Endurance Test 2011 Thread

[RubyStar]

I did a lousy 5km tonight - 2.5km with each dog. But my butt sure is feeling it after the ride yesterday!

Ruby is still such a princess. Starts limping dramatically on the road, her paws don't like it. So I ride her on grass and she's fine :rolleyes: She carries on like she has a rock in her paw but I check and she's fine.

[Sir Sniffalot]

Wow this thread is really moving along now.

Hamish is going great with his training, 3 x 5km's per week, 1 x 8km's with a 10km on the weekend, he is managing really well and we have had the kids out with their dogs so he can get use to dogs in front and behind him as well as catching up to his place in line incase of a toilet stop. We are going to do the 25th of June ET at the GSD Club Cherry Lake Reserve, Altona. Hamish will be 2 years and 9 days old for it

Just wondering what lengh lead are people using ? Is it required to be a certain lengh ? Anyone else doing the Altona ET ?

[Abbiestar]

Wow this thread is really moving along now.

Hamish is going great with his training, 3 x 5km's per week, 1 x 8km's with a 10km on the weekend, he is managing really well and we have had the kids out with their dogs so he can get use to dogs in front and behind him as well as catching up to his place in line incase of a toilet stop. We are going to do the 25th of June ET at the GSD Club Cherry Lake Reserve, Altona. Hamish will be 2 years and 9 days old for it

Just wondering what lengh lead are people using ? Is it required to be a certain lengh ? Anyone else doing the Altona ET ?

Hi Sir Sniffalot,

I will be judging the ET at Cherry Lake. I recommend that you have a lead that is comfortable to hold. An obedience trial suitable length is fine. You do not want the lead too long so that it gets tangled in the dog's legs, or even worse, in the bicycle wheel. I also think your training pattern is good. Do Not overwork Hamish. If he can cope with what you are currently doing, he will be fine at the test. Remeber, at the test, it is very controlled and pace set at 10-12 kph. There are three rest breaks for dogs and humans. Good luck for the ET.

M

[Zenith]

Sounds like everyone is going great with training.

We did just over 13.5kms yesterday on the local bike track, some on the grass, sometimes on the path. He coped really well, didn't even think about passing bikes, kids playing soccer, dogs being walked. A few people stopped to ask what we were doing, and asking lots of questions, and others just to comment on how well he was going (from other purebred owners/showies).

I tried to get my brakes changed sides, but the back brake has hydraulic disks and the front just disk brakes, so will need to buy another hydraulic set for the front so the levers can be swapped.

[OSoSwift]

I am a little worried if I start doing 10+ kms next to the bike in my training sessions I will be overdoing it.

But being a Whippet I am very concious of the fact they are not a breed naturally inclined towards endurance. Not sure what to do at the moment. I don't want to over do it and have a sore dog who can't go at all.

I do 7kms on the bike and then a walk as well and he is just about pulling to go for the walk and never lags, then comes comes and runs Whippet zoomies around the 5 acres so I think his fitness is up there.

Hmmm what to do???

[Abbiestar]

I am a little worried if I start doing 10+ kms next to the bike in my training sessions I will be overdoing it.

But being a Whippet I am very concious of the fact they are not a breed naturally inclined towards endurance. Not sure what to do at the moment. I don't want to over do it and have a sore dog who can't go at all.

I do 7kms on the bike and then a walk as well and he is just about pulling to go for the walk and never lags, then comes comes and runs Whippet zoomies around the 5 acres so I think his fitness is up there.

Hmmm what to do???

I don't think you should be looking at the test as a 20k event. It is broken up into three sections of 8k, 6k, and 6k again. It sounds like his fitness is at a good level to complete the test. Try taking him out for 8 ks and then resting him for 15 minutes, then go again. It is amazing how quickly the dogs can recover from their exercise and want to go again.

M

[Abbiestar]

Sounds like everyone is going great with training.

We did just over 13.5kms yesterday on the local bike track, some on the grass, sometimes on the path. He coped really well, didn't even think about passing bikes, kids playing soccer, dogs being walked. A few people stopped to ask what we were doing, and asking lots of questions, and others just to comment on how well he was going (from other purebred owners/showies).

I tried to get my brakes changed sides, but the back brake has hydraulic disks and the front just disk brakes, so will need to buy another hydraulic set for the front so the levers can be swapped.

Hi, glad the training is going well. Sounds like we have lots of bragging posts about all the new ET titles being earned over the coming months!

Why do you need to change the side the brakes are on?

