My 11 year old wants to do the race for life this year with me but she is not an able runner. My first thought was to do the C25K with her as it had been fantastic for me. Then slightly selfishly I wondered how I'll get in my 'big' runs if I am running with her. So realistically could I do the week runs with her and a longer run on my own at the weekend?
Anyone else got any experience with this?
Yes, you can do the runs with her, then your own run at the weekends. During the early weeks she may want you just to stick with her all the time, she's young so be careful not to upset her as you could turn her against running altogether. But when she gets more confident you could use a little creative thinking. How about when she has walk breaks you run/sprint to a certain point then return to her and continue with her for her next run so you are covering more time and distance whilst supporting her? Or perhaps, can you do a shorter early run whilst she is getting ready then do the C25k runs with her, or have an extra run by yourself after, or run extra while she is recovering. Most importantly, remember you're her Mum and be there for her. You potentially have years of running ahead of you both, just enjoy this time when she actually wants to do something with you, before the moody teenage attitudes kick in.
Oh we have the moody teenage attitude already! lol
Yes of course. She is only going to be running 3 days a week, so you can do that with her and do your long run at the weekend. The only foreseeable problem is your lack of volume in the week, but as Slwoastrt says, you can always do an extra run before/after hers. If it were me I would do my 3 weekday runs separately in fact, at a different time to when running with daughter, but reduce the distance of them a bit, and then consider the joint C25k runs as recovery runs. Obviously as you progress to the later weeks you would want to reduce/skip the solo runs accordingly.
I think I might struggle to get out running that often but maybe i'll reduce my runs to 2 a week for a while and concentrate on hers, but ensure one per week for me is a minimum of 5K.
my 11 year old has been doing c25 k by himself, he downloaded the app, nicked the arm phone holder I bought (which wasn't compatible with my bingo wings) and off he went. He got to wk5 r2 and then had a residential outdoor activity thing with school which has delayed his progress. I am going to run with him for his 20 minute run today, if my legs will let me , after a morning parkrun.
My 11 year old is not mature enough to go out running country lanes on her own (the cars are ridiculous round here) and wouldn't feel comfortable running cross country alone. There is also no way that her Dad will let her go running on her own! I'm going to go with her tomorrow and see how she gets on with week 1. She's done week 1 before with me (then I realised I could not do C25K properly with an 8 year old 'rocket' runner and an 11 year old at snails pace!)
that's a shame, we have enough off road safe space here, just the longer runs might be harder to stay off road but I also might cycle those ones with him if my legs are tired!
W8r3 An awfully difficult run (not the words I used at the time)
The things c25k can do to you!
Thank you C25k forum, from a proud new graduate
The C25K run of the series you struggled with most?
W8 R2 - an early start and a record run time 🏃
