While my first taste at endurance riding was pretty relaxed - Pikar from Style de Cheval even sent my friend and I food recommendations for the weekend :) - my second weekend in Malaysia will be slightly more studious.
Zahari, my teacher at Horse Valley Riding Academy in JB, introduced me to one of his former students in Putrajaya, next to Kuala Lumpur, and I’ll be going there this weekend.
For starters, he asked me to start cardio exercises five times a week and to work on my core and leg strength. This is getting serious and, to be honest, without a good trainer by my side I’m pretty much guessing the type of work-out I need.
Yet, it's really great, as I’ve been wondering what the regular training for an endurance rider is and now I have a taste of what it takes to become one. No secret here, with pretty obvious focused areas.
For me, so far, I have been:
going to yoga three times per week (HIIT and core yoga mainly)
riding three times per week
My issue with exercise is that I need to find it ‘interesting’ – I like running when I can do it outside, as well as swimming, as they both put me in a meditative state. However, I’m not sure that will be enough or it is truly needed for endurance.
I went back to running for a while, but it was only 30-minute slots in the morning on the treadmill and I got bored. I haven’t tried yet swimming, even though I’m sure it can only be beneficial.
Do you have any recommendations?
