Category: family

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A September of Family Races Part 3: Shark Boy’s Second Duathlon

We closed off our September of Family Races with the Family Fun Fit Beaches Best KOS Duathlon for Shark Boy (with me acting as coach and chaperone).  We had a lot of fun doing this event last year, and for days afterwards, he was asking when he could do a ‘triaflon’ again (still working on swimming, and apparently the distinction between ‘tri-’ and ‘du-’).  The big step up this year was that he was riding a real bike rather than a glider; in fact, someone saw him riding his bike with skill that they referred to as ‘Amazing’ which happens to be the adjective used to describe Spider-Man, who adorns both his bike and helmet.


The race was to start at 8:30 AM.  Two bits of bad news this year were that 1.) it was pouring rain on Saturday and 2.) the Gardiner Expressway was closed.  The former meant getting wet, and the latter meant spending a lot of time in traffic, even that early in the morning.  We arrived with enough time to spare for race kit pickup, pinning the bib onto the jacket, and setting up the bike in the transition area as well as strap on the timing chip.  The event is sanctioned by Triathlon Canada, and though it’s a fun/kids event, it’s nice to see that they want the rules of transition (i.e. no riding your bike in transition area, helmets on before taking the bike) enforced, pay attention to safety (more in a bit), and start on time.  


The 3-5 age group was split into two heats/waves to avoid crowding on the trail and the first heat started at 8:30 sharp.  Spectators were ushered off the racecourse and  immediate vicinity well before the start, but athletes and their guardians were able to hang out near the starting line; Shark Boy and I took turns holding an umbrella, so I got a little more wet than I strictly needed to.  They didn’t start the second wave until the bike course was completely clear – while this meant waiting in the rain (and who likes that?) I have to appreciate them making safety the highest priority.

Quick side note: before we got to race I saw the first athlete to cross the finish line and it was a little girl (in fact the overall fastest in kids aged 3-5). I don’t know when the sexist notions about getting ‘chicked’ start, but it’s clearly more of an adult-invented concept. For the kids, fastest is fastest, and parents with daughters should take note – get your girls to shoot for the moon in sports.

We got into position in the starting line, a little behind the very first row.  While I did want Shark Boy to run fast, I know I have a little trouble coaxing him to really let loose when the distractions of other kids racing are around, plus I didn’t want him to get winded too soon like during the 5 Peaks race. I ran ahead of him and coaxed him to follow me, and I think he did a great job of pacing himself and staying pretty focused. The first run leg was 50 meters, and we completed the loop, rounded the corner into transition and found the bike. Before the race I tried to show him where we had parked it, looking from the angle of the transition area entrance. He almost got on the bike right away, but not only did I catch him as he was throwing his leg over the bike, but so did a volunteer! We jogged the bike toward the mount line, but he still got on a few feet too early. Oh well.

Once he started pedalling, I was very glad I wore running shoes and track pants, because I needed to run full-tilt to keep up with him. He blazed by every kid we saw for the first half of the course which felt good in two ways: one, I was proud of him, two, it was nice seeing the other side of the coin on the bike course – normally I’m the one getting passed.

At the top of the biggest downhill on the course (not much of a hill, but enough for kids to pick up a lot of speed) I could see a little girl had fallen near the bottom which also was a turn to the left. Shark Boy judiciously applied the brake and handled the bike beautifully to avoid any further accident. Unfortunately, this put him neck-and-neck with another girl and for a few seconds there, I feared a Ben-Hur chariot race type scenario, with the two kids potentially side-swiping each other. I coaxed a little more ‘oomph’ from him on the pedals, and we pulled ahead. There was an uphill climb just before transition and I’m proud to say he went up it without getting off the bike… he just pushed those pedals and up he went!


He dismounted and jogged his bike back to its spot. I asked him if he wanted to keep the helmet on.
“UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…” The clock was still ticking so I took it off and we started the run. He’d been looking forward to hearing cheers (especially ‘WOOO’) all morning, so I’m betting this was his favourite part. The final leg was a loop of 100 m. I kept him motivated not only by cheering but reminding him that snacks awaited. I tried to run far enough ahead to snap a picture of him crossing the finish line, but I wasn’t fast enough. Luckily my wife was able to grab the shots you see with her phone – as for the blurriness, Blame It On the Rain.


Normally I wouldn’t let my kids drink Gatorade, but I was so proud I had to make an exception. We all snacked on cookies and crackers (some from the race, some that we had packed) and decided to head home – the rain wasn’t making us any more comfortable. We were pretty sure that Shark Boy wouldn’t get an award (make the top 3 podium), so we were happy getting the finisher’s medal, certificate and most importantly to him, lollipop (in the race kit). When we looked up the results online, we found he got 8th in kids 3-5 (5th place Boys).

I’m super proud of my eldest son, and for next year, I’m hoping we can get him in a full Triathlon (with swimming) while the Lightning Kid tackles this event or one like it if he can manage a glider bike by then.

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A September of Family Races Part Twofer: 5 Peaks Trail Run & Terry Fox Run

The folks at 5 Peaks were nice enough to let me transfer my race entry for the cancelled Yeti Snowshoe race in February to a race much later in the season.  I picked the Heart Lake event (at the Heart Lake Conservation Area); this was the first year they had used this venue.


What turned out to be a beautiful day was a little tough to dress for, as the day started near single digit temperatures (in Celsius), but the sun ended up beating down to a degree that mid-way through the race I was wishing I had worn shorts.   More on my race later; first, we got both Shark Boy and the Lightning Kid to run the “Children’s Challenge” which was a 1 km fun run for the little ones which took place after a timed kids event (probably for slightly older children).

