Jim's October Training Journal

Thursday, October 1, 1998
The dogs have been not-so-patiently awaiting this day since the summer tour season ended three weeks ago.  Today is the beginning of training.  I have 23 yearlings plus four adult leaders.  The yearlings' names are Emmie, Mondo, Cortez, Oscar, Nellie, Daisy, Java, Mocha, Herman, Nikki, Gromit, Taz, Jasper, Checkers, Bam Bam, Prince, Duchess, Swift, Crawdad, Duncan, Turtle, Dirtbike, and Dozer.  The adults are Cuda, Misty, Sparky, and Racket.  All are looking like good dogs for the task they have ahead of them.

We divided the dogs into two teams and ran them each five miles.  Even in Alaska, there is not quite snow on the ground yet so we are using a four-wheeler to train the dogs.

Monday, October 5, 1998
The dogs have all run twenty miles.  All the dogs are starting to get into a bit better shape, and I don't have to give the four-wheeler so much throttle.  The dogs can pull it on their own.  I noticed today that I was riding the brakes up hill!

Wednesday, October 7, 1998
It feels good to be training dogs again, to be able to see their excitement and eagerness to run and to please.  The yearlings are quick learners.  Prince and Turtle are joining Emmie on the list of promising yearling leaders.

We are getting ready to run my dogs a little bit farther.  We will gradually increase the distances that the dogs run as we work to condition them for the Iditarod.

I would also like to introduce you to the other members of the team:  Mitch Seavey is the owner of the dogs I am running.  He has run the Iditarod five times and done very well in every race.  In 1998, he placed fourth, only six and a half hours behind the winner!  Janine is Mitch's wife.  She takes care of all the "business and paperwork aspects" for the racing team.  Dan is Mitch's oldest son.  He has run the Junior Iditarod twice and placed second in both of them.  He is going to run the Junior again this year.  He, along with his younger brothers, Tyrell and Dallas, help Mitch and I to train the dogs.  Tyrell is Mitch's second son.  He is going to run his first Junior Iditarod this year.  Dallas isn't quite old enough to run the Junior Iditarod (you have to be 14), but he helps to train puppies and keeps us all in a good mood.  Conway is the youngest member of the team.  He is Mitch and Janine's fourth son, and is almost two years old.  He likes to baby-sit the puppies.

Sunday, October 11, 1998
It is starting to get pretty cold here.  Yesterday, it was fifteen degrees outside when we started to train at nine in the morning.  Three trumpeter swans flew over Danny and me while we were training my second team yesterday.  Today, two more flew overhead as we did chores after our training runs.

The dogs are getting in shape, so we will start to increase the distance that they run after a day's break tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 13, 1998
Danny and I ran all of my dogs eight miles today.  For the 22 yearlings in my team, that is the farthest run they have ever done.  (Gromit, the 23rd yearling, is running with some of the younger pups.)  They will continue to run farther and farther until, in just a few short months, they will be able to run for forty or fifty miles with ease.  That is how I will run the Iditarod.  I will rest often and run fairly fast between checkpoints.

The race seems far away, but time begins to fly as the start draws nearer and nearer...
 
Thursday, October 15, 1998
We got our first flurries of snow today.  Nothing accumulated really, but the weather was cool and windy, and there were some low clouds overhead.  Hopefully we will get some real snow soon so that we can start to train using sleds.

Tuesday, October 20, 1998
I now have over 90 miles on my dogs.  It may not seem like much, but it is a good base.  The running that my dogs do now is the foundation for all of the runs and racing that I will do in December, January, February, and March.

Emmie ran alone in lead for the first time the other day.  It is very exciting to see a dog as young as she do so well in lead.  We have been working with her brother Cortez in lead as well.  He, too, looks promising.  And speaking of promising leaders, Taz looks like he has a good future in the front of the team.  It looks as if I will have a good group of young leaders in addition to some of the experienced adults like Cuda, Misty, and Sparky.

The weather has been warmer.  It barely freezes at night, and we have been getting a lot of rain, but no snow.  I hear that six inches fell in the Willow area north of Anchorage.  Hopefully some of that will make its way south.

Friday, October 23, 1998
Yesterday, we reached the hundred mile mark!  I want to have nearly 2,000 miles on my dogs before the race.  I still have a long way to go, but I have a good start.

Taz is becoming a very good leader.  He sets a very good pace, and is doing well when we practice head-on passing with other teams.

No snow yet, and the weather can't seem to make up its mind whether to be clear and cold or cloudy and warm.  If we don't get snow soon, we may head north to the Fairbanks area where there is snow.

Wednesday, October 28, 1998
It was eight degrees out this morning when we started to train.  All of the dogs were covered with frost from their breathing when we got back from the run.  The sky was clear and the hills and trees had that fresh, bright look that only appears on cold, sparkling days.  The only things missing were the sleds and the snow.

The dogs didn't seem to mind the absence of those thing too much, though.  They are running ten miles with ease and have been going farther now.  Taz, Prince, and Emmie are doing much of the leading now, and that is very exciting to see.

The forecast is for snow on Friday, so we are keeping our paws and fingers crossed.

Saturday, October 31, 1998
We got snow!  Unfortunately, it was only a little dusting.

I think that the dogs are starting to get bored.  We can't go on any new trails because we would have to cross swamps to get to them.  Due to the lack of consistently cold weather, the swamps have not frozen over yet, and it would be impossible to cross them.  The absence of snow doesn't help either.  The dogs like pulling sleds much more than the four-wheeler.  The long training runs in front of the four-wheeler can get kind of boring for the dogs.  (And we mushers like to drive sleds a lot more than we like sitting of the four-wheelers.)

Just keep thinking snow.  Happy Halloween.