Friday Hike

Harvey Bear Ranch, only a 10 minute drive from home (ok really it is 15 - that's why I'm always 5 minutes late when I'm meeting someone there). Saw a couple friends and their dogs as I was driving in (they had just finished their walk) but today was just Fin and I hitting the trail.
Are we there yet? No grasshopper, lots of hills to go.

We are still optimistic as we head to the first gate and see cows on the hill. We have lots of climbing to do.

Frist view of the sky and Morgan Hill. Still lots of climbing to do.

Not there yet grasshopper. Not too much farther, but we haven't gotten to the top yet.

We are there!

1.8 miles to the trail head. Now we turn south and head back to the car. 2.2 miles to go.

And look. It is down hill! Time for a jog....

Cows.

More cows.

Future friends?

We did 4 miles today. Fin held up great. Interesting that on the uphills she was a dragger but once at the top and we started jogging, she was right in front.

Fitness for Agility

It is Thurs so it must be Fitness for Agility!

This week was a little tough. Hard to find focus. I ate every point available to me. I was having to force myself to track my food. But I kept at it. Worked out 6 days. Lost .8 pounds.

I'm not disappointed. I knew I wasn't loosing this week. I had 3 fabulous weeks of weight loss and felt all week like I wasn't getting anywhere. I really feel that the work outs yesterday and this morning sorta kicked everything into gear.

This week I want to expand my creativity and think more about what I'm eating. I was doing a really good job planning everything, and this last week I found I was more seat of the pants which allowed for eating then tracking...rather than tracking then eating. When you eat before you track it allows for "creative eating" which is NOT good.

Goals for this week:
-Work out 5 times (I'll be at a dog show S/S)
-Plan all my meals, eat what I plan
-Get creative. Find a new recipe and get out of my eating rut.
-Go for more hikes

What are you doing this week for your health?

What have I done?

Every year I shave Tazzies bellie to try to make him more comfortable. Some years I use sissors to trim him up a bit. He just has so much hair that he is uncomfortable. This year I decided to go all out (maybe a little too much groomer shows...ya think?). So I got out the clippers.

Tazzies summer puppy cut is, well, how do I say this....ugg, a little short.
Not only short, but this is my first time using clippers to shorten his hair. Can you say uneven. The white undercoat is not my friend. It catches the clippers so I don't get a smooth transition.
My husband doesn't want me to continue, but I can't help myself. I need to get the hair the same length. At least he is looking thinner! Maybe I should cut my hair...
I may need an intervention.
Tazzie is pleading for help. The Sheltie club is going to come take my shelties away...I know it.

Snookered

Sunday found Fin and I in lovely Ben Lomond for the Heart Dog Agility Snooker Seminar. Jim Basic was our seminar leader and the consensus was that all the dogs were better than we thought they would be.

Jim gave us handouts of our exercises (always a good thing) and spoke about what the three most important things in agility are:

• Position
• Position
• Position

The first exercise, Jim set up three jumps and we had to call our dogs through the gap. The gap was decreased until only about 24 inches wide.

Sydney enjoyed herself. Her and her mom were very successful today.

There was alot of action with multiple dog/handler teams working at a time. I was surprised that the dogs were so well behaved. Fin was only one of two dogs that did any visiting.

As the day progressed the exercises became more difficult. Here Janet is calling Teak through the gap of obstacles. This also got harder and we moved the tunnels so they were facing the dog and closed the gap somewhat. All the dogs were successful.

After lunch a Snooker course was set up. Jim took a position in the shade to assist s with our handling. We all did really well.

The dogs enjoyed the show as much as we humans.

More walking of Snooker courses.

As the sun came out, it became shorts weather.

Some of us needed an afternoon nap after all the hard work.
We were able to do two full courses. I found after lunch, Fin and I lost our mojo. We had alot of trouble getting through the courses. Me being tired and Fin not.

All in all a fun day.

Don't just do it - write it down

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How many of us have gone to a seminar and not taken a single note in our agility notebooks. I'm guilty.

How often have we gone to class, had a lesson, gone home, and the next day said, I screwed up in "fill in blank" and will spend 3 sessions today working on it. I know that often, I go home and totally blank out on what I did.

When I train with Moe and Nancy, they encourage us to write things down. At first I thought, why, hey, I'm doing this for fun. But now I realize that documentation tracks progress. Without keeping track, often we don't improve in the little things.

I'm becoming a tracker with my weight loss and exercise. I write down everything I eat and all the exercise I do. This week I'm also going to track my dog training as well as my dog fun. I'm courious whether fun exceeds training, or my concentration on training exceeds fun.

Small Things

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Robert Collier

Fin is layed up with a sore paw. Someone (I'm not saying who as I might implicate myself) let her run in the heat on pavement around the pool.

During this time of laying low, I'm going to work on the small things that I feel will make a big difference.

Two things I absolutely need:

1. Fin needs to turn tighter.


2. Fin needs to "get her toy" after a behavior

So, my goal by next week, is to have Fin "get her toy" 100% of the time. I don't know if she'll bring it back 100%, but my first step is to get the toy in her mouth and at least look in my direction.

