Last year, I drafted a basic 12-day Iditarod schedule for a couple of teams that wound up running near the back of the pack. It was nothing more than a simple goal, a framework to hang a journey on. I thought I’d post it here for anyone who thinks it might help.

This schedule is not for those hoping to finish in the money. You don’t get to Nome in 12 days and expect much of a paycheck. But here’s what the schedule does: It helps a rookie, for example, see how to manage his or her time in a way to make the best use of daylight. And it helps them see the need for predictable run times and predictable rest times — critical elements for the dogs’ attitudes. Once those dogs can bank on the fact they run run about six hours at a pop, it eases their minds as the journey progresses. They can also bank on a nice long rest between those runs.

I spent my first two Iditarods, in 1999 and 2000, lurching along, sometimes running long, sometimes short, and my rests were just as unpredictable. The dogs never knew what was happening next, and it caused them to slow down.

Another mantra that just about everyone knows, but too many mushers seem to forget in the craziness of the race, is to shut the team down in the middle of the night, and ideally in the middle of the day. We humans also do better with a few hours sleep between midnight and 5 a.m., and, strangely, with a nap in the heat between noon and 5 p.m.

The PDF file I’ve attached here has midnight to 5 a.m. and noon to 5 p.m. marked off in red — times to avoid moving. The run times are blue bars. Rest times are blank. The day starts at midnight and goes to 11 p.m., shown on the left side of the page.

Obviously, this was made with the northern route in mind, so it doesn’t help as much for 2009, when teams are heading south to the Yukon River, instead of north.

And I want to stress that a schedule is not law. Another mistake I made in past races was trying to stick to my schedule at any cost. Weather and trail conditions dictate the schedule. It’s easy to adjust, especially if you’re not there to win. Just give the dogs plenty of rest in the darkest hours, but don’t turn the Iditarod into a day trip. It’s still a race.

The schedule posted here calls for an extremely slow start, ridiculously slow. But the pace quickens somewhat towards the end, with a six-on, six-off pace by the coast. The idea is to maintain a large, strong, happy team that will pass a few that are flagging in the last 200 miles.

Enjoy. Here’s the link: 12dayplan