Training for a 30 mile Sled Dog Race when you live in the South.

How do you train for a sled dog race when you live in the South?

When you live on the eastern shore of Md. training for a 30 mile sled dog race such as the Can Am Insternational Sled Dog Race can be challenging even if your goal is merely to finish and improve on your time. The main challenge is to get enough training miles on your team so you can get to the starting line. And don’t forget the musher. As an older musher who came to the sport in retirement I find it very helpful to spend an equal amount of time on conditioning myself so I can be as fit as my canine companions.

Conditioning the Musher:

My personal fitness regimen is two-fold:
1. I eat a healthy diet and avoid inflammatory foods that create issues with my joints and flexibility.
2. I follow an exercise program that includes Yoga for flexibility, Pilates for core strength, and elliptical work and spinning for cardiovascular conditioning.

I especially work on my own conditioning in the summer when I have more time since the dogs spend their summers being couch potatoes. I find I enjoy varying my workout to include as many things as possible in my training regimen so I’ll be more motivated to exercise. Such an outlook has led me to SUP (Stand Up Paddling) which is a great way to combine strength, endurance training and core work. And SUP yoga is a double whammy!

Sled Dogs and Dryland Training:

Sled dogs need conditioning and strengthening, and they need to respond to voice commands otherwise the musher has no steering ability and we’ll all end up in a ditch or chasing after squirrels! Exposure to race situations is also a plus because it helps the dogs get used to crowds and cheering fans, as well as waiting in a starting chute for the countdown and the command “Go Driver!” So how does one get a sled dog from being a summer couch potato to a leaping dog in harness at the starting line of a sled dog race.
Let me note here that you can’t train a dog to run. A sled dog genetically NEEDS to run and WANTS to run. The musher’s role is to channel that desire into being an effective member of a sled dog team. And for that the team needs miles and miles of training. For all mushers that training starts in the fall on dirt. In Maryland I start out in October and train with a dryland cart as long as the temperatures are down in the 40’s or below. Because the humidity is a factor on the eastern shore sometimes running in the mid 40’s is very draining. And that limits our ability to add miles to our training runs cialis generika kaufen schweiz. So we try to wait till the temperatures are below 40. While we wait for the temps to get cool, short runs can be had by hooking up a dog to a scooter or a bike and that provides good one-on-one training and builds confidence.

In the fall, mushing groups sometimes organize training weekends so mushers can work on passing skills while slowly adding training miles to their workout. This past Fall, 2012, I was able to take part in 2 training weekends. One was in Maine at an event called Sled Dog Basics put together by the Maine Highlands Sled Dog Club. The other was a Musher’s Reunion weekend put together by a retired musher who still maintains a nice system of trails in western Pennsylvania. Events such as these make it possible for mushers to train together and there is a lot of sharing of experience and information. It’s a great way to start a dryland training season. Once the temperatures are cool enough serious dryland training can start and I generally train my 4-dog team with a German made cart that has 2 sets of brakes so I can stop the team and make corrections.

Because I live near the ocean I sometimes use a special dune cart and go run the dogs on the beach when the tourists have left and the beach is deserted. Running in sand is a good opportunity to build muscle and the dogs have the added benefit of chasing seagulls along the water.

A musher’s gotta do what she’s gotta do. As far as I’m concerned it’s all about having fun!

=)

Next up—-Snow Training.

Happy Trails!