Conditioning for a 100

[Sarah Ralston <ralston@AESOP.RUTGERS.EDU>]

Karen Sullivan wrote:

Yep,  I'm shaking my head over this............not dismissing it, but having
a hard time to understand.  Absolutely no offense to Sarah, becuase I
believe she knows
what she is doing........but when I read her OD story it sounded like the
horse barely
had enough conditioning to do a 50!

I was worried about a "lack of conditioning" too-but when my mare had the
best performance and 
recoveries ever earlier that spring on the 25 mile and 50 mile rides I took
her on,
I realized that this mare (might not work for all), does better caring a
little more weight
than I thought previously to be ideal. My strategy worked for me-Fling
completed with a lot
of energy to spare and, based on her weight at the end of the ride, a lot
of reserve left.

Another key point: She had a solid base of training, which, as everyone
from Tom to Angie agree is essential.
She had not been pushed hard but was worked consistently
for the first 10 years of her life, doing only a few 25-30 mile CTR's a year,
starting as a 4 year old (I don't advocate waiting THIS long to really
start intensive conmditioning! Just
the way my time management worked out!). The two years prior to my attempt
at the OD 100, 
which I finally got really serious about attempting in 1998,
I trained hard the first year (2 or more hours of primarily hill work 5 to
6 days a
week in up state NY) and entered three 3-day rides (one easy, the NJ100,
then two tough, 
the NY100 and an 80 miler in Fair Hill MD) in addition to a couple of CTRs.
She was a lean mean racing machine that year and had metabolic problems I 
described on ridecamp then, mainly due to my inability to figure out her
electrolyte 
requirements (which I finally did by the end season-
some people learn slow). Last year I couldn't condition as intensively but
did do more than 
I did this year. I pushed her hard (To my mind) by entering a 25 miler in
March and April, 
the NJ 100 in May(only two weeks before the OD), the OD50 AND the NY 100 in
June. 
We had lameness problems (turned out to be her neck and back), that knocked
us out of 
the NJ and NY at 80 miles but no metabolic problems and she just got
stronger with each ride, 
attitude wise and in energy level.

KEY POINT: The mare has a good solid base of work for the speed and
distances I ask her to
compete in. As several have pointed out you do need to train hard to get it, 
but once it is there-don't keep pounding them! The conditioning of the
muscles, 
once trained, can be regained more quickly in the equine athlete than the
human. It took months/years to
establish a level of ideal fitness but now I can "bring her back" in less
than a month of moderate
conditioning. Might not work if I was going to top ten at every ride, but
I'm not. But then again
the same sort of strategy works for Debi, who is a front runner. But then
she has hills-I don't-so she
can do more in less time than I can, conditioning wise.

In my experience you need the luxury of time (which I had briefly in 1998
while on sabbatical) and/or
challenging terrain within easy reach to establish a good "base" on a
mature horse, gradually increasing the intensity/duration of the exercise.
Working 2 or more hours of intense (trot/canter/jump) ring work 4-5 days a
week
might work but hills or deep sand really are more of a challenge and can
help you reach the same goal
in less conditioning time. Once that base is there I think you can maintain
the 
conditioning necessary to complete with a lot less intense training, as
Debi described. 

I entered the OD with every intention of pulling if Fling was
tired, not really believing I had conditioned her enough. I am pleased that
it worked, and that
I learned a bit more about my mare's capabilities.

Sarah and Fling (raring to go again)