Goals and Aspirations for 2012 Ride Season (and a little on the weight thing)

The 2012 season already is looking much more promising than 2011 was. Moab really helped Hoss turn the corner. His recoveries are now looking very good, and so long as we have no disasters, 2012 should be good.

Last year I had doubled the number of miles I wanted to do from the prior year. Since 2011 was so disappointing, I'm a little shy of doing that again. We did finish a 75 miler, even if over time (because we got hopelessly lost, not because we couldn't maintain a finishing speed), so I'm feeling pretty good about getting in longer distance rides. With all that in mind, here are our goals for 2012:

750 Endurance miles

Complete one 100 mile ride

One ride (single or multi-day) per month, except July and August

Get as many of those miles as possible at multi-day (3-5 day) rides

All that put down, I already have over 1000 miles on my "prospective calendar." My true aspiration is to complete 1000 miles and two 100 milers. I believe it's doable, if we can stay on a steady course.

With such a heavy schedule, I know Hoss needs some time off. I am planning on no competition in July and August. Sure, we'll ride to keep up our fitness, but we will not compete.

This should work out well on another front. DC turns 3 in April, and will return to Beth for breaking in. My hope is she will do well and come home to just be ridden during Hoss's "off" period. Once Hoss goes back to competition in the fall, DC would go back to Beth for further training.

Now I want to touch briefly on the weight loss thing. After much frustration, and weeks of working out an hour and a half a day for weeks, I finally started losing weight. To date, I have lost around 30 pounds. If my home scale is accurate, I am at my goal weight. But, I look in the mirror and think, I could lose more. If I lose another 25 pounds I will be in the range for my height.

I haven't been able to work out since the accident at Moab. So far I have not regained any of the weight I lost, but of course this cannot last. I've made an appointment with my doctor. Of course her first available isn't until January 10, but since this has been going on this long, I don't expect it to be suddenly resolved by then. I want to be sure I don't have something that needs fixed, and get physical therapy if it applies. I think physical therapy may be very important to recovering this hip.

I would like to get down to a more appropriate weight for my height. I know I have to make allowances for the amount of extra muscle I carry around (and need). But I realize that, in order to be a top ten rider, and do some of these much more challenging rides, I need to be fit and lose as much of this extra fat I'm packing around as I can. With that little filly in the pasture, who will not mature to be quite as heavy as Hoss, and thus need a lighter rider, I surely have the motivation to get my weight down as far as I can!