Things you do at a restaurant with two special needs kids.

    Both of my boys are special needs. Our youngest is on one side of the Autism spectrum and our oldest is on the other. Our oldest, Hudson needs constant input. If you watch him, he will bounce from video game to video game because of the constant input from the games. You push a button; you get a response. Fairly simple process. When he is not playing video games he beatboxes and creates little songs for himself-often times he has a hanger with him when beatboxing to have something in his hands. Also, once he becomes comfortable with someone, he needs constant attention. Not in a bad way, he just likes to be the center of attention. Play a game of Uno with him and he talks, dances, puts down cards in dramatic fashion. 

    On the other hand, our youngest Noah does his own thing. When he plays it is normally by himself. He will on occasion play with other kids, but it has to be on his terms with simple games like chase or tag. Noah is a runner too (For Noah to calm down or STEM he runs), so when playing tag or chase he will outrun most kids his age. Eventually, the kids tire out and Noah is left to play by himself. Another unique aspect it that when Noah wants to do something-he does it, regardless of what obstacles are around him. So, if he wants to watch an elevator close, he will wait until all the people pass by then watch the door close. Any disruption in his pattern has the potential for a meltdown.   

    The wife and I have gotten accustomed to these behaviors and have learned to be proactive when we see them teetering on the verge.

    I say all that to say this going out to eat is something that we have pretty much stopped doing. The wife and I both know how to cook, so it is preferable to make food at the house. 

    Our in laws came down from Northern Virginia to hang out for the afternoon. We hadn't planned on cooking or provide lunch, so we went out.

    We went through our restaurant checklist: Do they have kid friendly food? Is it kid-friendly? Big difference between PF Chángs and a pizza shop. Is it a stand-alone restaurant? meaning is it surrounded by a parking lot or within a shopping center? That way if the kids need to walk around or beatbox then they can escape for a bit.  We found a pizzeria close by that satisfied all of our structural criteria.

    Then we get into packing for going out. We fill our bags with knick-knacks, fidget spinners, small activities to get them through the waiting period. Thank goodness I have a 3D printer for I can print all of those things. We brought two STEM toys, two fidget spinners, small puzzle and of course a hanger. 

    Waiting for the pizza to arrive we went through all of those toys and games by the time the food arrived. It worked so well that our kid's barley ate, because they were too involved with the toys. We were halfway through eating when Hudson asked to go outside. Normally, we would say no and that he can wait until after the meal. 

    That changed when Hudson told us, (This is emotional maturity right here) "Dad, I need to STEM".

    OK, let's go. 

    Me, Huddy and Noah went outside to the outdoor seating area so they could STEM. Hudson beatboxed while Noah did his sprints. I was able to check the football scores, so all good. After a while everyone came out and we left.

    It was one of those perfect storms were everything went right for us.

    This is what we go through every time we go out. We do our research, plan for the worse and hope for the best. Many times, we have had worse. Kids act out, we correct them, kids act out, we correct them. Then boom meltdowns.

    Today just happen to be a lucky day.

  

      

The great kid equalizer

     The kids are out of school for Christmas break for the next two weeks. The big question is, how do I keep kids occupied and entertained for two weeks without breaking the bank? Christmas helps with a new influx of toys and games; however, you can't expect a kid to stay inside all day and be happy. I take that back my oldest would love to stay inside and play video games. He plays games with no ending (Minecraft, Fortnight) so it is easy to lose track of time. Both of my kids have very different interests so doing an activity that they both like is always tricky. One likes Pokémon and the other likes Hot wheels. One enjoys going to the library while the other one prefers the playground.

    This was me the past few days. "Do y'all want to go to the playground today?" (Before you say anything, it's been 40 degrees with sun. Kids will be alright outside for at least 45min). One would say yes and the other would say no. Same with library or walking around the mall. 

