|
In my heart of hearts, Siberian
Huskies can go 20 mph. I've witnessed it in other
Siberian teams as well as GPS'ing ours when I've set
them up for such a run. How far? 5 miles in a 12
mile run exercise, sometimes a bit longer. Do we
shoot for this? Yes, certainly a defining criteria
for any speed team is just that. Is it practical?
Depends on your goals. Chewing on race results is a
complex issue. Unlike the mid and long distance
world where nearly everyone is ready to "go" on a
particular race day, the speed world in "open class"
racing is far different. Our view is that race
distances past 14 to 16 miles show the weaknesses in
teams that were trained as if they were going to an
8 or 10 mile event, and also weaknesses in dogs
purely not capable of maintaining the speed for the
distance. From this aspect, though definitely a
target, speeds nicking 20 mph would not likely occur
for the entire distance. For kennels targeting the
shorter speed races, we say, why not a 20 mph
target?
Analyzing race results in
relation to a teams placing and time throughout a
season is particularly tricky. A smaller kennel with
minimal freeboard (numbers of dogs to choose from)
that targets a Rondezvous, North American, or
Laconia is patently going to train more
conservatively and correspondingly show just that in
races entered prior to these "main" events. Race
results may not be indicative of the team's real
capabilities and it would be pure idiocy to put a
good dog team suited for these races at risk by
running too fast and allowing normal race season
attrition to take its toll. The ultimate result
often being not getting to a "big" race, leaving the
small kennel with a discouraging summer. Larger
kennels with a bit more depth can ever so slightly
afford to set a team up for the bigger events by
establishing/training for a slightly more aggressive
trail speed. It does go without saying that one
hopes that key front end dogs hold up for the season
to get to these races.
Is this an excuse for slower
speeds and/or smaller kennels? Definitely not,
success for a team is measured by whether or not the
dogs gave everything they had for the format under
which they were trained. A person need not beat the
best hound of Alaskan team although it should be an
eventual goal. Races prior to the bigger speed races
are all "tools" to find ways and areas to improve,
speed and endurance being the BIG, BIG factors.
As we've all heard many, many
times before; it is, in essence, a numbers game.
Fortunately there are those of us trying within the
standard, to breed dogs that can go 20 mph. Most
can, some at shorter intervals than others but it is
up to us to get better to the point of showing at
races that Siberians can go 20 "OR" compete at a
level of the big sprint races such as Rondezvous,
North American, or Laconia.
Running fast with endurance, and
training for that, is far more complex that meets
the eye. It is more than the routine conditioning
and exercising for a level pace seen over the course
of several hundred miles. This is not a bad-mouthing
of long distance racing which has its own ball of
wax. Simply, speed racing requires more precise or
defined parameters that are more limiting in nature
than those required of long distance running.
In the real world, the better
long distance dogs come from the better speed dogs.
No-one wants a slow dog. Whatever ones venue choice,
it is up to the entire community of Siberian
breeders to demonstrate Siberians "do have what it
takes".
|
