Run Luba Run!

One of the key principles in conditioning your horse for distance riding is to increase either speed or distance, but not both at the same time.

A big goal this year has been to increase speed. Over the past couple months, this has included interval work at home and several trips to St. Lazare to ride on the trails maintained by the Club Equestre les Forestiers.  Luba and I have had the good fortune to practise group riding, often led by seasoned endurance rider, Wendy MacCoubrey. She has an uncanny ability to hone in on our weaknesses and ruthlessly turn them into strengths.

Going faster means more cantering and less trotting. We pace very well at the trot  - 6, 7, 8, 9 mph - no problemo. Pacing well at the canter is a work in progress. There is a great 1.75 mile canter loop at St. Lazare where we have been working on this. Luba settles into a comfortable canter around 12 mph, so I have to work hard to keep her steady at 10 or 11 mph. When she gets going too fast, I bring her back to a slower trot and then ask for canter again.

We have also been working on changing position in a group, and in particular, in passing, leading and leaving the group if we want to maintain a faster pace. Important skills if you want to ride your own ride.

So our objective for the Coates Creek 50 last weekend was to pace as close to 10 mph as possible for the whole ride.

The 50 started in the dark at 5:30 am. Luba and I set out with our friends Mecca and Denise on the white loop. Both gray mares paced well side by side and soon we were enjoying the beautiful sunrise and talking about how fun it is to ride together, la la la.  We soon caught up with our friends, Yellowhead and Lia, who said she hadn't seen a ribbon in a while on this concession road. There was a cross road not far ahead, so we checked the map and continued on to see what road it was.
YIKES! We had missed a left hand turn two concessions back. By the time we were back on trail, we had added about 5 miles to our 50.

LESSON 1: If you don't see a ribbon for a while, turn around and go back to the last ribbon on trail.



It was a cool day, so Luba pulsed down to 58 as soon as I took off her saddle. We were trying to leave promptly at our out time for every loop, so we left on the green loop a minute or two ahead of Mecca and Denise. They caught up to us a after a few miles and the girls paced well together for the rest of the loop averaging 10 mph.

Luba was eating well, but in hindsight, I was not. I was definitely the weak link on the team.  I had a Larabar,  lots of fruit and Green Goodness smoothies. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but endurance riders need more serious carbs.

LESSON 2: Make some sandwiches for your crew cooler.

photo: T. McGee

The girls pulsed in together after the green loop and we completed the first trip around the red loop at an average pace of 10 mph.

Luba and I left on time, alone and unafraid, for the second and last red loop. All day my strategy was to mount up about 10 minutes before our out time and to warm up doing walk/trot transitions on 20 m circles and figure 8's near the out timer. When it was time to head out, she was already wound up and ready to slingshot onto the trail. Ready, Set, GO! and we cantered out of ride camp. This was a big improvement over past events, where I would have to get off and run out of camp with Luba in hand until we were in the bush and she was convinced that we really were going to ride another loop.

LESSON 3: Warm up your horse and canter out after every hold.

Turns out that Luba can run at close to 10 mph for over 50 miles and with great recoveries.  She finished all A's, ride time of 5:46, with a heart rate of 48 just 10 minutes after crossing the finish line.

RUN LUBA RUN!

photo: wendywebbphotography.com