So my wife and I welcomed our first son to the world in August. He wasn’t the best sleeper which obviously affected my training. Training also dropped as a priority. I’d come home from work many days and just want to hang out with the little guy. Still, I was reasonably dilligent and was able to get in 3-4 workouts a week, mostly running. Swim and bike fell off the most due to time constraints. I injured my hamstring right before my son was born and it definitely nagged me through the fall so whatever volume I got in was of the “hold onto my fitness” type and not real quality; I’d go out and run 6-8 miles at a reasonable but not blistering pace.
I began to pick up the volume in January (upping it to 5-6 workouts a week) in anticipation of running the Boston Marathon in April. My qualifier expires so no real choice. At first I was only thinking about trying to requalify with a 3:15. My boy has begun sleeping much better in the past couple weeks so I’m going to re-introduce speed work today. I ran a 2:59 marathon to qualify in 2006 and felt I was capable of going 2:56 before the birth of my son throw me off my game this summer. Today, I feel like confident that I have 3:08 fitness (perhaps a little better). With just a little more 8 weeks until the race, could I get myself back to 2:59 if I stay injury free and start get in quality workouts?
I’d love to get perspectives from others coming back from the birth of a child and went through 4-5 months of reduced training levels. Did speed come back quickly once you started sleeping and training more or was it a slow grind?
Thanks!