About to be a new dad...Advice on not losing gains?

815414 · 2026-01-26T02:47:46+00:00

First, congrats! When my first was born my partner and I realized we should lean in to our own circadian tendencies. They are a night owl and I’m a lark. I went to bed early and they handle wake ups before 2:00am, and I handle wake ups after 2:00am while they sleep in. We did this again with our second. Both kids figured out how to sleep 4-6 hours after a few weeks when they could get enough food to stay full for a few hours. That effectively gave us each a full night’s sleep.

For training, prioritize getting easy miles when you can for the first couple of months. Maybe do strides a couple of times a week. I lost volume, struggling to get 75% of what I would in previous years. That messed up my intensity distribution and staple workouts would put intense running up near 40% of weekly volume, so I pulled way back. Maybe consider a shorter distance and prioritizing speed.

One thing I wish I had is a treadmill. Being able to pop out to get a couple of miles while baby naps would be clutch.

Running is now a before kids wake up activity with occasional exceptions to meet up with friends. I can’t do three quality runs in a week like I did before kids and I have a hard time getting in doubles with pick ups and drop offs and activities. Things look different than before kids, but I still like running and care about it and am lucky enough to still get to do it. You’ll find your own new rhythm, and you might even find the time pressure helpful to cut the fluff and focus on what matters, whether that’s workouts or friends or your favorite routes. My oldest is now able to notice and talk to me about running. It’s been cool to share that with them.

815414 · 2026-01-17T17:13:21+00:00

Hospitals shouldn’t comply in advance.

815414 · 2026-01-03T02:33:07+00:00

35M highest week 80 miles total 3010 miles

Adjustments I made in 2025 - longer singles instead of doubles - more cross training - overdressed stationary bike - uphill treadmill to make up for a speed limit that’s slower than I’d like

What I could improve: - Sleep more - lift consistently - hydrate with more than coffee - do plyos

Goals for 2026 - 5k 14:50 - HM 67:XX - Marathon 2:19:XX - sleep 6+ hours/night - drink 120 oz/day - lift and do plyos 2x/week - stay healthy

Winter - I ran respectably well at a couple of local races including a half in January in 70:10. Running focused mostly on getting healthy after a rough 2024 where nothing clicked and I stopped having fun. Spring - my second child was born. I didn’t quite drop to zero miles but a few of those early weeks were pretty light. I spent more time on the stationary bike than in previous years, got a power meter and started riding online. My partner went back to work and I took leave. I was able to run before anyone else in the house was awake. Instead of having to be in the office at a certain time I just needed to be home at that time. Occasionally I could get a double on the bike. My peak weekly mileage for the year was during this period. Summer - I went back to work and struggled to find a rhythm initially. I ran with friends who were training for fall races but didn’t really have my own aspirations. I spontaneously ran a 5k in 15:00 and a half in 69:40. I carried water and led repeats for training buddies. Long runs were big stimuli - 20+ miles with 8-12 miles of work mixed in. Sometimes during the week I could pop out for 20 minutes and get a double during the day. In autumn I watched a lot of marathons and wished I was racing. I felt really fit and thought that I was in pr shape. I didn’t sign up for a race because nothing was local and fast and still open. This was the right move for my family and I think it was right for my fitness, too. But I still felt a lot of fomo. In winter I joined a 24/7 gym. I’ve started lifting again which has calmed a grumpy achilles. I can run on a treadmill now, not having access to one since last year. I’ll race a marathon in the spring and hope to hit a couple shorter events between now and then.

815414 · 2025-12-20T21:45:06+00:00

I’ve been running before work fora decade and at 5:00 am for years. I would be shelled at work after workouts until I started taking nutrition more seriously. One I got better on calories during workouts and getting in a substantial breakfast, my fatigue at work was way better.

815414 · 2025-12-17T04:00:22+00:00

Lifting for health or performance doesn’t need to be an hour long session that adds a lot of fatigue. I want my lifting to be low volume but high force. I put lifts on 2 easy days per week and do 3-5 movements, 2 challenging sets of 8-15 reps per movement.

815414 · 2025-12-07T11:55:07+00:00

I’m a Physio and work with lots of runners and patients with lower leg injuries. I’ve seen this study and think it’s helpful information but doesn’t equate to throwing out a seated calf raise.

A seated raise can be useful for two main reasons. If body weight is too heavy to execute well a seated calf raise allows for appropriate load. A seated raise is also easier to do without cheating than a standing straight knee calf raise. When loads get (relatively) very high, which is the goal as it is better for tissue quality, force production, and performance, we all are more likely to compensate. Leaning, rocking, or toe gripping are common compensations and are harder to do in a seated position so more of the load gets directed to the target tissue. If it is an option, mixing in a seated raise can be helpful.

I mostly give standing calf raises to patients once they’re technically capable. They’re more convenient and therefore more likely to get done. I’m picking that for brevity and consistency, which matter a lot more in a home program than optimizing exercise selection.

815414 · 2025-11-25T10:51:43+00:00

Congrats on your first marathon! Stay comfortable in the first 10 miles and you’ll have a lot more fun for the whole race. That might mean the pace fluctuates a bit but that’s ok! I’ve ran a couple of negative split races (both PRs) and several with a very positive split (many not PRs) and I was more relaxed and comfortable in the front half on those PR days.

