I tested the on board monitor for trail work today. Her little trot came in at about 80-86 bpm, her working trot at 100-120. Her rate on small hills was about 90-96, and on the big training hill it hit 160 bpm.
As a training tool should I be trying to get her rate up to 130 for sustained periods of time and then back off? Or should I be looking just for that sweet spot of 120 and trying to maintain?
On hill work should I keep repeating that big training hill each session to see if her pulse will get lower with training?
The monitor is a great tool for "knowing" now I need some clue on how to use it to the best advantage. Off to search the web! ~E.G.
...I'm curious too...
ReplyDeleteI have used a HRM a lot over the years. What I used to do is set a target range and gradually improved the amount of time I kept the horses in that range. It varied with each horse but usually was in the 100 to 130 bpm rate. Start with 5 or 10 minutes and then every couple of weeks add on a few more minutes until you get up to 40 minutes during a workout of having the HR up. By that point they were pretty fit and that was when I was riding faster and often top tenning or placing up in the front.
ReplyDeleteI still always strove to have a 2 minute or less recovery to 60 after any strenuous workout up to the top of a hill.
I always set my alarm at 165 on a ride and never go above that or if I do it's only for the brief period of time it took for the alarm to go off and the horses to slow down and drop back down. Over time all of my horses have learned to slow down so that we never set the alarm off. Once my horses learn that I usually stop using the HRM on them.