I'll let you know how it is going.

Interesting Facts

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing.. that’s why we recommend it daily.” ~ Zig Zigler

I've been married 21 years today. Considering I almost didn't get married because of bar hopping the night before the wedding, I feel the 21 years easy in comparison to the morning hangover!

Agility and marriage are alot alike. You've got to work on both daily.

7 years ago I started agility training with Rocky and Maddie. I trained with this guy in Salinas and once a week I'd go to class and Rocky and Maddie would do their thing...or not...and I'd be like, "Why don't they ever get better?" Sure, I'd throw each of them over a jump or two during the week, but I never had a training plan. I didn't write anything down. I basically was lucky I got anything done at all.

Today I still train with that guy in Salinas (isn't he tired of me yet!?). I feel that sticking to something is important, but sticking to it without improvement is just coasting.

You don't have to work on agility everyday, but it sure does help.

Fitness for Agility

3.4 pounds!

Wow. All I can say is Cabbage is my new friend. I'm tossing cabbage on everything! Yesterday had a lean cuisine mex meal. I cooked the meal and on a plate put a pile of cabbage, chopped tomatos and 1/4 avocado chopped. Took the meal out of the microwave and scooped it out and topped the cabbage with it. I was TOTALLY full when done.

Worked out 6 days this week. Varied my workout so not doing the same old. Added 5 minutes of a stair machine to each day. Planned my food and ate what I planned. Worked real hard to eat 5 times or more a day. Main meal at noon. Reduced the bread.

Seriously didn't think I had lost that much as I felt I was always eatting. I had lost what I consider to be big numbers the last two weeks so figured that I wouldn't loose this week.

My main focus was just doing what I do. The new me. Working out, eatting healthy.

So nice to see results like this! Finally my brain is in gear and I'm moving in the right direction.

Fin is 2 Tomorrow

Eight weeks old July 2007

At 10 weeks, we were wondering if we had a rat or a dog?

Fitness for Agility

2.4 pounds! Yippiee, yahoo, giggles...lots of giggling.

So, I enter my new weight in my online weight tracker. My reward? My points have adjusted and I now get to eat less. It is a sad, sad, comentary that as you loose weight, you actually have to eat less and exercise more. I guess it isn't much of a mystery after all.

Here's what I've learned in the last 7 weeks. (Laura I know you will laugh.)

1. Eat healthy foods. Eat lots of healthy foods. Healthy foods are less points and you can eat more. Don't eat white bread or pasta. Eat whole wheat. Carbs are good, white is bad.
2. Water. Drink LOTS of water. Diet coke is ok, if you drink tons of water.
3. Exercise. It isn't enough to go and walk. You need to push yourself and each time should be hard. As you exercise, what you used to do becomes easier. Don't do that any more. Get out of your comfort zone. Exercise should be uncomfortable.

This week has been a ho hum emotional week. I have struggled every meal. Each day I have had to force myself to go exercise and while I've been exercising I've had negative thoughts. It has been tough. But what I did was just go do it. Each meal I just said, this is what I do. Each step I said, this is what I do. I am sure glad this week is over.

Last night was a turning point. I got home from star trek and realized I had a positive attitude. I was looking forward to my WW meal I planned. I had a smile on my face.

Emotions. Gotta love em. Hormones. Crap.

Star Trek

Absolutely go see it. No details. No info. Not going to give anything away. If you are a Star Trek fan, you will enjoy this movie. It finished and I wanted it to continue. JJ Abrams Rocks.

I'll probably go again. I NEVER go see movies twice. I might just do it.

Counting Psychic's

Fin and I took a road trip. Traveling north east to the eastern side of the Sierra is an adventure. Doing it and getting to do dog agility as well is a mind blowing excursion.

I purposely set my travel plans to drive through South Shore Lake Tahoe. I have fond memories there as Kel and I got Married at the Chapel of the Bells 21 years ago.

What I hadn't planned on nor expected was the number of Psychics selling their services along the way. Business must be booming. The first one I saw was outside Placerville. I'm now convinced that Psychics are like cockroaches (of which I also saw a few this trip, to my disgust), for everyone you see, there are probably 100 more out there.

The first Psychic was in a tiny little hut just off to the right of the gas station. A pretty sky blue building with fanciful text and a large tarot card announced their business. Then as I drove through each small little group of inhabitation (couldn't really call them towns) I began to observe that almost every time there were a group of buildings and gas station, there was a Psychic. I started to play a game I called "count the Psychics." By the time I got to my hotel in Carson City (with a psychic across the street) I counted 11. In Carson City alone there were 3.

This was from Placerville to Carson City (about 2.5 hours)...that's a Psychic every 13.5 minutes!

I'm not really sure why there were so many. Why highway 50 seems to draw Psychics, but obviously, they are able to scrap a living up there (perhaps there is some correlation to skiers and psychics).

I didn't visit a Psychic this trip. Fin and I just did the agility show...we didn't need to see our future, we know our future is lots of Q's and loads of fun.

