Chariot of Fire

GoHardOrGoHome

Chariot of Fire

That's not a typo. I have a 19 month old and a 6 week old. Both boys. I got a Chariot Cougar running buggy at Christmas that's fantastic to run with and converts into a trailer for cycling.

The only way I'm going to get out training is to bring the 19 month old with me in the Chariot. We've been doing some Parkruns and the Chariot is good enough that I can run to Marlay (less than 5k) do the Parkrun and run back and I'm okay.

Looking for ways of integrating training into family life but finding it difficult.

Did the Dublin Half Ironman last year and was happy with my 45 minute swim, 2h52 bike and 1h45 run for a total of 5h32 and an overall rank of 666 eerily enough (Link). Trying to work out a calendar of events for 2016 to include a multi-sport adventure race (used to do loads of these), triathlon of some distance. Would probably have to be local to the greater Dublin area than out West or Cork/Kerry direction.

I'd also like to compile a list of buggy friendly events.

If anyone else has struggled fitting training around a young family let me know!

RJM85

Sympathies from a fellow father of young family here!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

It does not get easier as they get older, sorry:rolleyes:

GoHardOrGoHome

Eh lads, that's not exactly what I was hoping to hear! Well thanks for the sympathy any way!

Here's what I've done since last week:

Monday 4th January - 5k with buggy
Saturday 9th January - 15k with buggy - run to Marlay, Parkrun, run back

Total 20k

Wednesday 13th January 8k with buggy

Plan is to run either Marlay Parkrun, Tymon Parkrun or Kilkenny Castle Parkrun this Saturday.

GoHardOrGoHome

A few vital statistics:

Height 177cm
Weight probably around 67/68 kg. 65kg when I'm fit.

I should be a good climber on the bike but I'm really awful.

I'm trying to wangle a turbo into the house somehow to address this weakness.

PBs
5k - 18:30 I think
10k - 40:10 (never dipped under 40 though I was fit enough at one point to)
Half marathon - 1h27 Achill 2013 and Dublin 2012 I think
Marathon 3h30 Dublin 2008

Would love to do a sub 3 next time I do a marathon but that may not be until 2017.

griffin100

Kyng Breezy Earring wrote: »

It does not get easier as they get older, sorry:rolleyes:

When they're really young they take a lot of time; then it gets easier for a couple of years; then it gets silly what with you being a glorified taxi driver. This from a father of four whose kids have a busier schedule than he does.

woody1

griffin100 wrote: »

When they're really young they take a lot of time; then it gets easier for a couple of years; then it gets silly what with you being a glorified taxi driver. This from a father of four whose kids have a busier schedule than he does.

i seem to be in this middle ground,5 and 7, havent hit the taxi stage just yet but i do have to plan around what they do, school homework then their fixed activities swimming and little athletics .. i was hoping when they got to teens that id have a bit more time, i wouldnt have to watch them so much..

getting back to the point .. planning i hate being on a timetable/schedule but to get anything done i have to look at what else is going on for the week/month and see where the gaps are.. also work with other peoples schedules, i bring kids swimming, wife picks them up on way home, i run/swim then follow them home, google calendar has my work / wifes work, weekends away,weddings , events etc, kids stuff. and whatever else is fixed, in it as far ahead as possible..

flexibility if an hour comes free all of a sudden get out quick, have the runners on and be out the door before they know whats going on , seriously just be prepared to be a bit flexible...you could end up binning something you planned to do only for a gap to appear later in the day..

when it starts getting brighter in the mornings , early starts and being back before they are up / too much of the day is gone works really well

turbo / treadmill are great, if you can set up in the house then great, mine are in the shed and i use an app on the phone that makes it a wifi webcam and i can see and hear what they are up to also we use their toy walkie talkies and we can talk to each other if we need to

MojoMaker

woody1 wrote: »

turbo / treadmill are great, if you can set up in the house then great, mine are in the shed and i use an app on the phone that makes it a wifi webcam and i can see and hear what they are up to also we use their toy walkie talkies and we can talk to each other if we need to

Love it

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Time Management is crucial, have 4 ranging from 13 to 5. Normally i have two training sessions scheduled a day and normally these are done before work and at lunchtime leaving evenings free to do "taxi run" to the various Irish Dancing, Football and Athletics activities.

Helps to be able to incorporate training into your commutes also, either bikemute or runmute.

GoHardOrGoHome

Yes, I'm working on the runmute. Have to convince the OH that the little mite will be okay with an 8k run in the morning. At the moment it's 30 minutes in a car which he hates. The childminder is very near my work. In fairness it's bitterly cold at the moment so I'd need to get some mittens and rig up some blankets inside the buggy.

