Friday, October 8, 2010

Day Three Update

I don't know who is complaining louder right now about the "new exercise routine"-- my poor old aching body or Jo the Wonder Nanny Dog.

See, where ever I go, Jo goes. For the first fifteen minutes of each trip, Jo is happy, bounding along, smile firmly on her sweet face, tail going the whole time as she paces along beside me and Wrecking Crew (because the Cub is usually WAY out in front. He runs ahead, and runs back to check on me. Then he runs out, and runs back. Lather, rinse, repeat. For the entire 30 to 40 minutes we are out there.)

Back to Jo.

By about the twenty minute mark, I have to nudge her with my knee now and again to keep her moving.

At the last lap, she is pooped. Today, we added in a little extra distance walking from the end of the trail to the gate at the end of our road. (1/5th mile there and back to the house.) Jo quit by the drive way and looked at me. I swear she was saying, "Really Mom? Are you out of your MIND?" We hit the house and she dives into the water bucket and passes out on the floor for at least an hour.

Poor old Jo.
I know how she feels. Except I don't dare collapse on the floor for an hour- I'd never get UP again. And there is no telling what the Locust Brothers would do to me while I was down either.


Overall though, I'm pleased. Tired, a bit sore, determined more than ever, wondering at what is left of my sanity, but pleased fits the bill.

Day One was documented on here- roughly a mile with some attempt at a slow jog/ shuffle interspersed with walking.

Day Two- yesterday- was walking only, and I added in an extra set of walking the trail out and back again. Cub ran it. Just about the entire time. Again. (Oh to have that child's energy.)

Day Three- today- was good. We walked to warm up, and I jog/ shuffled a good bit. In fact, I jogged/ shuffled about five times the distance of day one. Now lest that sound overly "impressive", the jog/ shuffle added up to about 1/2 the distance of the trail. (Maybe 1/4 mile-ish.)

Tomorrow I'm planning a walk day. We'll see though, how I feel in the morning how long and the speed.

Oh my Kingdom for a horse about now.... this making my own wind through my hair? SUCKS. But as long as it gets me where I'd like to be, I'll Cowgirl Up and get it done.

Now I had BETTER not be the only one out here suffering! Spill it y'all- what have you been doing?

Thursday, October 7, 2010

I'm still here!!

Things have been a bit crazy but should *knock on wood* settle down. Which is good because I still have to unpack and organize my house AND the barn. Seriously, only what really needed unpacked in both is what's unpacked.
But there are things in my favour for getting both done. First of all our house in the city sold (it was a bit late getting on the market). Most of the outside stuff at our new home in the country is done - other than the chores which always need done... but I'm not complaining! :)

My plan for now is to finish settling in and try to ride as much as I can while the weather is nice. Also to do yoga at the local bar when I can.
Yes you read that right. That's how "small town" our town is. There is yoga in the basement of the bar Monday and Wednesday nights. I work Wednesday but Monday I usually have off. However it is Pie's only day off too so we'll see how that works out.

This winter I'm thinking of either trying my hand at cross country skiing or snowshoeing. Goodness knows I have room to try either. Have any of you guys done either one? Any tips or advice?

And once things are unpacked and sorted enough I hope to have my treadmill unburied and get back to using it on a regular basis.

OH! And right next door is a small indoor arena so hopefully this winter I'll get in some decent riding!!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Plan

Dear Horse Peeps,

So, in my comment to Mrs. Mom, I did say I'd post about my riding plan here.

I have rode exactly 3 times in the last 3 years, after an 11 year hiatus. During those 11 years, I have sustained more than a couple head injuries. One left me with about 3 years of vertigo and a fear of heights since then. The vertigo is gone. I now fear not having control and falling.

Additonally, as some of you know, I've had Casey now for 2 years. During this time, he's been gaining weight and rehabbed and retrained. Then, he came home to the mud, muck and slippery slope of the farm. Then we moved here and he, being black, melted in the heat of Georgia.

