It's probably the parent in me, but letting a kid (and yes he's a kid) fly around a track as fast as he wants seems just fine. Because it's fun! But having/letting him run 14+ miles at almost 6:00 pace is weird, to put it kindly. And then to post it on IG makes it all the more odd...again, to put it kindly.
There is ALWAYS a kid like this coming up. Age WRs, serious coaching, times matching people 2-4 years older than them.
No one has matched the hype since Galen Rupp.
Rupp wasn’t an age grouper. I would say Harrison more or less met the hype from HM record holder at like 10 to 4:02 as a soph to sub 4 as a senior. Yeah the progression (and racing choices) over the past 3 years isn’t quite what you dream about but decent enough.
Adian Puffer has done OK from those early fast 5ks(like 8:48 2 mile)but I don’t think he raced at all at NAU.
It's probably the parent in me, but letting a kid (and yes he's a kid) fly around a track as fast as he wants seems just fine. Because it's fun! But having/letting him run 14+ miles at almost 6:00 pace is weird, to put it kindly. And then to post it on IG makes it all the more odd...again, to put it kindly.
Not going to judge too much without a complete training by plan but yeah those long medium fast runs are something I sort of regret about HS training. Thought we were recovering but another 30s slower wouldn’t have been smarter.
IG and strava seems odd is all about your age. Seems nuts to me. But teenagers are posting everything these days.
It's probably the parent in me, but letting a kid (and yes he's a kid) fly around a track as fast as he wants seems just fine. Because it's fun! But having/letting him run 14+ miles at almost 6:00 pace is weird, to put it kindly. And then to post it on IG makes it all the more odd...again, to put it kindly.
We’ve cut back (significantly) on the amount of mileage our young athletes run on a weekly basis, especially the U13s and U15s.
There are certain boys who may mature faster and have the strength, as opposed to speed (the two are very different) to consider extra volume. But it can massively hamper kids who aren’t ready.
I just don’t agree with it. And as you say, it’s almost always an adult pushing it rather than the child.
It's probably the parent in me, but letting a kid (and yes he's a kid) fly around a track as fast as he wants seems just fine. Because it's fun! But having/letting him run 14+ miles at almost 6:00 pace is weird, to put it kindly. And then to post it on IG makes it all the more odd...again, to put it kindly.
We’ve cut back (significantly) on the amount of mileage our young athletes run on a weekly basis, especially the U13s and U15s.
There are certain boys who may mature faster and have the strength, as opposed to speed (the two are very different) to consider extra volume. But it can massively hamper kids who aren’t ready.
I just don’t agree with it. And as you say, it’s almost always an adult pushing it rather than the child.
He might be self driven, who knows? And he obviously has talent. But, he’s only 13. I would personally back him off, lower the volume, get him into cross training, either via other sports like soccer, hockey, or swimming, or get him into triathlon.
I had a great friend in high school who was a “prodigy” at like age 9 or 10, competed varsity in middle school, and was the #1 runner on our team when I first found the sport of track as a sophomore. Set all kinds of records at local road races. Fast forward to 16 years old, and this kid was a headcase who sustained a knee injury that he could never escape, and his running career was over by his senior year. He was also running about 70 mpw in 8th to 9th grade.
Not saying this will happen to this kid, obviously wish him the best, but, I suspect my friend’s physical issues stemmed from too much hard training before he hit puberty. I don’t see the point in the high volume/sessions until a boy hits about 17 with commensurate physical maturity.
That was my point. Parents send their child to school in another state so that he can compate against high school runners. How well did it all work out for the Pings?