    Then it hit me......our local gym has an indoor pool! We have had mixed results with that pool before with either the water temperature being cold or asshat lifeguards that confuse adhering to the rules to being a complete asshole. To say I was skeptical of going to the pool is an understatement. I trudged on anyway packing swimsuits, toys and towels into a bag and heading out.

    We got to the gym, found the locker room, got dressed, and started heading to the pool. I remind the boys to listen to me and the lifeguards, because we will head out if necessary.

    Walking in I noticed we were the only ones there.... cool! I have found out that when you have two special needs kids having no one around is perfect.

    The boys and I had so much fun playing in the pool. We played monkey in the middle with a water ball, we raced, we play fought over one of the pool's toys. The lifeguard was super chill too. He walked over to the main area to fill out a report. I noticed a boombox next to him. 

"Hey man, could you play music? If anyone else comes in you can turn it off"

"Yes, but I got to turn it off if anyone else comes in"

 "That works!"

He played Christmas music but still a cool gesture.

The best part about the pool is that the boys are chill for the rest of the afternoon. Nothing like sacrificing an hour to hour and a half in the pool for a few hours of chill time. I would make that deal 10 times out of 10. We have enjoyed the pool so much that we have went for three straight days. It works for me. It's free (outside of a gym membership) and it's a physical activity. We call that a win win in the parenting scoreboard.

    

        

       

Home for the Holidays

     When you're an active-duty service member either being active or some flavor of AGR you get accustomed to spending the holidays at home (wherever that may be) or at a friend's house. For the past eight years we lived that life. We would spend Thanksgiving at one friend's house then host Christmas another time. We would budget time throughout the day to call/facetime family. As with any situation we adapt, our kids adapt. We become acclimated to this lifestyle. This isn't a complaining article. We accepted this lifestyle when I agreed to become AGR. The Army Gods were smiling on us when we got stationed at home. We are 40 min away from my parents and two hours (Northern Virginia traffic is included in the trip) from my wife's parents. We have spent the past two holidays with family, and it has been amazing.

    This morning for Christmas our boys opened Santa Clause presents. Played with their new toys. We are a board game/STEM type of family. We try to avoid electronics as gifts. We want our kids to incorporate other people into activities. 1) to learn new hobbies and 2) learn how to communicate with other people.

*Ever been in a group full of people that are constantly on their phones? Yep, it's terrible. Put the phone down and have an actual conversation. 

Around lunch time they asked when we were going to call the grandparents. We told them that we wouldn't be. They appeared sad but over the course of the years they have adapted. Instead, we told them....

Grandma and Grandpa were coming over to visit. 

They were ecstatic! 

For the first time in eight years, they would be spending Christmas with their grandparents!

They whole crew came over, grandma, grandpa, uncles, and cousins. 

We had a great time sitting around talking, catching up and playing with the kid's new toys. At one point the kids were playing with the cousins, and we were able to have uninterrupted adult conversation. For those with kids you know how valuable that time is. We were able to make plans for the next time to hang out. That was the coolest part about the evening. The ability to say, "What are you doing next week?"          

This was the first time in a long time that Christmas actually felt like Christmas.

5K running plan

  Building upon our recent posts about building an aerobic plan tailored around a specific goal. I took the past two articles about aerobic training and condensed them into a chart.

Training Type	Times per week	Duration	Intensity
Long, Slow Distance	1-2	Race distance or longer	Low. Talk test
Pace/Tempo	1-2	20-30 min	Slightly above race pace
Interval	1-2	3-5 min (W:R 1:1)	High
HIIT	1	30-90 seconds. (W:R 1:5)	High
Fartlek	1	20-60 min	Various

Putting these into a diagrammable plan for a 5K using all the principles we have been over so far 

5K Training block for a month

For this example we will use a recreational runner that only runs a few times a week for exercise. We will build a training plan for a month to prepare for a 5K. Since this is a recreational runner in-season, off-season and preseason will not be used. Tapering will not be used for this small sample size. Increased volume will follow 10% increase in weekly distance 

