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hardfillytohalterbreak · 7 years

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Cardio? Howbow dah

If you read my last blog post here then you know I was starting to add fitness into my healthy living journey.

Well, my plan to work out with this smoke show, who looks both HAWT & terrifying when you can’t seem to work out, a workout date. lol

But we couldn’t exactly get our schedules matched up. Stacy & her partner Dan Koren are uber busy with their new cool venture that you *have* to check out and support ‘Eat Clean Healthy Grill & Juice Bar’ St.Albert, Alberta. Not only is it going to offer clean eating options but they will be available with A DRIVE THRU and also offering meal prep services. WHAT?!? That’s an incredible opportunity and think tank. I can’t wait to see it come to fruition in the space they chose.

In the mean time, my friend & EquiSportsTherapy client Jerri Robertson asked me to come help her at her barn while she was Spring Training her Thoroughbred race horses. I laughed her off a couple times only because race trackers are the hardest working people I know and I’m too old, fat and out of shape to work that hard.

Then she sold me on this ‘Racetrack Boot Camp’ idea, well that coupled with the fact that I could choose my work days, she pays well and I wouldn’t have to start until between 8-8:30am which is good because this is me:

Besides all those things listed, it was actually because she is a friend and she asked for my help, and I knew she was in need. Finding hard working, horse savvy people can be a challenge across the industry. Changes to Temporary Foreign Worker programs here in Canada have greatly affected the ability to find, and retain, skilled workers within the horse industry. Quite frankly the job requires hard work, a fast pace and long hours which most people don’t want to do. And I get it, by Day 2 of #RaceTrackBootCamp I was hoping Jerri would fire me or replace me quickly lol

So a little more on what I have dubbed #RaceTrackBootCamp on my social media avenues.

My February Health Living goal remained to add in fitness to my lifestyle and have my total pounds lost read 28lbs by February 28th.

I also did a little research on calorie burning while at the barn and found this chart which would come in handy for the past few days when every muscle in my body has ached:

^^^^^ Just keep thinking of the calories burned Kathy. Calories burned.

I worked at A TON of barns in my life but it was all in my teens & 20′s where again I was younger, slimmer, more fit and had more energy. When you’re 36 years old, have done mediocre physical fitness besides walking your dogs and trying to get your skinny jeans on after applying lotion to your body...this was going to be a challenge.

Team Jerri Robertson Racing is currently out at Enoch Park on the Enoch Cree Nation spring training for the Thoroughbred race meet at Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta. There are 20 horses, 17 of racing age and 3 - 2yr olds just learning the ropes about what it will look like to be a race horse.

At 55 years old Jerri Robertson has spent more than half her life at the Thoroughbred race track making horses her passion for as long as she can remember. Though there are a few women in this male-dominated industry, Jerri can be considered a trail blazer here in Edmonton, making her home in Beverly Heights and dedicating her life to her business "Jerri Robertson Racing”.

Jerri is quite frankly one of the hardest working women I know. She’s a public race horse trainer who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and work alongside her staff. She knows every horse in her barn, knows what’s going on with their legs, diet, health and conditioning. When I bring new friends to the race track, I usually bring them to Jerri’s barn to meet her horses, where most everyone is welcome ‘as long as they bring snacks and can brush a horse’. haha I’m really honoured to call Jerri a client because she’s an incredible horsewoman but more importantly, to call her a friend.

Doing #RaceTrackBootCamp at Jerri’s barn means I also get to kiss this face every day. Which is awesome except he’s shedding right now so if I have lip balm on, I also get a Grat hair moustache on my lips, free of charge.

#RaceTrackBootCamp tasks:

Cleaning stalls

Bedding stalls

Grooming horses

Saddling horses

Getting horses out for gallop rider & legging up gallop rider

Filling water buckets by bucket

Receiving horse post workout, blanketing

Hand walking horse post workout to cool down

Filling haynets

Feeding hay

Raking barn isle

Breathing

Jerri has an incredible barn foreman in Jose Raul Sanchez. Raul can literally clean half the barn in the time I do 3 stalls...or anyone does for that matter. He’s been with Jerri for many years so he knows how the barn ticks and he keeps it ticking. I doubt there isn’t anything Raul can’t do, include keeping my amateur hour self, on the right task.

Lots of my clients have no idea if I can even ride a horse or clean a barn. The answer is yes to both of those questions, quite handily. It really is like riding a bike, once you get back into the groove of something you remember quite easily about the tasks at hand.

The difference is I’m now older, out of shape, forgetful and OH MY GOD IS THIS HARD WORK! lol The first couple days I could barely get out of bed, I have muscles that are sore that I’m not sure I even knew EXISTED!

Honest to goodness if you think going to the gym is hard, you should come try #RaceTrackBootCamp for a couple days for a change of pace. Leg day exists, so does cardio, lifting and stretching. Believe me, you’ll find gains here somewhere.

March 1st came and I didn’t even want to step on the scale because I have PMS and no good weight loss goals should be weighed on that kind of day. #canigetanamen

But I knew I hadn’t hit my goal, and I didn’t. But I’m not disappointed because I still made active steps towards it and I’m ALMOST THERE.

Just like in January when I didn’t meet my weight goal, a funny thing happened when I measured...in the month of February I lost 7 3/4 INCHES just from adding fitness to the menu. (Disclaimer, I also added our Arbonne Metabolism Booster in February as well)

SEVEN INCHES IN ONE MONTH. What in the holy hail?!

So while I missed my goal of being down 28lbs total by the end of February, I’m actually down 29 1/2 inches TOTAL as I type this.

#RaceTrackBootCamp has done crazy things for the inches lost in my waist and muffin top. 2 inches off my natural waist and 2.5 inches off my muffin top. Another inch and a half off my bust, I’m basically going to have no boobs by the time this healthy living stuff is done. I’ll have to visit Scottsdale for implants!

So here we are March 2017! And we got GOOOOAAAAALLLLLSSSS

March looks like:

- Continue to keep doing what I’ve been doing which includes fitness in the form of #RaceTrackBootCamp for as long as needed and the addition of the Arbonne Metabolism Booster

- Document more of the journey and lift up anyone who wants to come along

- In the words of Gary Vee, Do #moremoremore

Remember friends, when you don’t reach your goals, you don’t give up. It’s about dedication, not perfection.

Yours in Adventure,

#hardfillytohalterbreak

#healthyliving #horses #arbonne #weightloss #cleaneating #yeg #horseracing #fitness

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