Training took a hit this week due a trip to Chicago for a wedding. I knew that it would and tried to get in as much as I could at the start of the week. I was hoping to get in a run on Friday morning before leaving the house at 7 am and I was awake early enough to do it but the winds were howling at 60 mph and I was low on motivation anyway so I ended up with 3 rest days rather than 2. Got in 2 agility practices and that was plenty.
MONDAY
Swim: 2100 yards/1 hour (Amy coach, 1500 yards in first 40 minutes then 600 yards of drills in
last 20 mins.)
Run: 1.2 miles/20 mins. of 4 mins. run/1 min. walk (1/4 mile warm-up, .65 mile cool down/20 mins.)
124.9 lbs.
TUESDAY
Swim: 2700 yards/1 hour (Tiffany coach, swimming in lane that was too fast for me so I wore
paddles/pull buoy for main set, was o.k. for all other sets, 6 people in our lane)
Main Set (used paddles/pull buoy):
2x100 yd on 1:35
1x200 on 3:15 (swam 200 on 3:00 or so)
3x100 on 1:40 (swam 100's on 1:24!)
I've been swimming 100's in 1:41-1:43 and pulling them in around 1:34-1:35 so swimming in that faster lane today was really good for me.
124.1 lbs
WEDNESDAY
Agility: Dogwalk practice and ran a full course that was set
Mountain Bike: 15.4 miles/1 hour 50 minutes (Broadway/Eagle Trail/Boulder Valley/Left Hand)
THURSDAY
Agility: Handling practice with training partner, around an hour or so of running around plus time to
set the course and a short dogwalk session at the start
Mountain Bike: 13.2 miles/1 hour 30 minutes (Broadway/Eagle/Boulder Valley/Left Hand/Longhorn
to US36 to home. Felt sick/nauseous, bailed after out and back on Left Hand)
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY
Chicago. Did some walking but no training.
Swim: 4800 yards/2 hours
Mountain Bike: 28.6 miles/3 hours, 20 mins.
Run: 1.2 miles/20 mins. of 4 mins. run/1 min. walk
Total training hours: 5 hours, 40 mins.
Walk: Lost track
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Handling and Dogwalk practice
Today was weave pole/tunnel day. Strum did awesome with his weave entries, I was stunned. The only one he missed was coming out of a tunnel and the tunnel was very close to the weaves so he had to collect hard and early. It took him 4 tries even though I cued the weaves verbally while he was still in the tunnel. But he finally got it, what an awesome boy.
Practice 3-10-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
The exercises where from a Clean Run Backyard Dogs, I don't know which one, so I can't print them here but they were short and obvious enough you can see what's going on in the video. We added in the A-frame, what they hey, wanted to get some contact practice in. Strum missed the first one but I called it and had him redo it and he was perfect for the other reps.
Overall I could have gotten more collection in some places but I think we did a nice job and I remembered to keep my eye on him. Had a nice lateral send at the end of Exercise #3 and was able to get far enough ahead to put in a front cross after a tunnel-whee ha! I think maybe some of the seminar lessons actually sank in though I did have one botched forward send.
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Running Dogwalk
I finally looked at the video from yesterday's nightmare of a practice and on paper it doesn't sound as bad as I thought: 9/15 (60%). That's still bad but I thought it was more around 30%. Unfortunately the misses are on the full dogwalk while the hits are mostly back chaining of the down plank. I cut the video short, even I don't want to sit through 15 reps. You get the gist of what's happening. Set-up was jump-dogwalk-tunnel-treat gizmo.
Today I decided we needed some success so before handling practice I set up the treat gizmo at the end of the dogwalk for a couple reps. then replaced it with a jump for a couple more. I didn't put a jump in before the dogwalk. Technically he was 4/4 (100%) but two of the hits were high for my liking and sloppy looking. But it felt so good to have some success. I think the new plan will be to continue with the successful set-up for one more practice, start the next practice with the jump then after several good reps. replace the jump with the tunnel and see if he can maintain success.
