P R O D U C T I V E P R AC T I C E S E S S I O N S © ISTOCK MAKE YOUR TRAINING TIME COUNT! By Robin Barber Many people tend to train without a specific goal in mind for that training session. While this can be fun, it also can hamper progress. As the saying goes, "if you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you already have." I want to share some ways to make your training more productive through the use of goal setting, planning your training sessions, and analyzing your practice sessions. Recordkeeping plays a big part in each of these areas. Many people think recordkeeping is a big hassle and fail to do it. Realize that records don't have to include a lot of detail or take a lot of time. You can keep a few short notes in a bullet journal or a computer spreadsheet listing what you are working on that day. Also, keep a list on the side of skills you want to work on in the future. Some people take this further and keep detailed notes of each exercise and how it went during practice, and that's great. But what you decide to record and how detailed your notes are is up to you. A Note on Recordkeeping Keeping records is essential for making training time count. It helps you remember all of the things that you need to work on and helps you track your progress on them. It also enables you to remember what you have already worked on in the past so that you can pick up where you left off. Other people also keep videos of their sessions. Videos are easy to do, but referring back to them can be time-consuming. So keep a written record in a notebook or a spreadsheet in addition to the videos so you can refer to the summary of © ROBIN BARBER Take notes on sequences that you found challenging at a trial. You can work on them in your next practice session. July 18 | Clean Run Can you handle this sequence from behind your dog? In front of your dog? Challenge yourself by trying to handle sequences in different ways. Can you use front crosses? Rear crosses? 33