M

[murve]

It's great to everybody is into gear & doing well :D We did 7k's on the bike this morning with the speed between 10-15k's not missing a beat , then off to club for Obedience training mind you Orlando is only at CCD level we got shoved into the higher class all work off lead.

whoa hoa Orlando didnt put a paw out of place he even did change of postion, (never done that with him before), 3 min sit stay normally he breaks 1min sits, I'm over the moon he has started working in leaps & bounds hopely we will have 2 titles by the end of this year

Edited May 8, 2011 by murve

[OSoSwift]

I am a little worried if I start doing 10+ kms next to the bike in my training sessions I will be overdoing it.

But being a Whippet I am very concious of the fact they are not a breed naturally inclined towards endurance. Not sure what to do at the moment. I don't want to over do it and have a sore dog who can't go at all.

I do 7kms on the bike and then a walk as well and he is just about pulling to go for the walk and never lags, then comes comes and runs Whippet zoomies around the 5 acres so I think his fitness is up there.

Hmmm what to do???

I don't think you should be looking at the test as a 20k event. It is broken up into three sections of 8k, 6k, and 6k again. It sounds like his fitness is at a good level to complete the test. Try taking him out for 8 ks and then resting him for 15 minutes, then go again. It is amazing how quickly the dogs can recover from their exercise and want to go again.

M

Yes Abbistar you are right, I was considering doing that so will give it a go. He seems to be just as energetic at he beginning as he is when we have been for a run.

Murve, sounds like Orlando is enjoying the extra exercise, well done in the obedience training as well - go Orlando (very cool Whippet name by the way!) It will be great to have some more titles by the end of the year.

Hopefully we can get two more passes so Lewis will have his CCD and Rommi her CD. We only have 2 trials planned for this year though so Murphy's Law will state it doesn't happen quite that way!

[murve]

Thanks OSS

the breeders gave him that name, so we left it at that

oh yes Orlando suddenly found the erge or should I say I found the right button to push to get him to work the secret is my 8 month old Pappy boy, Sarge, :D every time I pay attention to Sarge, playing or training Orlando pays attention & starts doing everythingat a drop of the hat. We think there is a little bit of the green eyed monster showing here

[RubyStar]

I'm too scared to work my girls too far and too fast. We can only cope comfortably with a quick recovery time of about 3km's at about 6-7km/hr. So yes, still quite slow. If I can get them doing 3-3.5km's (as that is a set route I can take on local footpaths) without lagging at the end, I will increase speed, and then when they are doing that, increase distance. Does that sound ok? I am definitely not aiming for this year's ET, they are clearly nowhere near the fitness they should be, but if I work to get their fitness up anyway it can only be a good thing! I just want to do it right I'm just glad they are recovering almost immediately, I'd be worried if they were still panting for ages after getting home! Any advice would be appreciated Thanks.

[murve]

I just took Malika (our Papillon) out for her bike run, I think we did well this morning,we covered 3k at a speed of 9.5 - 10k's, she kept the pace well just broke a couple of times. Yes I did push her a little just to see how Malika would go, she pulled up great.

What do you think Abbistar????.

came back to a whinging whinning whippet, all because I left him home

[Zenith]

Sounds like everyone is going great with training.

We did just over 13.5kms yesterday on the local bike track, some on the grass, sometimes on the path. He coped really well, didn't even think about passing bikes, kids playing soccer, dogs being walked. A few people stopped to ask what we were doing, and asking lots of questions, and others just to comment on how well he was going (from other purebred owners/showies).

I tried to get my brakes changed sides, but the back brake has hydraulic disks and the front just disk brakes, so will need to buy another hydraulic set for the front so the levers can be swapped.

Hi, glad the training is going well. Sounds like we have lots of bragging posts about all the new ET titles being earned over the coming months!

Why do you need to change the side the brakes are on?

M

I had a fall a few weeks ago when Cash stopped when we were doing 18-19km/hr and I went straight over the handle bars after grabbing the front brake. I feel much more comfortable if I can ride one handed with my right hand on the back brake if necessary Not really keen on having another fall, my skins still growing back after the last one

[Zenith]

I just took Malika (our Papillon) out for her bike run, I think we did well this morning,we covered 3k at a speed of 9.5 - 10k's, she kept the pace well just broke a couple of times. Yes I did push her a little just to see how Malika would go, she pulled up great.

What do you think Abbistar????.

came back to a whinging whinning whippet, all because I left him home

Sounds great, sounds like great distance/pace for a little one

[Zenith]

I'm too scared to work my girls too far and too fast. We can only cope comfortably with a quick recovery time of about 3km's at about 6-7km/hr. So yes, still quite slow. If I can get them doing 3-3.5km's (as that is a set route I can take on local footpaths) without lagging at the end, I will increase speed, and then when they are doing that, increase distance. Does that sound ok? I am definitely not aiming for this year's ET, they are clearly nowhere near the fitness they should be, but if I work to get their fitness up anyway it can only be a good thing! I just want to do it right I'm just glad they are recovering almost immediately, I'd be worried if they were still panting for ages after getting home! Any advice would be appreciated Thanks.

