[RC] Some Thoughts on Pacing (Part 1) - Jim Holland
Since “pacing” (rating) a
horse in Endurance has been a frequent topic of discussion, I thought that the
perhaps the information I tabulated on Magic in 2004 would be of
interest. He started 14 rides and completed all 14 of them.
I started Magic within the goal of
completing a one day 100 in 2005. I did a lot of slow 50’s. I
didn’t condition him hard. Lots of LSD, low intensity, long rides,
working hard on holding a given speed, never letting him run. The plan
was to do a lot of his conditioning during the rides….do a lot of
fifties, then move up to longer distances at the same pace. In addition, I
wanted to do a wide variety of terrain…flat, mountainous, sandy, etc. My
goal was a 6 ½ mph average. Since our rides here in the SE have a lot of
15 mile loops, that’s about two hours per loop, which is how I figured
out the speed of the trot I wanted. That’s about 8 hours of ride time and
since our holds for fifties usually average about 40 minutes and 3 holds,
that’s about 1.5 hours hold time, resulting in crossing the finish in
9-10 hours.
Here are my Magic’s ride times for
2004:
Goethe
50 6:54
Gator
Run
50 7:28
Leatherwood
50 9:56
Liberty Run
I
55 8:25
Liberty Run
III
55 8:16 (Top Ten)
Old
Dominion
50 8:47
Sand Hills
Moonlite
50 6:48 (Top Ten)
GERA
507:40
Big South
Fork
50 8:20
KY
Stampede
50 8:41
Yellowhammer
50 7:04
Hallelujah
75 11:29 (The target
here would be 12 hours)
Skymont
50 9:27 (I
was mentoring another rider here, so time is not representative)
Biltmore
55 7:06
Note that we were pretty consistent and
you can tell how “technical” the ride was by the variation above or
below the goal of 8 hours. The heat and humidity are also a factor.
Our best effort was the 75 at Hallelujah.
Eight hour 50’s is 4 hours for 25 miles, so 75 miles would be 3 x 4
or 12 hours….We did it in 11:29. Note that the more technical
the ride, the harder it is to pace consistently, since you have to go faster
when it’s flat and slow down on the hills.
