Outside Workout

It looks so beautiful outside from my desk! It's just a trick, however, since my computer screen reads a chilly 32 degrees F. Lies. Anyways I thought it would be nice to post a little guide for an outside workout. Have you ever tried a segmented mile? It's a lot harder then it looks on paper. Give it a try, use a track if you don't have a watch with mileage capabilities.

The picture in the background is right outside of Sugarloaf Mountain, MD. A few friends, Sadie, and I went hiking there last summer with a backpack full of beer. It's actually a really hard trail, and we ended up hiking for about 4 hours, so the beer wasn't as fun as we thought it would be... It did get easier, however, as the beers were finished, since we didn't have extra weight on our backs! 

There's also a great winery, Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard, right next to the trails, which of course we couldn't pass up after we were done our sweat session!

This is from the peak of the mountain: 

Missing the Summer...

Not to be a complainerson or anything, but I was looking through some pictures from this past Summer, and I came across some from a short trip I took to Deep Creek Lake. My friend and I went up to clean the carpets of my parents' lakehouse, and to take Sadie to the vet there (Pineview Veterinary is absolutely the best vet I've been to, and they hardly charge over cost for anything). It's about a 3 hour drive for us, but it saves us vet bills like WOAH (even with the added gas money).

Not to mention there's a lake and docks for lying out and enjoying some adult beverages.

I miss dis:

Sadie after swimming in the lake. She only discovered she loves to swim about a year ago. Silly pup. 

Meet my wolf

This is Sadie. She is a three-year-old Red Siberian Husky. I adopted her from a sad and lonely crated existence when she was nine months old, and we've been bros ever since. The part of our relationship that was rocky was the dreaded walk. If you're a husky owner I'm sure you know the "You pull me, I pull back harder" mentality, and it is not fun. When I first got her we did the normal Petsmart puppy training, which was great for sit and stay, but did nothing for her loose leash walking. Then we hired a personal trainer for a cool $450 and three hour-long sessions. I should have gotten my money back.

Last spring my mom saw a video from a website which led us to take a course with Off Leash Training in June 2012, and it's been awesome! She's the kind of dog that needs a little more encouragement with training, so the e-collar was my saviour. It was definintely our last resort after spending about $750 on different trainers to get her leash-etiquette in check...and it surely wasn't cheap, but it was the only program that worked! So now I don't dread walking her in the slightest! I don't even leash her, she just walks right next to my left leg without complaining. In the summer we hike at least twice a week, and I can't wait until it's warm again to get our butts moving on the trails!