I got schooled by my 10 year old: Triathlon Forum: Slowtwitch Forums

I got schooled by my 10 year old

Aug 10, 19 10:55

Did a 5k today. Not many entities, like 60 or so. Overall no really fast runners, so I won’t attempt to pretend I am fast, but that isn’t the point of this post.

So, it’s go time and I take off. I am leading the race and realize I went out too fast at about the 1/4 mile mark. Hell, I have been running IM pace for training and I haven’t ran “fast” in a long, long time. At the 1/2 mile mark I am still attempting to slow myself down and I get caught and passed and now I am in second. Damnit. I try to hold the pace, but know it’s gonna be a rough go for the entire run. At about a mile, I hear faintly in the background... “Dad”. At about 1.25 mile I get passed again and now I am running third. Again, I hear faintly behind me- “Dad”. Before the turn around he caught me. It’s my 10 year old son. Lol

I point to the guy in third and told him to go get him!

Time to pass the torch. I have fought hard, but youth has caught my aging body.

He held on and won his age group and took third for the overall.

Those 5 and 6 mile runs I have been taking him on is obviously paying off.

Oh, and the kid took home $10 in cash prize money. LOL

Last edited by: jharris: Aug 10, 19 12:57

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [jharris] [ In reply to ]

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ZimZam

Aug 10, 19 11:32

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jharris wrote:

I point to the guy in third and told him to go get him!

Like a cheetah chasing a springbok I'll bet. Get some.

Be Uncommon

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [jharris] [ In reply to ]

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mck414

Aug 10, 19 12:09

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Friggin sweet!

Reminds me a a five miler I did over the winter. I was in the mix with a bunch of high schoolers, I'm 48, about .5 from the finish one of them says calmly and matter of factly,"ok let's go". That was all she wrote, they left me in their dust wishing my legs were 10 years younger.

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [jharris] [ In reply to ]

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JasoninHalifax

Aug 10, 19 13:58

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jharris wrote:

And now he’s ineligible for NCAAs. Well done dad.....

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [jharris] [ In reply to ]

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TriA6

Aug 10, 19 16:18

Post #5 of 17 (3349 views)

I have a buddy from high school cross country that I see pretty often. We both have fast kids that have done cool stuff. He was marveling about what we could have, would have, should have done. How fast we could have been? Etc.I told him our kids just make us look good and make our lies about PR's more believable. My youngest son just torched me by almost 100m on our last 400 repeat this week. You have a great attitude. That's just the way it is supposed to be. This is the reward for spending time with our kids.

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [jharris] [ In reply to ]

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MrTri123

Aug 10, 19 17:52

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jharris wrote:

Well come on after all that

What was his time?

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chriskal

Aug 10, 19 20:33

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I’ve been running 5ks with my son since he was about 7. Last year we finally reached the nexus of his ascendancy and my decline where I could no longer outrun him. At least for that distance (pretty sure I’d still torch him at 30k).

I had been making him run with me, because he still hasn’t quite figured out pacing, and I had told him when we turn the final corner and you can see the finish line you can sprint. We turned the corner, he said in a perfectly normal voice, “can I go dad?” And I knew I was screwed. He took off like a rocket ship and my old legs just fizzled. Done. Running torch s passed at 10. I’ll be really impressed when he can do that to me in the pool:)

Embrace it. If I recall your prior posts correctly you’re no slouch so the kid is probably a stud.

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [jharris] [ In reply to ]

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Dilbert

Aug 10, 19 20:59

Post #8 of 17 (3148 views)

Maybe this belongs here. My non triathlete girlfriend decided to learn to swim (really swim, not not sink) when we met. A few years later she's now faster than me. Well okay then. She still doesn't race.

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jharris

Aug 11, 19 4:53

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chriskal wrote:

I am really proud of him. His twin brother was a few spots behind me. The better part is, they had a couple friends over for a sleepover and we all did the 5k. Their friends are not really athletes, per se. My kids said they were gonna just walk the 5k with their friends. Well, that all changed when the race started and they both decided to run it! Awesome.