Practice 3-10-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
The exercises where from a Clean Run Backyard Dogs, I don't know which one, so I can't print them here but they were short and obvious enough you can see what's going on in the video. We added in the A-frame, what they hey, wanted to get some contact practice in. Strum missed the first one but I called it and had him redo it and he was perfect for the other reps.
Overall I could have gotten more collection in some places but I think we did a nice job and I remembered to keep my eye on him. Had a nice lateral send at the end of Exercise #3 and was able to get far enough ahead to put in a front cross after a tunnel-whee ha! I think maybe some of the seminar lessons actually sank in though I did have one botched forward send.
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Running Dogwalk
I finally looked at the video from yesterday's nightmare of a practice and on paper it doesn't sound as bad as I thought: 9/15 (60%). That's still bad but I thought it was more around 30%. Unfortunately the misses are on the full dogwalk while the hits are mostly back chaining of the down plank. I cut the video short, even I don't want to sit through 15 reps. You get the gist of what's happening. Set-up was jump-dogwalk-tunnel-treat gizmo.
Today I decided we needed some success so before handling practice I set up the treat gizmo at the end of the dogwalk for a couple reps. then replaced it with a jump for a couple more. I didn't put a jump in before the dogwalk. Technically he was 4/4 (100%) but two of the hits were high for my liking and sloppy looking. But it felt so good to have some success. I think the new plan will be to continue with the successful set-up for one more practice, start the next practice with the jump then after several good reps. replace the jump with the tunnel and see if he can maintain success.
Puking on the Bluebird of Happiness
You probably think I'm speaking metaphorically but unfortunately I'm being literal. I started out my bike ride today on a fabulous 64 degree blue sky calm winds day but ended up starting to feel not so fabulous about 20 minutes in. It was so nice though, I couldn't bear to turn around so I kept going and told myself the pain in my gut would probably pass after a bit. I picked up the Left Hand Trail and decided to put the pain out of my mind. But after another half hour things had not improved and in fact had gotten considerably worse. I noticed the beautiful deep shock of blue of some bluebirds and decided to stop and see if I could get a photo and calm my stomach.
Not so bad for a cheapo point and shoot. I was crazy far away, the birds were specks on a fence from where I stood.
I don't often see Bluebirds, especially not down at this elevation.
I have a shot of the bright blue wings in flight but it's so blurry it might start your stomach to turning.
Anyway while taking the photos I felt as if I might end up sharing my lunch with the birds so I decided to take a short cut home on the roads after I got off the Left Hand Trail. Of course as soon as I turned onto the dirt road the wind started blowing head on and I had an unpleasant climb ahead of me made even more unsavory. But I made it home no problem and felt much better on the way home so I'm guessing I hadn't let my lunch settle enough before heading out on the bike. Such a gorgeous day, I couldn't bear to sit around and wait.
Not so bad for a cheapo point and shoot. I was crazy far away, the birds were specks on a fence from where I stood.
I don't often see Bluebirds, especially not down at this elevation.
Anyway while taking the photos I felt as if I might end up sharing my lunch with the birds so I decided to take a short cut home on the roads after I got off the Left Hand Trail. Of course as soon as I turned onto the dirt road the wind started blowing head on and I had an unpleasant climb ahead of me made even more unsavory. But I made it home no problem and felt much better on the way home so I'm guessing I hadn't let my lunch settle enough before heading out on the bike. Such a gorgeous day, I couldn't bear to sit around and wait.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Test Drive
I decided to replace my point and shoot camera because I was very sad not having a camera to take with me on the bike. I didn't want to spend a lot so I ended up buying a Panasonic Lumix for $120. It has an 8x zoom which was more than the typical cameras in that price range and other than that I didn't care about features, I figured they're all more or less the same. Plus it's red! I took it for a test drive on the Left Hand/Boulder Valley trails this afternoon.