It has cooled off. I have debated turning the heat on these last 3 mornings.

It is time to ride.

I know what I need to get back on the horse. Really, as someone who taught her friends to ride in high school and eldest daughter in the last couple years, I KNOW what is needed. DOING it has been more of an obstacle.

I NEED someone I trust to be holding the lunge line with Casey. I NEED that safety net to feel safe enough to mount my ginormous horse. Ok, at 16hh and 1300#, he feels ginormous. To me.

So far, here in Georgia, the only person I know who knows squat about horses and is close is my husband, Bad Pants. (Mrs. Mom is about 5 hours away, so that doesn't work). Unfortunately, Bad Pants is up to his proverbial eyeballs in work, often not escaping his home office until 8-9 pm on average. So, that will not work.

I no longer have a truck since the tow bar failed before leaving town on our move here. No truck means no trailer. Buying a new truck is in the future, but not quite today.

So... (dramatic pause)

I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a trainer to come to me. They are, after all, elusive creatures here in Georgia, preferring that everyone come to them. Fortunately, I found someone! So, I will be paying more to have someone come to me, to work with me with MY horse. Of course, this plan also includes a few lessons at their place on their lesson horse. With luck, I will have my first confidence building lesson no later than October 17th!

In the mean time, I am walk/jogging (doing c25k training again) with the hopes of running my first 5k this coming spring, along with Pilates to strenthen my core for riding and upper body strength training since I'm no longer moving 7-8 three string bales of hay every 2 weeks.

This is The Plan.

Run. Ride. Pilates. Strength Train.


So, if my lard @ss can do this, and I wear a larger pants size than MM, so can you!


Love,

OS


P.S. Did you know horseback riding burns 833 calories per hour? Amazing!

Fit At 40?

First, let's take a look at what all has gone on in The Asylum since August.

The horse left.
It got hottern hellfire in the Southland.
And I blew out my back in a BIG way.
Courtesy of my back injury, I stopped trimming most of my clients.

Which lead to.....

A really un-fit Mrs Mom.

We aren't talking "soft" here kids. We're talking, "OMG you are a COW" un-fit.

Knock on wood, my back has been OK.
The weather has cooled to wonderful temperatures, and it is not as humid.
I am slowly (painfully, because of my LACK of fitness,) attempting to trim a couple of horses here and there.
Still no horse, which was a GREAT motivator to get out and move more, clean paddock, ride- you know- all the fun horse stuff.

And today?
Today I got sick of being a Fat Cow.

Today, I grabbed the bull (no- wait-- I shook the fat rolls) by the horns and said, "DO SOMETHING!"

The kids and I jumped for ten minutes. Why stop? Well, for one, it felt like my legs were going ot fall slam off, and for two about the fifth time one of them wound up under my feet I figured it would be better to stop jumping ON them and find something else to do.

So. We pulled on our sneakers and hit the road. I was thinking we'd walk up and down the pavement as many times as I could, when Cub said, "Hey Mom! I know- let's walk on Papa's walking trail!"

Turns out it was an EXCELLENT idea. I'd guess what we covered was roughly 3/4 mile there, plus 1/4 on pavement. AND-- I walked it AND jogged some.

You know what? I have not jogged or run since I was a kid, before I discovered that A) it was a lot easier to lope a horse to where I wanted to be, and B) a flat out gallop was WAY more fun AND way faster.

No horse to gallop on. If I want to feel the wind in my hair, it is going to have to be wind I create.

There ya have it y'all. I have a shape-- and it is "round".
I
Hate
It.

I have a desire- to not keel over when chasing after the kids.


Will I survive it? Only time will tell. But I am pleased at my recovery time thus far. I'm counting on my muscle memory to help get my old ass back into shape too.

Please muscles, don't have CRS now........


I want to say a heart felt thank you to a special friend- she is the biggest impulsion for me to get up and moving again, and I bet she didn't even know it. Oregon Sunshine, thank you. You've no idea what you've started- now let's keep it going together, girl!! xoxo