Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A different focus

For the next six weeks, I'm going to be working with my son, helping him to get ready for his high school soccer season. He will be a sophomore and he has the ball skills to make the varsity team this year. It's been his lack of speed and fitness that's been his major issue in past seasons, and he really wants to improve on that. With the base he has from track season, he's in decent shape right now. I don't know if he'll be able to make the varsity team, but he wants to be in the best possible shape when practice starts. They'll have two new coaches for the boys this year, so there shouldn't be any preconceived notions about the talent.

Because I'm now training for a marathon, I need to change my training as well. I'll spend less total time running but with more quality work.

Last night, my son and I worked out together. We took the dogs out for a slow 2.5 miler as our warm-up. They were incredibly lazy in the heat. Then, we did 10 x 100 meters, with 40 seconds rest. The goal for each 100 was a smooth start, good form, and gradual acceleration through the distance. My time was about 20 seconds per 100, and my son was doing mostly 22s. On the last one, I told him he could run as fast as he wanted, but he said he was beat and just holding on. Then, he took off and ran a 17 to finish. I'm not sure I could have beaten him if I'd wanted to, but I didn't admit that to him.

This morning, I ran a very easy 6 miler at just under 9:30 pace. Tonight, my son and I will lift weights together before heading to the pool. It's going to be over 90F today and very humid, and a swim after lifting will feel great.

Tomorrow night is track work for me, mobility work for my son. He'll be on the football field inside the track as I do loops around him.

2 comments:

David Ray said...

Now that is quality time.

My guys might do some running if I kept it short and quick like that. Definitely something to think about.

Damon said...

David,

I've promised my son no workouts longer than 45-50 minutes, unless he chooses to go longer. Most workouts will include either strength work or some sort of interval work, but there may be one 60 minute steady state run per week. And, I will do them with him, not just send him off on his own. Or at least, in the case of my track work tomorrow, I'll be right there, even if I'm doing something different.

Tonight's weight workout is some supersets, so we can alternate between the two lifts in the same set, moving through the workout together.

He just turned 15 and he lost a lot of weight during track season. He is starting to actually show some signs of becoming pretty well ripped if he works a bit harder. He is definitely enjoying the process of getting fitter and looking better.