The boys are both #1!

The announcer explained the course and the parents held the kids back until it was time to ready, set, go!  I ran alongside Shark Boy to keep him motivated and running the best pace he could manage, and my wife ran with the Lightning Kid to keep him out of trouble.  The course went out under the start/finish arch, across a field for a bit, then down a big hill to a clearing they called ‘the bowl’, where we did a small loop and headed back the same way.

Shark Boy descends the hill into the bowl.

We’ve got a little more work to do about teaching Shark Boy how to pace himself for distance, and he’s a chip off the old block for not threatening the front runners for their podium positions, but he gave it a great effort and finished strong and out of breath and I couldn’t be prouder.

Shark Boy just before the finish line.

The Lightning Kid just before the finish line.

What can I say about the Lightning Kid? He got some help from his mom on the big hill, but I don’t think anyone had ever seen anyone that young and little finish a race like that, never mind with his gusto and enthusiasm.  We have Special Olympics aspirations for this one, but we’d also like him to attend as many sporting events for ‘typical’ kids as possible.

The brothers with their finishers’ medals.

There was about a half hour break between the end of the Children’s Challenge and the main race which was a Sport course (7.5 km) and an Enduro (15 km); the latter being two laps of the former.  Racers were asked to self seed themselves in waves, with the first wave being people who had a sincere chance of making top 3 overall.  From the numbers it was clear that some overestimated their abilities (or underestimated the competition), but the race announcers’ hinting and chiding had little effect on cutting down the size of that first wave.  In fact, with all the joking around I somehow got it into my head that there would only be two waves, and I would be fine in the back.  After the race was over, I chatted with a guy who was keeping a similar pace than me (and identified himself as more of a ‘hobby’ runner – like me – than a ‘serious’ runner – like most of the racers).  Luckily I stood at the back of the second wave so I wasn’t as big an impedance as I would have been in the front.

 After the first 50 m, the trail narrowed significantly for big downhill drop and the race turned into standing in line at the movies.  We had been forewarned of this and everyone was good-natured about it – it was too soon to have any real effect on anyone’s race.  Once the trail opened up a little bit, I started getting passed and as I checked my heart rate on my Garmin, I could see I needed to slow down the pace a bit.  The thing about trail races is they don’t give your heart rate much of a break unless you’re willing to slow down to a walk.

There were some fun ‘obstacles’ like logs to jump over including one you had to climb or vault (a hop would not suffice) especially early on – I loved it, but I think they still kept it within sane ranges unlike these obstacle course races that are practically masochistic in nature.  I kept getting passed though, and I began to wonder if I was in dead last when I stopped seeing people behind me for a bit.  It happens to me a little on the bike in triathlon so I don’t stress out about it too much.  In fact, I had passed one or two people too.  I took a little video of the trail, if you’d like to get a feel for what the race was like.


I had noticed that the kilometre markers came earlier than my Garmin was claiming, so when 6 km was done, I decided I could try and risk it a little more and really started pushing the pace; driving my heart rate well north of 90% of max.  I passed 3 people who had a similar pace than me, but were making it look easier.  I had a feeling they could and would catch me again before the finish line… and that was when I encountered a bit of funny luck.

The trail veered left and suddenly we were basically facing a wall of dirt.  Imagine the steepest hill you could theoretically climb on foot.  I think the others just stopped and laughed and resigned themselves to walking up carefully.  I, on the other hand, have daily conversations with Shark Boy about Spider-Man, so I hustled up using hands and feet like the wall-crawler himself, and you know what? I wasn’t passed again before the end of the race, even though there was another gut-busting climb out of that same bowl we used in the Children’s Challenge.  I crossed the finish line with lungs burning in just under 45 minutes.  I had projected an hour to my wife – I think both the course was a little easier than the last time I did a trail race, and maybe I’m in a little better shape.

5 Peaks always has great post-race snacks including bagels, bananas, apples, orange wedges, chunks of power bar (I think), cookies and kettle corn.  The Vega tent also gave out free samples of plant-based recovery drink – I’m glad turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties, but it’s not something I’d normally put in a drink… They also have Kicking Horse coffee, but I’m never ready to drink coffee immediately after a race, and by the time I get ready, it’s all gone. One of the costs of being a back of the pack (14/18 in Men 30-39 which I qualify as for another 3 days) athlete I guess.

And that was our Saturday… on to Sunday!
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 We got the kids packed up to do the Terry Fox Run at West Deane Park after a pancake breakfast.  I knew I was going to treat the day as ‘active recovery’ – nothing too strenuous, just jogging.  Unfortunately, I found I had tweaked a weird muscle the day before.  I don’t know which muscle it is, but let’s just say I’m not willing to put ice there.  It was going to be a little more challenging than I thought!

 The Terry Fox run is such a great event for families; there’s a bouncy castle, live music, a hot air balloon (that takes you only a little bit up and down, but still), fire engines for the kids to look at, a barbecue, and a great playground.  We were joined by my father-in-law and his wife.

They ended up taking the kids for the most part, while my wife and I did the run according to the planned route.  We did not break any speed records but proceeded north at a friendly pace while stopping to read Terry Fox quotes that were written in chalk on the path.

(I know that one’s not in chalk, I should have taken pics of the other ones as we encountered them).  The northern turn around point was only about 2 km out from the start, so I knew we’d end up with less than 5 km if we stopped at the start/finish line.  It turns out the kids and Opa and his wife had taken the southern arm of the route, so we went to meet them, but I confess we did a lot of walking as there was fatigue build up for both of us.


