Training with the Boys

I've strung together a good 10 days of training since the Oakdale Duathlon nearly 2 weeks ago: some good bike rides, a few swims, and a couple of runs. Two of those runs have been with my boys.

On Friday, I went out for a late morning run where I wanted to run a few miles fast. The boys were with me:

Running across the Mississippi.
We were about to run down to the low spots right along the river to the left.

I did 3 tempo miles with the boys. I decided to run down the steep trail to right along the river around mile 2 of the tempo miles. There's a STEEP hill down to the river:

At the hairpin turn on the steep hill. Notice the man standing to the right with a really steep
part just beyond him. And as with all hill photos, this image doesn't do it justice.

Well, our "single" stroller (the Ironman BOB) has a handbrake. This "double" stroller" (the Chariot 2) does NOT. So we came burning down those hills. We did a little out-and-back along the river, and finished the 3 tempo miles along the river just a few hundred feet from the base of the hill. My Garmin showed where it got a little fast:

Being pulled down a hill at just faster than my mile PR pace: 4:47/mile. Yikes.

Oh, and there are 2 more things to note: first, just behind the first "4" where it says "4.40 mi," there are 2 peaks in speed. That was coming down those 2 hills shown above, with the hairpin turn in the middle. Both times, I hit 5:00 pace. Secondly, look at the crazy slow dips in speed shortly after finishing the hard miles (miles 1.5 - 4.5). That's me trying to push the 90 lb stroller back UP those hills. NEVER. AGAIN.

Before we started running again after my hard miles, Henry got out along the river to watch a tug boat with a few barges go by. I Instagrammed this:

"6.5 miles with these 2 by the river in the Chariot with the middle 3 at 6:10 pace. Ouch.
After the hard miles, Henry got out to watch a barge chug past. Charlie was just pooped.
This was a good morning." (Note the barge still behind Henry in the middle pic.)

The 2nd workout with the boys starts off with a "sick baby story." Over the weekend, Charlie started running a fever. Monday, we went to the doctor, because THIS is not normal for our 1-year-old:

Asleep on my lap in the middle of the afternoon.


Just feeling miserable.

It was a double ear infection. He had a bit of a fever at home, and they took his under-arm temp at the docs and got 103.7. Yikes. But the drugs started working pretty well pretty quick. On Tuesday, he perked up a lot after breakfast, so I thought we'd try going to the gym. Shortly after, I Instagrammed this:

"My morning workout. After Charlie had breakfast, he seemed to feel a lot better. We took a
chance and went to the gym. I got in 1 lap at the pool before the Playzone sitters came to
get me because he was too sad/crabby. Poor dude."

So then I decided I'd pick up Henry from preschool with the stroller. (I usually teach on Tuesdays, but it's finals week, so our schedule is different.) I loaded Charlie into the stroller, we picked up Henry, and then we ran another mile to Maddox Park:

Charlie started feeling better for sure.


Running "the long way home" along the river. Ended up with an easy 10K with the boys on the day.


Charlie was passed out once Henry hopped out at home.