Re: heart rates & recovery

[Tivers@aol.com]

Byron,

We've learned some thing about heartrate recoveries in racehorses in recent
years. We no longer look at absolute recovery numbers, but the "recovery
plateau" that occurs about 60-90 seconds after an anaerobic piece of work.
This plateau will occur between 100 and 135 and is indicative of the degree of
anaerobic work the horse just performed. A 135 suggests you're on the
borderline of fatigue and should no do another interval while a 100 suggests
you didn't get much anaerobic work accomplished at all.

The problem with 5 and 10 minute recoveries, or recoveries taken below a
certain threshold is the variations among horses (and humans) that have little
to do with actual recovery and capability of going on. 

Yes, I am sure that an individual horse will improve his cardiovascular
efficiency with exercise, and that his recoveries will be lower (or quicker)
after a while. But I don't think that heartrate recoveries can be used as an
accurate criteria as to whether or not a horse is capable of continuing an
endurance ride.  Rather than use an inaccurate criterium, it's better to find
another, more predictive one. 

ti