The "Running with Your SO" Thread
Just wondering who runs regularly with their spouse or SO? Joanne and I are in similar fitness places right now which means that Riley scores big time! We go for a "family walk" first thing in the morning and Sonny has recently graduated to free range status: we take his leash off once we're down the block. He thinks it's because he's so good but it's really because he's getting up there and I don't have any fears he's going to run away from us...though his hearing gets very selective when the leash comes off.
10' after the walk Riley knows it's his turn to run and since we are all running together he gets to assert his assumed Alpha role by trying to half-wheel us for 4 miles.
Anyway, Joanne and I talk about our hopes and dreams for the dogs when they grow up, where they should go to college...oh...wait...
Comments
Jeff, you should get a tandem. JnI bought one in ~'03 and rode it quite a bit. She's not a cyclist though so didn't have any control issues about being on the back. Might be different for you two
Hubby and I bike and run together. He did intervals at the track with me this week though and I think it kicked his booty a little, he said his legs were dead when he went to run yesterday. Typically he just "goes out for a run". Generally, he's faster than me on the run but will happily cruise along at my speed and converse. On the bike, he's stronger on the hills, but I've got more endurance. So he waits for me at the tops, and I pull him home if it's a long ride. He claims he only rides behind me because he likes the view...
Oh, and I second the recommendation for the tandem. They're great for pairing up riders with unequal speeds, and they allow you to converse a lot easier than if you're each on your own bike. We have two that we've used for touring with the kids (parent+kid on each bike), and that's worked out great because we can cover a lot more mileage than if the kids were riding their own bikes. Once the kids are grown, we'll probably keep one just for us.
My wife and I run together some times, she is much faster than me. Its usually a trail run and she does not take off my leash as I will run away and get lost
When she did bike with me she was a very nervous rider so it was hard.
I swim twice a week with my wife. In the summer, it's outdoors in a local lake - she's the one who discovered that. Also, in the 90's, she got us into bikes; which resulted in a couple of mountain bike trips, a ride across the country, a tandem, and then a number of week-long trips. She also surprised me at Christmas with a carbon fiber Trek mountain bike. Running - occasionally we start a run together, then I take off and we turn around at the same time I try to catch her.
Lately, though, she grumbles we never bike together. So I got the tandem out, and am waiting for the right weather.
Speaking of dogs going to college - you don't have to wait!
Tandem rules:
Great tool for riding together. The more fit person can absolutely kill themselves...and never get away from the SO. One of the hardest rides I've ever done was an organized century on the tandem. Joanne popped at about mile 70 and I murdered myself getting us in.
Joanne can't talk and pedal at the same time. Like, mouth opens and I could feel the watts instantly drop
. My friends knew this so would try to chat her up on rides. So I instituted a "no talking to my wife!" rule 
.
Very challenging to ride with solo riders. The physics are just so different that you're always having to pay attention. You're killing yourself on the slightest grade to stay with them, then on the brakes on any downhills to not drop them. But two couples on a tandem is pretty cool. The doodes are in the front drilling each other and the chicks are in the back with their feet up, making espresso and talking about hairspray or whatever you gals chat about...
On the other hand, riding with tandems is often perfect pacing for the knowledgable rider: no spiking watts uphill, then keeping steady power downhill to stay in their wake. Fun! At PBP tandems often collect huge "tails" of single riders, hanging on for dear life!
@Mike, we have two Bike Friday folding tandems. They are fully adjustable for quite different height differences in Captain/Stoker, including a parent/child combo. Yet hubby and I can still ride them together. They each pack into two suitcases for traveling. Then the suitcases stack on top of each other on top of a little packable trailer. It's perfect for self-supported touring, and they're rugged enough to go on some pretty rough gravel roads.
@Rich, who says the doodes are always in front?
Not around these parts...