Not coming from an ET background (so feel free to ignore because I've never been in or completed an ET), but from a fitness/competition background, since you have plenty of time until you need to complete the ET, I would concentrate on base training. Base training is about completing 'easy' miles, and building distance at a relatively easy pace so that you build endurance. Then closer to the trial/competition you begin a training program specific for that event (interval training, steep hill work etc). I also work on implementing an easy day, medium day and hard day into each training week. I work on a goal distance for each week, and that is my hard day.

So for example say you work on a 4 week training cycle, with 3 training sessions per week (Goal of 3.5kms):

Wk1 Day1: 2km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk1 Day2: 1km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk1 Day3: 3km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk 2 might repeat depending on your goals and assessment of how your dogs have coped.

Wk2 Day1: 2km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk2 Day2: 1km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk2 Day3: 3km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk3 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk3 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk3 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Then as I count Wk 4 as the 'rest' week, I would repeat Wk 1

Wk4 Day1: 2km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk4 Day2: 1km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk4 Day3: 3km (@6-7km/hr)

Next 4 week cycle (Goal of 4kms):

Wk5 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk5 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk5 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk6 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk6 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk6 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk7 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk7 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk7 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk8 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk8 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk8 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Next 4 week cycle (Goal of 4.5kms):

Wk9 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk9 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk9 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk10 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk10 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk10 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk11 Day1: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk11 Day2: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk11 Day3: 4.5km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk12 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk12 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Wk12 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr)

Next 4 week cycle:

You may be find you may be able to increase speed slightly as fitness has increased so you could do 7-8km/hr, but I would repeat the previous 4 week cycle program, and then think about increasing distance the next cycle if the dog copes ok.

NB. Sometimes though you may not be ready to do more distance the next cycle, so just repeat the last one, or if really struggling, drop back another 4 week cycle and build from there.

I also make sure I walk my dog before and after his rides, to warm up and cool down. Because my dog is relatively fit and very energetic I have been training 7 days per week, I do one medium distance, one short, one long, one short, one medium, one short etc etc building the long distance each week. I am trying my hardest to stay between 10-12km/hr (he'd rather travel faster), so far he's coping very well.

Then working up to 12 weeks out from the ET I will do more interval training, going from 10-12km/hr up to 18km/hr, then back to 5kms per hour to rest/get breath back, then another fast interval.

Again as I've not done an ET before I'm sure the more experienced ET'ers may have better advice for you

[Guest Panzer Attack!]

I just took Malika (our Papillon) out for her bike run, I think we did well this morning,we covered 3k at a speed of 9.5 - 10k's, she kept the pace well just broke a couple of times. Yes I did push her a little just to see how Malika would go, she pulled up great.

What do you think Abbistar????.

came back to a whinging whinning whippet, all because I left him home

Ooh murve, are you going to try and title Malika?? I want to do ET with Scooter in a couple of years but wasn't sure if Paps are too little to be able to do it...

Good luck to everyone with their training! X

[murve]

I just took Malika (our Papillon) out for her bike run, I think we did well this morning,we covered 3k at a speed of 9.5 - 10k's, she kept the pace well just broke a couple of times. Yes I did push her a little just to see how Malika would go, she pulled up great.

What do you think Abbistar????.

came back to a whinging whinning whippet, all because I left him home

Ooh murve, are you going to try and title Malika?? I want to do ET with Scooter in a couple of years but wasn't sure if Paps are too little to be able to do it...

Good luck to everyone with their training! X

Hi PA yep we are going to trial her for ET but I not sure if she will be ready this year, I might have a talk to the vets tomorrow, needle day for her & Orlando

It takes longer to prep a small breed to compare to a larger breed, but if a Pug can get his title of ET we can

Scooter will have to wait till after he has his 2nd b/day

[RubyStar]

Zenith, thanks a lot for taking the time to write that out for me! That helps me a lot

I'm definitely impressed with a Papillon going 10-12 km/hr! My Labs struggle at half that pace and their legs are longer! Yes they can run fast, but don't have the endurance to keep that up over several km's (yet!)

[murve]

Thamk you Zenith, I agree with RS :D we will take it on board, it will be particuarly good when our boys are old enough to start to take on extra activities. Sarge & Dodger are only 8 months old

Mailka & Orlando love going out with the bike they go into physco moad

[murve]

Zenith, thanks a lot for taking the time to write that out for me! That helps me a lot

I'm definitely impressed with a Papillon going 10-12 km/hr! My Labs struggle at half that pace and their legs are longer! Yes they can run fast, but don't have the endurance to keep that up over several km's (yet!)

well I suppose when you are raised with a Whippet you soon learn to pick up the speed to keep up