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>>So, in light of what you just said, when would you suggest starting back
the training schedule after a one day 100 miler given that your horse
has finished sound, with minimal overt symptoms of wear and tear? >>
I'd exercise the horse lightly every day until he as regained lost weight,
then go back at him with higher workloads.
>Would
>you just start back at the same level you left off before competition?
>When would you start your taper? Lets say your next competition is in 4
>weeks and it is also a one day 100.
Just before competition you were in taper, and before that, you were in some
pretty high intensity race-specific work. What we want between competitions
is something in-between. Long and Strong is what I'd call it. Something you
can meaninfully taper back from, but work that is tough enough to prevent the
horse from peaking or becoming stale. So, not as tough as you were working
before going into taper for competition, but about 80% of that volume and
intensity.
If the two events are a month apart, you're going to have to recover for 5-7
days--that would be light work. Then I'd move into some of that 80% workload
for two weeks. Finally, I'd taper back for the week prior to the next event.
Taper by cutting the volume in half--but sharpening the effort a little.
>>Using my current philosophy and training plan, here is what I would do.
>>After ~10 Days rest, pasture (days between numbered days below are also
>>rest)
>>--day 10 - Light aerobic work on the flat, 45 minutes
>>--day 12 - Easy intervals on the flat, alt walk, trot, gallop 45 minutes
>>--day 14or15 - 16-20 miles of tough mountain trail work, pushing for
>>higher HR where possible given terrain.
>>--day 17 - same as day 10
->>-day 19 - moderate hill intervals, 45 minutes
>>--day 22 - 16 miles with 3.5 mile tough interval hill which has 6 climbs
>>for maxing HR with walk/trot recovery between.
>>--day 24 - same as day 19
>>--day 26 - same as day 10
>>--day 27 - haul to ride
>>--day 28 - competition
>>If I understand your theory correctly, you would not give the initial 10
>>days off but start working on say day 4. Then, you'd put the tougher
>>works at the front end of this schedule and taper off from day 14 on.
No, I'd give light recovery work until body weight has recovered--could be 4
days, but might be 7--even 10, but would hope not. At that point you have to
rev quickly into a volume and intensity that you can taper from. I always
tend to move from longer/slower to shorter/faster. Your gameplan is pretty
good--I'd back it up a little, starting the more aggressive stuff a little
earlier and shutting back to the light stuff a little earlier--to
oversimplify: two weeks of serious work sandwiched between a week of recovery
and a week of taper.
>>Now since we can't keep our horse peaked for more than three weeks, when
>>do we need to let down and start the cycle over again? I think this is
>>where we use our competitions as training rides. That is, on selected
>>rides, we would not ask our horse for maximum effort and plan for a new
>>peak later on. How much rest would you suggest in those cases, since we
>>would not always be riding the wave of supercompensation?
Avoiding a peak means keeping the pressure on. The problem is always that we
want to give the horse too much rest. When we do that, then he gets real
enthusiastic and, next event, squeezes the last few drops of juice from the
lemon. Thereafter, he's not so enthusiastic, no matter what we doo--always a
little dull. That's peaking too early.
Then, too, we never want to ask for maximum effort--for one thing, if we're
keeping the lid on with hard work, then we won't get maximal effort. And
then, maximal effort is dangerous--leads to injury. What we really want is a
horse so fit that he wins everything in sight without ever coming close to
having to delivering maximal effort.
So, yes, every competition must be integrated as a part of the conditioning
program. And if one of those competitions is a "must win" that we have to
peak for, then demand maximal effort for, we're going to have a hot little
horse for a few weeks--as soon as the horse bounces back from this
compeition. It would be nice if important races were clustered closely around
this time. If not, then you can gradually let the horse down for a week, give
another week to ten days "off", then come on with a reasonably aggressive
week, followed by two very aggressive weeks, followed by a medium taper and
another competition--you should be back into a level of fitness/performance
you can maintain for a while.
If you're never going to have time to go through such a "rebuild", then you
probably shouldn't peak until the end of the season.
ti
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