 By the time we met them, I had gotten a bit of a second wind, and I wanted to burn off a little extra energy, so I went ahead with Shark Boy to finish the route at a run (with him on his bike). He had wanted to get off the bike and run, but I convinced him to stay on it since it was a little far for him.  Keeping up with him on a bike is speed work (as I learned in Germany), and we had fun racing each other.  Before next week I have to teach him that filling his bike with pretend gas isn’t a great idea during a race, though.  With only a few hundred metres left, I could hear the band, and I said I’d carry the bike and helmet so he could cross the finish line on foot.  He doesn’t know it, but he did a brick workout!  Bring on next week’s duathlon.  

We all met again later and the kids had some good playground time and snacks.  I’m really happy to make this an annual tradition and we even raised a little money for cancer research.

Because we are crazy and insatiable, the kids had swimming lessons that afternoon too.  Our family is what my friend the Pavement Runner calls “That Kind of Crazy“.

Did you grow up in a crazy active family?  If not, do you wish you had?



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A September of Family Races Part 1: Levac Attack 2013

It was the day we had long been waiting for; now an annual tradition for the whole family – the 2013 Levac Attack!  We saw both the weather forecast and the sky itself, and managed to throw a bit of rain gear in along with our Chariot, a bike and helmet for Shark Boy, camera & tripod as well as a boom-box that would play the special “Levac Attack Playlist” I had put together the night before.  What we didn’t pack were dry clothes…

On the way to Brampton it was pretty clear that this would be a rainy day; no hope of sun peeking out or clearer skies anywhere in our future.  I pulled up to John and Lorna’s house to drop everybody off; luckily they have some big trees in their front yard in addition to the tent set up on the driveway so they could stay dry while I went and parked.  Of course, that meant I’d be putting the Chariot together in the rain, along with gathering together the rest of our gear.


Final registrations were done, and we got our fabulous Race t-shirts and bibs on.  It seemed like everybody was eager to get going (or at least get it over with!) and the door prizes were quickly drawn.  The horn sounded and they were off! Between setting up the stroller and herding 3 generations, we always start last, but I suppose that keeps us from having to get passed by everyone (though getting lapped is common on this course anyway).

I had tried to impress upon Shark Boy the importance of finishing the race you set out to do, and that I wanted to see him finish 2 complete laps (for 5.6 km) on his bike.  There is an even more important lesson for him though, and that’s to stick by your family and respect your elders.  Since his Omi was walking the course and it was pouring so hard, I don’t think they got the complete ‘Soft Taco’ course done, but I’m glad they stuck together.

Speaking of sticking together, in spite of her protests that she was in no shape to complete the 11.2 km ‘Hard Taco’ course (due to missed training runs), and also in spite of the miserable weather, my wife kept up the run for the entire four laps, and I couldn’t be more proud to cross the finish line with her at my side (and the Lightning Kid was in the Chariot too, of course!)

You can see some video of our race below.  Sorry about the raindrops on the lens, but, you know, the weather is out of my control.






I was surprised and pleased to see what the finisher’s “medal’ was…. something snazzy and useful, though I waited till I was home to take my modelling pic…
Sweet Visor…
The usual awesome post-race food included fajitas, hot dogs, but I was especially impressed by some of the desserts… one was very tasty, but I don’t know how to describe it… the other was a red velvet cookie with white chocolate chips.  Yum!

As an event, we raised close to $30,000 for Mount Sinai’s Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex for Women and Infants’ Health.  You can find out more about the cause and event at LevacAttack.com.

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The Germany Journals (Ger-nals?) Part 1

Telling the whole wide world you’re going out of the country is not really wise – so though I wanted to blog about this trip to Germany as it happened, I needed to save up the posts until we got back.


This afforded me a unique opportunity to treat it more like an old fashioned journal.  I’d write up the days experiences for later reading in a notebook – old school paper and pen!


The first thing on my packing list is running shoes.  I’m hoping it’s going to be that sort of vacation.  I’ve had similar ideas in the past and though these trips aren’t exactly sedentary, I usually only get sporadic runs in.  The kids kill the plans, to be frank – they don’t sleep, they get sick, they get us sick and I’m too exhausted to train and it’s not fair to make my wife take them both when she’s just as tire, if not more so.  It’s her vacation too.


DAY 1:


There was a a good deal of me that was afraid of this trip – the exhaustion and disappointment have detracted from the journey the last two times.  Still I looked forward to visiting my brother and his family near Frankfurt and my Father-in-Law and his wife in Berlin and being on vacation beats digging ditches.  The one thing that scared me more than anything was THE FLIGHT: 8 hours overseas with a 3 year-old and an 18 month-old.  When Shark Boy was 18 months old we made the same trip and 3 adults weren’t enough to control him on the plane and now it was the Lightning Kid’s turn and there would be two of us, still with Shark Boy to contend with.


It’s been my experience that airlines don’t do that much to help the parents of small children.  I don’t want special treatment per se, but I figure you can’t expect toddlers and babies to be reasonable so making them comfortable ends up helping make everybody more comfortable.  We had two things in our favour this time compared to previous trips:

  1. A direct flight
  2. Lufthansa as an airline


We’ve had problems booking seats together on other airlines (KLM and British Airways to name and shame) and/or getting the bassinet row (up against the bulkhead – the airline gave them to tall passengers instead) but Lufthansa did both by default before I was able to do our online check-in.  That was nice, but common sense is still not that common; the period when a man is rocking a baby to sleep might not be the time to ask him about menu choices in a loud voice, Ms. Flight Attendant!  We basically pulled an all-nighter and the kids didn’t sleep enough but they kept their misbehaving (especially loud screaming/crying) to a minimum.


