Kids running (Read 689 times)

My 11 year old dd started running with me about 6 months ago. We did the couch to 5K program, ran a couple 5ks (she ran at my pace) and is now training for a 8 mile race (still mostly running at my pace). She has been doing all of her running with me (and I am SLOW) and will literally run circles around me since I am paranoid about letting her out of sight and she wants to go faster. Tonight she ran with my husband, she completed a little more than 5 miles in 45 min and during some of that 45 min she was waiting for him to catch up so she probably could have ran it much faster. She has totally fallen in love with running, she wants to run a marathon, wants to be in the Olympics.....but the thing is I don't know what to do with her. She is only in 6th grade and our schools don't have track or cross country until High School- so she has a couple of years to wait until she gets a real coach. Plus, I don't know how much to let her run. How many miles a week is too much for a 11 year old? For road races I know she can do 5ks, but for longer races, what is the longest she should run? Any tips/suggestions for parenting a wanna be running prodigy ?

I dont know much about really young people and excercice, but maybe this website can help http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/fitfacts_display.aspx?itemid=205 anyways, youre lucky that you have a daughter who is so self motivated! If running all those miles is too much, convince her to bike instead, or maybe swim

I ran into this group @ the Denver Marathon! http://www.kidsrunningamerica.org/

I would try to emphasize consistency in her training and keep it as fun as possible rather than competitive. If she can get out and enjoy the training for its own sake and have fun just running, she'll develop the kind of mentality that will lead to a more mature approach to competition when it gets more serious. With girls it is especially important not to ramp up the mileage or the intensity too much during the pre-teen and adolecent years. Their hips are developing and placing strain on their knees in ways that make them far more likely to become injured. These injuries turn this love of running into a source of endless frustration. You have to be careful working with a high school coach. I'm not sure what the rules are in Hawaii, but in California, I was not able to work with any junior high school kids until they were graduated from the junior high and were bound for my school. No workouts, no phone calls, no anything. I could work with the coach at the junior high school but not the kids. So be careful with hooking her up to a high school coach. It could cause trouble for everyone, especially if another high school gets wind of it and reports it. Keep in mind that running is an excellent source or college scholarships for girls. Colleges and universities must, by law, provide equal support to their mens athletics as to their women's. That means the college or univeristy must make up for all the money they spend on football with scholarships and resources for women's sports. Women's track and cross-country have been huge beneficiaries of this need to equalize resource allocations. College and university coaches do want young women who are fast, but they are more concerned with solid training backgrounds and injury histories. So that consistency and injury avoidance are key. Don't let her get too competitive too early. Let her love this sport and have fun with it. The rest will follow.

Thanks for all the advice! I will just keep her running with me and my husband and let her run in local races. She has been begging to run in a 10 mile race that is coming up in March, but I have convinced her to do the 5K instead. She may be a really good runner, but she has no sense of direction- I just know she would get lost - and neither my husband or myself really want to run that race. I am hoping she is now more familiar with the 5K course that I can just let her go for that race and see how she does (last time she didn't turn around- it was a out and back course and I had to run extra to catch her). She really isn't that competitive when it comes to her running. It seems that she likes the races for the atmosphere- plus she has always had to stay with me or my husband so she has never all out raced so it should be interesting to see how she does in that next 5 K. As for our regular runs- she is the one that drags me out of the house to run, but we have no problems if she skips a run (sometimes it is nice to run without someone asking if you are sure you can't go a little faster). I am also going to have to consider what I am going to do with her for High School- right now she goes to school at a small charter school that does not have sports (but does have an excellent academic program). When she is in High school she would be allowed to play sports with the nearest high school, but that school barely has a sports program and is like an inner city school with no city and with no child left behind, sports in not a huge priority. I think their cross country team showed up to 1 meet last year, and they couldn't get enough kids to form a track team. Her home high school (the one that she would go to if she wasn't in a charter school) has a pretty good track and cross country team, but the school itself is a nightmare when it comes to academics, drugs, violence, etc...., but at least I have 2 1/2 years to worry about that. I never dreamed that when I decided to start running that it was going to be my dd who would catch the running bug! I do have to say that I am thrilled that she loves it so much and is so good at it. She is the kid that the PE teachers would give a good grade for effort, not skill. She has always been really smart, but never very physically talented (to put it nicely).

With girls it is especially important not to ramp up the mileage or the intensity too much during the pre-teen and adolecent years. Their hips are developing and placing strain on their knees in ways that make them far more likely to become injured. These injuries turn this love of running into a source of endless frustration.

That's a pretty bleak observation, even though it's true. Bummer, bummer, bummer. I hate risking injury because running keeps me calmer and happier, but I also love to run all the time...