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Family day at the track
By workoutmommy | January 10, 2008
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Thanks to some warm weather in my part of the country, I’ve been able to continue with my favorite outdoor exercise,
running!
Instead of running alone though, I decided today that the whole family needed some fresh air and exercise. I packed everyone up and announced it was time for a track workout, a la family style. (The biggest groan came from my husband!)
For those of you unfamiliar with a track workout, it is basically a way to improve your running speed and efficiency. You run intervals of varying distances and push yourself to your running limit. After allowing yourself to recover, you do it all over again! Over the course of time, your intervals get easier and you can run faster and stronger, with less effort. (sound like fun? It is!!)
We walked up to the local middle school track for our family workout. In my days before children, my track workouts were always my favorite time to run hard and push myself. I thought they were tough, grueling workouts that always left me exhausted. These days, I am pushing that double jogger, which I now think is just as grueling! On top of all the extra weight to push, I also have a tot-sized trainer screaming “faster mommy, faster!”
My husband and I took turns running laps solo, while the other was in charge of the stroller. This tag team effect allowed us to both get a solid workout while still having family time. Our two year old cheered us on and the baby soaked up the excitement from the stroller. We wrote down the time of our best laps and plan to go back every week to work on improving. (note here that husband did have a fun time after all!)
My son was freed from the stroller and was very proud to run his own laps. He is learning from us that physical activity is fun and will hopefully keep this attitude throughout his life. Given the current statistics on childhood obesity, it is so important that we model a healthy lifestyle for our children.
After we were all good and sweaty, we headed back home for some stretching and afternoon naps! Honestly, life doesn’t get any better than this!
So, has your family been active today? Tell me all about it!
January 10th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Sounds wonderful! The weather has definitely made running outdoors a pleasure.
January 10th, 2008 at 9:15 am
[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by workoutmommy [...]
January 10th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I love that you had a family track workout! I think that’s a wonderful way to have fun as a family and get some exercise.
January 10th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Love it!! We do the same thing except one of us runs laps around the perimeter of a park while the other is in charge of the kiddies and does pushups, pullups etc. on the equipment. (Except not now of course. It’s like -20 here. Sheesh).
January 10th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Unfortunately, winter in Wisconsin is not family outdoor exercise time unless we go sledding. Love doing it in the summer. Can’t wait till spring, my daughter got her first bike from Santa this Christmas. We’ll be exercising soon enough.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Color me jealous!