In The Loop: Tot Splash at the Local Pool

First of all, I’m not an expert on fitness, I can’t tell you the best way to train for anything, and I can’t guarantee any results…

But I am an idea guy, and my goal is to give you a few of those to walk away with in the fitness-and-lifestyle-balance department.

I’m a rookie at this Dad thing, working on a solid 8 months of experience. I used to do it all – spend time with my wife, work, be philanthropic, train for Ironman triathlons, and occasionally have time to play a round of golf. These days I’m lucky if I can get one of those things into my schedule, because it seems that my wonderful baby girl takes up the better part of 20 hours a day! Clearly the first thing to go was my fitness, and it was a huge blow. The second thing to go was my dedication to my favorite charities, which left me feeling guilty as ever! So now I’m constantly searching for new ways to balance fitness and my lifestyle with a new baby, and to remain an Ironman.

Since I’m all about sharing the wealth, I’ll fill you in on my discoveries in hopes that my ideas will help with your quest, too. While you may not have any interest in triathlon, my guess is that since you’re still reading this, you have some interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Even though the context of my ideas is geared toward triathlon, I hope the seed that I plant will help you adapt the idea to your own needs.

Of course, if you have any ideas, visit me at www.BrianLooper.com and tell me about them. Whether you’re afraid to try an idea for yourself or you just want someone else to admit they tried it first, let me know. As long as there aren’t any side effects, I’m happy to be a lab rat.

Today’s new discovery: Tot Splash at the local pool

As I started planning my training for a half Ironman this fall (my wife said there was no way I was going to do an Ironman this year…but that’s an entirely different story), I was struggling to find time to train. My initial thought was that I’d wake up at 6am to get a quick run, ride or swim in before the rest of the family was up. Unfortunately, the earlier I woke up, the earlier my daughter woke up. Pretty soon, I was waking up at 4:30 in morning…only to beat my daughter out of bed by a couple minutes.

Once the weather warmed up, the baby jogger helped with the running part. But what about swimming and riding? Well I still don’t have the answer to the riding part, but just two weeks ago I found the answer for swimming. The municipal pool in our city has something called Tot Splash during lap swim. Now tell me, what could be better? We can go as a family, my wife and I can each get a half hour of swimming while the other plays with the baby, our daughter gets to play with us in the pool (which she LOVES), and we have a baby who is ready for bed by the time we get home! But it gets better…kids under 3 get into the pool for free!

I haven’t done any checking to see if other pools have something similar, but I’m sure it’s something that many would be open to if you approached them about it. According to my calculations, this wonderful hour frees up at least 3 additional hours that day. Although we only get a half hour each of working out, my wife and I can both get a good interruption-free swim in. Since we go to the pool as a family, it cuts out the separate trips we’d normally have to make, easily saving 15 minutes each direction for each of us. With the baby switch-off in the pool, it also gives our daughter a non-stop hour of playtime that wipes her out. As a bonus, we’ve been going to the evening lap swim, so by the time we get home at about 6:30, it’s lights-out for our daughter. That gives my wife and me an extra hour of time together, since the baby typically won’t fall asleep until about 7:30. To balance the mere half hour workouts at the pool, that extra hour from 6:30 to 7:30 allows us to do some yoga that is great for strength, flexibility and relaxation.

Now if I can only find a way to do the same thing cycling and running. Any chance there’s a tandem bike out there that my 8-month old could pedal?