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?
