Year of the whores

This is the first guest post - thanks Maggie Pattinson!  The subtitle fail speaks for itself.

The Reckoning

The January Reckoning - kung hei fat choy!

Interestingly enough, both my parents were born in another year of the horse...I won't tell you which one, but another good omen I reckon.

Fundraising
I've raised £450 so far... Just shy of my £500 fundraising target for New Year.  Thank you so much to everyone who helped me get that far.  My next push will be a Valentines target so watch this space.  

And donate here to the fight against avoidable blindness.

Riding
I've been riding every weekend, except over New Year when I was in Austria.  I definitely feel more comfortable in the saddle and very happy on Cheyenne, the horse I've been riding.

Cheyenne (left) in a rare moment of friendliness (she's not overly fond of other horses)

Thank you so much Maggie Pattinson for the lend of Cheyenne and all your help and support so far.  Maggie is a fantastic endurance riding coach - I've been amazed by how far people travel to see her and it's really lovely seeing the improvements she makes and how happy her clients are.  I should also say that her horses are a delight and an education to ride.

You can find out more about Maggie on her website - she offers a kind and intelligent approach to training for both horse and rider.

Cross training
I wish I'd taken a photo of me push pressing (?!) the bar + 2kgs last night...  I think this getting stronger lark is going to be a long road.

It's not all doom and gloom, though.  I'm feeling reasonably fit and a 24hr bout of food poisoning earlier this week didn't really phase me which feels like a good sign.  As an older and wiser person I'm trying to build up gradually and Crossfit has been really helpful, or rather the coaches at Crossfit Central London have been really helpful - particularly Naama Chezar (@NaamaChezar) and Matt Rodwell (@mattrodwell).

After three sessions a week for three weeks, I can see I've lost fat and gained muscle ...but you can't because apparently it's not acceptable to post selfies of me in my underwear.

Weight
I weighed a massive 72 kgs on return from Austrian fat camp...

I now weigh 69.7 - hopefully I've put on muscle, but either way some of the chub has gone.

Sponsorship

I've had a lot of interest in the last couple of weeks and I'm in email back and forth with a couple of companies...

Thanks to my employer, Standard Chartered Bank, for the first bit of sponsorship, for letting me work flexibly and for doubling all donations made to Seeing is Believing.  You rock!

A year in the life of Mongolian horses

This is too good just to tweet so here's a blog post.  

Amazing photos of Mongolian horses: the Year of the Horse begins.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548320/Stunning-images-year-life-horses-inhabit-wild-plains-Mongolia-China-prepares-celebrate-animal-upcoming-lunar-New-Year.html

Ahoy me hearties!

Thar be treasure...

I always check the in tray at work and I never get anything - not even work letters.  Very exciting to get a call from the post room to let me know a parcel had arrived!

The parcel

Trying not to utter squeals of delight, I ripped it open...

Gold!

And couldn't rifle through the exciting contents immediately...

Work meant I missed last night's crossfit, but I ran home to inspect the contents of the treasure box... 

The red square is an Adventurist's buff, an adaptable neckerchief-cum-balaclava-cum-scarf.

The black bag is my saddlebag.  There's also:

- the Derby handbook (looks great - really well designed);

- my race shirt, ready for loading with sponsors' logos;

- Torq bottle, gel, bar and energy drink powder;

- a light race backpack/hydration system;

- aquapac waterproof stuff sacks; and

- beech wool knickers.

A brilliant haul.  I'm particularly looking forward to trying the knickers on Saturday.  No more walking like John Wayne.

I'm also looking forward to trying the Torq products - Torq are a riders' fitness consultancy who produce energy/ recovery nutrition products.  Maggie kindly offered me some Torq recovery powder last weekend, which I'm going to try this week and next.  

I'm currently finding that by the third crossfit session each week, my muscles are sufficiently fatigued that I am very slow and struggle to complete the workout.  I don't think it's fitness, just strength and I'm sure the problem will reduce as I get stronger, but I'm optimistic that the Torq recovery powder will help in the meanwhile.  Watch this space.

By the way, tomorrow will be the first monthly progress update - fundraising, weight (groan) and training.  

Super tolt!

Another lovely day in Surrey at the weekend.

This post is delayed because I was struck down by an evil 24 hr bug.  Or was poisoned.  As you like it.

Maggie optimistically gave me a map (I can't read maps) and to be polite I tried to look at it.  And noticed that the Devil's Highway is, of course, in Surrey.

And off Maggie's cousin and I went for a lovely ride.

Sorry for the view, Monita!

Meanwhile, Maggie was coaching and look at who she was helping!

Pony in pyjamas

I PROMISE I don't go ga ga over animals very often but I have never seen a pony like this: the pyjamas!  The tolt!  The afro!  The noise he made as tolted along! 

I WANT ONE

This is what the tolt looks like, for those who've never heard of it:

It's a completely different gait - very comfortable, apparently.  You learn something new every day...

Competition #2

I've recently finished Walking home from Mongolia - an account of a very odd and idiosyncratic adventure.

The best response to the question below will win a copy of this book:

What's the oddest challenge you've ever undertaken?

Answers below, please!

Sugar?

Yeah, I got sugar.

£1 for SIX TUNNOCK'S WAFERS!   

Year of the horse

It is year of the horse!  Well, nearly.

As we approach Chinese New Year and those of us working with Chinese businesses begin a mad scramble to get everything done before our Chinese friends disappear, I thought I'd post something I've wanted to write about for ages.

Image borrowed from Wikipedia

It seems that the year of the horse is the best possible year anyone could choose to ride across Mongolia...

The Horse (馬 午) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac.   Apparently the coming "Wood Horse" year will be "a time of fast victories, unexpected adventure and surprising romance. It is an excellent year for travel and the more far away and off the beaten path the better."  

For more detail or if you think I made the above up, look here.  

Is it true though?!  Do you believe in astrology?

Competition #1: hey girl

Met an old friend for lunch and turns out he's about to do something rather exciting.

Hey girl, can you keep a secret?

Robin (above) will buy you a drink if you can guess what it is!  Entries below please.

A clue

What have you got to look forward to?

To let you know what's coming up on the blog over the next six months, this is what you've got to look forward to:

Monthly training updates

I'll let you know how my training is going on the last day of each month.  I'll post my weight (no, really), any significant improvements and any miserable setbacks.

Aiiiiiiiiiiii

Guest posts

You will start to see guest posts appear! A number of twitter friends and real life friends should be sending in their posts any...day...now.

Come on, Lindsey! Get your post in!

Oh, and the usual daily updates, of course...

 If you'd like to contribute a post, or have anything you'd like the blog to cover, let me know by leaving a comment here or by email: rmmongolderby@gmail.com.

Looking forward to hearing from you!