Sorry Moose,
For some reason this didn't post, last time.
Yes, that was a fun weekend. I believe it was actually fall of 2005.
Going into the 2006 Iditarod, I spent two weeks camping just below our tour staging area, on Mount Bachelor. It was quite a treat. We would take two teams on a 30 to 70 mile run and end up back at the mountain. After a few hours of rest- once it got dark- I would take one of the teams back out on our 6 mile tour trail, 3 to 5 times, come back and take the other team. We would spend the night up there and the team would do one more long run or tours and then we would go home. I would repeat the process with two other teams two or three days later. When we got to Alaska and ran the tustumena 200, my dogs were used to camping but not the cold so we used that race as our last major camping trip, before Iditarod, as opposed to 2005 when the tustumena had been their first camping trip. Through February Tim and I did a few short camping runs so the dogs would not fall out of the routine; three hours, rest three hours and run home. That was a blast too. And by the time we got to Iditarod, the dogs expected to be fed and lay down the moment I put straw on the ground. They expected to run multiple times and they always knew everything would be alright. Last year, for many reasons, our only camping trips were short races (again) and look what happened. This year, I plan to spend the majority of December camped in the mountains and we plan to do several short races once I get to Alaska.
Rachael
Moose wrote:Hi Rachael! Thanks for dropping in. We met and had a chance to chat when you and your dad came to Maine a couple of years ago. That must have been the fall of 2006, because I think it was the year of your first Iditarod finish. Right? Perhaps you remember the monsoon that weekend that flooded the fairgrounds and made such a deafening din on the metal roof we sat under? The weather kept some of the crowds away and made for a much more intimate setting for the rest of us. It was a pleasure to meet you and Jerry. I enjoyed your bookremendously, and it's been a real treat following your sled-doggin' adventures.
Well, now that I've gushed, I'd better come up with a question or two.
So, I think at that symposium someone asked what you might do differently when training for the next season, and you said that you were satisfied with the training miles you'd covered but that you'd do more camping with the dogs. Did you do more camping coming into 2007 and, if so, what were the benefits derived, if any?
And just to follow up, how about anticipated training tweaks/changes between 2008 and coming into 2009?
Thanks, Rachael. Skritches to your team.