Between being up all night and jet lag, the first Saturday was basically a write-off for accommodating fatigue and allowing recovery.  The only activity I can claim is lugging suitcases and chasing children… but our rewards were a filled-zucchini, wheat-beer, and plenty of chocolate.
The Zucchini was for lunch, traditionally the warm meal, whereas dinner is lighter.


DAY 2:


Between a nasty cough and jet lag the Lightning Kid gave us a rough night but thankfully Shark Boy adapted to the environment of his cousins’ bedroom with ease.  Seeing the cousins (ours 3½ and 1½, theirs 4 and 2) get along and play together is one of the biggest appeals of this trip – better than the beer and chocolate even!


After taking the kids to a playground and lunch, my brother and I were able to go for a run.  I remember grabbing my heart rate monitor strap while packing, but I couldn’t find it in my suitcase (flashforward: it was found in a box of diapers when we got home) – luckily I still had the Garmin watch unit to track and quantify the run.  My brother led the way – luckily he let me know it would be a lot of climbing early on, so that three-quarters of the time would be spent on half the distance – otherwise I’d have thrown in the towel early.  We got 10km done in just under an hour – pretty good considering the hills.




In the afternoon we made an outing to downtown Bad Homburg for ice cream – running and spaghetti ice cream were the two things I wanted to have regularly on vacation – things were off to a decent start!
I didn’t do any food photography or else I’d offer you a better view of Spaghetti Ice Cream.  Note the Lightning Kid’s smeared face and trademark electrified hair.


DAY 3:


On Monday the weather was terrible and fatigue levels were high so we didn’t get up to much besides visiting my brother’s sister and brother-in-law (does that make them my in-laws squared?).  It gave the kids a change of scenery and a chance to play with other kids  (though I suspect the novelty of different toys is the real draw for them) and the adults got to partake in the German tradition of coffee and cake (though maybe I should have tried harder to emphasize more of the former and less of the latter.


DAY 4:


With the long weeknd over we had a prime opportunity to take the kids to a local pool.  We took Shark Boy and his younger cousin and kept the Lightning Kid at home due to his lingering cough and a possible ear infection.


Community pools in Germany are like shopping malls with different size pools instead of stores – warm pools for kids, lap-swimming pools, outdoor pools, water slides, wading pools, whirlpools (do I sound like Bubba from Forrest Gump yet?)… enough to rival some full-on water parks in North America.  It’s frustrating to think how often pools back home struggle to survive city budget cuts when they would have a fraction of the operating costs they do in Germany.  It seems like the culture embraces physical activity and being in the water more somehow – which doesn’t make me feel any better about the situation back home.


The good news is that Shark Boy had a blast – his favourite was the smallest slide, though he was willing to do the biggest one with me – a long, dark twisting tunnel with lights that flashed on and off – he politely declined a second go round.  Non-swimmer kids were required to wear water wings – these gave him some extra confidence to be at arms length from me; in fact, by the time I gave him a flutter board, he was using his flutter kick to swim clear away from me and I had to chase after him.  Though it was heavily assisted – it was the first time he moved himself through the water independently and I considered it a milestone to be proud of.


TO BE CONTINUED! STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!
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The Germany Journals (Ger-nals?) Part 4

When we last left off, my brother and his family had just joined us in Heiligensee, near Berlin.  Read The Germany Journals (Ger-nals?) Parts One, Two and Three if you haven’t already.


DAY 13:


Once the kids are all up, we got the fun of seeing them play together and then a quick bike ride to the park – with a combination of bikes with kid seats, a trailer, and little bikes for Shark Boy and his cousin.  We got to the playground, played on the playground train (made of stumps) then the slide and a game of hide and seek.  The Lightning Kid sat this little excursion out in favour of a morning nap – but when we got back for lunch and naps for the rest of them – it was his turn to ride in the bike seat.
I generally prefer the trailer for safety reasons, but it’s great to see him enjoy the ride (and more importantly, tolerate a helmet).

We’d seen posters around town for a Kids’ Fair near the big shopping mall.  Things to do for kids seem to be always available in Germany – if you know where to find them.  In this case our search led us through the mall which resulted in extra stops for espresso, ice cream (my third spaghetti ice cream of the trip) and books (as well as a tantrum or two).

We had some trouble finding the place (it’s a semi-industrial/commercial park) and when we did – there was barely anyone there.  The carny/operator guy seemed to think the threatening weather had kept the crowds back but I couldn’t help but think the hidden location added to that.  The good news was we could walk onto any attraction like a bouncy castle as a family or even have rides stopped and started at our leisure.  There may have been some bent rues about adults on rides too… We called it an evening before the rain hit and got the kids home for dinner and bedtime.


DAY 14:

In the morning we took all the kids on another riverboat cruise except the Lightning Kid.  Its pretty uneventful, in spite of the kids’ efforts to run around, split up, and generally get close to railings and other threats.

In the afternoon my brother’s family and mine split up to visit different friends – in our case, an old friend of my wife’s who lives in Teltow.  It’s a second chance for Shark boy to play with his little friend who he’d previously abandoned in favour of a boat ride.

To me, driving in Germany is a little more stressful than back home – there’s different rules for right of way (cars entering the street from the right have right of way unless otherwise marked – very counter-intuitive), you can’t turn right on red, the speed limits (or lack thereof) on the Autobahn and generally dealing with the fact that you don’t know where you’re going.  Like I said, it’s a little more stressful.. but factor in dark and rainy weather, rush hour traffic and noisy kids in the back seat and you have a white-knuckle experience.  Our GPS unit seemed determined to route us to every major road and highway via some byzantine combination of side streets and alleyways.  There might have been smoke coming out of my ears by the time we got there but it’s nothing a beer and pasta dinner (plus cake and cookies) couldn’t fix.