Yeah, when Joanne and I did that century, we had a HUGE line behind us on the flats. Flick the elbow...nothing. Flick it again...no one comes around. Road goes up, we get dropped, catch them on the downhill, repeat
. Joanne liked the tight pack riding but probably because she didn't really see what I was seeing. I would see where I wanted to be in the group, step on the gas....nothing.
Quite challenging but fun. Joanne liked to do group rides with my tri club. As I'm the founder but have not been in a leadership role in a while, her showing up on a ride was a bit of a celebrity cameo. Pretty funny as my friends would try to chat her up and I would yell at them, telling them she wasn't allowed to speak, then she would unclip and put her feet on the bars
Rich, I see that you and Joanne are signed up for the Firecracker 10k. Whose idea was that? Just curious, as I have no idea why anyone would voluntarily run that beast of a course (though maybe I'm a bit biased since I suck at 10k's
).
Great seeing you last night btw!
Anson,
The cabal of Lynda Neuman, Marvin Fong, Joanne and some others put that together. Many are racing. I'm out now due to my surgery on the 19th.
Tandem:
We bought a medium/small Cannondale in '02, Ultegra 9spd, disk brakes (didn't care for them) for about $2k out the door with a tri club discount.
Knowing how tandems work, I bet you could find a used one with small miles
. They say that if you're not sure where your relationship is going (ie, to the lawyer or to the altar/continued married bliss) the tandem will get you there faster 
. I sold mine to a former EN member in UT for about $1200, I think, delivered it to them in SG. I made them sign a "do not sue me if this ruins your marriage" contract 
.
You're probably a medium or large, Stephanie is definitely a small. Check out the Calfee....sweet carbon job.
For running, he's a night runner and I'm a morning runner. There are only a few times we've run together. He sounds like he's about to collapse from exhaustion with how loud he breathes, but he says he's not tired. I think it makes me slow down a bit.
His bike speed is similar to mine, but he doesn't have the motivation during workouts to push the intervals. He'd rather just ride along looking at the scenery. We'll start at the same time, and do the WU together, then I just drop him. When he gets home he'll ask if I saw the several interesting things he saw on the ride. Ummm...no...I was staring at the rode!
We've tried tandem once while on vacation in San Diego. We rented a bike and rode around Coronado. That was my first experience with a tandem bike, and it wasn't a good one. I let him be in front (he's about twice my size so we thought it would be best). I didn't like that when he stopped peddling, I had to stop, too. Is that how all bikes are?
There is a couple that lives near us that tandem mountain bikes on our trails. I have no clue how they can do that! Here's a pic from Chequamegon this year...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/chequamegon-40-2011/photos/191269
They are crazy awesome!
Da Vinci tandems offer independent pedaling/coasting action front and rear.
we try to intersect on the runs.
Have done some good tandem rides and tours. Co-motion with travel couplers. $2000 dollars used. About $6000 new. Had to get 160Mm stem for 6-6 me with 5-7 wife.
If we're lucky we get in the pool together at times. She is a mermaid so i like to watch her swim.
We looked at several different tandem options (Co-Motion is also made here in Eugene, as is Burley and Bike Friday). The reason we went with the Bike Friday is that many folks we knew with tandems didn't use them as much as they could because they're so difficult to transport. Our Bike Friday tandem can literally fold up into the trunk of my VW Jetta! You can take it anywhere. Also, because it has such a range of adjustment, we could start cycling with the kids on the tandems when they were quite small. They were 7 and 10 when we bought the tandems, and now are 12 & 15 and the 15 year old is taller than either of us. So the Bike Friday tandems fit a wide range of heights without having to change out any parts. Also, we got ours with 3-speed internal hubs on the back, which really simplifies the mechanisms and reduces potential problems when touring. Also came with an optional disc brake, very handy when we're touring self-supported and toting some gear behind us.
Granted, they don't look as sexy as some other tandems out there, they're a little odd looking. But the ability to fold, and then also to pack into suitcases means we've taken them more places than we would've otherwise. We have plans for a bike tour of Germany and France next year with the kids.