Family Track time

I'm one spoiled Knuckledragging Dude.  I have a wife and 3 kids that clearly are higher up life's food chain than I am.

They are for the most part healthy, easy on the eyes (okay, my girls are super cute - but that is bragging), full credit to their Mother for that - and they enjoy being physically active.

It's not that my kids are better than someone or anyone else's kids - but I like my kids and I ain't about to trade them - cause they are keepers.

Approx 5 years ago

The 3 amigos are Soccer crazy, they would rather play it than watch it.  They would rather watch Soccer than watch just about anything else.  They all are improving their skills, play on local teams and as a result take up a lot of our time (and $$$). 

They all like to run also.  Being that playing Soccer involves running, it's likely that doing some of one helps the other.  So, this morning we did a Family Track workout.  It was originally going to be just the teenager and myself, but the girls decided to tag along.  I made up little charts for them so they could write down and track their times for various distances around the track.

A mix of 800's, 400's, 200's and 100's for the girls.  The teenager got those also, along with a 1600.  Plenty or water breaks and resting in between.  They each ran hard, mostly with arms flailing wildly, but with big smiles on their faces.  My wife ran her thing, I did my thing - each time we passed another family member there was lots of cheering, smiling and encouraging - unless we were gasping for air, which happened frequently.

Sure, it will likely help build some fitness for the Soccer thing.  But it also helps build us into a better family.  Again - we are not better than anyone, but today we may have had more fun.

Waldo Canyon - Run w/ the Son

My wife is not happy.  She, our son and myself are running the Slacker Half Marathon (June 23rd) - we have all done it before, but not for a couple of years.  We are all looking forward to it.  Because: 1) we like it, 2) we want to do well and beat our PR's - and 3) because apparently she has a fleeting thought that she can beat him, due to him not having any training for it.

Politely we have reminded her that he is a teenager who rolls out of bed and can run, on no training, do well and beat her in just about any distance.  Is that nice to say?  No.  Is it true?  Yes.  Do we say it?  Well - we pick our spots carefully.  It doesn't go over well w/ her.

She has been getting some good training in for the race.  He has played soccer all Spring.  (I've been training quite well too, but this ain't about me).  His training hasn't started, she has been running, logging good miles and getting ready for a couple of months.

Her long runs have been up to 14 miles long.  His long runs have come on the Soccer fields.  It's not that I am picking sides - but she has no chance of beating him on race day and likely won't be within 15 minutes of his time.  That's no fault of hers - it's just the boy is simply a better faster runner than her.

However, rolling out of bed with no training and running a half marathon - despite who you are - is asking a fair amount, even for him.  So, a 3 week plan, w/ 8 training runs was conceived - and yesterday was run #1. 

The original plan was to go to a track - but due to strong, annoying winds - we went to Waldo Canyon.  ps - I will be doing the training runs w/ my son.  My wife wants to continue to train on her own - we are all okay with that.

The boy teenager has said in the past that he likes to run up hills, so Waldo Canyon seems fitting as there is near 1400' elevation gain over the 7 miles.  It's not too long of a run, but with the elevation gain and loss and some good concentration needed on the mostly narrow trail - it's a good test to see what the fitness and endurance level is.

We like to run together as we are not too far off being equal in pace for most of the distances we run.  The day will come, it's not too far off, where I will be the one who thinks they can beat the son - but in reality, can't. 

For training, it's a tough balancing job though to make sure he doesn't overdo it, or for that matter underdo it.  So, yesterdays run was a bit of a test to see where he is at, to remind him of the effort involved in climbing (and descending), and just to get him back to running a decent distance for a good length of time.

It went well - no need for a run report aside from noting that after 3 1/2 miles, the high point of the trail - he did run out of steam somewhat.  We made good time to there - being only 4 minutes off my previous best time to that spot.  (Final time was just under 1:20 = not bad)

He had not run on that trail before, so next week we will go back and along with knowing what he is getting into - will likely do better than this time.

So, the training journey is underway with track work coming up tomorrow and a Falcon Trail run at the Air Force Academy on tap this weekend.   As for Momma - well, she is still feeding us - so we are still okay - for now.

Summer Running season begins

My Calendar says it's June.  I would like to buy a vowel please.  Either time flies faster when you're older, or it just seems I don't pay attention as much - where did the year go already? 

It's Summer, kids have finished school, days are long, Sun is hot and I'm looking ahead to the next few months.  Now that the kids soccer season is also behind us, my son and I have come up with a training plan for a couple of races we will do together.

A few weeks back we agreed that he would pay some of the entry fees to the races - to help him be more "training commited".  We would also do some training runs together to help us both get prepared for the races - but also to just hang out together doing something that we both enjoy, but due to school, soccer and the business of life - we don't get to do much till Summer time.

The first of 2 races we are gearing towards is The Slacker Half Marathon - just under 3 weeks away.  We will be racing that together, but likely not alongside as I am hoping to be out in front of him chasing a PR (getting under 1:36).  He too will be chasing a PR (getting under 1:53).

3 weeks after that is The Barr Trail Mountain Race.  This race we will do together.  It will be a training run for the Pikes Peak Marathon for me, while for him - it will be a PR and age group record attempt.  We wanted to do it together last year but my knee surgery the week before the race ruled me out - he did it and did outstanding - beating the old age group record (of 10 - 14 year olds) by about 17 minutes, however a 14 year old beat him by 6 minutes or so.  This year - we get revenge, or at least we try and will train accordingly together. 

So, for the next few weeks, the plan is to run 3 times a week together.  A mix of some track / speed work, some climbing in the hills and some weekend long runs.  

It's good to commit to work hard and chase some running goals.  It's nice there are so many trails and places to run during this Colorado Summer.  I'm looking forward to doing both with him.  The boy is 13 now, last year (on the blog) I called him #12.  This year - I think he will be known as "The Teenager", or, "My Running Sidekick" or possibly "My Water Carrying Mule"

With some good training, some continued good health, of course the good weather, along with the great places to run - we should likely see some good race results, along with some good Father / Son time.

2 PR's on Waldo Canyon trail

Back in early March was the last time I had run the (7 mile if you do a lap of the parking lot also) trail - Pr'd then with a 67 minute time going clockwise.

For the 9 weeks away from Waldo, I was focused for most of my runs on the Greenland Trail - a totally different trail.  I have been looking forward to getting back to Waldo to see if any noticeable improvement.

Last Thursday I ran counter clockwise and was quite surprised that I matched my previous best time.  It's not that it came easy, it wasn't - but I finished and felt like I could have gone faster.

So, back at it yesterday I was looking forward to it and went clockwise this time - looking to do better than from March.  Tried to push a little harder - albeit not trying to go too nuts and overdo it - and took a minute off the PR.  Now it sits at 66 minutes even.

I think I can attribute the improvement to my increased fitness, also possibly incorporating my recent Tuesday track / speed work has also helped, plus also getting more familiar with the trail has helped. 

The trail is showing "full Spring growth" - much different than the late Winter runs.  Plenty of overhanging branches now and more people on the trail too.  Still is and will continue to be a favorite and enjoyable place for me to run.

In any case - I'm happy with the improvement and look forward to more improvement on upcoming Thursdays.