DAY 15:

We took the kids to Jack’s Fun World again; it was interesting to see how the presence of his cousins affected Shark Boy’s behaviour – he was a lot more game to get onto structures and trampolines and less into riding solo on video game motorcycles and other stationary, coin-operated machines.  He even tackles some slides that he left alone the last time we were here.  A big highlight for me is seeing the Lighting Kid flash his big smile at me when we ride the little train together.

Knowing we’ve got the journey back to Frankfurt the next day, we opted for a slower afternoon rather than take the kids swimming – they’d had enough big time action for the day.  It was nice to keep things simple at home and we got a shot of the kids together on the couch in what is becoming an annual tradition.

DAY 16:

Heading back to Bad Homburg, the families were splitting up in a race – the train (ICE & S-trains) versus car.  Would the delays of train stations and transfers be less or more than those of Autobahn traffic jams? (Note: my hand-written journal runs out here. A month later and my memory of our last day is a little hazier). We rode the ICE a little more knowledgeably this time, and managed to keep the boys reasonably entertained (resulting in reasonably good behaviour) for that portion of the ride back. Moving around the cars and getting food proved challenging, as the train was full of drunken, loud Bayern-Muenchen fans on their way back from a Champions League Final victory.


We made it to Frankfurt station and felt like ice cream… but we were being ice cream snobs and the Hagen Daaz and Movenpick kiosks were not going to cut it, so we got a couple of pastries instead and boarded the S-Bahn/S Train. S-Bahns are a little like street cars on steroids, and tend to help bind outlying communities and suburbs to the downtown core of cities like Frankfurt. Ours was very crowded and our stroller had to fight for space with bikes… while a separate section of seats were vacant. They were ‘First Class’ seats; I found the idea of a First Class section in a commuter train service very odd, but there you have it.

Riding the rails (again).

We spent a lovely evening as two families; the kids playing in the backyard and take-out pizza for dinner. One last night and the next morning we would be winging our way home.

The flight home was not overnight like the way to Germany, so we were a little worried. Fortunately, the boys kept their chaos on the lighter side, and we also had another empty seat beside us. We shuffled around quite a bit to keep everybody satisfied.


This picture is not representative of the overall flight

The young lady you can see in the background of the picture actually managed to catch Shark Boy and keep him from falling off the seats while he was sleeping. I thanked her profusely, but the best part was that she had forgotten a bouquet of flowers, and we were able to find her at baggage claim and return them to her; Shark Boy did the honours of hand delivering them. And with that, we were home, safe and sound.

Obviously there are a lot of great memories in a trip like this, but I won’t lie: it was exhausting, and overall made me wonder if it’s worth all the effort. More than what I got out of the trip, or what the kids got out of the trip though, is its symbolic value (for lack of a better term). We are a family with widely varied interests and priorities, we might have some special needs, we have personalities that could be classified as forces of nature, but we will travel. We will seek adventure, we will cherish our extended family, whether it’s now when it’s hard because the children are so young, when it’s a little easier because they’re somewhat more manageable, or even when they’re teenagers and don’t want to hang with their parents quite so much. Values like these are instilled through tradition, and tradition means repetition, and sticking to it even when it’s hard.
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The Germany Journals (Ger-nals?) Part 3

See Parts 1 and 2 if you haven’t read them yet.

DAY 9:

Still more rain and cold that morning – it was starting to really get to me. It was either pouring or drizzling all. the. time. We managed to while away the morning knowing we had a game plan for after the midday nap – Jack’s Fun World – an indoor playground built in an industrial warehouse space – it was HUGE. I started calling it “Captain Jack’s” after a song Shark Boy had learned at daycare – especially because it reminded me of another Captain Jack Song.




The place was filled with ball pits, climbing structures, trampolines, slides and such which were included in the admission as well as things that costed a surcharge – bumper boats, video games, mini-golf, and those stationary rides you find in shopping malls like cars, trains and helicopters that shake when you put coins in. To my utter disappointment Shark Boy wanted nothing to do with the former attractions and insisted on the latter (I refused to spend an extra cent). It’s not that I found that kind of preference shocking in general – I probably would have done the same thing at his age – but it seemed so out of character for HIM.

After a meltdown about me not springing for mini-golf clubs (how does he even know what that is?) my low-blood sugar detector went off, and we got both kids some ice cream. That seemed to do the trick – he was into the ball pit and climbing structures in is usual way – seemingly teleporting from one end to another – and generally taking years off my life as I’d lose sight of him every few minutes.




He’d give us another example of his over-abundant energy levels before the night was out. Our hosts, my father-in-law and his wife had the idea to have dinner at the local resto-pub – it’s a short walk away from the house. Shark Boy got a chance to show off his new bike and his ability to ride it, while my father-in-law opted to spare himself from the rain and make the short drive. We crossed the street, put him on the bike, pointed him in the direction of the restaurant and off he went. I was carrying the Lightning Kid and I lost sight of him quickly. It took me a good minute to realize that our two ladies who were walking ahead of me had no idea how far ahead he’d gotten and when they started trying to catch him they’d be far too slow. I dropped the Lightning Kid off with his grandfather at the restaurant then took off at my top speed. I was in jeans and running shoes and I went full out for 600 m before I even saw him. His grandfather’s wife had asked a jogger (with a better head start than me) to stop him. He was already at a major intersection when normally his habit was to stop at every crossing.



