Discussion: Getting back into Orienteering post childbirth...

I gave birth 10 months ago and am just starting to get back into orienteering & training. I was moderately fit prior to the baby (training 3 or 4 times a week) but now I'm really struggling to get any sort of fitness back! Any ideas as to what the best way to build up my fitness again? I'm currently going interval training once a week and orienteering twice a week. I'm going to try to get out for a short jog one other day, but I will have to take the baby with me in her buggy...

Any advice gratefully received, especially if you've "been there, done that"!

My parents bought us an sort of expensive sport carriage. Actually they got an older model at half price. It is designed for running and convertable for biking and skiing--you probably know the kind. Anyways, we both agree that thing has been a HUGE help in keeping up some training with the new limits on our time. My wife and I both run with it, sometimes together and taking turns pushing, and my wife in particular bikes her work commute while pulling our daughter around rather than use the car or bus (even in -20C). It took her (daughter) a little while to get used to longer trips but she loves riding in it now at 1 year. We found jogging any kind of distance with a standard carriage a little awkward. My wife went through a month or so of depression that her fitness wouldn't come back but then suddenly she was back to her old self. Hang in there!

I can thoroughly recommend a carriage from Chariot Carriers http://www.chariotcarriers.com . We have a Cougar 1 and now a CX-2 as we now have two kids. The children seem to really like going in them and you can use them for strolling, biking skiing and jogging. They are a quite expensive, but money worth spending if you want to exercise with kids.

You should be able to take them round any White or Yellow course, which is great for the kids as they can ride around and get out at each control to use their e-punch, and then get back in to be pushed to the next control. Unfortunately I haven't found a similar service available for adults!

Peggy and I got great advice from Kris Beecroft about our son Max. We started taking him to O'meets early--only a few days after adopting him at 15 months. At first, he didn't enjoy the long drives to national meets but he got used to them. We stop more and he sleeps on evening drives. He's comfortable staying outside, enjoys seeing all the people and we use the provided day care and don't feel so guilty about spending time competing. We got a lot of help from other orienteers.

Excercise machines and jogging strollers are all good. I'm not regular about using them and still haven't mastered the time adjustment with child care. Peggy and I do taking turns watching Max so each of us can train. Advance planning and a regular schedule would help but my job often makes things irregular. A lot of people seem to make due by getting up very early to train (before interruptions) but I'm a night person and haven't come to terms with giving up other things I feel a need to do. Fewer but longer workouts are also a way to compensate.

If you go the jogging stroller route, I'd strongly suggest getting one where the front wheel is 20". There are lots of models with big rear wheels, but it's hard to find ones with the large front wheel. Running on trails is much more difficult with a small front wheel. Baby-O has enjoyed many a bumpy ride in her Dreamer Designs jogger. Unfortunately, it appears they've stopped making the 20" model that I have. Of course, if you want to buy mine, Baby-O's gettin' kinda big, so I don't know that I'll be able to take her in it much longer.

The Halls gave us their BabyJogger with a big front wheel after Eathan and Bridgett were past wanting to sit in it. You can buy strollers like these off of CraigsList too. The BabyJogger works great but some added protection like a blanket or small sleeping bag is useful in the winter.

Besides strollers, I like to use a trailer for cycling and a toddler backpack for hiking. The Chariot stoller models have components you can buy to convert the stroller into a trailer. The backpack lets me take Max out into the woods.

Thanks for all the advice & comments. We've bought most of the kit mentioned already (I had no idea you needed so much stuff for one small child!) and use the Chariot for cycling and the BabyJogger for running. I think now I just need to get myself motivated to get out of the door - I need to be a lot more organised now there's a baby to think of too.

Reading some of your posts makes me realise how different orienteering is in the UK - no massively long drives to events, no freezing cold bike rides in winter, but I wish we had some of that childcare at events that Nadim mentions!

Do organizers offer split starts, so that parents can watch their kids? (One parent starts early, the other late.)

I always try to make this work. The difficulty is that we don't have particularly large fields. When the start window is only 90 minutes, one of the parents has to be fairly quick to get back in time for the handoff.

Many organizers (particularly at smaller low-key events) will allow an early start if the field size/start window is small. This allows a little more breathing room for the person waiting to start late.

Yes, I'd have no problem with that at a local meet. I was speaking of our A-meets, which for whatever reason haven't been getting many takes (which is also why we're not doing them anymore). At an A-meet, there's only so much you can do with the start times before fairness issues can be raised.

Here in the UK split starts are the norm at all events - luckily we tend to get a 3 hour start window so it's not too much of a rush. It's not ideal, as you're either running very early or very late, but at least you get a chance to catch up with all of your friends who also have children!

We're off to Portugal in 2 weeks to the POM where we've booked Heather into the "babysitting" there - that'll be a big help, and an interesting experience for her.

Iuse our Chariot for running a lot. As we live in quite a hilly area I found it really helped my strength for running hills, but didn't do much for my speed. So finding opportunities to run without it would be quite important for all-round training, especially as there are now 2 children weighing 50llbs between them. I found running with a group of parents with strollers really helpful and fun and the kids really like playing at the playground afterwards (it gives them motivation too). I think you have to be quite careful about your running form too and remember not to lean on the stroller when you get tired. I found my arms got quite lazy when I was running with the stroller for most of my training.

If we want to encourage families, or keep existing orienteers who start families, organizers either need to offer babysitting/childminding or split starts. Personally I don't mind which. I believe that USOF rules require childminding to be provided at A-Meets, but COF don't have a similar rule.

I did notice that the organizers of all the major events I went to last year were happy to provide one of these options, so thanks to them all.

Ali - Wow, mine are 7 and 4 now, but I remember it well (we were still in the UK then). Split starts are a drag ... we found alternating who went early and who went late helped. (I never ran well when I was the late one.)
But the biggest thing that helped me was running with a club (Athletic Club, not O club ... in the Leicestershire/Northants void!). I only trained about 3 x a week, but two were sessions with the club, and I found I could improve in spite of the lack of training time. The club got me out the door. We did have a babysitter once a week, but I know lots of couples alternated.
So, my advice: quality counts. If you only get out 3 times, make two of them good interval sessions, and the third a longer (O) run. And race, even if you don't feel fit enough, it brings the fitness back faster.
Enjoy!