"Shoot for the moon...

[Rachel Hughes]

...if you miss, you will land among the stars."--Les Brown

Hi y'all,

I'm an equestrian vaulter (see picture) from CO, I do gymnastics and some CF on the side. A few weeks ago I unexpectedly won a big competition, so my coaches just moved me up to the highest division. The top three women qualify for World Equestrian Games next year; it's unlikely that I'll make it, but I want to push myself as hard as I can, and just see what happens, and how far I can get. This seems like a really open-minded and dedicated community, I'm posting here so I can't make excuses.

So, my plan is:

*Train like a madwoman--conditioning 5 days/week, stretching 6 days/week, 2-3 hours vaulting 6 days/week. Cross-training 3-4 days/week.
*Lean up by 6-10 lbs in the next 2 months--accomplish this by eating loose Paleo.

Here I go, good luck to everyone else with their journey as well.

[Emily Mattes]

I have never heard of equestrian vaulting until this log. Holy crap. Ho. Lee. CRAP.

Your sport is insane and I applaud your insanity.

Your training regimen looks pretty intense too, but I assume you're used to that volume? Otherwise I'd tell you to be careful about adding in that much conditioning/cross-training to what I presume requires a lot of skill work.

[Derek Simonds]

Welcome aboard. Pretty cool sport you are into. Like Emily said if you are pushing hard make sure your recovery and nutrition are dialed in as well.

I look forward to seeing your progress.

[Rachel Hughes]

Thanks guys!
Yep, I'll have to be careful about recovery, I know...my first workout on Thurs made me sooo sore.

Thurs:

Modified "Mary"
10 HSPUs
10 pistols
10 pullups

6 rounds

3 hours vaulting, 30 min stretching

Fri:

Light conditioning; plank holds, handstand work

2 hrs vaulting; got busy and didn't stretch, need to allow time.

[Rachel Hughes]

Sat
Active "rest" day, 1 hr vaulting

Sun
3 hrs vaulting, 30 min conditioning (mostly core), 30 min stretching

Mon
3 hrs vaulting, 30 min run

[Rachel Hughes]

Ok, it's been a stressful week. But except for last Friday and Saturday, I did manage to vault everyday. But, I only did real conditioning Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday. Feeling stiff from lack of stretching, but my vaulting has improved since a few weeks ago.