I was too winded and angry to muster a good scolding or punishment so I put him back on the bike back toward the restaurant with instructions to stop when he reached his mother. He ignored that and blew right by her. Another sprint for me and bike privileges revoked – my idea to throw the bike into the river was not taken seriously by anyone. I guess I should have been grateful to do some speed work – but safety first, especially for the kids.



DAY 10:



I guess the night cooled off any bike-related anger. My father-in-law, a.k.a Opa wanted to take Shark Boy on a longer bike ride. We planned to meet in town; my wife, the Lightning Kid and I would go in by car – while Opa and his wife would take Shark Boy through the forest on the bikes. I had my reservations but if they wanted to take on the challenges of a preschooler, more power to them. I told him not only to listen to when they told him to stop, but to ask them to stop if he was getting tired.



They ended up taking a wrong turn in the forest looking for a pen where wild boars are kept (not so wild, I guess) and long story short – they rode 10 km. He’s three and a half. He’d been riding a bike for less than a week at this point. He even had too much spare energy to sit still in a chair at the restaurant were we all ate lunch together (“Weil” – aptly name since service took a “while”). Fortunately we were seated outdoors (the weather was finally warming up – in fact the intense sunlight took some getting used to) in the pedestrian area of town so he could run around.




We ate Flammkuchen and afterwards we went to an Italian Ice Cafe that had a Spaghetti Ice Cream so good it made the last one I had in Bad Homburg seem like hot garbage.



We got home and put the boys down for an afternoon nap and I took that as a cue to get a run in. Shark Boy’s achievements of the day inspired me to go long – I skipped my *Burbathlon* antics to taake a route along the river Havel. I needed my hydration pack along since lunch had made me thirsty, but that also let me take my camera long to get some pictures from the riverbank. 12.5 km – my longest run since the *Chilly Half-Marathon*. I had a respectable pace that I liked, though I think I missed the negative split.







DAY 11:



German Hay Fever seemed to have been worse than the home brew and the Lightning Kid was still experiencing lots of wake-ups and still consistently getting up at 5 AM. These two factors had me too tired to do much on my morning walk with the Lightning Kid beyond a few toe-touching type light exercises and some triceps dips.

Get two of every animal…





The weather turned so nasty that hail pellets are overflowing the gutter. The day’s Saving Grace (or saving throw, for you geekier types) is a date night at a nice Italian restaurant.



DAY 12:



We take a riverboat cruise from Tegel back to Heiligensee – keeping a 1&1/2 year-old safe, yet happy on a boat is a lot of work but a mid-day snack of Berlin Currywurst knocks an item off the ‘must-eat’ list…



My allergies were starting to kick into high-gear… the congestion from hay fever relegated me to the couch for snoring but it works out since I’m better able to greet my brother and his family when they arrive late that night: Let the Games begin!

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What’s A Taper?

WRONG.


This always happens.  I get about 2 weeks out from a race, and if I mention it to anyone who’s familiar with structured training, they’ll say something along the lines of “Oh, you must be in Taper”.  Tapering means decreasing the training volume prior to a race to allow your body to be its best for race day but that means you have a high volume of training to come down from…
While I can say I stayed active on vacation, I can’t claim to have kept up a triathlete’s regimen either.  Too little swim and bike, and even the running I did was kind of lacking.  I took an honest evaluation of where I’m at, and having done 10 km and 12.5 km recently, I’m pretty happy with my run shape.  I haven’t swum recently, but there were no real problems there on 2.4 and 2.6 km training sessions, so I think a 1.5 km sanity check swim where I swim the entire distance straight through, preferably in open water will do.

That left the bike.  I said I was going to increase bike performance by increasing bike training volume and intensity.  While I think I increased the proportion of bike training in my overall schedule, I didn’t exactly set the world of fire with the bike this pre-season.  Luckily, I was able to get out for a ride this Saturday.


The first half felt really good.  I kept looking down and seeing cadence over 90 RPM, and I felt like my moving average speed was 30 km/h or more (if you account for stopping at stop signs or traffic lights, average speed goes way down).  I was using 360 degrees of my pedal stroke to generate power (at least it felt that way – spinning as opposed to mashing down on the pedals).


Split
Time
Moving Time
Dist
Elev Gain
Elev Loss
Avg Speed
Avg Moving Speed
Max Speed
Avg HR
Max HR
Avg Bike Cadence
Max Bike Cadence
Calories
1
10:39.3
9:29:00
3.97
27
7
22.4
25.1
36.7
149
209
77
109
120
2
10:13.9
9:32:00
4.61
10
8
27
29
38.5
154
168
82
101
135
3
10:31.0
10:05:00
4.76
13
12
27.2
28.3
38.4
157
170
83
110
142
4
10:55.7
10:21:00
4.77
10
10
26.2
27.7
43.4
154
173
81
108
134
5
11:32.6
10:16:00
4.74
12
12
24.7
27.7
43.2
152
168
83
109
128
6
16:03.1
16:03:00
8.05
16
18
30.1
30.1
41.8
157
170
86
106
205
7
15:56.2
15:54:00
8.05
20
18
30.3
30.4
41.6
162
172
87
112
210
8
7:29.5
7:30:00
3.74
0
28
30
29.9
43.5
152
168
80
106
64
Summary
1:33:21
1:29:10
42.69
108
113
27.4
28.7
43.5
155
209
83
112
1138


I did notice that all that tended to go away as my resolve and concentration waned in the latter half of the ride.  From the stats it looks like I was able to correct the backslide in intensity.  I wanted to fuel this training ride at the last minute but didn’t want to use up my gels, so I gave a Clif Shot Blok (courtesy of Darwinian Fail from the FitfluentialTO tweet-up) a try.  I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to take one or more, usually it’s a gel every  45 minutes or so. After checking the website FAQ, it looks like I’d have been better off taking the whole pack of 3 blocks. Whoops.

