Is my daughter too young to run consistantly?

If she can handle it, she c an run as many miles as it takes. 15, 30, 50, 70, 100, 150. Whatever she can handle without getting injured or burned out

Did Venus and Serena's father as a bunch of tennis message boarders if his girls were playing too much tennis?

Great book, wish I read it when my daughters were young: Encyclopedia of Youth Running by Mick Grant. I might not have the exact title but you can find it. 100% worthwhile. Will answer your questions better than random people on this site.

You, my friend, make me sick!! This is a little girl in America and she should be home watching TV and playing with her American Girl dolls. What kind of man forces his daughter to go out and run 13 mile races to 'earn' her dinner. What type of man takes pride in his bloody daughter slogging though a 10K to earn her father's attention and a pair of cheap old red pumps. You need to look in the mirror and take note of the LOSER staring back at you. Is is too late to give this abused child up for adoption? This may be her only chance at a normal life.

powrtrippin wrote:I've heard of such things with kids that try lifting weights but running???? Aren't we built for that?

People seem to think that we survived through millions of years of evolution thanks to our running ability. That is hilariously false. We survived through millions of years of evolution thanks to our intellectual ability. We are not "built for that". We may not be too bad at it, as it was very useful for our survival, but we're not great at it by any means and definitely not "built for it".

On to the actual subject at hand. As long as you avoid "structured" training, she should be fine. I would say to keep mixing it up, one weekend have her race some fun 100/200s at a local track meet. The next weekend do a 5k. Next weekend go rock climbing. Keep mixing it up and introduce her to as many different physical activities as possible, this should keep her injury free/healthy and avoid long term physical consequences due to consistent running stimulus.

Just bought it. Thanks!

Although, aren't Internet forums sole purpose to have random people throw their 2 cents in on discussions?

Get a good Doctor on speed dial for stress fractures that's all and you're good to go.

my daughter was doing 50 mile weeks by the time she was 5 so

Kaytlynn Welsch did a lot of distance running before starting high school. Everyone thought she would burn out and be injured all the time. She had a nice XC season finishing 14th at the State 6A meet in Texas. So far, so good with her.

Orthos do tell everyone that lots of distance running at a very young age can affect growth plates. I would not worry about racing every now and then if it is fun. I would certainly not start any kind of training program until junior high. Soccer will give her all the speed work and mileage she needs until then.

Also, be aware that some girls go through pretty dramatic physical changes when they hit high school that can adversely affect their distance running. So, it is important with little girls to try to keep them from making distance running their sole focus going into high school in case their physical development betrays them. Of course, if mom and dad are string beans, it may not be anything to be concerned about. But I have seen a number of star freshmen HS runners plateau very early and struggle to make it through their senior year on XC/track.

Thanks for the info. I DO agree that she's gonna have some problems when she starts developing.

Like you said, I think we're approaching this as something that's fun for her to do and something where we get to spend a lot of time together. She really enjoys going out and running and she REALLY enjoyed the half, with people encouraging her the whole way.

She's not too young, but she is rather slow. Someone that slow might have more success in a different sport like chess

I personally think she is racing too far for age and I would say the same thing if she was playing 3 soccer games a day. I am not a big fan of over specialization in anything at a young age. I think it is cool that she enjoys running long distance at such a young age, but there is definitely such a thing as "too much, too soon". I would never let my kids run half marathons, even though they could have done it. My advice would be to do other sports, focus on the mile and even sprints and do 5Ks occasionally and stress free. Btw, pre puberty girls are naturally aerobic and it is easy to overestimate potential running 5Ks against adult women other kids who aren't taking the race that seriously. Btw, most world class distance runners started out as milers and even sprinters, than who started out as long distance runners. Do the occasional road races for fun and use the AAU and USATF programs for when she wants to compete.

No problem with kids running distance but I would limit it to 10K at this point and maybe 5k.

I think throwing a kid in a half after that low level or prep is/was a mistake.. A 5k off the couch is no big deal, 13.1m is a shock to an untrained body and asking for trouble.

And honestly her times are pedestrian. A 6:51 mile does give some hope, thats decent for an 8yo but no eye opener. Keep expectations in check.

Put her on a track team with kids her age. 5ks on some weekends are fine.

This is a wind up..............right?

Well, compared to parents in Bangkok that have their 11 year old daughters doing tricks for dirty old men to help with family income, you are a great parent

I've heard many top level coaches say that with the best athletes your primary job is to make sure they don't hurt themselves by running too hard or too much. I believe a parent shoulders some of that responsibility when the runner is a youngster.

I don't know what the limit should be, but you should set one. Either maximum miles per week or maximum races per month.

The biggest mistake you have made so far with your daughter is reading this message board and coming on here for advice.

Stay away from this message board, nothing good will come from it.

Only you can answer this. I have two daughters, ages 10 & 11. They both dance, while my oldest one plays competitive soccer and my youngest is getting into competitive volleyball. They have each done a couple 5ks, running fairly fast for their ages, but not "lights out."

My youngest runs 1-2x per week for about 20 min w/Mom during my oldest's soccer season only in Fall and Spring. My oldest will occasionally go for a run but most of her conditioning comes from soccer. They are both working plenty of core/strength/balance/flexibility w/dance. We also hike and I encourage them to get on their bikes when the weather is nice, which they like.

I think that is plenty. I would like to get them into swimming over the summer, maybe try a triathlon. We will see where their 5k times stack up come Summer. I am inclined not to let them do any serious, structured training until the Summer before high school as they are still growing plenty in middle school.

FWIW.

I have three young runners and two are indoor national champions in the 800m and 1500m. They still have a long way to go in terms of consistency, but we go very slowly with low mileage limits for them for each training week. They are 14, 12, and 10 and I think your daughter has beat their yearly totals in a couple weekends. First off, why are you so proud that you send your daughter out there untrained where she has to basically will herself to finish. I think that is just irresponsible. If she is going to run a race, I believe it is up to you and her coaches to make sure she is prepared (mentally and physically) to run the event. Plus, I can't see how a kid that young without much training would ever enjoy running for those distances and for those amounts of time. That is considered by some as child abuse and you should definitely get an x-ray of her growth plates. When we went to the doctor for a visit earlier this year, they x-rayed all of my kids after an overzealous nurse thought that 10-12 miles a week (during his peak training) for a twelve year old was way too much. Thankfully, they were all fine and after talking with the kids in private, the doctor came back and was amazed with how much they loved running and wanted to work at getting better. At this point, they were running a max of 8-10 meets a year and no road racing at all and the doctor and nurse were still very concerned until after they saw the x-ray results and then talked with them. I couldn't imagine what they would have said if they found out your daughter ran a half marathon with no training except for a bunch of meets.

Also, what is with the back to back meets? Do you want your daughter to walk with a limp or get burned out in a couple years? Recovery days are more important and much more beneficial than running another meet the next day. I really try not to judge after hearing plenty of people judge me, but that is ridiculous. Does her coach know her weekly mileage and her race schedule? If he/she does and thinks that it is fine, they should not be coaching youth athletes. I am almost wishing you are a troll and this was just written to get people uncomfortable. I also have my kids keep a weekly mileage log and a diary so they can put down into words what they are feeling, and we use them to monitor their physical and mental health with their doctor. This helps so much because we can usually stay ahead of any major issues by knowing what is going on in their head in regard to training/running. Not trying to be harsh, just concerned with what you are currently doing with your daughter's training/racing.