UKC

On Saturday, as the rain cleared literally and metaphorically, I caught sight of brave new world.

I took my 4.5 year old daughter on her first dedicated cycle and run session.

We got her an Islabike at Christmas, being winter she was not too interested and she was already in love with her scooter.

This summer has been incredible. In one month she has gone from not being interested in the bike to pestering me to take her out all the time.

That moment when she first went off down the garden by herself as I let go of the saddle was always going to be a clichéd milestone but I still got me. I love her excitement about her independence.

I set up a slalom in the garden with various toys to make a game out of improving her handling skills to allow her to be safe out and about.

We went out for a lunch with my wife corralling her whilst I pulled the trailer for our youngest and she loved.

On Saturday I thought about combing my run with her trip on the bike. I asked her what she wanted and she said she wanted to go to somewhere ‘new’. Perfect. I had a flat route in my mind that allowed for plenty of opportunities for curtailment and utilising quiet(ish) lanes cycle tracks.

She was so keen to get going it made me forget my inflamed Achilles and allow me to focus on something else.

She cycled on the left side of the road and I ran alongside her so I was visible in the middle of the road allowing me to control traffic if need be. It was perfect. We talked all the way round she made up all the gradients and was thrilled about seeing new places and how the lanes and tracks brought back to familiar sights. The major distraction was the volume of blackberries. This worked out beautifully as these little pit stops helped her keep her composure as well as being fuelled and hydrated.

We managed to go just over 10km in less than 1hr. It was the most pleasurable run I had enjoyed for years. She was just buzzing from it and wanted to go out the following day.

She also learnt that the kit gets cleaned before we do!

Heart swelling with pride and now seeing a future of combined parenting and training ahead of me after 4.5 years of Peppa Pig and weight gain!

How does everyone else get on with keeping fit whilst caring for young children.

In reply to TMM:


You fit training around your kids, or your kids around your training is the simple answer when they are very young.

We do the parkrun on a Sat with my oldest (9) with the youngest (6) marshalling (with his Mum).
Then on the Sunday I leave first and cycle the 15 miles to the junior parkrun, their mother drives them there and they then both run that, afterwards they (and their Mum) got for a swim whilst I cycle home.

Now they are both paying kids rugby (entering second season) so instead of watching and jogging round the pitch whilst they train I went and did a rugby coaching course at the weekend so now I'm assistant mini's coach - gets me running around after them.

My cycle and climb times have been curtailed but now I'm doing different things (still cycling and climbing - and with them sometimes), the important things is to not just stop doing things yourself - if you don't set the example of exercise then what message/role will you be setting for your kids.

Sounds lie you had a great moment with your daughter over the summer, one which you will always remember, nice one.

In reply to Pids:

Thanks for the insights.

I think setting an example is really important. Both our girls have always been aware that one of us going to a run is the most normal thing.

They both love to climb. It's interesting to see how instinctive it is for them. We go to places like Hound Tor and I just ask what they're interested in doing. My job is to try just make sure they are safe. I love watching them deal with the problem solving aspect as well as the physicality. Their flexibility is amazing and they instinctively use their feet.

The oldest has been to clip'n'climb a couple times now. The first time she was really put off by the kit. Having said that at 4yrs old she was pretty much threshold in terms of what was realistically on offer.

I would like to see if she kinds a team sport engaging as that provides another social space outside school to her develop as well.

What a life being 4 and school starts next week, she's keen as mustard!

In reply to TMM:

cool

we took ours to indoor walls when really wee, they were too light to deal with auto belays so we just used to belay them as normal - one of us used to stick their favourite soft toy up on a hold then belay them up to retrieve it - always a favourite with young kids

the youngest one found the best bit of climbing was leaping off the wall to fly through the sir so he always wanted to do severely overhung walls - completely different to his brother who wanted to learn how to come down a wall properly and practiced this fastidiously

and when outside hide sweets / lego in holds so they find them when climbing / scrambling - basically anything that makes the activity fun for them - if they like it they will do it again, if not they wont

parenting is fun, can be infuriating, but then so can life in general

have fun - just remember everyone else is just making it up as they go along as well

good luck with staring school

In reply to TMM:
Parked up in lay-by last week waiting for missus, and watched a bloke jogging up and down the parade of shops, back and forward for about half an hour, with his young 'un riding alongside on the path. Tiny little bike with stabilisers on. Quite sweet to watch.

In reply to TMM:

Brilliant! Islabikes are really good..just with them being so lightweight. She sounds like my little girl. Just 3 and within 20 minutes was pedalling round the park. I couldn't quite believe it, I thought she's 'get' it but not that quick!

She is 4 and a bit now and is on her first bike trip back from nursery today on her own bike. She loves it and a lot more than swimming! Training has to fit round them All good fun and great to see them progress with things

In reply to TMM:

It's tricky to combine training and looking after little ones. My fitness is pretty shocking now but we both do the junior park run with ours, both kids learned to ride on their third birthdays and the 5 year old CX races. His 3 year old sister is very keen to CX race this year as well !

We seem to have moved on from Peppa Pig to Paw Patrol ?!?!!

In reply to TMM:

Lovely post! Thanks for the useful reminder that young children change quickly - mine is 3 on Sunday and while she's doing well on a balance bike she will only ride it for about 3 minutes then want to do something else. Running around playing chase she can do for ages, but currently if I ask her to walk any distance at all and she says either " I'm tired" or "my legs don't work"!

It's nice to think that nothing is forever and a more active future isn't too far away.

In reply to Alyson:

Thanks for the replies. As a parent you become a member of a new community who are all nosing about checking that they are doing they best they can for their progeny.

I am learning that the speed with which they change needs to be grasped and celebrated. Everything is a 'phase', life is, after all, a journey. I am enjoying the fresh perspective that my children have given me after my growing cynicism. They have made me evaluate my own life, my relationship with my parents and my ambitions. I can't pretend it is easy but I feel much better equipped after 4.5yrs of experience.

Sharing time making fires, playing sardines, building dens and riding bikes is great. The downside is that I have dropped climbing grades, my 10k time is now 45mins and my weight has increased. Might be best to focus on what I have gained rather than what I have lost.