Left Hand Trail
Hill up the Left Hand Trail
Left Hand Trail
Boulder Valley-it was windy today, look at those whitecaps
Lenticular cloud over the Flatirons (view from the Eagle Trail)
Somehow the photos look nicer on my computer than they do uploaded to Blogger, the blue sky looks so washed out. Oh well, that's not the camera's fault. I'm happy enough with the photos given the price of the thing and it's about half the size and weight of my old point and shoot. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a manual view finder, you have to use the digital screen on the back of the camera and it's pretty much impossible to see anything in it in bright sunshine which is where I plan on taking most of my photos. Not sure what to do about that.
It was colder than penguin snot Monday and Tuesday with a layer of ice over everything but today was sunny and 50's, great weather for a bike ride and some agility. It was windy but that just made for a better workout.
Strum's dogwalk practice this morning was depressing, the worse so far though I haven't reviewed the video. At least they were obvious misses that I didn't reward. The part that killed me was that he seemed to be trying so hard but he couldn't work out what he was supposed to do. If I back chained it and had him run down just the down ramp he was o.k. but he couldn't seem to put it together with a head of steam on the full dogwalk. Set-up again was jump-dogwalk-tunnel-treat gizmo. I straightened the tunnel out a bit so the treat gizmo wasn't next to the dogwalk as a distraction but it didn't matter. I don't want to go back to the table/plank thing because I've done that before and it doesn't help. He needs to learn how to manage that down plank at speed. I guess we keep plugging away but lately I only seem to be digging a deeper hole. I was sure I'd have this fixed by the April USDAA trial but now I don't know if I should enter. I'm not going to waste any money on Grand Prix that's for sure.
On a brighter note there was a course still set up from over the weekend. We gave it a bash and had a nice run, except for the dogwalk though he did finally get his contact on his second try.
This was an AKC Excellent course from some out of state trial. It was straight forward and much easier than the DOCNA courses I've been doing lately because the distances were so much closer together. I was ahead no problem for the whole course.
For laughs I tried a rear cross on the flat between 7 and 8 and it worked nicely, Strum had his eye on the table before he took the #8 jump. I was even able to get way ahead on the straight-ish line of jumps from 11 to 15 and got in a front cross before the #16 teeter. I also practiced that with a rear cross at the teeter but I liked the front better, got me further along the course and I didn't have to stop and wait for him to get on the teeter. Nothing else terribly interesting about this course but it was nice to run something and finally have some success. Handling felt much smoother than the other day and I remembered to keep my eye on Strum which is the main thing I'm focusing on right now.
More agility tomorrow morning and hopefully another bike ride then no training (or computer access) of any kind for 4 days. I'm thinking the break from all of it will do us all some good.
Left Hand Trail
Hill up the Left Hand Trail
Left Hand Trail
Boulder Valley-it was windy today, look at those whitecaps
Lenticular cloud over the Flatirons (view from the Eagle Trail)
Somehow the photos look nicer on my computer than they do uploaded to Blogger, the blue sky looks so washed out. Oh well, that's not the camera's fault. I'm happy enough with the photos given the price of the thing and it's about half the size and weight of my old point and shoot. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a manual view finder, you have to use the digital screen on the back of the camera and it's pretty much impossible to see anything in it in bright sunshine which is where I plan on taking most of my photos. Not sure what to do about that.
It was colder than penguin snot Monday and Tuesday with a layer of ice over everything but today was sunny and 50's, great weather for a bike ride and some agility. It was windy but that just made for a better workout.
Strum's dogwalk practice this morning was depressing, the worse so far though I haven't reviewed the video. At least they were obvious misses that I didn't reward. The part that killed me was that he seemed to be trying so hard but he couldn't work out what he was supposed to do. If I back chained it and had him run down just the down ramp he was o.k. but he couldn't seem to put it together with a head of steam on the full dogwalk. Set-up again was jump-dogwalk-tunnel-treat gizmo. I straightened the tunnel out a bit so the treat gizmo wasn't next to the dogwalk as a distraction but it didn't matter. I don't want to go back to the table/plank thing because I've done that before and it doesn't help. He needs to learn how to manage that down plank at speed. I guess we keep plugging away but lately I only seem to be digging a deeper hole. I was sure I'd have this fixed by the April USDAA trial but now I don't know if I should enter. I'm not going to waste any money on Grand Prix that's for sure.
