Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Conditioning questions - Jennifer Fleet

Hi all,

I am in the process in getting my gelding, Shahtahr, fit again after 1 1/2 years off from any kind of competition (I moved to FL from CA). I've continued riding him during this time off, but mostly on shorter pleasure rides with friends - anywhere from 5 to 10 miles, one to three times a week (depending on how HOT and humid it was here in FL). Over the last six weeks, I've started conditioning again....we're up to trotting and cantering about 12-15 miles now, with no problem.

I am new to Florida, and am used to having plenty of mountains to train in, in the Sunland area of CA. With all those hills, it was never a problem to get Shahtahr's heart rate up, and keep it there, and then see how fast he came down. I would try to keep him between 130 and 150 while trotting along in the hills, with a few uphill sprints here and there to get his HR up to around 200 for a few minutes. This seemed to work great at keeping him fit.

Here, all I have is flat land. No matter how long we trot on these flat trails, even some that are sandy....his HR is always somewhere around 115 to 120....if I move up to a canter it will get up a little higher...but nothing near how we trained in CA. Is this enough?? He comes right back down to the low 60's as soon as we slow to a walk, but it's not like his HR ever really got super high.

How do you folks train, that have only flat trails to use? What's your strategy? Do I need to do a lot more training miles, because I have no hills? I'm going to do a 27-mile ride on Nov 11.....it's got some sandy areas and a few "gentle hills" from the description ..... I'm assuming he'll do this ride just fine with what we've been doing, but I'm a little concerned that I'm not getting enough out of the conditioning we're doing to progress much beyond some CTRs and LDs - I will be training longer as he gets more fit....but I'm not sure about the HR range we're getting....is 115 to 120 good enough to build his stamina?

I sure miss the mountains!

Jennifer


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=