I figured it was time for an update on my Derby adventure. Even though it is only in August 2019, it is on my mind almost every day. I must admit, sometimes I'm wondering what I got myself into (especially when we do our workout and I just want to quit). Other times I am really looking forward to riding through the beautiful country. Sometimes when I am in a really great mood I severely underestimate how hard it will be, but then I remember that only half of the contestants actually make it to the finish line. I am going to work very hard to make sure I will be one of them though.
As I mentioned before, it is a 1000km race on half wild horses, through the rough Mongolian terrain. I will have ten days to complete the race but most people finish on the 8th and 9th day (if they finish), so I will be riding more than 110km a day. That means around 10 hours in the saddle. I don't think I've ever been on a horse for that long at a time. Obviously part of the training is spending as much time in the saddle as possible. I am not sure how I'm going to do this yet, I'm either going to do lots of training with Vasti (she might die) after work, or find a job at another stable abroad in the months leading up to the Derby to spend all day around horses. Besides just riding, it is also important to ride lots of different horses, to learn to adapt quickly to different personalities. Going back to Horseworks this summer will be super useful as I will get the chance to train lots of different (young) horses. 
To be able to stay on a horse for so many hours a day, I will have to do lots of core strength training. I have a confession to make: I am super unfit. Or at least I was, I couldn't even do one push-up or crunch. It's a good thing I don't have an office job because I imagine it would be even worse. But together with Ilona and Mary, I started doing the '7 minutes' work out every day. We do the normal one and the abs workout for about half an hour every day. I am always very sceptical when I see those videos of people who do a workout for thirty days and lose half their weight. While I haven't lost any weight (unfortunately) I am definitely improving. For the first time ever in my life I can actually see some ab muscles when I look in the mirror ;)
Another advice I got from previous contestants was to take up running (in case you fall off and have to run after your horse, and of course general fitness and endurance). Unfortunately I didn't bring my running shoes to Iceland (shitty excuse I know), but once I get back to the Netherlands I will start! I will follow a training schedule, to be able to do 5km in 10 weeks. I tried this before a few years ago and kind of failed at it, so it'll be a challenge. I know there are people out there who can run 5k without training but that is definitely not me, I can't even run for three minutes without training. I am also thinking about starting swimming again, and dancing just because I love it so much. So yeah, now that you know how shamefully unfit I am, you can understand a bit better what I am facing here. But hey, at least I have a goal to work towards, and I really want to make it! I'll keep you posted on the progress.
(You can also support me by donating here, I will be riding for 'Cool Earth', more on the great work they do later).
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