On a brighter note there was a course still set up from over the weekend. We gave it a bash and had a nice run, except for the dogwalk though he did finally get his contact on his second try.
This was an AKC Excellent course from some out of state trial. It was straight forward and much easier than the DOCNA courses I've been doing lately because the distances were so much closer together. I was ahead no problem for the whole course.
For laughs I tried a rear cross on the flat between 7 and 8 and it worked nicely, Strum had his eye on the table before he took the #8 jump. I was even able to get way ahead on the straight-ish line of jumps from 11 to 15 and got in a front cross before the #16 teeter. I also practiced that with a rear cross at the teeter but I liked the front better, got me further along the course and I didn't have to stop and wait for him to get on the teeter. Nothing else terribly interesting about this course but it was nice to run something and finally have some success. Handling felt much smoother than the other day and I remembered to keep my eye on Strum which is the main thing I'm focusing on right now.
More agility tomorrow morning and hopefully another bike ride then no training (or computer access) of any kind for 4 days. I'm thinking the break from all of it will do us all some good.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Scared straight
Those straight tunnels, they're killing me. So simple in concept yet so confounding in practice. Damn you to hell straight tunnels. My training partner feels my pain so we agreed on a straight tunnel exercise for last Friday's practice. The courses are from Kathy Keats and you can see them here.
I didn't help that I was tired. Masters swim practice was only a couple of hours before and by Friday I'd had nearly all of my weekly triathlon training behind me since I knew I'd be in a class all weekend and unable to get in any big workouts.
I hemmed and hawed about posting these videos. They might not be all that fun to watch. My brain is still chewing on the information from the seminar last month. You can almost see the smoke coming off my head in the videos as I try to puzzle through how to put it all together. Fluency will come at some point but for now it's not very pretty. Plus the part about being tired and it was cold and damp so Strum was fast and not tiring out. But it is what it is for now.
I'll start with Exercise #3. We used 12 weave poles instead of the specified 6 for all exercises and this added to the challenge.
EXERCISE #3, 3-4-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
Getting from #4 to the #5 weaves required some good snooker handling. At first I didn't respect the challenge enough and got the tunnel. Then I overhandled it and it worked but wasn't pretty. Finally Goldilocks got is just right. Or close enough for government work anyway. Next was the #7 tunnel to #8 jump. I didn't need to break out the calculus to figure out that there was no way I could beat Strum to the end of that tunnel let alone get ahead enough to cue that jump as a push with him on my left. All calculations lead to knee surgery so I decided to do a front cross on the flat in front of the tunnel and pull to 8. I was still behind and got a lot of head checking at 8-9. Getting to 10 was again another challenge that I first underhandled then overhandled. I keep forgetting that I can run forward but still turn my body to the side and keep eye contact.
Exercise #2
EXERCISE #2, 3-4-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
4-6 was sort of a mirror image of the same issue from Exercise 3. I struggled even more with getting that #6 jump without a lot of head checking because I was so far behind. Even yelling 'Go Jump' while he was in the tunnel and again when he exited didn't seem to help. This was even more challenging for my training partner's dog who is also super fast but smaller so his stride didn't carry him quite as far out of the tunnel and she had to work even harder for that jump. Again, those 12 weave poles spread things out and we had a 20' tunnel so it was even more challenging than the course on the map. Since both of us struggled we're going to continue to work on sends out of a tunnel in future practices.
Exercise #1
EXERCISE #1, 3-4-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
The challenge for me here was the rear cross between 4 and 5. Handling wise a better option might have been a front between 3 and 4 but I wanted to practice rear crosses. I went over my video on the rear cross exercises from the seminar and I had done decent job there but struggled in the context of a course. I kept trying to pull off a deceleration rear cross in part because I wanted to practice it but also because if I let him get too far ahead of me and then decelerated the cue was too late and he was already in extension when he committed to that #5 jump. I don't know if that's good handling logic and the struggle was with the execution (well, I know the struggle was with the execution) but it took some tries to pull it off. I think I edited out too much video for this exercise and exercise 2 as well. Not sure what happened.