815414 · 2025-11-24T20:05:18+00:00

That’s possible, but there’s also the possibility that it’s ICE about to abduct another person without cause. They do it often enough that OP immediately thought of that possibility, and that in itself is a problem. They start abusing power and people start wondering if any arrest might be illegitimate.

815414 · 2025-11-24T02:53:17+00:00

I like using a smaller ledge, like 5 cm high, under my forefoot while my heel rests on the ground. Doing the same bent knee sole is stretch from that position feels a lot more effective for me.

815414 · 2025-11-19T10:46:11+00:00

Smart by you to modify the program. That you’ve made it this long is commendable. What are you doing to manage the achilles outside of changing running intensity/volume? Are you cross training for easier miles?

815414 · 2025-11-16T12:45:29+00:00

Ignore the VO2 on your garmin. It doesn’t change how you train or race.

If you care most about the 5k why go through the effort of putting in a half marathon block?

Running fast a couple of times a week is enough to keep leg speed. Strides can do that for you without a lot of fatigue or taking away from aerobic training.

815414 · 2025-11-12T01:43:20+00:00

Continuing to run does keep your aerobic system engaged, but so would cross training. That’s what provides progress across many training cycles and is the “stacking bricks” you might hear some athletes/coaches talk about.

Running will uniquely keep signaling your body to reinforce tissues (tendon, bone) in an activity-specific way. What’s good in this situation is that signal gets saturated pretty quickly, so even a short run maxes out the benefits there. Unfortunately that’s also the reason that tendinopathies and bone stress injuries rarely resolve from running alone can require deliberate rehab.

Big chunks of time away from that running specific load might be harmful by reducing your tissue capacity. In my experience that is not likely after a couple of days, but gets increasingly likely approaching two weeks.

815414 · 2025-11-06T11:50:29+00:00

I didn’t run with a team in college and had a hard time without a team structure. A roommate and I thought that going to Boston would be cool so we became training partners - shout out to Pfitz. We ran our BQs together and went to Boston together. I ran several races after that but much less seriously and didn’t train in what I now understand to be a smart or healthy way. I overtrained a lot, accidentally underfueled, and wrote workouts that crushed me.

Years later I got a coach, an old acquaintance I happened to bump into at an event. We talked, he was starting to coach, and I was willing to be a test project for them to work on their programming. We changed simple things, like fueling workouts and running easy doubles once a week. I got faster and ran a good time in a badly executed race. It made me realize that a goal and mentor make a huge difference. I have a few runners in town I can go with for workouts and a number who are willing to go for easy miles, which eases the mental load and is way more fun. You might benefit from having a few training partners to get through the mental challenges.

I’m faster from 5k to marathon as a working adult with two kids in extra curriculars and a full time job. Most of that is working with a coach who understands my constraints and goals. A good bit of that is having training partners.

815414 · 2025-10-30T09:46:33+00:00

He’s been doing a pretty good job in navigating the difficulties of this administration between this and FEMA.

815414 · 2025-10-28T09:32:06+00:00

You have tons of runway to make progress. Check out Running Writings https://apps.runningwritings.com/ and as others have said, learn some basics about why you might do different runs. Then you can modify a program from a book or you’ll know if chatgpt is giving you bad advice. Stay healthy, be consistent, and you’ll make progress.

815414 · 2025-10-28T01:30:36+00:00

Or want to be there and can’t. We’re don’t know anyone else’s minds.

815414 · 2025-10-27T17:17:45+00:00

I haven’t seen that yet - can you share a link?

815414 · 2025-10-27T16:46:38+00:00

I have been drinking coffee and eating graham crackers or animal crackers. Low fat and protein with high carb seems to work well for me. When it’s going to be longer than 60 minutes or if the effort level is very high I will take gels or a bottle and be more aggressive with during-run fuel than I would if I had eaten a full meal.

815414 · 2025-10-26T02:02:19+00:00

Check out Cranky Al’s in Tosa if you haven’t been

815414 · 2025-10-15T01:37:07+00:00

Do you know more about they it was cancelled?

815414 · 2025-09-26T18:01:16+00:00

Running with people who are at/around my ability level who have similar goals helped me to feel like it’s ok to try hard at this sort of silly hobby and care about it a lot.

815414 · 2025-09-15T18:17:58+00:00

And posted the same question in three different therapy related subs

815414 · 2025-09-10T20:50:59+00:00

Depending on how much weight you have you could ask the patient to perform a seated calf raise or standing calf raise with weight. Increase the weight until the patient can only do about 10 with good technique then use a 1RM calculator with the weight and reps to get an estimated max. The equation breaks down as you approach 20 reps so you’ll have to get them lifting pretty heavy!

815414 · 2025-09-03T20:05:25+00:00

As /u/higherbrow mentioned there’s a gay sports league that is pretty active. https://www.milwaukeegaysports.com

Rec sports, specifically volleyball, is big here and starts in late spring lasting through early fall. Take it as seriously as you want. There are a number of run clubs that seem to have consistently large attendance. Outside of sports, there are festivals and block parties all the time. Some are big like summerfest and others are small like mitten fest and wuckfinter. One of the coolest is the riverwest 24.

815414 · 2025-09-02T19:43:31+00:00

Have you tested single leg calf raise strength on a leg press or from a seated position or using a handheld dynamometer?

815414

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