Ridecamp: Re: [RC] [RC] leasing and how many days a week do you ride for a 25?

Pamela,

Somehow it's gotten drilled into my head that one should ride the number of
miles per week that one is riding on the weekend (during competition).

That said, I think that works if the mileage is low (25 or 50) AND one
should not or need not ride that many miles EVERY week. No use leaving your
best ride on the training trail. :-)

Also good advice seen here is to ride the way you train and train the way
you ride. I would add to that to adjust your ride to the terrain. As in, if
you don't have hills, rocks, humidity, altitude, sand, mud, (whatever) at
home, you're likely going to have to slow down (or conversely, speed up
while conditioning, or change the conditioning regimen to include some
strenuous stuff, so that you can make time).

This newbie brought a 5YO horse along last year to doing 25's and a 30's (4
1/2 to 6 hour CTRs) by riding 5 to 30 miles a week, 2 - 4 times per week for
about 3 months before the first one. As you can see by my times, I'm a
completer, not a competer. But my horse is happy and sound and she's never
had a problem meeting pulse parameters for these distances. The most I rode
last season was 45 miles a week and I was overtime on the difficult LD I
attempted last fall after doing this much mileage. Lesson? It's not just the
miles, but how (and where) you ride them. Obviously doing all those miles
didn't help me.

I just did my first two-day 50 CTR in what would be a nice 8 or 9 hour
endurance pace. No 45 mile conditioning weeks this year. A few 30-40 mile
weeks. We completed happy and perfectly sound.

Deanna


-----------------------------
Well, the lease thing fell through with my horse. ?I was going to put an ad
in the paper, but I'm having second thoughts. ?I have spent a lot of time
training this mare, and would hate to have someone screw that up. ?I want to
do a 25 in about 3 months. ?I have read that I need to be riding 5 days a
week. ?Does anyone agree/disagree with this?
Pamela 


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