I have also some dogwalk footage from Thursday.
He was 3/6 (50%). Sigh. I rewarded the 2nd and 3rd reps. even though they were misses so 4/6 (67%) for me. I knew #2 rep. was a miss the second I rewarded it. I was too far behind and spoke too soon. I didn't spot the #3 rep. as a miss until I saw the video.
I think the problem is that he needs to know where he's going. In the past I've practiced turns by putting the treat gizmo off to the side like it is here, signaled the turn and rewarded with the gizmo so it looked like at first he thought that's the game we were playing and I was so far behind on that 2nd rep. that I was in effect cueing a turn.
Today should be dogwalk practice day but there's a light dusting of snow and a coat of ice on everything so we may only get one day in this week. Once again I'm unable to train over the weekend so my schedule is running a bit feral this week.
I didn't help that I was tired. Masters swim practice was only a couple of hours before and by Friday I'd had nearly all of my weekly triathlon training behind me since I knew I'd be in a class all weekend and unable to get in any big workouts.
I hemmed and hawed about posting these videos. They might not be all that fun to watch. My brain is still chewing on the information from the seminar last month. You can almost see the smoke coming off my head in the videos as I try to puzzle through how to put it all together. Fluency will come at some point but for now it's not very pretty. Plus the part about being tired and it was cold and damp so Strum was fast and not tiring out. But it is what it is for now.
I'll start with Exercise #3. We used 12 weave poles instead of the specified 6 for all exercises and this added to the challenge.
EXERCISE #3, 3-4-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
Getting from #4 to the #5 weaves required some good snooker handling. At first I didn't respect the challenge enough and got the tunnel. Then I overhandled it and it worked but wasn't pretty. Finally Goldilocks got is just right. Or close enough for government work anyway. Next was the #7 tunnel to #8 jump. I didn't need to break out the calculus to figure out that there was no way I could beat Strum to the end of that tunnel let alone get ahead enough to cue that jump as a push with him on my left. All calculations lead to knee surgery so I decided to do a front cross on the flat in front of the tunnel and pull to 8. I was still behind and got a lot of head checking at 8-9. Getting to 10 was again another challenge that I first underhandled then overhandled. I keep forgetting that I can run forward but still turn my body to the side and keep eye contact.
Exercise #2
EXERCISE #2, 3-4-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
4-6 was sort of a mirror image of the same issue from Exercise 3. I struggled even more with getting that #6 jump without a lot of head checking because I was so far behind. Even yelling 'Go Jump' while he was in the tunnel and again when he exited didn't seem to help. This was even more challenging for my training partner's dog who is also super fast but smaller so his stride didn't carry him quite as far out of the tunnel and she had to work even harder for that jump. Again, those 12 weave poles spread things out and we had a 20' tunnel so it was even more challenging than the course on the map. Since both of us struggled we're going to continue to work on sends out of a tunnel in future practices.
Exercise #1
EXERCISE #1, 3-4-2011 from colliebrains on Vimeo.
The challenge for me here was the rear cross between 4 and 5. Handling wise a better option might have been a front between 3 and 4 but I wanted to practice rear crosses. I went over my video on the rear cross exercises from the seminar and I had done decent job there but struggled in the context of a course. I kept trying to pull off a deceleration rear cross in part because I wanted to practice it but also because if I let him get too far ahead of me and then decelerated the cue was too late and he was already in extension when he committed to that #5 jump. I don't know if that's good handling logic and the struggle was with the execution (well, I know the struggle was with the execution) but it took some tries to pull it off. I think I edited out too much video for this exercise and exercise 2 as well. Not sure what happened.
I have also some dogwalk footage from Thursday.
He was 3/6 (50%). Sigh. I rewarded the 2nd and 3rd reps. even though they were misses so 4/6 (67%) for me. I knew #2 rep. was a miss the second I rewarded it. I was too far behind and spoke too soon. I didn't spot the #3 rep. as a miss until I saw the video.
