Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Long and a bit rambling  but hopefully
instructive.

Truman correctly characterized two types
of "hitting the wall", 
the psychological wall and the physical
barrier caused by
running low on glycogen.

I believe many of our horses will hit
the glycogen limit around 
75 miles out if they are working close
to their aerobic limit
for much of the ride and sooner if they
spend too much time
out of the aerobic zone.  They
key to successful 100s is to
keep the horse well within it's aerobic
zone for most of the ride
with the obvious exception being on
long climbs.

I believe Jayel Super hit a glycogen
low at about 80 miles out
in the National Championship ride and
that is when he backed
off and Heraldic and John Crandell left
us for the win.  I would love
to have been able to get a blood sugar
reading at that point in the ride. 

As background Super and Heraldic came
into
all the check points through about 77
miles recovered
very quickly, essentially as soon as
we could pull the saddle
and check the pulse.  

In the stretch from the 64 mile checkpoint
to the 77 
mile both horses were worked farily
hard but carefully
as we tested each other.  We left
the 64 mile check point
for the long climb up Milford Gap with
Super leading most
of the way at the trot but Heraldic
taking the lead a couple of
times.  Then on the 5 miles of
rock across the ridge line Super
again led most of the way with Heraldic
taking over towards the
end.  Then Heraldic (or more accurately
John on foot) led 
Super and myself on foot down the long descent from Veeches
Gap giving the horses a good chance
to recover.  Then on
the next beautiful three miles of trail
through Jack Weber's
forest and meadows we mainly galloped
which meant Super was working
towards the top of his aerobic range
rather than in the middle.
Super led much of that strech.  John
and Heraldic continued
to press the pace on in to the 77 mile
check point as we were on good gravel road.
At the pace we were doing at the gallop
Super was working a
bit higher than his comfortable aerobic
rate of 120 or below.Super at 77 miles had out recovered
Heraldic by perhaps 15 seconds so we
left together.  
Note that by 77 miles in the NC ride
we had already done
7 major climbs and uncountable rocks
so the horses
had been seriously working.  Heraldic
and Super left the 77 mile
check point almost an hour ahead of
the next horse so our
pace had been respectable..

We came out of the 77 miles together
with John setting the pace 
most of the time.  As noted as
80 miles he backed off.  So I 
believe that Super spent too much time
outside his confortable
aerobic range and used up too much of
his glycogen stores.

We then walked and really slow trotted
for the next 11 miles
including my walking downhill for the
last mile and 1/2
into the last check point.  We
went straight into the vet
check where Super was all A's with 56/56
CRI and very hungry.

We came out of the checkpoint with Super
willing to trot more
but still not enthused.  As we
went on his energy level picked
up and we trotted steadily the last
6 miles or so to the finish.
At the finshish he was all A's except
for an A- on gut soundes.
He had a 48/48 CRI at the finish.  We
were just over 20 minutes
behind Heraldic and John, a truly awesome
pair.

So my hypothesis is that Super ran low
on blood sugars at about
80 miles out.  By about 5 or 6
miles from the finish his body has restored the balance as
engergy reserves kicked in.  By
contrast, Heraldic has more
"bottom", that is more energy
reserves and so he went on
past the 80 mile mark strongly.  Hence
the better horse won.

Had our pace been slower from 64 miles
to 77 miles, Super probably
would not have "hit the wall"
as he has done many 100s where
he did maintain a steady pace or even
pick up the pace
(e.g. Canadian Championship 7 weeks
earlier).

Lesson:  To do a 100 at the same
steady pace all day or with
negative splits, stay well within the
aerobic level of the horse.
Or be prepared to really slow up and give your horse a 
period to recover when necessary.
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