Two weekends ago I completed two sprint triathlons, The Square Lake short course and One Last Tri, in consecutive days. As usual, my seven warrior sidekicks were instrumental in my training!

I prepared for the events with six week training cycle with workouts pulled directly from Eric Harr's Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week: From beginner to finish line in just six weeks. How fitting! I highly recommend this book to anyone contemplating a first triathlon.

Harr breaks each week into run, bike and swim workouts of varying duration and intensity (levels 1-4). I found the kids particularly useful with level 4 sprint work on the bike and with a jogging stroller. The kids also contributed their patented resistance and coaching for practice races and for short distance "brick" workouts (i.e. those that involve biking and running in immediate succession).

Dadiator Tri Workouts at a glance...

Run

Run alongside a biking 8-10 year old sidekick and have him keep track of your splits.


Sprint / push nipper-loaded jogging stroller up and down the block. Follow the chorus of whoopees during the hard effort, recover with pleasant conversation about bugs and clouds and boogers.

Run / hike stairs with a backpack full of plump youngster.


Bike

Burley sprint up and down the block. I use cul-du-sac for slow turnaround recovery. For an added challenge, rig up the Ridealng to the Burley and tow a skateboarding caboose.

Ride stationary bike on porch while the kids play in the backyard. Throw a ballgame on the radio and enjoy a summer's eve while Mom buys groceries.

Swim

Pull a dinghy full of kids across the lake. Mom, grandparents, or uncle Ty can man the life boat.

Splash and play in the water untill your hands prune up. Harr says that the first major step of swim training is getting comfortable with the "feel" of the water. If you enjoy splashing around, the strokes will come.

Juggling is a great way to get blood to the brain and body during daytime lulls at work or home. Juggling with weighted balls can be a killer bicep, upper chest, and shoulder workout to boot.



Quickie Juggle Fit "Drop Set"...

• Three 6 pound balls (Juggle till you drop one).
• Two 6 pound balls, One 4 pound ball (Juggle to drop).
• Two 4 pound balls, One 6 pound ball (Juggle to drop).
• Two 4 pound balls, One 2 pound ball (Juggle to drop).
• Two 2 pound balls, One 4 pound ball (Juggle to drop).
Repeat...

Or you could just do this...

I got a wobble board the other day and juggling on it is giving me the balance of a mudfooted flamingo in a dead wind.

The kids are developing scary balance as well. I spent an hour the other day shooting passes at my eight year old, trying to extend his reach while he fought with his footing--a great exercise for any ball sport coach who wants to train players to keep their heads up and bodies rooted--also a good way of teaching kids to catch with their hands instead of their bodies. (Body catching seems to throw my kids off balance).



At one point I circled my eight year old sidekick and peppered him with quick passes as he swung the wobbleboard around like a surfer on a lazy susan.

In our typical routine, I’ll throw him a medley of passes with a 2 lb weighted ball (which really forces him to adjust his balance).

Straight pass
Reach (to either hand)
Lob in front
High pass


As we play, sidekick practices fancy return passes...

Behind the back (alternate sides)
Through the legs
Granny style straight legged
Granny style with squat

A granny style pass is a two handed pass in front of the legs that requires a quick hip snap to move the ball forward.

This one is pure tremendousness!  A quad and trunk pummeling for you and a bobsleddy / lugey fun festival for your helmeted sidekick.  



Materials: All you need is a 25-50' rope, a saucer sled (or preferably two for added stiffness so the the one sled doesn't curl), and an intrepid sidekick.

Motion: Start with the rope coiled on your hand like a kite spool.  Pull sidekick forward and as soon as you have momentum, start spinning him in a circle around you (a great way of teaching sidekick the mechanics of things like orbit and bicycle gears).  

As sidekick gains speed, let out hand-lengths of rope to increase the diameter of your circle.  The longer the rope, the faster goes sidekick. Whoopee!



Spin until your legs burn out or sidekick says stop.  Really work your legs and grind your obliques like an Olympic discus thrower, then release the rope with a flourish (I like to launch sidekick over a snow bank or up a neighbor’s driveway).



Safety: Again, don’t forget the helmet, and make sure to keep sidekick sibs outside the perimeter of your speed circle.  

I should add that this movement works surprisingly well for grownups too.  I was actually able to zing my man brother around like James Bond in Moonraker.  