Fitness for Agility

Seems to be working. THREE pounds today. :) A BIG old happy face.

I have changed up my cardio a little. I had been interval jogging/walking at 4.2 miles per hour. Last week I decided to push it and started for 1 minute at 5 miles per hour (I walk around 3.8). I couldn't believe that I was able to do 5 mph. So now I walk 5 minutes and run 1 minute.

Today after my work out David says, "go jog for 12 minutes." I'm like 12 minutes! So I put it at 4.0 miles per hour and took a steady jog. It wasn't fast, I didn't loose my breath, but I actually jogged the entire time.

So if anyone tells you to just stick with the exercise because it gets easier...they are either lying or they have no idea what they are talking about. It never gets easier because you have to constantly up it. However, I will say that it does become motivating. I am finding the more I do, the more confidence I am getting to try more.

This week wasn't the easiest week ever. I had my family down for a birthday. My goal was to not have any food go into my mouth that I couldn't put a point value on. So I cooked. I had lamb, chicken, and veggie skewers, brown rice, strawberries, angel food cake, and non fat whipping cream. For starters I made baked won tons and mini pizzas.

The food was really good and I felt totally satisfied (next time I need more of it - family could have eaten more).

The hardest part of my whole fitness for agility is the consistency. I'm only accountable to myself.

I've lost weight before, but not like this. I have NEVER written down so consistently what I'm eating and eating healthy...not just pretending to eat healthy. Always in the past I have looked forward to my weigh in day cause I could "take the day off" and eat anything I want. Then soon I would do the same the next day...into the 3rd day...and then I won't want to go and weigh in knowing that I've gained.

This time around, I feel like a different person. I sure hope this person stays around for a while.

On the Road Again

I am simply a roady to the rock band the Holy Mackerel!

This weekend we are booked in the hot spot that is Carson City. What happens in Carson City, well...nobody cares. I've never been, but many of my friends tell me the trial site is wonderful. I plan to leave early Friday to miss the traffic. On Sunday we'll head on home after grand prix.

A very small trial, we should have plenty of time to find some hiking spots and lots of photos.

It is only Wed, but I'm already packing in my mind.

In preparation, worked on rear crosses and distance weaves. I found out today that Fin has trouble completing the weaves if I'm laying on the lawn or kneeling down. She likes me standing for those :) I'll need to work on that. Never know when one might want to kneel for a prayer during a set of weaves... a short prayer...

How much is too much...

how much is too little?

During my workout today, my fitness trainer was concerned that I was not eating enough. He finds it interesting that I'm working out alot and not loosing very fast. I eat alot. I eat my max WW points everyday. So I ask myself. If I have 24 points and I earn 5 for my work out, does that mean I should eat 29 points that day? That's like a whole nuther meal! And, what kind of calories should those points be used for (carbs, protein, sugars)? Is it important?

Well I'm going to ask this Thurs and see what they say.

How about dog agility? How much is too much. Is your workout balanced between training and play (some trainers will say that training should be play - but come on...playing catch...).

So I'm looking at my training plan for Fin and I realize I need more hikes, snuggles, and wrestling in there. I certainly don't want her little brain to explode.

So this week, I'm watching what I eat, making sure I'm eating enough, working out, and playing more with my pups. I'm going to call this my puppy zen time.

I expect BIG results.

More Agility? You Betcha!

Could my blog be more boring? I don't think so. Bayteam hosted an agility trial in lovely Prunedale (yes same location that SMART just had their trial). I was only able to go on Saturday, but Laura was kind enough to take Fin Sunday (and got 3 of her 4 Q's of the weekend!). Fin Q'd in Standard, Gamble, Pairs, and Jumpers...I got the pairs run...Laura, all the rest.

Tazzie ran on Saturday and although he didn't Q, had two really fun nice runs. The first one was his finest (except for the 12 seconds he took to down on the table!). I think running him at less trials and in fewer classes at the trials is working

Can you say "Tunnel Suck"

Fin had really nice runs, this standard run was great...except for the tunnel off course. :) Still, she and I are working on all our Q's and this week will be alot of tunnel discriminations.

Fitness for agility is still on track. I wore my pedometer for the first time ever at a dog show. I walked 21,000 steps which turns out is about 9 miles! Amazing. Wearing it made me want to walk more. I guess being in 3 different rings, parking far away, and having bathrooms in no mans land pays off. I did find that I was outta gas for that last GP run of the day (5pm) but other than that, felt great.

Lastly, my friend Laurie taped Laura running Fin in Jumpers on Sunday (sorry for those who can't see youtube):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AYzZ442gwQ&feature=channel_page

Memories - better late than never

Here are a couple runs from last weekend. The camera died so not too many runs taped. The first is the steeplechase. Other than the fact that I was out of position and sent Fin over the wrong side of the jump, it was a really good run. When I see this, I know that I'm close to qualifying at Steeplechase.

The second run has some cool moments and some not so (going around things) moments...but it was a Q none the less. Fin received her AD on this run. Tomorrow we are in "Advanced"!

Last weekend was fun. Can't wait till tomorrow.