Anyway the goal was to hit 40km or 90 minutes of riding whatever came first, and I’m happy that distance was achieved first (though not by much).  I still need a sanity check brick workout to test out my legs coming off the bike.  This sort of sanity check “untaper” training isn’t recommended if you’re at a new distance; I’m getting away with it (so far) because I’m sticking pretty close to my general conditioning and even I’m not stupid enough to try and build up in the last two weeks…

Sunday’s ride was in sharp contrast to Saturday’s… we went for our first bike trip as a family. Only the Lightning Kid wasn’t propelling himself. Shark Boy and my wife both tried out new bikes. I was expecting to go slow, but I still wasn’t prepared for how slow, I honestly couldn’t go slow enough and balance the bike at the same time, and with the Lightning Kid in the Chariot getting impatient and squawking at the frequent stops (when he should have been napping), it was more of a mental exercise in patience than a workout of any kind. That’s OK though, we do these things almost as a proof of concept, to keep up good active habits as a family and the speed will only increase from here.

Do you observe the taper?
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The Germany Journals (Ger-nals?) Part 2

This was the day we would make the trip from Frankfurt to Berlin.  While my wife and I packed, my brother took Shark Boy outside.  The next thing I knew, he’s asking me: “You know your son can ride a bike, right?”


To rewind a bit, Shark Boy does a great job on his glider bike and can balance and steer no problem.  Still when we’ve tried to move him up to a regular bike, he’s stayed fixated on the idea that he needs training wheels.  He even threw a fit when he saw me remove them from his new Ultimate Spider Man bike.  Getting him to ride it has been semi-successful, but he still didn’t seem that close to being able to go it alone.  A couple of days watching his older cousin ride a bike, and away we go!  Swimming … biking … can Kids Of Steel be far away?


Before our train departure, we walked around downtown Frankfurt for a bit, which I recommend for those that like modern architecture and/or high-end clothing stores and had some lunch.



Sandcastles in downtown Frankfurt.


The Inter City Express is a world famous fast train – I was excited to show it to Shark Boy after he’d read about it in books; although we were on it last year he didn’t notice much – a stomach bug had turned him into a near-zombie.


We had a cabin “reserved” – the 8 Euro extra charge didn’t make much of a difference as we had company the entire 4 hour trip.  I guess the train was too full – I’d have thought two small children would have been more of a deterrent to solo travellers. It turns out, you can only reserve the seats you sit it, which makes a certain amount of sense, I guess.


I spent most of the train ride carrying the Lightning Kid through the cars of the train (including ones that were identified as ‘QUIET’) from one end to the other.  Someday I’m going to write a post about all the calories I burn on the kids that I don’t get to count…Both boys fell asleep with all of 45 minutes left on the train ride.  Still we arrived in Berlin (Spandau Station) excited to start the next phase in our adventure.


A little too excited in the boys’ case! The new environment seemed to be an over-stimulation which combined with their over-tiredness to make for a very late, tedious bedtime routine – bad news for their jet lag adjustment.


DAY 6:


Thanks to our hosts taking the boys on first thing in the morning, I had a bit of a sleep-in .  We took them into Tegel for some shopping – riding a double-decker bus is a big draw for Shark By and the Lightning Kid seemed to like it too.  The effects of the night before were felt heavily as the kids seemed to need lunch and their nap times an hour or two earlier than expected and hopes for getting a run in while they napped in tandem were dashed.  I took the Lighting Kid to my favourite playground in the stroller.  I hadn’t changed out of my jeans but my plan B was successful – he fell asleep on the way there.  I used the park benches and playground for

  • Incline Push-ups
  • Tricep Dips
  • Negative Phase Pull-ups
  • Squats
  • Single-leg lunges on the swings
  • Inch worms (on the train set – plank across two ‘cars’, then bring feet forward to the car your hands are on, move your hands forward into another plank, etc.)
  • Planks
  • Side Planks
Tricep dips on one of the ‘train’ cars



I was doing a side plank on a park bench, looking at a (rare) blue sky, listening to the birds chirp and thinking about how peaceful it all was when I heard “WAAAAAAH!” – the Lightning Kid woke up.   Still, everybody had gotten what they needed: fresh air and exercise for me, sleep for everyone else.  We had a very pleasant rest of the afternoon as a family.


DAY 7:


I don’t really want to write about this day.  The only undertaking was a trip into town for a few things and the promise of ice cream.  It was a nightmare as the kids’ nap and eating schedules were still off, so there were a lot of tantrums and screaming.  AND THE ICE CREAM CAFE’S MACHINE BROKE DOWN SO I COULDN’T GET SPAGHETTI ICE CREAM!


Side note 1: If you don’t know spaghetti ice cream, it’s soft ice cream pushed through a press to come out in noodles, coated in strawberry sauce and either grated coconut or white chocolate and the whole pile hides a little mound of whipped cream.


Side note 2: I might as well take the opportunity here to talk about one of my favourite things here in Germany.  When a house uses radiators for heat, it’s hard to stay warm if you’re in the wrong spot and we’ve had unseasonably cold (and wet) weather here this trip.  The plus side is these incredibly practical radiators in the bathrooms (and sometimes in a front hall).  Back home, between swims, gym workouts and showers not to mention regular hygiene I go through a lot of towels so I’d love it if I had one of these that could not only quick dry a used towel, but warm it too.