I think the problem is that he needs to know where he's going. In the past I've practiced turns by putting the treat gizmo off to the side like it is here, signaled the turn and rewarded with the gizmo so it looked like at first he thought that's the game we were playing and I was so far behind on that 2nd rep. that I was in effect cueing a turn.
Today should be dogwalk practice day but there's a light dusting of snow and a coat of ice on everything so we may only get one day in this week. Once again I'm unable to train over the weekend so my schedule is running a bit feral this week.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Week in Training
Now that it's March I plan on posting weekly training updates. The plan for the month for triathlon is to start increasing volume. I think this will be my last week of mid-day masters workouts that focus on skills and drills and next week I'm going to start going to the workouts that focus more on yardage and intervals. I'm hoping to be back to regular running in a few weeks as well. Still having some issues with recovering from the car crash as far as running goes.
The plan for agility is to fix the dogwalk, keep improving on weave entries and for handling I'm focusing on keeping my eye on Strummer and timing my cues based on where he is. Next trial is in April.
I also discovered at my yearly physical exam that I'm about 10-12 lbs too heavy so I'm on a mission to take those lbs off in the next 6 weeks. I set a goal of 2 lbs for this week and I ended up losing 1.5. Maybe 2 lbs a week is unrealistic but we'll see how next week goes.
MONDAY
Swim: 2300 yards/1 hour (mid-day masters, Amy coach, lotsa 'distance per stroke drills', kick and
non-free)
Run: 20 mins., 2 mins. run/1 min. walk (1 mile in middle of 4.16 miles hike w/ Strum, Kiln Trail,
south side of Wonderland Lake, east side of lake to home)
Walk: 3 miles/1 hour (approx.) (see above)
126.4 pounds
TUESDAY
Mountain Bike: 16.82 miles/1 hour 50 mins. (Broadway/Eagle Trail/Boulder Valley/Left Hand and
back) Beautiful day, sunny, high 50's, maybe low 60's.
Agility: Dogwalk practice with Strum at Biscuit Eaters. 5 reps. running length of dogwalk, other
practice was minimal running, approx. 3/4 mile cool down walk
Walk: 1 mile stroll with Strum and Cody
WEDNESDAY
Swim: 2700 yards/1 hour 10 mins. (mid-day masters, Tiffany coach, main set was 50 yard sprints,
whee ha! Got there a little early and got in an extra 300 yards including 100 yards on my
back butterfly kick)
Main Set:
50 yards on 1:00 (did it in :44)
50 yards easy
2x50 on 1:00 (:45-:46)
100 yards easy
3x50 on 1:00 (:45-:46)
150 yards easy
4x50 on 1:00 with fins (:38-:39)
200 easy
I was glad to finally have some set intervals, those mid-day workouts are mostly '3rd person rest' which would be o.k. if people wouldn't leave 3 secs. off the feet of the person in front of them (5 secs minimum is more typical) so you end up with not enough rest. The next lane up (fastest lane) was coming in at around :38-:39 so I have a long ways to go to move over there. Not sure if I'll ever get there and for now it's not a priority for a goal. Improving my bike and run are more important goals for now and will save me more time during a race. My swimming is in pretty good shape for now. I think it's time to move away from these skill/drill focused workouts and start going to the ones that have more intervals. I like to focus on my stroke during the winter months but now it's time to start working.
Run: Same as Monday.
Walk: .8 mile easy with Lola
125.6 lbs (had one less cup of tea today so weight could be less due to water)
THURSDAY
Agility: 6 reps running dogwalk, some teeter practice, no other running
Mountain Bike: 14.04 miles/1 hour 45 mins. (Broadway/Eagle Trail/Boulder Valley/Left Hand and
back) Beautiful day, windy with gusts at 28 mph, 50's, mix of sun and clouds
Walk: 1.4 mile/40 mins. stroll with Cody & Lola, east side of Wonderland Lake
FRIDAY
Swimming: 2400 yards/1 hour 7 mins. (mid-day masters, Amy coach, drills/kick/sprints and some
kicking/treading water that cut into yardage but was probably harder than swimming)
Agility: 2 hours handling at B.E. w/Strum and training partner. Lots of running. Tripped on tunnel
and fell, little sore but o.k.
