Today I followed Hal Higdon's plan of pain and ran 8 times 800 meter "intervals." Looking back I really didn't run quite as fast as I should have.
Theoretically I should have been running around 4:40 min/km but I didn't quite get up there consistently. Still, the last time I ran 800s 3 weeks ago I had to stop after 3 of them so at least my legs are holding up.
What made this run a bit more special than most was that I was on kid duty so I took them out to the track with me. It's a paved track, that's sloped from one end to the other but whatever. It goes the direction I want it to.
As I was running around recovering, I was weighing the pros and cons of bringing them along.
Pro - They get some exercise. Running around the track for an hour gives the kids little else to do than some natural intervals on the bike followed by some low intensity cruising. There's no better way to start a future Grand Tour winner.
Con - They get tired. And when kids get tired they either fight or whine. This time there was more whining than I needed.
Pro - They self regulate. Once they realized that I wasn't going to stop to listen to their mews for sympathy they pulled over went pee.
Con - You can't stop to take them to the bathroom if you have any dedication to your training. Some people look down on peeing in public, especially when there are no trees around.
Pro - You can teach them about being active. This is why you warm up. This is why you stretch. This is why you should drink water when doing sports.
Con - They drink all your water. (Note to self, have them bring their own damn water bottles next time)
Pro - They chat at you, keeping things interesting, and ask remarkably good questions when engaged in activity. Much more so than when they are in the living room, playing knight, and pretending everything is dying by getting it's head chopped off.
Con - They chat at you and say/yell random things at you. It's pretty distracting to have a 6 year old weaving with wild abandon in front of you yelling "Dad, you should have run this fast in your race. I only saw you going slow."
Pro - They just might sit down together, pretend they are at a race and yell, "GO DADDY GO, GO DADDY GO" during your last two intervals.
Con - There is no con.
So the balance tips in favor of bringing your kids with you, at least out to the track. They'll probably love it, and you'll take the good with the not so good.
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