A very simple skillbuilder for sidekick and aerobic challenge for you....

Have your 5-8 (or 20) year old sidekick perform 10 perfect consecutive skips.  Derf! Easy, right? Wrong! The object is to establish a skipping goal that will demand several minutes of sidekick practice to achieve a "perfect 10."

If sidekick already has mad skipping skills, challenge her to ten backward skips, or if she's a Skippasaurus Rex, have her try for ten double or triple skips.

During these several minutes, your job is to skip continuously until sidekick hits ten or you drop dead.  Skip on two feet, one foot, double skip, jog skip, skip backward, and change speeds according to your ability. The beauty of skipping rope is that any attempt is a workout, regardless of whether you skip like a broken record , an Orangutan wearing moon boots, or Sugar Ray.

If you've never skipped before and sidekick has, reverse roles and have sidekick skip continuously while you build to your own perfect ten. Skip yourself silly and skip time on the treadmill and other such contained contraptions.

P.S. If your sidekick has never skipped before, try taking turns skipping with a Chinese jumprope, which she can practice with you, a sibling, or by herself (tethering the rope to stationary objects, eg. chairs, anvils, or sleeping relatives).

For skipping inspiration from true skipping lunatics, check out jumpropevideos.com.

Also, once you have mastered basic skipping, check out jumpropeinstitute.com for advanced skipping techniques and insights into sport-specific rope training. Teach your sidekicks as you learn so they can double-reverse-jam on the Jump for Heart-athon at school.


Dadiator One Take Wonder: Chinese Jumprope

I used to get headaches weightlifting, but I’ve made a discovery while lifting my kids that has made the headaches disappear.


I beat-box, that’s right, beat-box. Like the Fat Boys back in the 80’s. My beat-boxing, equal parts flatulent sputtering and hyperventilation, is not prizewinning, and in terms of style points, might be better done into a paper bag--but I always seem to have a beat in my head, especially when my heart rate gets going, and I’ve found letting it out energizing and curative.

Beat-boxing has not only made my breathing more regular during strenuous bouts of “nipper ab rippers” and “baby girl car seat curls,” it has also allowed me to meter repetitions musically rather than counting them one by one, which I’ve found gives me a psychological boost and tricks me into greater endurance.

The kids laugh at my beats, all except one year old Daisy. Whenever I walk into a room with my shiny warmup pants, Daisy cocks her arm to the side and does a little bootie dance. She’s got her baby beats working.

Now, I may be treading into dangerous territory even suggesting this, but I think I may have found a method to my madness, via the wisdom of celebrated health and holistic healing specialist Dr. Andrew Weil.

In his seminal book Eight Weeks to Optmimum Health, Dr. Weil describes a yoga technique called “bellows breathing” designed to energize you when you’re feeling sluggish.

Bellows breathing is a rapid breathing pattern in which “inhalation and exhalation should be equal and short..with muscular effort at the base of the neck and above the collarbones and at the diaphragm...Breath should be audible on both inhalation and exhalation, at a rate of three cycles per second.”

Sound familiar?

I’ve occasionally tried this technique at work instead of buying coffee. Coffee works way better (it’s not even close), but bellows breathing, or in my case beat-boxing, is an admirable natural energizer that does provide an extra boost when my heart's already kicking beats in an elevated state.



Video: Dadiator One Take Wonder, Beat Box Abs

P.S. "Owie" is not coming from the rider, but from another sidekick off camera (who was unfortunately sat upon by yet another sidekick during this shot).

Quad Jogger
Originally published April 30, 2008, 12:04 PM on sevensidekicks.com



A guy has to stay in astronaut shape to keep up with seven (no pun intended). Occasionally I’ll take four for a run in the quad jogging stroller. Check out this bad boy! From the front we look unassuming, a single child in a tricked-out buggy with elaborate suspension.

But when I hang a turn we stand out like Dolly Parton at a great blue heron convention. “Are they all yours?” a passerby will ask. I want to quip, “Why do you think I’m running, dear sir? I just kidnapped these children and I’m trying to get them to the state line in the most heart-healthy way possible.” The question comes up a lot. Are they all yours? Or if the asker knows our adoption history, “Which are yours and which I adopted” to which I logically reply, “they’re all mine, some came by the loins, others through the heart.” That's why hearts gotta stay healthy!