Bruce Lamb's Eventing Blog - March 2012

March 12, 2012: First real "cardio" ride of the season. Just did about 500 m. of warm-up, 2 km of easy canter, and 500 m. of cool-down trot, plus a fair bit of walking. Of course, Gamble was anxious to go fast during the initial canter, but eased into a steady pace after a couple of minutes.

My GPS is setup for "miles", not kilometres, so I have to translate a bit. I was hoping for around a "pre-training" speed for this session (400 metres per minute or mpm). Here are my splits:

0.37 mile warm-up: 7:52/mile (205 mpm)
1.00 mile canter: 4:06/mile (393 mpm)
0.29 mile canter: 3:39/mile (441 mpm)
0.31 mile cool-down: 6:50/mile (235 mpm)

So, the pace overall was right about where I wanted. Total workout time was 10 minutes and 9 seconds.

For reference, I'll want to be somewhere in the 3:34 per mile (451 mpm) and 3:10 per mile (508 mpm) range for an actual 2000 metre Training level Event (since we get a 30 second "faster-than" buffer).

March 8, 2012: Dressage lesson today with Gamble. He is doing very well. I need to remember to do canter transitions with just pressure with my outside calf. Don't lower your hands.

I need to do diagonals for a simple change, but wait until Gamble is soft and supple before picking up the opposite lead. Get 2 to 4 nice simple changes and then move on.

March 7, 2012: Jumped Gamble over a simple vertical -- starting at 2'6, then 3', then 3'5 (the max for Training level) and then 3'9" -- a new personal best for him. He didn't knock a pole all night. As Hyde Moffat says, "Energy, Rhythm, Straightness and Balance".



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