Often times I hear my self rattle off all of my activities and question how I manage to fit it all in. Miraculously I find the time to train and compete as a varsity equestrian, dancer, and track athlete. Although each of these sports keeps me in shape, I still feel like it’s not enough. Today I am going to be sharing what an average day working out looks like for me.

Now let me get this straight: I don’t ride, run, and dance all at the same time. Horseback riding is a year round sport, I dance August-February and run February-May.

To begin I am going to explain what training looks like for each sport and then I will explain what I do additionally.

Dance

Dance runs August-February three days per week. This year I was lucky enough to make it on the Varsity state team and we actually won the 2A Pom State Championships! We train 3:30-5:30 every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday except for the four weeks leading up to state when we practice everyday.

A typical day of practice consists of a 10 min cardio warm up, 10 min stretch, and a 20-40 min toning workout (Pure Barre workout normally). For the rest of practice we choreography, work on technique, and run the dance. I love dance so much because it’s such a great workout and is so freaking fun! On occasional Wednesday’s when I didn’t have dance I would take hip hop classes at my local gym! I totally recommend trying dance!

Track

Okay okay, this is my first year doing track since 2014 in middle school and holy cow it’s amazing! Tiring? Yes. Hard? Yes. Do I feel like I’m going to die? Most of the time. But regardless, I have never been a big runner and I am so proud of myself for trying it out!

This season I will be running the 800m (which terrifies me!). I currently am training Monday-Thursday (with occasional Friday practices) from 3:30-5:15. As a mid-long distance runner, these practices are tough! Monday’s and Wednesday’s are hard days and Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are break days. A typical hard day may look like: 1/2 mile warm up, stretch and agility warmup, 4x800m all out (these KILLLLL), and then a 1/2 mile cool down. Normal break days consist of 1/2 mile warm up and cool down with an X-factor workout and either a 1 mile Indian run or 45 min trail run. I don’t think I’ve ever had my heart in such good shape!

Riding

As you may or may not know, I love smack dab in the middle of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. I don’t have an indoor and am typically drowning in 4-8″ of snow from November to February. Unfortunately it’s March and we still have 6″. This makes winter riding so hard, not impossible, but very difficult. When the arena is melted Penelope and I train 5-6 days per week. We are currently competing novice and in the 3′ jumpers. Our typical weeks contain 1 jump lesson, 1 cardio fitness ride, 1 day of grid work or poles, 2 days of dressage work, and 1 day completely out of the arena (normally a trail ride). On each of our dressage days I always add a 10 minute hill/trail ride in at the end.

When the arena is not ride-able, Penelope and I walk (or ride is the dirt is soft enough) down the dirt road to the barn 5-6 days a week . This road is filled with hills so on days we can’t trot I make sure to walk her up and down the hills a few times to get her working a bit harder. Let’s just say we do a lot of hand walking from November to February!

Okay so how do you do all of this?

Because I give penelope 1-2 off days per week, I normally ride Tuesday – Sunday with an off day on Monday and maybe an extra one thrown in there somewhere. Luckily, the ride-ability of the arena seems to almost time exactly around daylight savings time! This means that during the time of year when Penelope is consistently being ridden, I am able to ride after sports and spend more time at the barn! On the nights when the sun sets early, I can’t ride anyways and will normally spend about an hour at the barn brushing and hand walking Penelope! By senior year I have got my schedule down pat!

But what more could you do?

As I said, I live in the heart of the Rocky Mountains so there are always things to do outside. I am not a skier (since twisting my tail bone) but do enjoy hiking, mountain biking, and more! On weekends my family and I love to hike! I also take yoga classes in the mornings about once a week and love weight lifting!

On days that I wouldn’t have dance, didn’t feel like I got enough of a workout at dance, or on weekends I hit the gym! My go-to quick workout is my favorite ab routine (I’m happy to share that if you all would like), a 5 minute row, and a 10 minute run on the elliptical. On days when I have more time I will spend up to 2.5 hours at the gym lifting, biking, running, rowing, and even using the dance room! I try to mix up what I do to keep myself from getting bored and keep all parts of my body in shape!

All I can say is that I love cross training! It feels so good and I always make it a priority of mine to get in a workout a day!

~M(r)adison