<< Tom,
Thanks for this openness discussion
Point 1 -Ok , cardiovascular and obviously VMAX capabilities are not the
only
barriers of difficulty with an endurance horse.
Especialy when your objective is to finish, don't take care of that
(roughly)
The alteration of locomotion must be carefully checked.
Point 2 -What is the slice size and the time period, that's the question. I
mean
how dou you consider rest, what kind of and when ?
Best Regards
Pierre Bulte
France (Europe) >>
Pierre,
I would probably use a 1-5 work rest ratio for anaerobic work, that is a one
minute burst wants a five minute recovery. By strict definition in human
sport, these would be repetitions, not intervals (closer to 1-1 work/rest).
For less strenuous work, you can probably get away with 1-1 intervals.
On a weekly basis, every day would be some kind of a working day, but the
hard days would be 4-5 days apart. With our thoroughbreds and standardbreds
we increase the mile rate by about 5 sconds per hard workout. that is, if the
horse is galloping at a 3:00 per mile rate today, then in four or five days,
he should be at 2:55. More typically, our horse might be working 3 X 1 mile
intervals, say, in 2:30, 2:20, 2:10. The following workout would be at 2:25,
2:15, 2:05. On occasion, I might take two workouts to get to the same place,
as in 2:30, 2:20, 2:05, followed by a tightening or acquisition workout of
2:25, 2:15, 2:05.
The distances and speeds of endurance workouts would be entirely different,
but the principles remain the same.
ti