Why Couldn't The Trial Be Today?

It's coolish, cloudy, 70's-80's, heck the heat came on in my office this morning. Unfortunately the forecast for the big 3 day USDAA trial this weekend is 'more sun than clouds' and 'mid to upper 90's'. Blech. But it's only Wednesday, maybe a front will blow in.

I've entered both dogs in a million classes, including the Team event. It's probably the only chance we have to qualify for Nationals in the Team event and I've got really good partners so it's a possibility if I can do well. But that's a pretty big if. I hate these pairs/teams events, I feel so bad if I screw up. Why should someone else have to suffer for my incompetence? At least Lola's partner is already qualified for Nationals so at least I'm not screwing up her chances to go. On the other hand maybe the extra pressure will force me to focus a little harder when I'm in the ring. I'm not a competitive person but I like to do well and sometimes I think going into the ring with an 'eh, whatever' attitude allows me to lose a bit of concentration. On yet the other hand if I stress too much over doing well I won't concentrate well either and the fun will be sucked right out of everything. We did really well at Regionals last year and I think it was because I was able to balance everything just right in my head. Hopefully I can do the same this weekend.

I took both dogs to class Monday night so I could get some practice in with both and also because they get jealous of each other and tend to run in an excited state which is closer to how they are in a trial. Cody was a bit flaky at the start but finally started focusing and did well. Lola did great, I'm pleased with her recovery so far. She popped out of the weaves once but did a few reps. throughout the night w/ no problems. I think she's simply out of practice and it's not because her shoulder's sore. It's impossible to say. We were practicing on a masters standard course from a previous trial by judge Tim Verrelli who's the judge for this weekend. It was a tricky course with some weird angles and it definitely favored dogs with good distance skills. Being able to run fast didn't hurt either. I've had this judge once before and his courses were challenging even at the novice level. I liked him though, hopefully it'll be a fun trial.

I worked both dogs on the weaves over the weekend because that seems to be our biggest weakness at the moment and they did great with the various exercises I set up but maybe what I set up was too easy. I tried to remember sequences from trials that gave us a problem but it's hard to set things up from memory and I had forgotten the course maps. I'm hoping to get a few quick practices in before Sat. but it's been so darn hot.

I've been slacking on my swimming so badly I got a row from my swim coach who happened to be in the coffee shop beneath my office when I snuck in there to get a sandwich for lunch. At least she saw me with a healthy veggie sandwich and not a large mocha piled high with whip cream and chocolate sprinkles (because I never order those, oh no, not me). I told her I'd be at practice that night but it was Friday and I was beat by the time I got home. Agility class Monday and a friend's birthday last night means no swimming until Friday again and I probably won't go because of the trial on Sat. Do I even remember how to swim? Running is going o.k. and biking is sporadic. I need to sign up for a race soon or I'm never going to get my act together.