Morning Speed Workout

We have been allowing the dogs to do some of our running speed workouts with us. Today we did a 5 mile fartlek (3;00 on/1:30 off). If you are not familiar with the term, "fartlek" is Swedish for speed play. Unlike other types of speed work, a fartlek is a bit more unstructured and alternates moderate-to-hard efforts with easy efforts. 

Our moderate-hard efforts today were to be completed at 7:30 pace. Each one was completed closer to 7:00-7:15 pace. Our easy efforts were completed around 7:45-8:00 pace. We were very pleased with how well the dogs ran today, especially Calypso. Calypso has been gaining more speed and endurance. She had completed this workout with us once before and needed several short breaks. Today, she completed it with no breaks (except turnarounds) and pulled hard the entire time.

We are going to start running this workout or one similar to this once per week as it allows us to work on a variety of commands with the dogs. 

It is warming up quickly here so we are trying to be very careful with the dogs as they still have their winter coats. The high today is supposed to be around 70 degrees! The dogs will likely start to blow their coats soon which means excessive amounts of brushing and vacuuming. 

Although we truly love spring, we wouldn't mind a bit more snow!