Training and Racing with A Jogging Stroller
In just about a month my oldest daughter is turning 4! In my 4 years of motherhood I’ve run hundreds if not thousands of miles with the stroller and have done quite a few races with it as well. I’ve continued to train at a high level and have raced my fastest times during these years of stroller running – and in part because of our jogging strollers. Having the option to run with our girls in the stroller has allowed me to get in runs and workouts when I otherwise wouldn’t be able to + in my build up to the Olympic Trials I did a LOT of evening double runs with the double stroller.
The past few weeks I had the opportunity to work with BOB Gear in honor of the launch of their new Alterrain PRO Stroller. I trained for and raced a Virtual Stroller 5K with Marigold. This past weekend we ran a 19:05 around a local park and now I’m dying to get in an official race to go after the stroller 5K World Record (currently 19:08 based on the info I found with a quick Google search).
In conjunction with this I thought that it would be fun to share my tips for training and racing with your littles along for the ride in the stroller.
TRAINING
- Start running with your kiddos early and often – I started walking with both of my girls within a few weeks and then built up to running. They are both pretty good in the stroller for upwards of an hour. You can check out more of my general stroller running tips here.
- Get the right gear! If you are going to do a lot of training with the stroller it’s really important to have a high quality stroller that can handle the training. We’ve been a BOB family for 4 years and have loved all 3 of the BOB strollers we have. I’m particularly impressed by the new Alterrain PRO – it is the smoothest, highest performing running stroller I’ve tried and handles the type of running we do really well!
- If you plan to race with your stroller make sure you mix some stroller workouts into your training. When you do workouts with the stroller I recommend basing your intervals off of effort rather than shooting for a specific pace – things like hills and turns affect your pace more when you’re running with a stroller than when you’re solo.
- One of my favorite workouts with the stroller is fartleks or strides. While out for a regular run I’ll have one of my girls pick out a landmark and I’ll run really fast until that point, take a recovery jog and then let them pick a new spot.
- The faster you run the more unstable that your stroller can become so when you are doing a workout with your stroller make sure that you are taking the necessary steps to make your stroller as stable as possible. Most importantly lock the front wheel and make sure that your baby/kiddos is in the most upright seat position.
RACING
Before signing up for a race that you plan to run with your stroller I recommend doing the following things:
- Check the website to insure that they allow strollers in their race and see what guidelines they have for stroller runners. A lot of times they will request that strollers start at/towards the back of the race. If there is no clear information on the website I suggest e-mailing the race director to double check strollers are ok.
- Preview the course and the elevation profile – are there a lot of hills? Do you transition surfaces at all? Are the roads smooth or bumpy? etc.
- Either – prepare your little one for not being able to pause along the way OR prepare yourself for the necessary pit stops that may happen when little ones are in tow. If I’m racing with the stroller I first decide if it’s a fun experience/hard effort or if I’m approaching it like a true race. If it’s the later I prepare my girl(s) that we won’t be able to stop and arm myself with some distractions that we can use along the way – games like “I Spy”, snacks or toys that only come out once they’re bored, etc.
Happy Running!
*This post was sponsored by BOB Gear but all thoughts and opinions are my own