It is known that the heart rate in a conditioned athelte should undergo
exponential decay after the susession of exercise. The parameters of
that decay are though to be an indicator of the fitness and level of
fatigue. Resarch on how to estimate these parameters in humans is still
on going. http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/1794
Some vets use it all the time - at every check. Some only use it if the
other parameters indicate more data is required. One of the most
knowledgeable vets I've ever ridden under - no longer involved in
endurance sadly - used to say "the CRI at the end for BC only tell you
what the horse did the last 5 miles."
Many CRI organizations use the CRI at 10 minutes of the finish to
estimate fitness and will subtract points based on it.
Truman
Coles wrote:
I am wondering if "we" are
trying to place too much importance on the values we are obtaining for
the following reasons:
- the CRI is "intended" to
be a diagnostic tool for endurance races
- endurance is 50-100 miles
- only the top 10 horses
would be receiving the CRI's
- the top 10 riders would
be riding a hell of a lot faster than what we typically ride in a LD,
in a miles per hour sense
- in Maine I did the 25 in
3:10 and only because I got sucked into Steve Rojeks vortex as he
passes me.... but it DID give me great insight into the speed with
which they travel at the end of 50 miles!
- folks who do the 50's in
the paces that "we" typically ride for the LD's, do not get CRI's done because they do not Top Ten
- the intent of the CRI is
to show cardiac recovery, stress, fitness level etc
- I don't think the pace of
5-6 miles per hour is significant enough to be a TRUE indicator of
cardiac stress when the riders walk the last 1/2 to 1 mile......
Thoughts???????
-- “I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in
pseudoscience
“I maintain there is much more wonder in science
than in
pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any
meaning,
science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one,
of
being true.” Carl Sagan
