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TI,the parameters of the cardiac indices do not seem to change in the 1st 4 
weeks proceeding deconditioning.That is good news.Would that imply that if one 
is really worried about injuries sustainable in the last 2 weeks prior to a 
very important ride ,that one can forego further 'hard' and fast training well 
ahead and let our horses mainly rest with a bit of walkabout. You dont seem to 
agree in your previous personal communications and in the archives.This is 
important from the standpoint of international rides like WEC or WEG where a 
lot of financial and personal commitment has been expended and horses need to 
be transported over continents etc etc. I recall Steph had soundness problem 
with her horse in Compeigne France just prior to the WEC 2000???Could have 
overcome that with almost total rest after the long flight.If your quoted 
studies are to be extrapolated into actual practice almost total rest except 
for 'race horse like ' evening and morning saunter would be safer and 
better???I am talking of horses that are already superfit++ as any championship 
orses would be.

Dr Nik Isahak Wan Abdullah>

Excellent question, Doc. First, the paper you're talking about dealt with hard 
tissues. Soft tissues and chemistry, including neurotransmitting chemicals and 
muscle fuels, decondition more rapidly.

A proper tapering routine for an endurance athlete would begin about amonth 
before the targeted event. At that point, overall exercise volume would drop, 
and exerecise intensity would increase. Two weeks out would be the last "long" 
day--and shorter than previous "long" days, and "speed" days would continue to 
shorten, the last one being 4-5 days out from the competition.

Tapering to competition doesn't mean "stopping exercise". You have to remember 
that there are other upcoming competitions and, if they are a month apart, then 
you'd go right back to the same tapering process--but you can't do that from a 
near-zero mileage base. Cutting overall volume in half, but the end of the 
tapering process, is plenty of taper. Thus, if you're doing 160K/week, cutting 
to 80K in the final week is a big deal.

ti


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