This past weekend I was reminded of the time drain that accompanies running long on the weekend. I love long runs, and I really don’t mind being out on the road for two hours or more. I do NOT, however, enjoy the scheduling difficulties that sometimes accompany long runs.
This past Sunday, I had to do a 10-mile run. Since a graph of my daytime energy would probably resemble a hockey stick, I decided that it would be best to get my run out of the way in the morning. Apparently, this is not what my husband had in mind. We like to try and do some family activities on the weekends, and he wanted to go hiking or some other physical activity in the morning–which I COMPLETELY understand. There was no easy answer.
After a brief disagreement, I decided to just head out the door and run. I knew in my heart that if I didn’t run in the morning, the 10 miles wasn’t going to happen after a late afternoon birthday party. In retrospect, I was totally right on this decision. After said children’s birthday party, my older son was in dire need of a nap, and of course, didn’t take one. The afternoon went downhill after that.
I guess the point of this rambling post is that training for longer distance races can definitely put a strain on the family relationship. When you have to run for an hour and a half or more, it starts taking up precious weekend time. It’s often hard to make everyone happy on this front.
After some experience in this situation, I think it’s probably better to discuss the running schedule before Saturday or Sunday morning, when you are inevitable forced to make a game time decision. If both parties can agree to a predetermined run schedule, things would probably go a lot smoother.
This weekend I have 12 miles on tap, and I am going to try to make a better effort to work with the hubs on the schedule. While I also have a lot of fun things I would like to do on the weekends, I also want to make sure that I get my training in when I have the energy to do so!
Have long runs ever caused a disagreement in your household?
YES! My husband is very supportive of my running but sometimes the time constraint starts to get ridiculous (like during marathon training…18 milers) I do my best to wake up early for the very long runs. You are right though, if you don’t get it done in the morning it is very difficult to find time later in the day.
Yes! We struggle with this. My husband had ran for 6 years before I started running and we fought a lot about him running on the weekends. Finally he started waking up early and that helped. Then I started running and we were both training for a half. So then there were arguments about who was running when and trying to balance both long runs. I don’t mean to imply we were always upset with each other. But it has been a struggle.
Yes,
In order to keep everyone happy I generally run only once on weekends. And for my weekend long run (which was 3+ hours this past weekend) I get up and leave early enough so that I get home around 7:15 am and don’t miss out on any family time. I do not like getting up at 4ish on Saturday mornings, but this has been the best compromise.
You never cease to amaze me! Holy crap you get up early on the weekends. I am NOT going to tell my husband this! 😉
Talk about timing, I literally just sent an email to my sister talking about running getting in the way of going to the lake (or in my words lake in the way of running, which is absolutely wrong). I am not even training, but just trying to maintain one long run each week. And the idea that I really thought about letting that dictate going to the lake with my family? Kind of ashamed.
I know–it’s crazy isn’t it? Then again, I feel like most of us can be pretty compulsive when it comes to training! 😉
It’s so hard to fit it all in, especially if your husband is training for something, too! Scott’s now training for the Save the Bay swim, and a century ride – then add in the boys’ activities, and try to squeeze in some downtime and/or fun stuff, too, and our weekends are booked solid. We actually write down a weekend schedule, and have it planned out no later than Friday night. It helps so much to know ahead of time who’s doing what when!
Wow, and I thought our schedule was crazy! 😉 Planning ahead definitely seems like the best solution!
I think I’m the only runner who doesn’t struggle with this. DH is very supportive. I get up early, but not before 6 to go for my long run on the weekend. He and our kids sleep in anyway.
While they’re often up by the time I get home, I don’t get any complaints. They just want to know what we’re having for lunch later and when I’m going grocery shopping because “there is no food in the house.” Ha!
Yeah, I think early morning is the way to go! 🙂