Dale, wtg to you two.
Dale, that's great. Dark Colt had a different experience today at his middle school cross-country race. First meet of the year, and he isn't in shape so hasn't been running well in practices, but he is a gamer and did his best today. With about a quarter-mile to go, he was about 6th out of 50-plus boys, but he got a bad stitch in his side, and about 20 kids passed him as he struggled to keep running. I felt sick watching him, but I guess not as sick as he felt. The stitch took a while to ease up, too; he was still hurting when we got home. Ugh. Just a bad day at the races. Dark Horse
One day at a time
Tammy
DH - my two cents is that if you want to encourage our son to continue with running and get better, to only increase distances by smaller amounts - not doubling up on distance by going from less than 3 miles to 6 miles. If he already is not thinking he likes running much, then doing that long of a run, even if you go slower to make it easier, will probably just make him hate it more. But if you only increase by a mile each time you do a longer run, it likely won't seem that awful to him plus he'll have a sense of accomplishment at achieving a little more each time - which will hopefully boost his enthusiasm for the sport. Of course, that's only my 2 cents and you know your son best. I'm just projecting how I would have felt at that age, when I also disliked running.
Dale and Teresa, thanks for the encouraging words about Dark Colt's cross-country. That's interesting about the progress from middle school to high school. Dark Colt hasn't bought into running yet, and till he does, not much improvement will happen. I am trying to hold back, but as I told him again yesterday, if he wants to get better, he has to run more mileage. I offered to run 6 miles with him this coming Sunday, and he said, "I haven't even run three miles yet." I said, "Don't worry, we'll run slow enough that you can do it." He said he would try, so we'll see. When he was 8, he could run 6 miles no problem, but really hasn't trained since then, and as a result is now slower at age 12. Dark Horse
You know your boy pretty well, so maybe longer distances may be better.
There's a fine line between challenging and discouraging a young athlete.
There's a fine line between challenging and discouraging a young athlete. Dark Horse
That statement seems like it should be such a basic element of any coach's training program, but it's amazing how many just don't get it. I sure wish DS1's soccer coach understood that.
I'd be willing to bet that all kids have the potential to run pretty fast with a little rep work.