Family men/women - How do you find the time?

Back when we had one child (2 now) I did a lot of the slower runs with the Baby jogger. Now I take turns with my wife, she runs as well. I don't know how early you are "in charge", but when doing doubles I always have to get out for my run by 5 AM, then my 2nd run is at 4:30 after work and my wife gets her short run in. I sacrafice my sleep and TV time to be able to run and still have plenty of time for the kids.

Agree with early morning. If I don't hit the pavement by say 5:30 there is a good chance I'll never get running. This means in bed by 10 every night.

My job does not have a predictable cut off time at the end of the day. Running at 4:30 pm is great if you can be sure not to get pulled away.

On weekends, I cut deals with my wife about who gets some personal time when. I generally get in longer runs almost first thing (start 7:30 or so). Can also do long run during afternoon naps if your kids still nap.

Babyjogger is purely easy-day for me. I live on a big hill, with lots of curbs and cross streets, so even an easy day is challenging and not continuous effort with the jogger.

We have one son-2 years old, another baby on the way, and while we have a good thing going now: i get out early (5:45) and am back home by 7 so my wife can get an hour walk in while i feed my son breakfast and get myself ready for work. it's a challenge, but it seems to work., and i still get to work on time (being the boss helps...)

i don't know what we are going to do when the new baby arrives, but i presume it will still mean i'll be up and out early, and i'll probably cut down on the training for a little while. on saturdays my wife sleeps in, i get upowith my son, and when she gets up, i head out for my run. for sunday long runs i alternate going to a training partner's house or he comes to ours-we do this at 7:30 at the very latest, as he has 3 kids, himself. 3 hour marathon training runs are hardest-these take the most negotiation, but its workable.

Finding the time is definitely a challenge, but with negotiation it can work. I, too, give up sleep and am in bed by 9:30 at the latest.

finding that extra time is tough, but i am finding that as the weather gets better, my son is amenable to the baby jogger more and more-even first thing in the morning during the week-if its an easy day-giving my pregnant wife extra time to sleep, relax, whatever, (that i can then use for negotiating purposes later on...). he's also been known to fall asleep in it, and i'll run until he wakes up, which gives me at minimum 70 minutes. another thing we've done is do running errands while he is in the baby jogger on saturdays-pick up bagels, the newspaper, drop off a video, and although the intensity isn't great, i can get a lot of miles in and be on my feet fo 90 minutes or so while being with my son and still be fresh for a long run the next day. add in some hills with the baby jogger and its not a bad workout.

good luck-i am curious about how you got your miles in when each of your kids were first born....

We used to do our long runs on Sun - start at 6 AM, but this was in FL. Then we'd be home by a little after 8:30 or so and the family was happy. Same with Sat - we'd do a shorter faster run early. It all worked out. Don't short your kids, the little guys are only small once.

I have to do a lot of early 5 a.m type runs and even 4a.m. when a long run fell during the middle of the week. Like someone mentioned above, turn off the television. T.V. will not help your marathon time one bit.

Get your kids to bead early ( they need to anyway) and you follow soon after.

I, know what you mean....it is not easy, but I believe it can be done.....just be flexible when things come up with the kids you can not control. Skiping a workout may be the best thing sometimes i.e. you had a sick child all night long and only got 3 hours sleep......it may be best to sleep in and skip workout and get that extra hour of sleep.

Best of luck

Disconnect your TV and internet access at home.

Go to bed early.

Don't train hard the whole year, because usually an understanding wife will support blocks of time as long as there are breaks.

Having a low-key job and an understanfing wife makes it easier.

Thanks for all the posts so far. (And I watch almost zero TV--can't stand the stuff anymore.) Weekend long runs are always very early and the easiest to get in. It's the bulk weekday miles I have trouble with. It's nice encouragement to know there are others out there struggling with the same thing and making it work.

Sure sounds like fun: having kids and having a life, too. Ugh. Too many kids in the world already. Count me out.

zeropopulation: Then stay out of the post.

Married with two children , twins at that, 6 yrs. old going on

7 soon . . . someday they'll be there with me ( I hope ).

I'm up at 4:00 am (M-F) and out the door by 4:25 and on Saturday whenever I wake up(usually by 5:30am via my biological clock) by the way my body naturally wakes up before the alarm on weekday mornings which is great because then I don't wake my wife. The most mpw I have reached is 60 and I look forward to a further challenge of getting this up to 70 - 80 . . . it will be tough . . . but I know I can do it by including a run every other Sunday (again in the AM) this will really help with bumping the miles up. And just to reiterate I also don't do the T.V. and I am in bed by 9:30 pm or so .