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Week 1	LSD Run 2.25 miles Low intensity	Tempo 20 min 70-75%	Off	LSD Run 2.25 Miles Low	Tempo 20 Min 70%-75%	Fartlek 25 min Various	Off
Week 2	Tempo Run 22 min 70%-75%	LSD 2.50 miles Low	Off	Interval 400Mx5 H	LSD 2.50 miles	Tempo 22 min 70%-75%	Off
Week 3	Tempo 25 min 70%-75%	LSD 2.75 miles Low	Off	HIIT 30 sec.x5 Rest 150 sec	LSD 2.75 miles Low	Fartlek 30 min Various
Week 4	Tempo 25 min 75%-80%	LSD 3 miles Low		Interval 2min x5 H	LSD 3 Miles Low	Tempo 25 min 75%-80%	Off

Detraining vs Tapering

    The past two articles have focused on how to build an aerobic plan (the main focus has been running, but the principles apply towards other aspects of cardio) towards a goal. Another, aspect about building a plan is how to adjust training around the race. 

    Often times Detraining and Tapering are used interchangeably, however they have two distinct definitions when applying towards aerobic training.

   

    Detraining is the reduction in training or stopping training altogether. Often times it is due to a break in the training program, illness or injury. When the aerobic physiological adaptations are lost that's when detraining occurs  

 

    It is difficult to continuously run longer, and faster throughout the training year (unless your name is David Goggins). To prevent burnout or overtraining breaks are placed within the schedule to assist with recovery. In some cases, it is a week or two weeks. Two weeks will detract from top end speed but should not affect aerobic endurance Taking off a longer period due to illness or injury may play a factor depending on the seriousness of the illness or injury. Push comes to shove when adaptations are lost than detraining occurs. 

    Tapering on the other hand is systemic or planned reduction in duration or intensity in preparation for a race. Typically, tapering goes hand in hand with carb loading. Increasing carb intake while tapering will ensure your glycogen levels will be topped off before the big race to maximize performance. Typically, tapering is conducted 7-28 days before the race. Various factors such as training, training experience, race distance or how you are tapering all play a factor in the length of tapering. 

    The style of tapering can be conducted in three different ways: Linear, step and progressive. Linear is the gradual reduction of training throughout the taper. For example, three weeks out before a race I'll drop a mile off my training regime until the race. On the other hand, step is the abrupt reduction in training. Typically, it is a 50% drop in training then maintaining that distance. If my training runs are 8 miles in preparation for a 5K then I'll run four until the race. Progressive reduction is gradual reduction by 10%-15% immediately then gradually from there. In other words, it is the combination of linear and step. An example would be taking 8 miles down to 7 then 6 then 5, etc. etc.

    As you can see progressive tapering would take longer tapering period considering the gradual drop off while step is more abrupt and can be conducted in a shorter time period.        

Types of running explained part two

     In part one of this series, we covered long, slow, distance runs, and Pace/Tempo runs. In part two, we will cover Intervals, High intensity interval training (HIIT) and Fartlek trainings. 

Without further ado

Interval training

    If you remember intermediate pace training from a previous article you recall how we broke down our goal race into blocks and trained at a certain time. Interval training is similar with some added additions. A more concrete work to rest ratio and higher intensity. If intermediate pace training is hitting certain times within a "round" interval training is performed at a higher tempo and typically associated with time instead of distance. An example would be 1 min of running with 1 min or light jogging. Or running two min with two min of light jogging to recover. As you may have noticed it is at a work to rest ratio of 1:1 with shorter duration of three to five minutes. Since these are performed at higher intensity with low rest periods it is understood to not have full capacity when training thus making them very stressful. Due to increased stress, it is recommended to only preform these one to two times a week. The idea is to squeeze more training into less time. 

