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"training" with baby
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So ive now been a dad for 10 days and realize my days of training when and how i want, are over. My question for you parents out there is this...can you really get in a good training run (ie tempo run) pushing a baby jogger? how bout a good bike workout pulling a 'chariot'? Also, at what age can you start running/biking with the kids?
Last edited by: fxjeffrey: Jun 30, 08 22:37
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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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Congratulations,
Your baby is not old enough for a baby jogger yet - you must wait until they have control of their neck. This is about 6-8 months.
My approach was to ditch the swimming and cycling and focus on running for the first few months. I managed to get out the door 3-4 times/week (4-5 hours) and I did a reasonably good marathon off this training.

I now have a 9 month old, good running legs, poor cycling legs and my 400m swim time is down 2 minutes on pre-baby time!

I have learned to manage time much better now (lots of morning training) and am managing to squeeze in 10 hours/week covering all three sports. I won't be fast this year, but I'm keeping the fire burning for later.

Baby is happy and healthy and I'm getting in more training than I thought I ever could!
/Trev

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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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I know exactly what you are going through. I had my daughter last year while trying to train for IMFL and it made things a lot more difficult. Its true that your kid needs to be a little bit older to sit normally in the jogging stroller. However I was able to essentially strap my daughters car seat (rear facing) into the jogging stroller and took her on many runs. Now i might get flamed for this but I always left the handle up (to act as a roll bar of sorts) in the event of a tip over, and I never had any issues and my daughter loved it. She would sleep, mom would get some time to herself, and I would get to run. Now my little girl is big enough for a pull behind trailer and everynight we go for a 30-40 minute ride around the neighborhood. Its great! Ive decided shes my new coach since she spends more time with me training than anyone else!

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God's in his heaven, alls right with the world -Nerv
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Re: "training" with baby [suparuki] [ In reply to ]
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    If you have the chariot brand than you can get the infant sling and start running when they are a month old. Obviously you want to be a little more careful but both my wife and I have run up to 10 miles pushing the baby (now 4 months) in this way. We have been careful to run in the park on the bike path so we know it is smooth and we don't have to worry as much about the baby being jostled around too much. Most of the time he falls asleep.

You will have to wait until the kid is 6 months ++ before you can use the chariot as a trailer on your bike. We did this with our other son and it was a great workout. The only challenge is that you really only can do either recovery rides or long rides because you cannot do anything real fast or difficult pulling a trailer. I can say that it helps you smooth out your pedal stroke as the trailer starts to jerk you around if you are not smooth.

This past weekend my wife and I did a 10 mile run with the 5 year old on his bike and the baby in the chariot. Everyone was happy and we were all together. People give us weird looks all the time but I think 2 super happy and super healthy kids are worth weird looks all the time.
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Re: "training" with baby [suparuki] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
Now my little girl is big enough for a pull behind trailer and everynight we go for a 30-40 minute ride around the neighborhood. Its great! Ive decided shes my new coach since she spends more time with me training than anyone else! [/quote]
LOL! I bet K. loves that!

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: "training" with baby [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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yes she does. thinks its a blast and laughs and giggles at her slow daddy the whole time. And then when she thinks i have had enough she loudly yells out "all done" to let me know when I need to head back to the house. shes such a great coach. Its kinda like rocky and that old guy. or luke skywalker and yoda. LOL shes so cool.

________________________________________________

God's in his heaven, alls right with the world -Nerv
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Re: "training" with baby [suparuki] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
Its great! Ive decided shes my new coach since she spends more time with me training than anyone else!

That is exactly ho it was with my daughter when she was little (now she is 17). She would sit back in the trailer and yell at me:

"Daddy you are going slowly. I want to go fast."

This was the hardest when we were grinding our way uphill at 5 or 6 mph.
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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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I'm in the exact same place, our baby is 2 months old. First 3 weeks, I was on vacation, so it was a little bit easier to train at any hour of the day, but I was atmainy at home with the baby and helping my wife. The rest of the weeks (from week 3 until today) my wife was at home still on maternity vacations, I still can put a decent training, but she started to work today. So both of us will be working, back to normal...

I can swim at lunch without any problem (I have the coolest boss), but my afternoon runs and trainer sessions now will be a little more difficult.

My plan is to train as much as I can EARLY in the morning. Example, today I woke up at 4:30, 4:50 I was out of the door and ran for an hour. Tomorrow, 1:30 on trainer :P

I think for the first weeks 2-3, you have to skip a couple of workouts, relax, enjoy the baby.
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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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It varies with the child how much running you can get done with the jogger. Our oldest did not like it that much so it was hard to get much running it with him in it. The two year old enjoys riding in it a lot more. I have not really done tempo runs with the child in the jogger because our sidewalks are a bit uneven, but you are getting a little better workout in when running with the jogger than without. You do need to wait a while before running with the child in the jogger. I did not run with either in the jogger until they were at least one year old. IMO, better to err on the side of caution.
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Re: "training" with baby [suparuki] [ In reply to ]
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No flaming here! BOB makes an attachment bar for their jogging strollers so that you can actually strap an infant car seat in safely. I ran several short races in the months when my daughter was a new baby with her in just such an arrangement. My husband took her on a number of IM-Moo training runs.

