Virtual Sled Dog Race: The Pipeline 100!

It's that time of year again! Virtual Racing!

Sled dogs, that is!

Every spring, right around Iditarod time, we run our Virtual Sled Dog race: The Pipeline 1000. It's a bit of a departure from our normal videoconference programing but simply a ton of fun!

What it is, is an online, curriculum-based, role playing game where students become the mushers responsible for the raising, equipping, training, and finally racing of their very own dog team!

Along the way they delve into the reading, writing, history, and math skills directly relevant to the care and performance of their dog team. Teams from classrooms around the country compete with each other each year, checking their results daily. It's self motivated learning at it's very best. And the more they learn the better their team runs!

For the teacher:
*Complete, standards-based curriculum with assessments
*Step-by-step video tutorials on using the curriculum
*Flexible timeline allowing for individual classroom pacing of curriculum
*Secure online classroom for teacher collaboration and dialog
*Modification guidelines for grade level adaptations

For students:
*Secure online-classroom
*Tons of online video and photographic resources
*Musher Blog
*Direct web-based communication with an Iditarod and Jr. Iditarod musher
*Live web-streamed events from a working Alaskan racing kennel
*Real-time updates of Virtual Race standings
*Prizes for the top ten finishing teams

The race starts February 22^nd and ends March 5^th so sign up soon... spots fill quickly! $100/classroom or $20/homeschool family Learn More/Register

Well, we are well and fully into the darkness of winter now!  Most of our training is now done either part way in the dark or completely!

Headlights have become our best friend and I am starting to think we should buy some stock in Duracell so we can at least earn some of our money back!

But really, training is going EXTREMELY well.  In fact this team of dogs- all of which, except Goldeen and Creamer, are under two years old- is the best team I have ever trained!

I don't know if it is the genetics of these dogs or the new training system but they are a VERY fun team to run behind!

We have pretty consistently been sticking to the plan of 2 long slow runs with 3 short fast runs.  We have played around a bit with the resting schedule of this plan in Nov. running more than resting.  But I have been watching them close for any kind of physical or mental slumps... haven't really had any, just a brief period when all the females were in season.

Last night we put it all together in a 45 mile race-pace run.  They totally RIPPED IT UP- powerfull the whole way and maintained a nice strong 10-11mph pace.  Even though we did a run where we had to do two laps of a 22.5 mile out and back loop.  And dogs COMPLETELY hate that kind of thing.  So I am sure on a "funner" trail they would have been even quicker and stronger.

Which leads me to the mental conditioning of the dogs.  This is one side of training a set of yearling sleddogs that I feel I need to be most careful.  Physically, I feel these dogs are VERY tough, but mentally, they are fragile teenagers so I am being VERY carefull to keep everything upbeat and fun!

So far it's working and I am having more fun running dogs this year than I have in a VERY long time!

I can't wait to race them and see how they compare to other teams...only problem is that our low snow levels this year keep forcing races to cancel!  One so far, and it looks like another next weekend!  Poop!

Eventually we'll get in a race though, so we will keep training hard so we are ready!

Well, it's looking good for this to be the last picture of the year showing the team running on frozen dirt roads! 

And I can't tell you how glad I am about that!  The frozen gravel has been causing us no end of trouble (and money!).  It's really hard on feet, just like if you tried running barefoot on miles and miles of 60 grit sandpaper.

On many, many, many of my dogs feet- 8 out of 12- little round rasberries formed on their pads.  Totally my fault!  Normally, at this time of year we are running on snow.  So as Novemember hits and the training miles start to pile on, their feet are not getting nearly as worn down.  And I didn't adapt quick enough to the different conditions.

I should have predicted it though, and taken the precation of putting booties on all the dogs feet before any problems showed up.  I didn't, and even though I check feet after ever run- one run is all it took!

They looked great one day, maybe their nails were getting a bit short, and then puff! 8 worn rear pads!  Darn.

We worked through it though!  Booties ( a dollar each, 24 per run), oitment, and sideharness (which forces the dogs not to pull as hard, and thus limits the wear on their feet) did the trick!  We managed to stay pretty close to our training schedule (You can check that out on our Ning site) And now all the wears are healed up and we just got an inch of snow to cover our sandpaper highways!  With more on the way tonight!

It's not enough to safely get on the sleds yet, but it's a start!