Turning a Puppy into a Dog

He's delightful.  Full of energy, spunk, curiosity and a true zest for life.  He is life.  There is nothing mundane about him and running with him began in just that fashion; spunky, excited, jerky, lunging, loping, crossing behind, crossing in front, tripping Stetson...you name any act of excitement and he exhibited it.

Since we began running on the road again recently, Edge has picked up the qualities of a running partner that I desire.  He's not pulling, much, hmmm less than he did, oh heck let's just say it's "better".  He has begun to understand that "left" or "right" means he needs to turn; he doesn't yet understand which way, but at least he knows it means turn.  He doesn't try to pick up odd stuff in the road, rarely attempts to pull off to pee on something and generally has an attitude of let's do this!

Fast forward - I wrote the first two paragraphs of this post a couple of weeks ago.  Not really caring if Edge ever became a really good partner for me outside of dog sports or not.  I have perfection already, I have Stetson.  His stride, mild manner, slightly aloof character and willingness to work with me on the run as well if not better than he does in Obedience was more than I could have dreamed of.  He has taken me to levels of confidence and performance that I didn't know I had fuel for.  Sigh.  He has again come up sore and painful.  I am careful, I am always thinking about performance and conditioning and long term impact/goals.  In spite of my methods, he has been taken out of the run until after stem cell (previously decided upon for February) and then likely on a limited basis as compared to our "norm".

 
Here we are on Hilton Head Island for vacation and I find myself intentionally turning a puppy into a dog.  I have this extra time to work with Edge to meld our two very different styles into a working team.  Dave and I are walking the boys every morning on the beach and they are getting additional potty walks during the day and evening as needed/desired so training opportunities are plenty.  He is so sweet and so willing to please.  I know we aren't going to be great partners yet, but I can see the potential.  I see us coming together every time we are out with Stetson for walks on the beach.

Edge and I will be off to the beach in the morning and headed into a three miler, just the two of us.  Puppy and I.

Happily looking forward, and hoping that what is in my rear view mirror will always be a pleasant reflection of what I intended to create.

Age, Running and Accepting Change

Control FREAK, that's me.  I like to know what I'm doing and get to the doing of it as quickly and efficiently as possible in regard to most things.  I micro manage my time most days.  I'm the one who sets goals each week for each dog and myself in three categories: endurance, strength and skill training.  The journal on my side of the lamp table is where I log training for them and myself.  I have copies of parts of all the journals I've kept over the years with the dogs from Nakeeta, Madison, Magic, Mira (practically zero entries), Stetson and recently, Edge who just joined the club.

Thin enough to see cheek bones, but heavy smoking kept me from true health

Almost every day from the time we began Obedience training there is an entry for Stetson.  Since Edge came along, I've hardly missed any days because we have so much to catch up on before his puppy sponge brain is turned into an adolescent prankster.  Maybe it's just strength and games, but there's something.  I took up this practice since my first seminar with Dr. Christine Zink D.V.M., PH.D. in Topeka Kansas when I first learned of the concept of training for all three aspects of performance, not just skills.  I was training and competing with three dogs at the time, so the journal/log seemed like a good idea. It stuck.  The habit carried over to triathlon training, race training and lastly into Obedience training.  It works, unless you ignore the numbers or quit clocking the time.  About three years ago I added tracking my nutrition and exercise in a great app, My Fitness Pal.  It helped me realize where my nutrition was falling short and rolling into some unwanted extra pounds...  The app became an extension of my logging data for evaluation and training purposes.

October, 2013 - AthHalf starting chute

I should be an lean, mean Elite or Olympic athlete based on all this, don't you think?  Oh yeah, that's right I forgot to mention I turned 51 in May of this year.  Hormones are dragging to a stop and in the process they are taking away my former ability to "sugar" up and then be able to double up on heavy training and cut back on fatty foods for a couple of days and not notice much issue.  NOOOO, not anymore.  I am packing more body fat that I've had in my life right now.  My legs look okay, but my mid section and arms have a layer of fat that I have never seen before.  I have tissue meeting tissue that isn't supposed to be friendly and folding over places it should be kept behind.  If I were a roast, we'd slice that off and toss it away during meal prep, but I'm a peri-menopausal woman and I'm going to have to force it off with grit and determination.

A few months ago I quit using My Fitness Pal and apparently not paying attention to my intake created an enormous opportunity for my body to produce the aforementioned "fat" gain.  It's in all the right areas for cardiovascular disease and obesity related illnesses too (there's a family history, on both sides, with some pretty nasty lifestyle related diseases and problems) which I am in no way intending to invite into my world.  After discovering a few weeks ago that much of my warmer weather work attire AND running clothes (the true pisser here, bless my heart) no longer fit I began plugging my daily food intake back into the app on my phone.  Sadly, I discovered in a matter of a couple of brutally honest food logging days that even though I was putting healthier versions of tasty comfort food together, I still logged excess fat/cholesterol and sugar intake.  Maybe it's the extra glass of wine at night, or the peppermints, or some beautiful and tasty Ribeye...whatever the choice, I wasn't making very good ones.  Not only do I log the food, but I also log exercise - well those entries were more often blank than filled.  On one Sunday some weeks ago, my endurance and strength goals were literally written as follows:  "something, just do something this week..."

I started trying to get things going the right direction again.  I began working out more, harder and recording it to evaluate the value of the time spent and making some choices to cut back on fatty and/or sugary foods.  It's working, I am beginning to notice that clothes aren't as uncomfortable as they have been.  I even wore an evening gown to a Christmas party last week that I'd not been in for quite a while and didn't really think it would fit when I "tried it on" the night of the party.

Surprise!

Happy to fit

I linked my TomTom HRM to MapMy Fitness so that the latter is automatically updated when I log something on the HRM.  I also linked My Fitness Pal to MapMy Fitness so they also sync.   It's only been a few days since I've had this much connection, but I have logged my day today and am for the first time in over a week under goal for cholesterol and sugar intake.  It used to be so much easier.  Those days are gone.  No longer can I ignore a week of food or exercise in order to maintain goals and feel good.  I love to run.  I'll log, and I'll go and run and I'll deal with the body that put the brakes on some habits I rather enjoyed but proved unproductive at this point in my life.

Tomorrow is Sunday.  We will run at the river in the morning.  Dave, Stetson and Edge will take my mind from what I need to accomplish to that happy place where I lose all my inhibitions and let go into the moment.  I won't argue with Mother Nature, she's a beast that needs not be riled.  I will take this moment and rise in the morning to another day, another log and another week ahead to set fresh goals to.