jogging stroller users

[breezy8407]

Especially gumi...

Do you ever do speed work or tempo runs with your strollers? I attempted a tempo run last night with the double stroller out of necessity, but am having a hard time figuring out my paces. I am obviously slower with the stroller, so it's hard to gauge what my times should be. I was trying to use perceived effort, but sometimes my perceived effort isn't as hard as I think it is. I need the Garmin to keep me in check.


Any tips? 


As I keep up with my 1/2 training, I have a feeling I will need to do a handful of speedwork sessions with the stroller. 

[Brit]

I only have a single Bob, so my experience may differ...

I don't really do tempo runs or speed work with the stroller. My paces with the stroller are all over the map. In addition to things like temperature and humidity sapping my energy and creating variability in my paces, with the stroller any head wind or even cross wind is magnified and each hill seems much more difficult than running sans stroller. As much as I dislike the treadmill, I usually default to the treadmill while DD is sleeping rather than attept a speed workout with the stroller.

I'm curious what others will say...

[cinco]

Yep, although not since having my 3rd and switching back to the single (no reason why, except maybe laziness). When I run with the stroller regularly, there is a 30 second difference in pace. When I go through periods of not using the stroller, I am closer to a minute off my non stroller pace. You get pretty efficient with the stroller after a while. I used to hop back and forth between the double and the single, and my paces were pretty close between the two. I usually gave myself an extra 5 seconds or so for the double, where the main difference is a) uphills are harder, b) you have to deal with kids that NEED to touch each other.

[kams]

God no.

Between opening snacks for DD and the hills where I run, there's not much of anything fast happening when I'm pushing her.

Come to think of it, there's not much fast happening when I'm not pushing her, either!

[breezy8407]

I'm definitely not fast! Ideally my speedwork will happen without it. Normally I enjoy the fact that I don't put pressure on myself when I run with it. No Garmin, no pace, just an "easy" run

Cinco - I do find it getting easier over time. As long as I stay on our regional trails - i.e. mostly flat and smoothly paved, it's not all bad. I always tell people it looks way harder than it is except for hills.

[katinthehat]

I do. They like going fast (it's all relative, of course.)

I try to make my paces but since I only run with them in the cooler weather, it's a lot easier to do that than now in the summer. What I would do is take your 3 mile time with them and put that in McMillian to get your stroller interval paces, make sense?

[gumi]

I did a lot of speedwork with my stroller. Tempo runs are harder because the longer the interval = greater chance of someone requiring attention.

I mostly did minutes (like 2 min fast, 3 min fast, etc). If I was on a flat surface, like the canal, I could do mile repeats. The key is to use your recovery to make sure your kids dont need anything. If my kids needed anything during an interval, they just had to wait it out. But, when your intervals are 2-3 minutes, they can wait.

I got pretty fast with the stroller but there is one caveat: becoming efficient at stroller running does not entirely carry over to efficiency without the stroller. With the double stroller, you can spread your arms out and lean onto the stroller. When you do this, the momentum of the stroller essentially pulls you. This is great if you are racing with a stroller. HOWEVER, if you become accustomed to this form, when you take that stroller away....it feels strangely difficult.

So, you can say, ok, I am not going to run like that - but you can't run your natural way because you are pushing a massive stroller.

My conclusion was this: If I was planning on racing with the stroller, I did speedwork with the stroller. If I was planning on racing without the stroller, I did speedwork without the stroller.

I miss running with my kids. I may tell them to suck it up and take then out this weekend.