shaping frustration

Playing more shaping games with Zig, and finding he is not what I'd call a fiend at throwing behaviors. Since we've played so much on two on two off phone book work, his first attempt is to put paws on the object, then walk over it. If that doesn't work, he'll sit or lay down by it, as if to say, see how good I'm being! I was trying to shape him to pick up an object (in this case a light nylon bag). We got two feet on, walking on, four feet on, nosing the bag, then scooting the bag with a foot. The funny thing is, he will pick up anything off the floor, especially things he shouldn't all the time. He would not, however, even attempt to mouth the bag flat on the floor. When I held it up, he did put his mouth on the strap, which I clicked and rewarded, but as soon as it was down on the floor, here went the two feet on again. He just doesn't seem motivated enough to throw many behaviors out there, or have I rewarded him too much for stationary calm behavior?

It's frustrating, I really want a better retrieve and more retrieve drive, and I figured shaping the pick up and give would be a good place to start, but apparently he's not going to greet frustration by trying different things, but by laying down and offering good dog behavior. Seems a silly thing to complain about, but sometimes I worry he is growing up to be too mellow?!?

Sounds nuts, but Guinness stopped wanting to play with anything by the age of 2 and never found it particularly reinforcing. Zoe likes to play by herself and will tug but I never could use it much as a reinforcement because her shyness issues made her shut down in classes. Griff will retrieve well and I can use a ball as a reinforcer in class, a tug is less reliable. Zig seems to prefer to tug, but outside doesn't think toys are of much interest. *Sigh* I really wanted a toy nut.

In other news, driving is getting really old and it's going to cost me Griff's agility class I think. Since it's an hour to work each way, it is becoming harder to get motivated to drive an hour on my day off to Griff's class. If I could time it with work it might be easier, but then he'd have to spend 10 hrs in the car or time in the clinic, and I'd rather he not have to be exposed to that environment. *sigh* I guess I'll have to start putting out feelers for a closer class.

Even with complete lack of training Dad, John and I ran the Shamrock Run Sunday. Worst feeling race I've ever run although I don't think our time was much different than last time. Next year I really want to do the 15 K since they get medals. My knees were being assholes but that seems to be what I'll have to deal with if I want to run at all.

Crappy cell phone pic pre-race.

IT bands can suck it.

Apparently, a half marathon is too much mileage for me, because my IT bands are very, very angry. Did a short 3 miler on Saturday and my left knee refused to go any further...meh. How frustrating is that? After all that training. Stupid knees. I guess I should have paid more attention to stretching.

I need to find a decent apple crisp recipe for the t-giving dinners. Tried one on Saturday that turned out well, but the crispity topping wasn't quite cohesive enough. Need another one to try today...don't mind eating the results.

Half marathon recap

Half marathon success!

I didn't know whether the half would be possible. The week before, we did a 10 mile distance run and both of my knees decided to be assholes. I think I had both runner's knee and IT band pain. The week before the half I didn't run at all, just tried to rest my knees, ice them as much as possible, and hope that they'd cooperate.

The morning of, we woke to the pouring rain. Jen had been checking the weather.com "fitness index", which in Oregon basically tells you how sucky exercising outside will be that day. Our half marathon day had an index of one, which is as low as it goes! I had to forego the costume because I didn't want to wreck my awesome Queen of Hearts outfit, sad.

The race started, and about mile 3 I could feel my knees. They were the worst at mile 4-6, when the rain was also at its worst, and we were pretty much drenched. I thought the rest stop near my house was at mile 7, so friends were waiting there to greet us a little earlier than they should have been (the stop was actually at about mile 9). My dad ran the last five or so miles with me, which really helped perk me up for the end. I felt strong until the last mile, when the road began to feel very very long. But once I saw the finish line, I did a little sprint to the end. We ran the sucker in about 2 hours and 28 minutes, which is very good for me. And we ran the whole way without walking!

It was definitely a good time, and if my knees shape up I would do another. Not sure I could actually survive a whole marathon.

8, 8, I forget what 8 was for...

8 mile long run-check!

Totally better than 7 miler. Griff ran with me and was a total trooper. He was unflagging. I managed all the crazy hills, paced myself down the downhill so I wouldn't blow out my knees. Took a few short water breaks for me and Griff and then walked the last short monster hill to our house. Took me 1:34: 18. About 11:45 per mile, not bad. I think the actual distance was 8+ but I'll measure to make sure. It was a great run and a great confidence booster after my 7 mile disaster.

In other news, have some potentially big news coming up...but I'm not going to jinx it. Just hope hope hope for me.

