Regionals but still I hate eating those expensive entry fees (they're non-refundable at this point). I could go to the fun match Sat. morning, it's on the way, then drive to Penrose and do my afternoon runs. I'd probably miss my standard runs. On the plus side, I wouldn't have to wake up at 4 am. The downside is that this sounds like an awfully hectic day for both me and the dogs. Or I could blow off the whole day, save the $72 hotel room fee and just do Sunday. I'd still have to wake up at 4 am and I'd have the long drive there & back in the same day but still less burnout for all involved a week before Regionals. At the moment I'm leaning toward just doing the whole NADAC trial as originally planned because that seems the easiest solution but I need to change my mind 12 more times before reaching a final decision.
On the tri front, I'm almost to the point of being able to make it through a whole master's workout. Wednesday's workout was around 1 hour, 1900 yards and I was swimming my 50's at around an average of 55 seconds (not including rest), slow but not awful.
The employee bike race will be on July 14 so I've started back on the bike. I went on my first steepy steep hills last weekend and my knee was great. The ride was around 1 1/2 hours up Boulder Canyon to Poorman then over the Sunshine Canyon and back home. Poorman is a very steep dirt road but it's not a long climb, took me around 1/2 hour to creep up it. Went out for my 15 mile loop on my lunch hour in the 98 degree heat on Tuesday-NOT FUN. It took me 1:11 and it used to take me around 57 minutes or so. Wasn't sure if it was because of the heat, my lack of fitness or both. After several weeks of mid 90's the weather finally broke on Thursday (low 80's, woohoo!) and I did the same ride in 1:02 so I guess the heat was a pretty significant factor.
The bike race will be on very steep roads so I'm hoping my knee will be able to handle it in 4 weeks. I'm going to Winter Park tomorrow for some biking fun so I'll be able to see how much I can push it on the hills.
I've been going easy on the running since that doesn't feel so great. The knee is o.k. but I'm still having problems with that stupid soft tissue damage from the accident. It's in such a weird place, I'm not even sure what muscles these are, I just know they hurt in an icky, sharp pain sort of way. Biking and swimming freestyle don't seem to bother them but running and swimming backstroke-yowch. So I'm focusing on biking, swimming and my stupid strength exercises until my bike race.
Finally this Sunday I'm taking Strummer to his first proper herding lesson. He went for an instinct test and did really well but I didn't like the trainer because she was using a choke collar on him and, um, no thanks, I don't train that way. And besides, the woman was a little bats, even for a dog lady. I'm going back to the teacher that gave Lola her infamous instinct test (you know, the one where she was scared of the sheep). She doesn't use violent training methods and she's a better teacher anyway. Now if only I can convince myself that I'M not scared of the sheep.
No comments:
Post a Comment