I'm a new dad to a beautiful baby girl, but my wife is a teacher, so right now she is on summer break. However, I'm up by 6:00am every day and out the door for my mileage. I then run again after work at 6:30pm. We get to bed by 11pm right now and only awake a few times/night because of the newborn.

However, I've been thinking about when she goes back to work in August and even moreso when she goes back to running (she's a 2:52 marathoner). Let me know if you guys think this is the best scenario: 1) she doesn't do morning runs, so that's a plus. Anyway, I'll wake up at 6:00am and do my run. My wife will take the baby to her mom's house, and then pick her up after school. She'll then bring the baby to my job and I'll take care of her while my wife heads out on her training run, then by the time she gets back, I'll be able to head out the door for my 2nd run. Whew, then she'll head home and start dinner, etc, and I'll get home, play with the baby and then we'll hit the sack. Repeat, repeat, repeat... or maybe she can run at her mom's house and not bring the baby to work. I don't watch much TV other than SportsCenter.

Anyway, count me in with you guys! It's all worth it.

Great thread....I've got two kids, turning 5 and 7 this week. It is encouraging to hear of the creative ways you all get the miles in. I can't do the 4 or 5 am thing for long, if I don't get my 8 hrs sleep I get sick.

I do most of my weekday runs during lunchtime at work...I'm lucky enough to have some flexibility there.

But one thing I haven't seen mentioned is the dreaded treadmill. I bought one for my basement soon after my second child was born. A 'mill at home can give you a lot of flexibility and freedom to run when you're home with the kids, or even at night after they've gone to bed. My wife uses it in the afternoons occasionally when the kids are at home and I'm at work. If the weather is really awful, I'll even hop on it early Saturday morning for my long run, which is torture but beats not getting it in.

Nice thread, I hope I can find more time now that my son is a little older(6 months) I had to quit running(college) so I could put in more working hours, but now I'm all caught up and I don't have anymore excuses. Ineed to learn to turn off that damn t.v. and Compu. early every night that would help.

leehamster wrote:

Can also do long run during afternoon naps if your kids still nap.

If you mean what I think you mean no you can't.

When doing doubles, I used to do my shorter run on the treadmill with my son nearby (within view) in his play pen or "bouncy seat". It worked out well... if he was crying or something I could stop the mill and attend to him. But usually I didn't have to interrupt the run. He would be happy playing for the 35 to 45 minutes that I was running on the mill.

What's the most mpw any of you others have attained given the family responsibilities and how did you go about getting there ? I 'm looking to get up to 70 mpw in a month or two.

noflats wrote:

What's the most mpw any of you others have attained given the family responsibilities and how did you go about getting there ? I 'm looking to get up to 70 mpw in a month or two.

I managed a few weeks over 100 mpw... Averaged about 88 mpw in my marathon buildup. My wife is very helpful (pays the bills, keeps the house) and understands that to run that much, I have to run in the AM and then I'm not home until 7:30PM because I run after work. If you don't have a spouse that supports your running, life could get ugly.

I pay no attention to my kids. My wife takes them to soccer and baseball practice and I haven't seen a single game they've played all spring. I never help with their homework, either. But, I'm getting in my miles, I won my age group Saturday at a 10k and I have a nice medal to show for it. That medal will last a lifetime. It's all worth it.

Let's think about how much time it takes to run... At MOST 2 hours per day. That would be running about 16 miles per day... so, averaging 13-14 per day is not a big deal if you are disciplined and get up early like most of the posters in this thread have indicated. I highly doubt that those who are running by 5:30AM are missing any time with their kids... they're not awake yet. And since kids should be in bed by 9:00PM, they don't notice that you have to hit the sack by 10:00PM, either. It's all in the discipline in getting your ass out of bed and on the roads before your kids wake up. Back to the time issue, most people I know watch more than 1 hour of TV per day... so, it would be pretty easy to cut out that hour of wasted time and spend it with your kids. Running 1.5 to 2 hours per day will not result in "ignoring your kids" and not helping with their homework. Ask Rod DeHaven how he runs 120 mpw with 3 kids and a job.

Mr. KnowItAll wrote:

I pay no attention to my kids. My wife takes them to soccer and baseball practice and I haven't seen a single game they've played all spring. I never help with their homework, either. But, I'm getting in my miles, I won my age group Saturday at a 10k and I have a nice medal to show for it. That medal will last a lifetime. It's all worth it.

at work dude at work! That's if you have the luxury of getting a positions that is flexible with your hrs.

The Roc