Pressures of Coaching

My dad is running his first half marathon in 3 1/2 weeks.  When we talk about the race on the phone I always ask how his training is going, then I'll give him some pointers.  He always responds "OK Coach."  At first that was fun to hear but now I'm feeling the pressures associated with coaching.

The longest run my dad has been on in the last month is 9 miles, then 2 months ago he ran 7 miles.  Almost all the other weeks his longest runs were 3-4 miles.  This is NOT the way to train for a half marathon!  To make matters worse he refuses to drink when he runs.  I'm already researching the signs and symptoms of dehydration, heat stroke, etc.

My parents live about 3 hours away from me.  They had to come into town for a funeral so I took advantage of the opportunity.  I took my dad on a 9 miler and carried Gatorade for him and forced him to drink every 3 miles.  He literally has to stop moving before he can swallow.  He's concerned about how that will effect his time in the race.  I have to remind him that if he doesn't drink he will be carried off in the ambulance.

Wish me luck in teaching an old dog new tricks.

Fartleks

One of the things I envision the most when I'm running is the image of wild horses galloping across the countryside.  To be able to run as free and as fast as a wild horse would be a beautiful thing.

Last week I volunteered to help out with my son's Webelos scout activity of playing kickball.  The boys wanted the leaders and parents to also play.  The kids were pretty competitive and I was not going to let them out run me so I ran faster than I have in years (probably decades).  It was an all out effort and it reminded me how good it felt to run without the fear of running out of gas before my allotted miles were finished.

The kickball game made me want to do some speed work this week.  I've run fartleks many times before but yesterday morning I let myself run as fast as possible.  As soon as I thought I was at my peak I felt another gear kick in and I ran faster.  For 10-15 seconds at a time I was able to run like a wild horse and it was wonderful.

Bonus: I'm not even sore today!