 |
[RC] 100, Part 3 - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: ti Tivers@xxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== Ok. You have all your ducks in a row and have a happy 4 mile a day athlete. The next milestone is going to be the 10 mile a day horse. You can probably move from 4 to 10 miles a day without changing much in the way of the daily routine--except increasing the daily ration to match the workload and increasing the rate of shoeing visits--the feet will be growing faster now. But, you may want to start thinking about periodizing your microcycles (weeks). At an average of 10 miles a day, you most certainly will be doing so. At 10 miles a day, you will likely have one "long" day and one "speed" day interspersed with recovery days. On Monday you might simply exercise for 4 miles. On Tuesday, a speed day consisting of 4 X 3 mile intervals at increased speed separated by partial recovery rest periods (ten to 15 minuteds of walking/jogging) On Wednesday, a recovery day of 4 miles, followed by another on Thursday. On Friday, a 30 mile "long" day, taken at a comfortable rate of speed, perhaps divided into 2 or 3 loops with a mock VC between. Saturday, a 4 mile day. Sunday, a day off, or a "skills" day. You can't just jump into this kind of a week. Between 4 miles and ten miles, you'll be moving is this direction, gradually. Minimum mileage in a day, though, should be 4. That will prevent tying up and keep the gut and circulation moving. Once again, that 34 weeks that we talked about in the initial mileage-building stage is going to have to be extended to accommodate these kinds of changes, because they must be made a slice at a time, and are dependent entirely on your monitoring systems delivering good actionable information. This overview is simply that--a generalized gameplan that points, non-specifically, in the right direction. It is the individual horse that will determine the eventual time span of the entire preparation. At 10 miles per day, the horse is probably ready for a competitive 50. This because all those miles have provided hard tissue protection as well as generalized fitness. But under no circumstances should the speed of competition exceed the speeds accomplished in the interval days. Better that you match the speed of the long days. The move to the 100 mile week continues along these lines, with "long days" becoming gradually longer and "speed days" becoming gradually faster, with more heats accomplished in the intervals. You may also either add, or substitute, a hill or "power" day, where repetitions (full recovery between) are used to maximize simultaneous muscle cell recruitment (for power) as well as capillary and mitochondrial density and muscle fueling. Nutritional support continues to increase with the workload. Monitoring systems become increasingly critical. Obviously, the more work you're doing, the more chances there are for unnoticed environmental stressors (shoeing in particular) to cause trouble. Any negative signs, you cut way back, diagnose thoroughly, eliminate the cause, heal or fix the problem, and then come back to the workload and move on with it. You'll probably be pulling bloods twice a month and shoeing/trimming as frequently as every three weeks at this point. Speeds of the "long" days will likely be at expected race pace and speeds of the intervals will exceed that pace. If your horse is ready for this kind of work, his recovery cycles will still be about the same as they were all the way back at 4 miles average per day. Again, body weight is the key indicator. your horse will likely be significantly heavier than at the 4 mile stage--and that extra weight will be lean muscle mass. Efficiency Scores will have continuously improved, but the Rate of Acquisition will have gradually slowed. Resting HR will probably have dropped significantly. Plasma volume and stroke volume will have increased. Hard tissues will be harder, tougher, hard to hurt. Joints will be tight, with thicker cartilage pads. The horse will be eager to exercise--and so will you. The horse will be eating at least twice as much as it was at 4 miles. That's what a generalized gameplan for a competitive 100 looks like. But, of course, the devil's in the details. If possible, you need to get next to someone who has "been there, done that". You need to get very used to using the monitoring systems and knowing what they all are telling you. You need to become a top horseman along the way, with all aspects of the Big Picture in your mind at all times. Believe me, if you get this far, you will be a top horseman. Far from being a 34 week process, this gameplan might take 2 to 5 years to implement for the purpose of elite competiton. That is, 2 to 5 megacycles. This is the kind of thing already being done in the EU, Middle East and Australia--by a few. Very very few are following all the rules, though--so you can easily encounter cripples at the top--after all that work. It's a shame, but that's how most have to learn as they explore this new territory. ti =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|