Saturday training

  Hi all. I have been Talking to Ben and Rachel over the phone. I am still away from the kennel. Ben and Rachel are going to do  intravels today. This can be quite grueling for the dogs. If it is done wrong it can have negative consequence's. I learned how to do intravels as an athlete my self. Over the years by trial and error we have learned how to apply this training to sled dogs.

  Rachel and Ben report a decent trail at home now. I think they received a couple of inches since I have been gone. The trail is fairly flat. This is a good time to start some intravel training. This kind of training is a benefit to the speed of the dogs. It allows them to open up in speed and stretch out while running. It works on anaerobic training. This is training the muscle without adequate oxygen. Continued training allows the muscle to perform better and longer with less than adequate oxygen. In Human training the human body does not have the ability to take in enough oxygen to provide the muscles at a high rate of use. Example is while the human body is sprinting.  The body learns how to cope and recover with the proper training. 

  This kind of training does wonders for speed and  response training in dogs. It helps the dogs to react to Q's that are giving while racing for asking for speed or increase of speed.  There are two ways to do it. You are able to do this training with a static rest or a moving rest. To start off we will be doing intravels with a static rest. The distance you run and the amount of rest is a formula that you will figure for your team at a given time of the year. The better shape the team is in the farther they will have the ability to run at high speed before a rest. Condition also results in a shorter rest. Or shorter recovery time. It really is up to the trainer to see how their team looks. This is why it can be detrimental to the team if you push them to fast and hard before they are ready. If you pay any attention to your dogs you will see if you did too much.  Dogs can also run faster, harder than a human can. Human training is just a guide line. 

  I will report back and see how the dogs did today after I talk to Ben and Rachel.