Run Beside Me

Run Beside Me

It wasn’t the trails he wanted me to know, framed by the tall pine trees or the paths bordered by a majestic sea. 

It wasn’t the early mornings and the beauty of that rising sun, or the silvery moon watching over a back road run.

It wasn’t the trails that he wanted me to know, but rather someone to run and walk besides, see what he saw, feel what he did, share what he loved, to run beside me.

The Iditarod is not run in one day!

Being a national champion, legend and one hell of a hound, these are my main beliefs regarding training;

Who says sledding is for Sibes!

Gradual Changes

When I train, I gradually increase my distance over the first three months. 

Here’s a training tip:

If you are a “wanna” be sled dog in training;  when you start to pull a object in harness, keep the session short, not more than a 1km -2km, with stops in between.

Regular Sessions

Like eating, your owner feeds you regularly?  Well, training is the same, you need to train regularly.  Early in the season you should be running 3 – 4 times a week, later on  you will increase to 5 weekly sessions.

Here’s a training tip:

Never more than 2 consecutive rest days and never more than 4 consecutive work days.  Why, because a good looking hound like me needs rest and time with the ladies of course!

Focus

Being a legend and television star it’s hard to maintain focus, but I do. Stay focused on developing the qualities needed for the event.  Therefore, if you are running a large team, focus on speed and resistance training and if you are running a smaller team you should focus on speed and power training.  For long distance events, one should focus on endurance and recovery speed training. 

Mutual Trust

I trust Glen, and he trusts me.  This mutual trust, our bond, is the key for performing well. No trust equals poor performance.  I will not enjoy pulling the sled and I will soon become discouraged and refuse to run, should Glen use force and make me run.

Here’s a training tip:

If both musher and hound are happy, they'll run well.  Remember when training, patience is key, especially with a northern breed like me.  As I always say; “...The Iditarod is not run in one day!”

Hike on!

Duke

The Importance of Obedience Training (Sled Dogs)

Due to my independent nature as a Siberian Husky and the absence of direct contact between Glen and myself when "sledding", training me to obey is Glen's most difficult task.  Here is a list of things he requires me to do;

• tolerate having the harness harnessed and removed
• pass or cross the path of other teams as well as other dogs running loose,
• keep my cool in unusual situations (motor cars, screams of adoring fans, bird, bunny or cow etc...)
• understand his commands (go, slow down, and stop.)

I'm Glen's "lead dog" (only sled dog) and as lead dogs we need to obey and understand the following commands;

• GEE - turn right
• GEE OVER - move over to the right
• HAW - turn left
• HAW OVER - move over to the left
• ON BY - go straight, do not be distracted by that adoring fan or bird, bunny, cow etc...
• WHOAA - slow down
• STAY - stay
• WAIT - wait get ready for the GO command
• HIKE, HIKE,HIKE -  GO, GO, GO my favourite command, also can mean speed up

Believe me Glen spends a great deal of time teaching me these commands, I enjoy my runs a lot more now that I understand these commands. He also says.....shhhhhh don't tell him I told you so....that this is one of the reasons why we win!

Go on, have a howling good time on the trails...


Duke



                                                                                                                               

Duke's Training Program



Duke on his way to winning Nationals

  We have roughly 4 Goals           

·         to get Duke in optimal condition for his run.

·         to ensure that Duke understands what is expected of him, and therefore will respond to my commands with conditioned reflexes .

·         to have Duke work at maximal performance when required during training runs and his run; this is often difficult, since maximal performance is often accompanied by fragility.

·         keeping it fun and enjoying the run.

Duke has an annual training program, which is broken down into 3 phases:

·         off-season

·         pre-season

·         and season

At present, because of the weather conditions, Duke is in his off-season phase but it is important for a Sporting Dog to be trained regularly.  We therefore keep Duke moderately active and make an effort to maintain his weight as close as possible to his standard.  His training in off-season thus comprises of the following;

·         exercises that develop or at least maintain muscular endurance and strength,

·         a program of low-intensity courses once or twice a week

·         a maximum amount of games so that he can relax and have fun.

a typical weekly program below...

Off-Season Training Program

Day	Exercise	Notes
Sun	Beach run/walk, Dune Runs	Short 60-80% intensity Runs, Rest, Hydrate
Mon	Rest	Backyard/Park Play
Tue	Rest	Obedience on and off-lead
Wed	2km – 3km run (Canni –X)	20-40% low-intensity, increase distance as season progresses
Thurs	Rest
Fri	2km – 3km run (Canni –X)	20-40% low-intensity, increase distance as season progresses
Sat	Rest	Casual Beach/Park/Neighbourhood walk

Dogs, Running and Dirt Roads

215km of lovely dirt

Running with your dog is the easiest way of creating a bond, a way of keeping fit, a way of enjoying what our country has to offer and when you find a group of people that share this passion it makes it even a greater way of enjoying life.  Life with your best friend, your dog.

For those that are unfamilar with dog powered sport, here is a brief description of the sport.

Dog powered sport is a developing sport practised here in South Africa, by a committed group of dog loving people that call themselves "mushers".  Sled dog sports are often reffered to as "mushing".  There are several different types practised around the world largely dependent on tradition and climate.  The 3 main styles are known as: Nome, Nordic and Dryland.  In South Africa we practice the dog powered sport of Dryland Sledding.  This type is practiced with or without a wheeled sled.  "Sleds" can include; a scooter whereby the driver kicks (scoots), and or pushes the scooter with his dog or dogs attached in front of the scooter, a bicycle (known as bikejoring) where the driver peddles the bicycle and the dog is attached to the bicycle with a tug-line; or a 3 or 4 wheeled cart which the musher rides and whereby the dogs are attached by harnesses.  Canni-X is the dryland style that is performed with no sled.  The musher literally runs behind his dog and is attached to his dog by means of a waist belt.  Because South Africa has limited snow; Dryland sledding is practiced on dirt roads. We therefore had to find a suitable dirt road, cool temperatures and little traffic.  Preferably it had to be long! 

After a couple of Google searches we found it!  Dirt, lovely dirt!  If you leave Ceres and keep left you find yourself on the R355. The R355 will take you up to Calvinia via the longest stretch of road with no town in between; 215km.

Support Duke's preparation and follow our site and @runDOOXrun, and support our cause to get the dogs out of their backyards, the kids outdoors and the parent's fit.

runDOOXrun .. getting pooches out of the backyard...

Duke will be running 215km, later this year to create awareness for all his doggie friends who are imprisoned and forgotten in their owners backyards.

Please follow our site, and support our cause to get the dogs out of their backyards, the kids outdoors and the parent's fit.