Today’s 43 was designed to help Hunter work on his stride length!!! We did 43 steps/strides at different paces to show how much further you can get when you really use your legs to increase your stride. (Yesterday at the CC meet, Hunter sprinted at the end and had a great finish but he was taking short choppy steps instead of using his legs to his advantage.)
For the 43 we started with a normal walk. After 43 steps, we marked our spot and jogged back to the beginning. Then we did a fast walk and got much further. The 3rd test was a super easy jog – we didn’t even get as far as the fast walk. Then we did our normal run – this was the first 43 that I got a lot further than Hunter. The final test was a full out sprint – I told Hunter to sprint like he did yesterday for the first try and then we did another trial where I told him to really concentrate on his stride length.
After we finished all of our different 43s, I had Hunter do some more so that I could watch him!!!
This was a fun way to get my 43 for the day because Hunter joined me!!!
When Hunter was younger (especially before he turned about 6!) he spent a LOT of time complaining about his legs being tired!!!
At age 4, Hunter still preferred to be in a stroller (or to be carried – yikes!!!) any time we did much walking (like more than about 50 steps)!!!
Part of the problem was that he had lots of leg aches at night – from about age 3 until age 5, I probably spent at least 3 nights a week up in the middle of the night rubbing his legs. (I totally empathize with growing pains because I have had them most of my life and when I was in high school I spent many nights rubbing my little sister’s legs so she could sleep.)
Fast forward to age 12 and I am so amazed at the difference in Hunter and his ability to push himself!!!
Yesterday at his first cross country meet (and his first race ever!) – he ran the mile in 7:00. I think he will drop that time a lot this season because about 1/3 into the race I was at a point to see him and he was smiling and enjoying himself.
He told me after the race that he knew he could have pushed harder!!!
(They ran 7th boys & girls together yesterday but the rest of the meets will just be the boys in their own race.)
My little boy who used to complain about the walk from a parking lot into a building is now a runner!!!
Part of his daily routine these days is to do pull-ups every time he walks by the pull-up bar in our basement. I think he does about 25 a day plus he will just drop down and bust out push-ups at random times during the evening!!!
Every once in awhile I miss the days when I carried my sweet little boy ALL over the place! But, I LOVE the young man that I get to run with now!!! I can’t wait to watch him develop even more during this cross country season!!!
Happy Sunday!
Kim