Just Started Running (Read 897 times)

When I go back and re-read Nobby's longer original post, not his anti-Penguin kick, it doesn't sound anything like track workouts. He recommends 30-45 min runs a few times a week and some occasional form practice that he calls "running fast" but sounds a lot more like concentrating on running form than on running speed. vengencewins, it sounds like you have gotten some great results from what you're doing. Congrats on your improvements! Noah, I think these guys are both basically saying the same thing. And are both worth listening to. Run a lot. Have fun with it. Take the long view and you'll do well in the long run. Good luck to you!

When I go back and re-read Nobby's longer original post, not his anti-Penguin kick, it doesn't sound anything like track workouts. He recommends 30-45 min runs a few times a week and some occasional form practice that he calls "running fast" but sounds a lot more like concentrating on running form than on running speed. vengencewins, it sounds like you have gotten some great results from what you're doing. Congrats on your improvements! Noah, I think these guys are both basically saying the same thing. And are both worth listening to. Run a lot. Have fun with it. Take the long view and you'll do well in the long run. Good luck to you!

Alright. I guess we both are in agreement then. I didn't read his post originally before I posted. I'm fine with working on form and that could be beneficial for him.

I have to disagree with you. This kid is only 12 and just started running. He should just be enjoying running for now and not destroying his body by doing too much speed work at a young age. And the only way to learn how to run is to, well, run. And that means mileage, not an 8x400m workout. Building a base is the most important thing you need to gain speed. I know what it takes to get under a 5 minute mile like he wants to. I started out last year by only doing fartlek and interval type workouts like you think he should do. What happened? I didn't improve much at all. I was consistently around a 5:10 mile and could never bring it down even though I felt like I could do so much better. Then I cut back on speed work and instead focused on more miles. The end result? My mile time continued to drop over the next month until I ended up with a 4:52. Now this summer I have only ran miles and have not touched speed work at all. My average pace per workout has dropped over 30 seconds without more effort. If I would run a time trial for the mile I would be confident in running 4:40ish. I wouldn't be able to say that if I ran hard every day. Enough about me. I just REALLY think that if he does all this speed work without the aerobic capacity necessary for the mile he will burn out and never reach his full potential.

From what I ream from your post, I'd have to say you're a typical example of mixing up what WE term anaerobic training and speed. I wasn't talking about workout like 8X400 AT ALL. I was talking about 30 YARDS dash. I'm the one who's trying to convey Arthur Lydiard's message. Lydiard was totally against young kids doing "anaerobic" repeats which most American high school coaches would give them; but he would always encourage young kids to work on their "raw" speed by doing some drills and hill exercises. Most people only see Lydiard as aerobic only guy or a 100-miles-a-week guy which is not true. Kids play soccer and they "sprint" as hard as they can for 30, 40, 50 yards easily and that ain't going to hurt them at all. It's a PROLONGED speed such as 400s, as you mentioned (and I didn't ;o)), that woulc hurt them. For young kids, I don't even like 200s repeats. Any distance between 200 and 800 would be highly taxing to them. If it's the repeats, I don't even like 100s! But sprinting 30 yards with plenty of recovery in between will not gonna hurt them at all. On the contrary, like I said, learning to run properly would teach them to run injury free. You see kids with their arms and legs growing 3 inches in 3 days run around with knocked-knees and all. If they don't do anything to strengthen appropriate muscles to strengthen them and balance their form, they'll get hurt. In the condition like that, just pile up lots of miles blindly may cause some problems. Sure, they'll need some adult supervision; need experts' guidance. But just tell them to go out and run and run a lot (slowly) can be just as irresponsible in my opinon. They'll need a lot more than just that. I tried to put my message so a 12-year-old can (hopefully) understand. It may not be sofisticated enough; or it may be too confusing. Then that would be my fault.