Ketch-up post

A quick post to catch up on the happenings, and then we will resume with our regularly scheduled programming soon.

It's still really really really hot here.  Like over 110 hot. 

• I've decided that when it's over 100 degrees, Farley does her heat conditioning without a sheet or blanket. 
• I've decided that when it's near or over 110, me and Farley will probably do something different for our heat training than standing in the arena free lunging.  Because insisting on keeping to our plan of a working trot under those conditions just sounds stupid.  Doing it earlier in the day when it's still *just* a 100?  Smarter.  Going for an early morning leadline run on those days? Even smarter
• The cooler motor went out last night.  And the hottest weather is still to come this week.  Basically, running the cooler (swamp cooler) all day because it's over 105 will cause the motor to get REALLY hot and not work any more.  And on a Sunday evening they will decide SCREW YOU.  Fingers crossed for a replacement motor today and easy install.  I had to pawn my bird off with my boyfriend's mom who has air conditioning, or the bird on the menu tonight would not have been chicken, but a decidedly different species indeed. 

Heat conditioning....

• Is going well.  I'll a full update for you in another 2 weeks or so - what I did, how I did it, and what the numbers look like.  A couple of interesting observations already: I can walk out to my horse in the middle of the afternoon who is just standing in her pen in the sun drenched in sweat, take a rectal temperature and it will be completely normal or slightly below normal.  That's how well she's regulating her temperature at rest.  Wow!  So a horse that looks hot in pasture may or may not actually be in distress.  The rectal temperatures before, just after, and post cooling are interesting too - I may take temps throughout tevis at vet checks to get more information of how hot does she get and how does it fluctuate during a ride?  I think that taking a temp may be just as helpful as heart rates for how understanding how hot she's getting, whether I'm doing a good job of cooling, and how heat stressed she is.  
• And on the subject of Tevis......  On a facebook group I belong too, some one was asking about a local ride and what we thought of it etc.....so I brought up my 2012 Camp Far west story on the blog, which was my first ride (I did the LD) since Feb 2011. When rereading the post, it does NOT sound like a rider who would be doing Tevis 10 months later.  I promise to come clean after Tevis and with the benefit of hindsight, post everything like the number of actual conditioning rides and miles I have on her to prepare her for Tevis, and anything else that I haven't been posting here out of sheer embarrassment.  :3. (here's the camp far west story if you want a refresher)

And now's that time where I share with you some of the best links and articles I've come across recently, just in case you need yet more reasons to waste time reading stuff on the internet :)

• The 4 minute work out Based on the information I read in that 20 min book (did a review on it but now can't find the blog link) I started during interval training in very short sessions rather than my traditional easy and long run (with some tempo runs thrown in) mileage program base that I've been doing since I was a teenager.  It netted me some surprising PR's (the sort of PR's at distances like 10+ mile races that are just as astounding as the fact that Farley completed 3 50's this spring....) so I've become a bit of believer of this idea of less is more in running.  I've never run so fast for so far, and remained injury free before.  Another link you might be interested in is: The rise of the minimalist workout
• On a related subject, here's a link to an article: "Longer runs are easier".

And for those of you that want horse specific information, here's something all endurance riders should consider: Trotting speed matters when diagnosing subtle lameness (even on the flat and straight - think vet checks)

Lastly, I have a blog recommendation.  I haven't come across a blog that was completely new to me, from a person that wasn't already connected in some way, for quite some time.  She's training to ride her first Tevis this year, and I encourage you to check it out:

• http://www.enduranceriding.me/