124.8 lbs
SATURDAY
Run: 20 mins. of 2 mins. run/1 min. walk/1.5 miles and 20 mins./1.1 miles walk of warm-up/cool
down (concrete bike path in Westminster, cold gloomy day)
SUNDAY
Rest day.
Walk: 2 miles easy on lunch break from class.
WEEKLY TOTALS:
Swim: 7400 yards/3 hours, 17 mins.
Mountain Bike: 30.86 miles/3 hours, 35 mins.
Run/Walk: 3.5 miles/60 mins. of 2 mins. run/1 min. walk
Total time: 7 hours, 52 mins.
Walk: 12.5 miles/4 hours, 20 mins.
124.9 lbs (-1.5 lbs) as of Monday, March 7
The plan for agility is to fix the dogwalk, keep improving on weave entries and for handling I'm focusing on keeping my eye on Strummer and timing my cues based on where he is. Next trial is in April.
I also discovered at my yearly physical exam that I'm about 10-12 lbs too heavy so I'm on a mission to take those lbs off in the next 6 weeks. I set a goal of 2 lbs for this week and I ended up losing 1.5. Maybe 2 lbs a week is unrealistic but we'll see how next week goes.
MONDAY
Swim: 2300 yards/1 hour (mid-day masters, Amy coach, lotsa 'distance per stroke drills', kick and
non-free)
Run: 20 mins., 2 mins. run/1 min. walk (1 mile in middle of 4.16 miles hike w/ Strum, Kiln Trail,
south side of Wonderland Lake, east side of lake to home)
Walk: 3 miles/1 hour (approx.) (see above)
126.4 pounds
TUESDAY
Mountain Bike: 16.82 miles/1 hour 50 mins. (Broadway/Eagle Trail/Boulder Valley/Left Hand and
back) Beautiful day, sunny, high 50's, maybe low 60's.
Agility: Dogwalk practice with Strum at Biscuit Eaters. 5 reps. running length of dogwalk, other
practice was minimal running, approx. 3/4 mile cool down walk
Walk: 1 mile stroll with Strum and Cody
WEDNESDAY
Swim: 2700 yards/1 hour 10 mins. (mid-day masters, Tiffany coach, main set was 50 yard sprints,
whee ha! Got there a little early and got in an extra 300 yards including 100 yards on my
back butterfly kick)
Main Set:
50 yards on 1:00 (did it in :44)
50 yards easy
2x50 on 1:00 (:45-:46)
100 yards easy
3x50 on 1:00 (:45-:46)
150 yards easy
4x50 on 1:00 with fins (:38-:39)
200 easy
I was glad to finally have some set intervals, those mid-day workouts are mostly '3rd person rest' which would be o.k. if people wouldn't leave 3 secs. off the feet of the person in front of them (5 secs minimum is more typical) so you end up with not enough rest. The next lane up (fastest lane) was coming in at around :38-:39 so I have a long ways to go to move over there. Not sure if I'll ever get there and for now it's not a priority for a goal. Improving my bike and run are more important goals for now and will save me more time during a race. My swimming is in pretty good shape for now. I think it's time to move away from these skill/drill focused workouts and start going to the ones that have more intervals. I like to focus on my stroke during the winter months but now it's time to start working.
Run: Same as Monday.
Walk: .8 mile easy with Lola
125.6 lbs (had one less cup of tea today so weight could be less due to water)
THURSDAY
Agility: 6 reps running dogwalk, some teeter practice, no other running
Mountain Bike: 14.04 miles/1 hour 45 mins. (Broadway/Eagle Trail/Boulder Valley/Left Hand and
back) Beautiful day, windy with gusts at 28 mph, 50's, mix of sun and clouds
Walk: 1.4 mile/40 mins. stroll with Cody & Lola, east side of Wonderland Lake
FRIDAY
Swimming: 2400 yards/1 hour 7 mins. (mid-day masters, Amy coach, drills/kick/sprints and some
kicking/treading water that cut into yardage but was probably harder than swimming)
Agility: 2 hours handling at B.E. w/Strum and training partner. Lots of running. Tripped on tunnel
and fell, little sore but o.k.
