Sorry to have kept you all so long since our last blog.
Since the last blog a lot has been happening it all started amazingly well half of team Bentley went on to win (1st female) in the Glas Tulaichean Hill Race. Which was unexpected. Followed by a half marathon PB (1.37) and 1st female a couple of weeks later over a tough wet hilly course at the Run Mhor half marathon.
Glas Tulaichean Hill Race
Guide Dogs 5k
Run Mhor Half Marathon
After these events the weather really began to heat up and because of this team Bentleys training dwindled. Poor Bentley was unable to even go for a walk.
Every dog is different but most of the time I use a general rule of temperature x humidity and if it’s above 1000 then it’s too warm to run. However I’ve noticed Bentley for running struggles in anything above about 12/13 degrees so the majority of the summer 😮
However there was still one thing we could do together and that was swimming.
Bentley absolutely loved his swimming using his ‘Baltic’ lifejacket and me with my wetsuit and life jacket we aimed to do between 300-500m of swimming each time.
It has been said in the past that 5 minutes of swimming for a dog is the equivalent of a 5k run as it’s a tough exercise mentally and physically for them.
Unfortunately as Bentley couldn’t run I then lost the motivation to run as well. I tried a few techniques such as following a program, trying to get out early morning but when you start work at 6am that’s a hard task.
This week however thanks to the drop in temperature I got out running with my boy for the first time in a while. I’m hoping it’s given me the motivation I need to continue training. Today is the fluff ball rest day as he loved yesterday’s run in the hills, but no rest for me I’m off to train with the running club for a speed session, wish me luck haha.
I also think one way to gain motivation is to have some set goals. I have a long term goal of racing with Bentley in Europe however I think short term goals to lead up to this is key. So I’m looking for dogless races to keep me in check.
A few photos from yesterday’s adventure in the hills for you all and I hope to be back online soon 🙂
Big thanks to Alpha Performance Dog Food and the pet food store in Dundee for keeping Bentley nutritionally in good shape 😀