We didn't start trucking her around in the Burley trailer until she was 2. Until then it's just not too safe - they need to wear a helmet and be content not to climb out. I don't know where you live, but I wouldn't take my child out on the streets around here. Bike paths - yes - but not streets. I did just hear anecdotally about a friend of a friend who knows just how many extra watts he has to push when pulling both of his toddlers in the bike trailer - in Colorado.

But yes - your "normal" pre-baby training sessions are over. At least for a while.
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Re: "training" with baby [lazyrunnr] [ In reply to ]
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My neighborhood is great. Very quiet very low traffic. In fact right now I have been seeing more kids on bikes and people walking their dogs than cars so its a really safe and smooth ride for my litttle k bear.

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God's in his heaven, alls right with the world -Nerv
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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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Congrats! It's amazing, huh?
I'm 2 months into being Dad for the first time. My Chariot is the balls. We've gone for 3 longish weekend runs the last two weekends. He loves it - just falls asleep most of the time. (I'm using the infant sling - his head is very well supported) He might also be a great coach in the making because anytime I stop he starts fussing :-)
I haven't done any speed stuff yet - just slow runs. I imagine it would be tough on the track because the jogging attachment is designed to track straight. A constant curve would be a bit of a pain I would imagine. My average speed has slowed down by about 30 sec per mile with the stroller. Hills are a great workout. (I got the double - just in case) But to answer your question - If you have a bike path, or a road with very few intersections and a smooth finish, I don't see any reason why you couldn't get a good speed session in.
Looking forward to the biking, but won't until 6 months or so...which is October - so it probably won't be until next year.
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Re: "training" with baby [sub-3-dad] [ In reply to ]
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Great replys ST'ers! Its definitely stressful to my obsessive compulsive tendoncies to have this new person in my life, but reading these posts really helps.
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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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Congratulations on the new born!

You'll find time somehow, just not at the same times you may be used to! Lots of planning and compromise with the wife, but it can be done. I have a three year old and one year old who have taken away any semblance of a consistent training routine! We're adjusting all the time and this lets me get most of training time in.

As everyone else has said, the Chariot is a great tool, but definitely take it easy the first few months. For the run, the Chariot will work fine for most of your runs. It's tough to get a fast workout cycling, think about it as pulling 45 pounds by the time your child is 6 months old!

Have fun with your new additiion!


Arnel

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Re: "training" with baby [Arnel] [ In reply to ]
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thanks, I have a chariot and am going to shop for the "infant seat" today
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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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Yes, you can get a good workout with the stroller starting around 6 months old or a little earlier. It goes as fast as you want to run. Just get it tracking straight and give it gentle pushes every few strides and it won't be much different from running alone (except when you need to go uphill). I don't have any experience with the infant seat adapters.

The bike trailer depends a lot on your child's head size and neck strength. If his head is still small, you won't be able to find a helmet that fits. I had to wait well past a year for my son's head to be >17" so a typical child helmet would fit.


Steve
Last edited by: sestivers: Jul 1, 08 9:08
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Re: "training" with baby [sestivers] [ In reply to ]
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Congrats.

I have a two month old and was (and am still) worried about ways to train. It is hard and your wife needs to be understanding, but it is possible. I bought a trainer for my bike and try to run home from work when I can (it is either a 20 minute train ride or 3-6 mile run). I did an OLY this past weekend and was generally happy with my race (except my fall at the bike dismount!!). You just need to re-think what works best for you. For example, I know that a long bike ride is nearly impossible, but I compensate by working hard for 1 hour on the trainer on the weekends. You will also be surprised at how much your pre-baby training helps. These days I work out 3-4 times a week, but due to good pre-baby training I’ve been able to stay competitive and I’m hoping to race at least 2 more times this year. Good Luck!

For those that use Jogger Strollers, which do you recommend?




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Re: "training" with baby [fxjeffrey] [ In reply to ]
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My favorite moments from running with my kids:

When the kids are quiet everyone looks at them and smiles.
If a kid is screaming, hold on for the look: "you shallow narcissitic bastard, I can't believe you are running while kid is in agony."
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Re: "training" with baby [jlefko] [ In reply to ]
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I have a BOB revolution double and a Chariot CX single.

I don't understand the "go with 20-inch wheel debate" The rolling resistance is small, it's the wind and hills that kill you.

They are both great strollers. Each one has it's positives.

Chariot:
Go with the chariot if you live in a colder climate. The cover folds down and the baby is in a completely "contained" environment. Wind/rain/snow are not going to effect him/her and you don't have to worry about carrying an "extra" rain cover.
Obviously if you are biking, the chariot can be used as a trailer, but I have found that I go on runs way more than rides (with kid).
Not a big deal, but the CX has alot of reflective material built into the cover/wheels/sides/back, the BOB only has a small strip.

BOB revolution:
Folds easier. Is more of a stroller than the chariot. Converts quickly to stroller mode. Your wife will probably like the BOB more. Tracking is easily adjustable but you will adjust it often (almost every run), where the chariot is hard to adjust, but it is "frozen" once you have it. I think the BOB has better suspension, but it isn't really a factor.

Both are great products and are built very well... I have both and use each one differently for what it is better suited for. Let me know if you have any specific concerns. Your individual situation will determine which one is a better fit.
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