DAY 8:


In spite of continuing cold and rainy weather we braved a trip to the forest playground – Shark Boy rode his bike the entire way there while my wife chased him and I pushed the Lightning Kid in the stroller through the drizzle.  He fell asleep again before we got there and while Shark Boy played with his mother I snuck in a few push-ups, step-ups and tricep dips.  The playground is somewhat sheltered by the trees but when the Lightning Kid woke up and the rain worsened we opted to return home.  After an early lunch we got the kids down for a tandem nap and instead of the run I wanted to do, I did a living room workout instead.
  • Push Ups (100 Push Up workout 5 sets – 20, 30, 18, 18, 34)
  • Negative Phase Pull-ups
  • Lunges with 3 kg dumbbells overhead
  • Side Planks

I also developed and exercise with
  • no weights/equipment
  • functional compound movement
  • whole-body muscle recruitment


My idea is to create an alternative burpee (my wife dubbed my creation “burpees for engineers” finding them somewhat complex).  I’ll share it in a future post, but for now let’s stay on topic.


We had arranged for an afternoon playdate for Shark Boy with a friend of my wife’s and her 4 year-old son that afternoon at the same time that my father-in-law was having visitors who came by boat.  What ended up happening was that he was effectively kidnapped (I’m sure there’s a term for nautical abductions) for a few hours and our poor 4 year-old visitor had to split his time between the 19 month-old Lightning Kid and the grown-ups. Yuck!

Luckily Shark Boy came back in time for them to spend a good hour or two torturing me with silly faces.  We watched the all-important Champions League (soccer) final between two German teams: Bayern Muenchen versus Borussia Dortmund being cheered on by my wife and I respectively.  What can I say? She sure can pick a winner – she married me didn’t she?

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Mothers’ Day

There’s two important mothers who have helped make me the man I am today, and if part of who I am is a triathlete, then they’re a big part of that too. Let’s do this in chronological order…

My mother was born in immediate post-war Germany, so she started off tough, as you can imagine. I know one story where her mother took her three daughters (my mother being the youngest) to pick potatoes from a field just so they’d have something to eat. My mother ended up with shoes full of blood – she couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 years old. She grew up without a father thanks to the war, and my grandmother, my aunts and her had to move around a fair bit. Still, somehow they muddled through.

Athletically her side of the family has been very tennis-centric. It’s amazing to watch my mom play tennis (especially since she wins a lot) – no hard or fancy shots, she just hustles for the ball, and returns it consistently, grinding her opponents down. I haven’t stepped on a court in years, nor seen her play recently, but I bet it’s still the same. Growing up, we didn’t just have tennis though. I can remember being in Scouts (everything from Cubs to Venturers), piano lessons, soccer, judo, diving, softball… the list goes on and on. On weekends we’d bike as a family or cross-country ski or hike at the cottage. We were a multi-disciplinarian, multi-sport family, so now, I’m a multi-disciplinarian, multi-sport man.
When I met my wife, I was immediately impressed by how many pies she had her fingers in (figuratively speaking, you understand).  She was working full-time in a marketing executive position, volunteering with a Young Executives of Canada subcommittee of the German-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, teaching special needs kids to ski, all while maintaining an active social life and close ties to her family.  She even seemed game to take on training for a half-marathon with me, so that’s what we did.

Getting to know someone as a friend and better through running (or another form of training, I suppose) till the point where you’re starting to fall in love with them is something I’d wish for anyone who tries to lead a physically active lifestyle.  Running, exercise and physical challenges have always been part of our relationship, and now they’re part of our family life too.  Bringing triathlon into any relationship takes the support of your partner and it can mean outright sacrifice too; so I’m lucky to not only have her in my life to do all those little things that make swimming, biking and running possible, but also that she enjoys similar pursuits and I get the chance to return the favour sometimes.  For the second year in a row, I will be taking care of our sons on Mother’s Day while she runs the Sporting Life 10K… and we’ll be all waiting for her at the finish line (this year I even did the race kit pickup!).

The Human Totem Pole from last year

 Happy Mother’s Day (or Mothers’ Day… there could be more than 1 mother in your life!) How have the Mothers in your life shape your healthy lifestyle?

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Pin-It Party Link-Up

Lindsay from the Lean Grean Bean had the wonderful idea to leverage a little Pinterest and help a bunch of bloggers bring attention to some of their older posts.  Blame me or my equipment, but I generally don’t have the most jaw-dropping pictures… I do know that visuals are important in blogs, as walls of text turn people off.

I picked 5 posts based on 1.) they had to have a ‘Pinnable’ image and 2.) they represent the real heart of what this blog is about.  Here are my 5 posts:

Now that I look at them, there’s not a lot of triathlon representation, which is the main theme of this blog.  Well, my triathlon posts either don’t have good images (that originate from me), or just don’t have the level of originality that I want to present today; e.g. race recaps – I swam, I biked then I ran.  So did everyone else.  The posts above, though? They have that special Iron Rogue brand of crazy.  So go ahead an pin an image!  You can find me on Pinterest here.  And be sure to go to Lean Green Bean for other great posts on fitness and wellness.  I’ll even put a few links in the comment section!

EDIT: Can’t put links in the comments, so here’s some of the other participants I’ve visited:
Itz Linz
Coffee, Cake and Cardio
Family Fitness Food
Fit 2 Flex
Let’s Walk and Talk/