HIIT

HIIT training is interval training on steroids. Interval training is performed at a higher intensity. HIIT is all out effort for a time period then resting for a longer duration. It is recommended to perform these at 1:5 work to rest ratio. Meaning that if I all out sprint for 30 seconds then I would rest 150 seconds. On these types of runs you want a longer rest period to ensure the next round is performed. Optimally, you would want to spend several minutes above 90% Vo2 max during the workout. When used correctly, HIIT will boast your speed at the end of the race during that final kick. Since we are using all-out effort during these runs it is recommended to only use this style once a week.

Fartlek

    The last style of run is fartlek training. Fartlek comes from the Swedish word for speed play which means altering speeds during your run. An example could be running for five min then sprinting for thirty seconds then lightly jogging for two min then running for four min and so on and so forth. This is designed to break up the monotony of training. Or in some cases it can be used if your body isn't quite there to perform another type of running. Look, we all have a plan to run fast when we run then during the run we just don't have it. This happens. When it does-slow it down-then speeds up then slow it down. It is an effective tool in the tool bag. For Fartlek training aim to perform these runs at least once a week.   

    

    

Types of running explained

     So, you have decided to start running. Cool Beans. Want some advice? I assume you do since you are reading this post.

    1. Have a goal. 

    That one is fairly obvious but often overlooked when it comes to building an aerobic or more specific an aerobic plan. Pick a local race. 5K, 10K or if you're feeling ambitious a half marathon. Set the date a few months out then start your training. Running willy nilly without a goal may get you to where you want but if you weren't running anyway then is the discipline really there? However, if you have a goal, tell a few friends then that consistent reminder to train is there. That is of course that your friends will support you in such a manner to get going. Devoted people tell you what you want to hear, loyal people tell you what you want to hear. Additionally, have a time goal. I want to run a 5K in ___ or run a 10K in ___ (more on this later)

2. Plan your runs

    Have a running plan. This will keep you "into" the workout. Ever been on the way to the gym and not know what you're going to do? How was that workout? missing that little something? Same applies to running. There are five types of running you can do: Long, Slow, Distance, Pace/Tempo, Interval, HIIT and Fartlek. 

Long Slow Distance (LSD)

    Plan this type of run strategically, bring a friend, bring a chatty friend. One, since these are longer, slower runs it helps to have someone pass the time and two, these types of runs are more for distance instead of speed. Whatever goal you had in mind this is where it plays a factor. You want these runs to be longer than your race. For example: If you're doing a 5K race than plan your LSD runs to be longer than the race distance. In terms of distance, you want to be at 70% Vo2 Max or a more trackable data point: 80% of Max heart rate ((220-age)/.80). By doing these types of runs you are improving your mitochondrial energy production (Krebs cycle), greater oxidative capacity of your skeletal muscles, increased utilization of fat for fuel, and improve lactate threshold. Or in non-nerdy fitness terms: training your legs to be able to withstand the race distance.

    The downside to LSD runs is the low intensity. When you do a race, you want to run it fast, not slow. Also, it does not recruit the type of muscle fibers needed for a faster pace.

    Overall, these are good runs, and it is recommended to incorporate these at least once or twice a week.

Pace/Tempo

    These are fast runs. Like race pace runs. Whatever the time you have as a goal. Try to hit that goal in your runs. Pace/tempo runs should be at the pace that is pushing your body without slowing down. Pace/tempo runs can be accomplished two ways: steady and intermediate. Steady is running at the same pace throughout the duration of the run. Intermediate is breaking down the race into segments, then breaking down pace into those segments. Let's say I want to run a 5K with each mile at 8 min pace. I could run a mile in 8 min or faster, take a break then run another mile at that pace. Using the 5K example it could be 8 min miles in 2 min every 400 meters. I could run a 400 (or one lap) in 2 min. Take a break then run another lap in 2 min. 

    Pace/Tempo are designed to increase your lactate threshold. By increase your lactate threshold you are able to run at a faster pace for a longer duration. Additionally, you are improving your running economy (your running form). So, you are able to run more efficiently and higher intensity. In more basic terms you are training your body to sustain running at a higher intensity.

    It is recommended to use these types of runs once or twice a week.