I read the posts about "properly" training for a
100. My comments are ONLY my opinion. I am sure someone will pipe up about
whether my opinion is "educated" or not.
Competition is about winning, but not necessarily
about winning overall. Sometimes you are competing against your own time, trying
to be faster than the last race. That is how you get better. In foot races, you
may not win overall, but you can win you age division. It is still winning.
I agree 100% with starting off with a sound horse
and intelligent rider. Having a good "base" before starting any type of workout
is a must. Adding miles a little at a time, definitely. Adding hills,
calisthenics, and speed are a big part of the conditioning process.
I do wonder though how the best riders got to the
top if they never had any idea of how fast they were going? I guess it didn't
matter as long as they were in front.
Monitoring progression is, or should be assumed. A
daily log book is a big help because it is hard to remember week to week every
workout that you did and your horses attitude at the time. That is very
important when you are alternating hard and easy days, hard and easy weeks. Dane
Frazier has always talked about how important it is to stress the "systems" and
break for repair time. The muscles, the heart and lungs, and tendons all get
stronger.
Does all that have to be monitored with blood
tests, expensive equipment or a trip to a hospital to have it all done because
you don't have it at your farm? It wouldn't hurt, but it is not realistic. At
least not for most of us who don't have one groom per horse, screened and fan
misted stalls and an equine dietician. Oh, and unlimited funds. Will it make or
break you as a winner? I don't know. Ask the people who ARE
winning.
100 miles per week. How realistic is that? What if
you are trying to keep more than one horse ready and able to "compete" 100
miles?
A lot of that sounded exactly like what I use to
read in Runner's World 20 years ago. The comment "more is almost always better"
sounds just like what the coaches were preaching back then. Not that a horse
couldn't do 100 miles a week easier than a person, but that is 400 miles a
month and by the time you have done all this to ready for race day, say a year
later, your horse has already put in 5,000 miles, more or less. When the runners
were going at it for 100-150 miles per week, they lasted about a year in "top"
form not including the exceptional few.
Now I can't really argue that this "training
program" is credible or not because I have no idea who has followed it and been
consistently winning.
"The idea came from a French trainer, but the concept did prove out in
practice in Abu Dhabi. We were typically racing 75s and up though."
Who's "we"? Who is this French trainer? I
have read posts from people who consistently win here at home, winners of the
Tevis and even read books from people like Lew Hollender etc,. We can also see
from their records, they have done very well. I don't recall such a training
regimen. Not that it wouldn't work. Has it only been used in the flat land
desert, or could it work in the mountain region as well? I looked up some
of the web sites that list endurance races, results,top barns (Abu
Dhabi) and top trainers. I didn't recognize any name listed as the top
trainers. So who IS "we"?
Since Mr. Maul posted the Smokey/Bill record and
Bill was kind enough to pass along his recorded field trials, I read all that
too.
The date of Bill's first entry was 2001. He stopped
riding in 2000. So I still don't know how well AGL works in actual race
conditions because he was using it on training rides only. Or at least that is
when he recorded it. I don't doubt Bill's credibility. If however, he
followed the 100 mile a week protocol and used this AGL ,we never got to see any
valid results because Bill never did more than an LD ride. Not that there is
anything wrong with that. Bill only did as he was asked, but we still don't know
who "we" are nor have we seen actual results.
I don't mind research, but I can't look for
something that is not there. I am sure the French trainer has some really great
reading material but I don't even know his or her name. If I knew for a
fact that all the info was actually in use, and was constantly producing
winners, race after race, then I would say "Hmmm, maybe there is something
to it".
I would like to see how this schedule has been used
as a proven method for training and winning. Is there anyone else who has
followed this protocol that could shed some light?
