How Far To Let 6 Year Old Run

My 6 year old does parkrun each week which is 5km. We walk, run, chat and try to keep it fun. No pressure on time. Think 2-3km is a better distance for that age to run without breaks.

This seems like a good place to update the running progress of the young Flagpole.

Did he make his dads dream become reality?

Slow down here guys.

This little guy needs to stop running around the track immediately. First of all the surface is too hard and his bones are too soft.

If he loves to run he's old enough to play soccer so sign him up he will get plenty of running in short bursts on soft surfaces.

There is a reason track clubs start accepting kids at age 6 and limit their running of longer distances until they are older.

Mauqess wrote:

My son who is six years old and a month. He can run 3km once a week. And on average, he runs 1km everyday for the last 6 months. His best 3km time is 16'25. He really likes running and he doesn't feel any bad after running. This is just for your reference, remember every kid is different from each other.

I hope you are joking. If not you need to stop these long runs immediately.

A little kid runs for 16-17 minutes once a week and people are outraged, and you are surprised that obesity is a major problem!

Look, if your kid wants to be a good runner, you have to train him to be mentally tough and run through the pain when he is ready to stop. But seriously, I've never heard of a kid having any long term repercussions from running long distances at a young age, other than burn-out, so I echo the other comments - let him decide how much he wants to do: it will be ok.

I've coached youth track, cross country, and running club for an elementary school. The serious replies so far are on the mark. Just listen and watch for signs of being tired or wanting to stop. Keep it fun and no pressure, and he should be fine.

More than distance, I would think about frequency and wearing decent shoes. Recovery is key, and for the youngest runners, we never went more than 2-3 days per week. That gives plenty of time for recovery and keeps it fun instead of becoming a chore. Then it's a matter of following all of the well-known rules about starting with shorter distances and frequent breaks, eventually building up to longer times with shorter breaks.

It's repetitive stress/strain that we have to keep an eye on.

Kids are stronger and more resilient than we give them credit for, and a miles is not really that far. We had kindergartners able to run a mile with no problem and most could run 1.5 miles.

Make sure he's wearing running shoes or something with at least a little bit of structure (i.e no crocs or sandals) with laces and not velcro straps. This is mostly to keep the shoe on the foot (and prevent injury from falling or twisting an ankle) as opposed to some philosophical idea of minimal/maximal footwear for running.

How is your son's running these days, Flagpole? Seems like he would be in HS now possibly competing for an Ohio title in XC or in the 3200. Does Scott Fry also have kids?

facktcheckdude wrote:

How is your son's running these days, Flagpole? Seems like he would be in HS now possibly competing for an Ohio title in XC or in the 3200. Does Scott Fry also have kids?

He is in high school and he is targeting D1 colleges, so he's pretty good.

I went and gmapped the courses I used to run when I was 5 or 6, about 2 to 2.5k. Not even close to injury and I was never tired, it just never occurred to me to go farther. Boring.

I probably ran at least that far just from playing all day anyhow.