Temperament testing on the litter tomorrow! 8 Aussie furballs to snuggle! Can't wait.

choices

Trying to decide whether to a. run 4 1/2 miles, b. run 8 miles, or c. sit on my ass and watch Golden Girls.


May get started and see how I feel, and decide later how far to go. Although I'd much rather hide at home. Action before motivation sometimes, right?

hope?

I was looking at a few pictures today that really made me feel a bit sad.

This is my graduation from Veterinary School in June. I am wearing the tassels that indicate I was in the top percentage in my graduating class (in my case, #1). I am surrounded by my parents, who look pretty proud. For all intents and purposes, it should have been one of the happiest days of my life. I finally get to call myself Doctor!

This was several years earlier. Leg one, of the Hood to Coast Relay. I was still working a lowly research job at the med school, was a few years from starting vet school, and was making a pittance. I didn't know that what I wanted to do with my life was possible.

I was pretty darn happy that day.

Sadly, although I should be closer to my goals today than those years ago, I was much happier when running the HtC, in fabulous shape physically, than I am now. Things have not gone according to plan, bitches. I don't know that a stupid half marathon can help this at all, but right now I am clinging to the hope that somehow those 13.1 miles can make a difference. What else can ya do?

New shoes

Time for a new pair, so I ordered the best running shoes ever. Asics Gel-Evolution. Maximum motion control for pronators like me, they keep me from getting flares of Achilles tendonitis.
Stop telling me they're endangered, Road Runners!

7, or wtf was I thinking

Yesterday was the seven mile long run. This was longer than I have ever run before at one time.

I went to my dad's as he agreed to run with me. He lives out in the country and had mapped out a 3.5 mile distance from the house which we would run out and back. I drove the route on my way and thought, this really doesn't look so bad.

Heh.

There are no flat roads, in real life.

The first 3.75 felt so easy, I began to feel like a real distance runner and thought, wow, all this training must have been working. Then, I realized why the first half had felt so easy. The road back was a consistent upward slope. We'd been running slightly downhill for most of the way out, except for a hill or two. This is not good planning.

At about mile 5, I developed a stitch in my right side, which never resolved until the run was over. At about mile 5.5, I began to wonder what in the hell I was thinking, how was running fun in any way? At mile 6.5, I wondered if my legs would just give out, and whether any of my dad's country neighbors would stop if we were laying in heaps on the side of the road.

The whole thing took 80 minutes, or just under 11:30 minute miles. I didn't time each mile. This is not too shabby, considering how uphill the ending 4 miles were.

However, it did put the fear into me. All the long runs from here on out (8, 9, and 10 miles) will be farther than I've ever gone. The course includes a wretched hill at about mile 11 (near my house, I've run it before...mostly. It sucks).

Today I feel a bit sore in the legs, but not awful. Might do a very short run to loosen muscles as tomorrow will suck more. Also, better plan for eight miles on Saturday. I'll have to map out a doable course.

7

Time to go run seven miles now. I think I will run with my dad, at least for part of the mileage. I may update later, if I don't die.

note to self-do these exercises!!!

or you'll end up with all of these injuries at once.

http://www.fitsugar.com/5-Ways-Avoid-Common-Running-Injuries-3932841

Front crosses make me mad

Seems like the common feature of every agility class lately is me fucking up front crosses. I try to avoid them when they're warranted, I put them in when they're not, I walk the course with several and forget to do them, blah blah blah. I really hate them, and my instructor is not giving me any tips to make them easier. I need to practice the one jump front cross or maybe more floor work just so Griff understands them more, so maybe that will help make up for my inability to correctly time them...frustrating.

One thing Griff and I definitely need to work on is coming to the correct side. The arm is not enough when there is discrimination work to be done, and it requires me to work much harder through jumps when I really shouldn't have to. Susan Garrett would scoff. I guess again work sans obstacles is necessary. We really didn't focus much on handling maneuvers without obstacles in our early training and I guess it is now biting me in the ass. Meh.

However, we are trialing on Saturday and Sunday so I don't think we'll be training much before then. Maybe a few easy jump grids if I get the back lawn mowed. He ran with me today as well, but I don't think I'll take him along for the rest of the week, and definitely not for my five miler.

I ran outside today for the first time in a month and a half, and ouch. The first half mile was not pleasant, and both up and down hill were biting. I warmed up and did probably about 3.5 miles or so. I had to walk the big hill, it's just to freaking steep right now and by then I was worried about my knee. The first half of the run made me very afraid for half-marathon times. Running on a treadmill with no real incline is much much different than running up and down hills and other uneven terrain. I guess at least one or two outdoor runs are needed per week now that it's not 100+ outside. Still, maybe 13.1 is too far? We'll see if the achilles and knees hold out.