I knew when the kids were born that I would not be able to train at a competitive level. There just isn’t enough time. Although, I wanted to make sure they grew up watching me involved in sports and they would see it as a healthy lifestyle and want that for themselves. So far, so good.

As far as I go, I have realized long course helps me keep my weight in check and stay in decent shape, but doesn’t have the pressure of competition and worry of being “fast”. I can call the distance alone an accomplishment and enjoy training.

It was interesting that my heart rate yesterday was in check,, but it was my lungs that felt like the weak link on my speed. Legs had more to go, no issue there. Not use to breathing so hard on my IM training runs.

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [Dilbert] [ In reply to ]

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jharris

Aug 11, 19 4:58

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Dilbert wrote:

Ha! I was on a plane and talking to a girl next to me who ran Boston. I asked her how many marathons she did and she said 2. I processed the info and said, “Wait, that means you qualified for Boston on your first marathon”? She said, “Yep”. I said she was fast. She said she isn’t fast. She goes on to tell me about a girl in school with her in Madison who heard about Ironman in town and she signed up. Never raced before and didn’t know anything about it. She borrows a bike and did Ironman. After she finished, she was confused about how they told her she had to go race in Hawaii now. LOL

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Re: I got schooled by my 10 year old [mck414] [ In reply to ]

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Murphy'sLaw

Aug 11, 19 6:26

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mck414 wrote:

Ha, I had a similar experience, doing a local 5m "trail" run.
Bunch of mostly HS age kids at the front, I'm in the tail end of the top 10, and same thing - it's about a half mile to the finish, and in this race, that part is downhill, and I'm generally a good downhill runner, so I'm thinking "ok, I'll pick it up here, and try to reel in somebody in front of me".

Just at that moment, a young kid whom I had passed, and who appeared to be suffering and fading, decided it was GO TIME, and he took off in what looked like a sprint down the hill - put :10 seconds into me, seemingly effortlessly.
He was 14.

The combined ages of the Top 3 OA finishers didn't add up to mine. :-p

float , hammer , and jog

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damon.lebeouf

Aug 11, 19 8:08

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what an awesome story!! put a big smile on my face... thanks for sharing.

80/20 Endurance Ambassador

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prefersdirt

Aug 12, 19 8:30

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Thanks for this story. Love it!

A teammate's son several years ago started MTBing with us. Started out barely being able to do the paved trails at our easy pace. Within 2 years, our goal was to be in front of him at the end of the race (he started behind us). Soon MY goal was to not get caught on lap 1. Dang they grow up fast.

My son is just starting to get interested in stuff. Before I know it, my boy will be schooling me. I will then work harder to stay with him. And proudly support him as he blows past me!

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jharris

Aug 12, 19 10:10

Post #14 of 17 (2418 views)

You know what’s great- is seeing someone enjoy what you have been enjoying for so long.

I’m glad my kids have taken to sports as I did. I enjoy watching them more than I do being in it myself. I have missed plenty of my own workouts over the last decade as they grew up and it’s more about being a part of something than being fast and enjoying it with them.

I’m gonna try and hold out for the next decade so I can hopefully do an Ironman distance with them. We will see .....

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TriathlonJoe

Aug 12, 19 10:50

Post #15 of 17 (2355 views)

Similar story to that.

I took my 10 yr old daughter to the pool last week and we kinda did our own thing about 30 minutes. I could tell after that she was itching to get out and go do something else. I, however, wasn't ready to be done, so I told her that we'd do 25s and get out once she beat me. She said okay. I told her that I got a 5 second head start on the 1st one, and we'd go down 1 second each 25 until we were leaving at the same time. On the 1st 25 I pushed off the wall and decided to cruise the 25 to make her think she had a chance of beating me. That worked until about 5 yards to go and I see a locomotive coming past me and it was everything I had to slap the wall before she could.

The 2nd 25 I got a 4 second headstart and had to go hard just to beat her. By the 3rd 25 she caught me and passed me, while I was going all out.

Back in March we raced a 50 off the blocks and we both did a 32 and she beat me by maybe a hundredth of a second. Fastfoward just a few months later and I can't even keep up with her. I definitely got schooled.

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