Running with 5 year old?!?!? (Read 1160 times)

I took my 9 year old nephew with me the other day. We went to a track. That way he could regulate how fast and how much felt good to him. I knew he would want to run faster than I could, but this way I could keep an eye on him. My general observation has been that kids like to run a little fast, then take a walk break, then run some more. I say take your 5 year old to the track, plan on a time (maybe 15-20 minutes) and she will regulate the distance. Most of all HAVE FUN!!

I'd ask, her, too, while you're lacing up shoes, maybe, what she's got in mind: a run like you do, slow and long, or more of a race? My 4yo still thinks every run is a race, so she's more into the 40-yard dash runs. Lots of them after some play breaks, but just short racing dashes. But she really thinks this is a "run." If she establishes that she really wants to go slow and long, then I would let her set the pace and certainly not go further than about a 1/2 mile before heading back. Most children's "fun runs" or "marafuns", I think, are about one mile. If she gets tired before that, you can walk back. Have fun!

My 5yo son did the same sort of thing to me a few months before my last 5k. I told him they had a "kids fun run" and he got super excited and then wanted to run with me regularly. So, sporadically from the time he asked to the time of the race I'd take him on a kid training run. I made him walk for a little while first to warm up, and when he said he felt warm, we started to run at his pace for as long as he wanted to go. Of course, it was a blazing sprint (for a 5yo) followed by a stop and some huffing and puffing. Repeat for a little over half a mile, and he was ready to be done with it. We were just around the block anyway. During the run, we'd talk about how you should pace yourself and run at a training pace so you could go farther, but I still let him do whatever he wanted while we were out. We did this 3-5 times before the event, which was supposed to be 1/4 mile. When the event came, he was AMPED and lined up on the front row. He actually did really well. He didn't take off at a full sprint, and he managed to run the whole way, "swerving and zooming" (his words) around the people who stopped. I followed close behind and encouraged him toward the end when he seemed to be flagging a bit. He didn't need my encouragement once he saw the finish line though, and threw in a little kiddie kick at the end. I'm sure when I register for my next race, he'll want to do it all again, but he hasn't asked me to go on a training run again since the race.

I'd say start training her to "jog" rather than sprint, and get her used to running and breathing properly. Take her as far as she wants to go, then walk (quickly) back home. That seems to be the biggest problem - they all want to take off like there's a bear on their heels, then end up sucking wind a couple of hundred yards into the race. Once she starts getting the hang of pacing, encourage her to go a little farther than she wants to, or run part of the way home as well. The most important part here is praising her and pointing out to her how much she is improving each time. Pretty soon she'll be ready to run a kids K, and maybe in a year or two a real 5K race will be in her future ! Oh, and if you can, jump in and cross the finish line with her, then grab her to cross the line with you for your race! (I speak from personal experience - My 7 yo (see pic) ran the kids K at last years Race For The Cure (he was 6 then). We did a couple of similar distances around the neighborhood before the race, mainly to give him the idea of what to expect, and to give me a chance to teach him about pacing himself and not doing the sprinting and stopping, huffing and puffing thing. Then we started working on distance like I described above. After the race, his first comment was "Dad, that was REALLY hard!", followed shortly by "Can we do that again at your next race?" He got his own shirt, his own bib, and his own time. This year he wants to do the full 5K race, so we've been training at longer distances, gradually working up to a run-walk 5K which DW is planning on doing with him so I can race at my pace. If he doesn't get close to that distance by race day he will do the kids K again.

I started thinking, though, what's a good distance for a 5 year old? 0.25mi, 0.5? I don't really know. I want it to be long enough so that she feels like she ran (she's good at knowing when we're trying to appease her), but not too far that she won't want to do it again. Any suggestions?

Good for you - and for her. Awesome, in fact. I think little kids can actually do a lot more than you'd think, and I also think they tend to be pretty good at quitting when they should (unlike a lot of grown-ups). If it were me, I'd explain carefully that its going to be out and back - meaning she has to decide the turn back point knowing she'll still have to run home. Or at least walk home. And I'd bring a lot of water. Kids seem to get dehydrated easily and aren't always smart about taking care of it. Then I'd go run until she picks the turn around point, then run or run/walk back - and make a game out of seeing if you can get farther the next time or the next week or whatever. I'd leave it up to her, but I'll bet you could hit a half mile right out of the gate. Let us know how it goes. I'll bet you get over a mile pretty quick, and if she really likes it, I think you'll be doing 2-3 miles before you know it. I suspect she won't have much interest in much further - and if she does want to go further, I'd talk to a doctor about it beforehand.

When I have gone out with dd, we went before my run (not a bad warmup) and we ran as far as she wanted to run and then ran home. I would occasionally remind her she had to run home (she was 3 1/2 at the time). I think all told we went about 0.4 miles. This summer I want to try to get in some more with her.