GoHardOrGoHome

Just heard about Corkwar.ie. My brother lives in Cork so that could be a runner!

GoHardOrGoHome

RJM85 wrote: »

Sympathies from a fellow father of young family here!

You seem to be managing it fairly well though!

GoHardOrGoHome

This week I've run 26k and might add something tomorrow evening.

12.4k on Tuesday as I had a late start in work. Felt good doing this.
3.3k on Wednesday. Thought I had an hour to do this but ended up only having 20 minutes so made the best of it.

10k on Saturday jogging to Tymon, doing the parkrun then coming home.

Tymon Parkrun was great! Really love that course. I like the little hills in it and the swooping descents. I had Eddie in the Chariot (buggy) and the start of this race is a long straight downhill so I didn't want to be held up at the start. I moved to the left of the crowd but was still engulfed in the crowd. Avril Copeland started the race and I made my way over to the left and out of the way of the crowd and let gravity do its thing. Arrived down into what I estimate was about 15th place.

I lost another 7 places during the race and the last drag to the finish had me slowing down.

Splits:
1k 4:24
2k 4:20
3k 4:21
4k 4:35
5k 4:56

People caught me going uphills and I generally overtook people coming down hills.

Thanks to all the volunteers!

I'd love to do a sub 20 with the buggy sometime. That's a long way away though. Sub 22 is definitely possible and I wasn't held up at all this week so it's just down to fitness.

GoHardOrGoHome

Had a look at my last few weeks in Strata and it's depressing:

24k
20k
24k
11k (Christmas)
16k
17k
5k
0k (baby born)
26k
30k
8k

I *really* need to start running to work with the buggy. If the weather gets slightly better and the days get slightly brighter then the OH may think it's a good idea for Eddie to be in a buggy rather than a car.

GoHardOrGoHome

Just ran to the pool with Eddie for a swim and back for another 5k.

31k for the week which is a step in the right direction at least.

GoHardOrGoHome

Training not going well this week i.e. none. Hoping to get out for Parkrun on Saturday.

Any chance of the weather improving? Then I'll start the commuting with the buggy.

GoHardOrGoHome

Still no commuting with the buggy. Weather does seem to be getting better though (and brighter).

Have a big decision to make - should I sign up for the Dublin Half Ironman. It goes right through my home town and I did enjoy it last year. The trouble will be finding time to train.

Borrowed a turbo trainer and had a great 20 minutes spinning away (easy) just to get used to it while watching telly. I could get used to that! If I can do that then that would sort out the majority of my cycling, running to work would sort that side of things and a few open water swims to just survive. (took me approx 45 minutes last year).

GoHardOrGoHome

A week of firsts!

First time commuting with the buggy. First hour on a trainer!

Toddler was having a routine checkup so I ran with an empty buggy to work. 9k. After work picked up the toddler and decided to go a more straight forward route home. The more straight forward route however was longer. Ended up being 12k. The wind was horrendous. Really strong headwind! Was feeling pretty tired and hadn't eaten anything since a small lunch. Stopped at a shop to get some sugar in and felt much better. With about a kilometre to go it started lashing. The Cougar (buggy) performed superbly however especially with the extra rain cover on it.

The trainer!

Watched an episode of Limitless while spinning away. Thought it was fairly tame but my legs were a bit wobbly the next day. Just need to get used to it before I do any intervals or efforts. I'm estimating 25k equivalent of cycling.

Hopefully will make it to a Parkrun tomorrow.

GoHardOrGoHome

Did the Tymon parkrun in 22:02 which was good for 14th place disaster though was that I was beaten into second place buggy!

First finisher did it in over 20 minutes. Should have ditched the toddler and gone for the gold!

Total for the week
31k running
50k cycling

GoHardOrGoHome

Splits for Tymon Parkrun

1. 4:05
2. 4:15
3. 4:26
4. 4:38
5. 4:43

Total: 22:01

I was getting a bit slower but the course starts with a nice downhill and ends with a long drag back to the start.

GoHardOrGoHome

Reading the thread about sleeping I managed to get to bed at 8pm one night. Was asleep by 8:30 and slept through until 7am. Nice. First time that's happened in about 6 years.

Really need to try to get to bed earlier than I have been.

GoHardOrGoHome

Monday nothing
Tuesday nothing
Wednesday nothing
Thursday nothing
Friday nothing
Saturday 5k run (Marlay parkrun)
Sunday probably nothing

Hoping for a better week next week

Did Marlay in 23:27 which is not too bad given that there were between 500 and 600 runners today. Quite congested but lots of fun. Great playground for Eddie afterwards. Absolutely loving the slide in there.