124.8 lbs
SATURDAY
Run: 20 mins. of 2 mins. run/1 min. walk/1.5 miles and 20 mins./1.1 miles walk of warm-up/cool
down (concrete bike path in Westminster, cold gloomy day)
SUNDAY
Rest day.
Walk: 2 miles easy on lunch break from class.
WEEKLY TOTALS:
Swim: 7400 yards/3 hours, 17 mins.
Mountain Bike: 30.86 miles/3 hours, 35 mins.
Run/Walk: 3.5 miles/60 mins. of 2 mins. run/1 min. walk
Total time: 7 hours, 52 mins.
Walk: 12.5 miles/4 hours, 20 mins.
124.9 lbs (-1.5 lbs) as of Monday, March 7
Friday, March 04, 2011
Stupid Handler Tricks
I don't remember them covering drunk tunnels in any of the seminars or lessons I've been to. Maybe somebody out there knows how to handle them.
I have some actual useful video from today's practice and more dogwalk footage but after working myself silly at this morning's masters swim session then chasing Mr. Crazyass Rocketpants all over the agility field for 2 hours in the cold I'm beat. I'm away at a class all weekend but I'll get to it eventually. For now I'm crashing on the couch and hoping I can stay awake until the end of Fringe. Better set my VCR just in case.
I have some actual useful video from today's practice and more dogwalk footage but after working myself silly at this morning's masters swim session then chasing Mr. Crazyass Rocketpants all over the agility field for 2 hours in the cold I'm beat. I'm away at a class all weekend but I'll get to it eventually. For now I'm crashing on the couch and hoping I can stay awake until the end of Fringe. Better set my VCR just in case.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Yet more dogwalk shenanigans
I signed up for a monthly pass at the training field and my goal is to get out there at least twice a week to once and for all get this dogwalk fixed. Set-up for today was jump-dogwalk-jump-treat gizmo all in a straight line.
The first 2 reps are two more examples of split legs but still a missed contact. The second one was very obvious and I marked it but the first one was less so and I rewarded. The final three reps. were delovely. Why can't the little stinker do that all the time?
It was a relatively warm morning, sunny and in the 40's, so 5 reps was about all I could get before he started getting hot. Final stats were 3/5 (60%) hits, 4/5 (80%) for me correctly rewarding. Next time I'll replace the jumps with tunnels. These are much harder for him, I'm curious to see how it goes.
We also worked on some weave stuff, straight tunnel to a set of 6 weaves then a space then another set of 6 weaves. He was perfect for a few reps of that, even with me moving with him out of the tunnel. Next we did a few A-frame/tunnel discriminations with the tunnel being the farther away obstacle. I worked on sending him from one jump away and he was perfect with the tunnel sends, took the tunnel once instead of the A-frame then got it right and we quit for the day. With warmer temps. coming I'll have to get out there earlier. Unfortunately it doesn't open until 8:30 am.
The first 2 reps are two more examples of split legs but still a missed contact. The second one was very obvious and I marked it but the first one was less so and I rewarded. The final three reps. were delovely. Why can't the little stinker do that all the time?
It was a relatively warm morning, sunny and in the 40's, so 5 reps was about all I could get before he started getting hot. Final stats were 3/5 (60%) hits, 4/5 (80%) for me correctly rewarding. Next time I'll replace the jumps with tunnels. These are much harder for him, I'm curious to see how it goes.
We also worked on some weave stuff, straight tunnel to a set of 6 weaves then a space then another set of 6 weaves. He was perfect for a few reps of that, even with me moving with him out of the tunnel. Next we did a few A-frame/tunnel discriminations with the tunnel being the farther away obstacle. I worked on sending him from one jump away and he was perfect with the tunnel sends, took the tunnel once instead of the A-frame then got it right and we quit for the day. With warmer temps. coming I'll have to get out there earlier. Unfortunately it doesn't open until 8:30 am.
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