Скачать или смотреть Starting Man v Horse Training - Vlog 171 - Beth Endurance

We are 13 weeks out from Man Vs Horse (well we were when I wrote this). Which means it's time for Tissy to start training. I've been seeing lots of updates of people in full swing training on Facebook and I must say I'm impressed with the preparation. Tissy, however, is a seasoned pro and has an excellent foundation of fitness and strength, coupled with the fact that winter training is too hard for her to keep weight on, I knew that we'd have to start our prep later than everyone else.

Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, in human and horse athletes I have seen people get the peak of training wrong, training harder and harder instead of smarter with very little recovery. So although a little part of my brain felt like I should be keeping up with everyone else, I also know that my plan is sound, it just doesn't allow for much wriggle room.

So here we are at the start of a new challenge. I have broken her training down into 3 blocks. We aren't starting from scratch as she's been ticking over with a ride here and there for the last year. Which means we've done the longest part of any training, setting the foundation. The first block will focus on strength with x3 sessions a week of 2x 10km minimum training rides at an average speed of 10-12kph and x1 Pessoa or pole work. I'm also trying to make the majority of her rides on hills to add specificity to her training and have a week booked off to go home to Wales in April.

The next block will focus on distance, increasing to 2x 10km minimum and x1 20km training ride, whilst increasing speed slightly, and the last block will focus on speed, based on previous Man Vs Horse results (Yes, I have run the stats for all finishers over the years) my aim is to up her training from 12-14kph to an average speed of 16kph.

I have lots of experience training Tissy, so that part I'm pretty confident about. What I'm not so sure about is our hoof plan. Now I know people have done Man Vs Horse barefoot and booted, but I have only ever raced Tissy with shoes on. There are pros and cons to both. Shoes might come off in the bog but so might a boot, barefoot negates that risk but the stony terrain might be too much for her. If she wears shoes I can use the boots as back up. It really comes down to my inexperience of anything other than shod. For now I have 5 weeks of training to decide what to do, so I'm going to see how she copes barefoot over harder, stonier terrain and go from there.

My aim for the event is to have fun on a horse who loves to race, I am going to stick to my race plan (that is adaptable depending on conditions), if that plan means we're first or last I don't care. It's just about setting my own goals and enjoying my favourite pony in her favourite environment.