LAST YEAR'S CONDITIONING LOG

DATE                     Mileage             Speed         NOTE Duration 6/23/2013 2.78 3.8 6/25/2013 4.96 3.2 6/29/2013 4.77 3.9 7/2/2013 5.35 5 5-Jul-13 4.75 3.5 7-Jul-13 10.32 3.5 9-Jul-13 5.18 5.4 12-Jul-13 7.1 5.5 14-Jul-13 13.7 5 20-Jul-13 5.2 6.4 21-Jul-13 9.5 23-Jul-13 5.8 6.3 27-Jul-13 12.3 5.4 28-Jul-13 10.99 5.06 30-Jul-13 8.8 6 2-Aug-13 10.56 5.5 4-Aug-13 14.2 3.5 10-Aug-13 15.8 5 12-Aug-13 4.96 4.6 13-Aug-13 5.57 5.2 15-Aug-13 10.22 5.3 19-Aug-13 10.8 4.9 24-Aug-13 21 5 LD READY  31-Aug-13 10.16 5.2 2-Sep-13 14.7 4 4-Sep-13 Hills 1:00 SLOW 6-Sep-13 16.8 5.1 Renegade boots 8-Sep-13 Hills 1:00 14-Sep-13 25 5 17-Sep-13 Hills 1:13 22-Sep-13 19.75 4.6 24-Sep-13 Hills 1:30 Moderate 27-Sep-13 5.18 5.7 28-Sep-13 13 5.6 5-Oct-13 Hills 1:00 INTENSE 7-Oct-13 Intervals Short  12-Oct 18.2 6 CMO 13-Oct-13 12.18 3.5 CMO 15-Oct-13 Hills 2:00 Slow 18-Oct-13 25.25 ENDURANCE READY Oct19-31 Tapering down-low mile 2-Nov-13 53 5.6 Completed E-Ride
Blogger didn't want to let this excel file format correctly, but I think it is fairly easy to follow.  I started the last week of June to prepare for an end of the season endurance ride.  So about 14 weeks.  I believe I could have pulled one off in late September if there had been one close, the temperature and humidity had been favorable, and I had worked out all of my booting issues.   But if you are starting a horse on a twelve week program, this gives you a feeler of how I got an Appaloosa from pasture potato to completion.   My actual "plan" was much more involved, never pans out, but I use it for a framework to shoot for, and do the best I can.  Some weeks we hit it, some we don't.   I do feel that my weekday evening rides this year are going to lean to short distances 5-7 miles,  putting the hammer down a little harder to teach Journey to use her self in a higher gear for short periods, with walking breaks in between.   I'll save my long ride for the weekend when I can address it without stressing.  We will see how "that" goes. ☺  Keep in mind that my way is certainly not "the" way.  It is just the way I approach it, which is slow, tedious, and methodical.   When I look at it concretely after several months, I'd have liked to have seen her ride times averaging about 6 mph, but The Spotted Wonder refuses to get her butt in gear while solo training.  So maybe that needs to be my primary goal this year, just getting her average training ride speed up to 6-7 mph during those short weekday rides?  I've never liked the idea of training slow, and then ride day competing faster, and horses tend to get torqued up at a ride.  On the CMO front things are still up in the air.  No schedule has posted as yet.  I wanted to go to the annual banquet, which is way up north almost on the banks of the great lakes of Michigan.  Four hours up, and four back, and I think the motel $ and gas would buy things The Spotted Wonder needs (like teeth floating, vaccinations and such).  Though I know it would be enjoyable, and I really like the people...it is more sensible to put my resources toward the horse.  As for rides, if they do any within a hundred miles I'll likely go...but if I have to travel four hours to ride I can't handle the fuel costs this year.   My friend Marti said she isn't planning one at her farm this year, and turn out was only about a dozen riders at Versailles in the fall so I doubt that one will return unless I run it, in which case, I can't ride it.  So we'll see.   CMO has been a very fun activity for me, hope I can find one or two within range.  If I get a year where I can haul out to far flung places I want to do a team thing in CMO so much.