13 Year Girl Runs a 29:37 8K

Alana is a smart kid with her head in the right place. Her Dad is an excellent coach who is having great results with others. Alana's training has been carefully increased over the years and it is well thought out and well balanced.

I know there are many young kids that are overtrained to hit fast times at a young age, but Alana is defintely not one of them. There is every chance that she will continue to improve year after year. (This year's race was slower than last year, but she had a bad day - something she put right at the XC a few days later. She has progressed at a steady pace thus far.)

The big question mark is puberty. We know that boys that are fast pre-puberty tend to just get faster, but girls often don't. She is built to run right now, but that may change. What I do know is that everything that can be in place ready, is: technique, training, attitude.

Nice kid, nice family. Hoping she continues to do well. I suspect both her name and that of her Dad/coach will become well known in running circles in years to come.

I have coached youth age groups (9 - 14) for many years and girls at the younger age groups (9-12) can usually keep up with the boys but 13-14 is when you usually see some gap starting between the two.

You have to be careful running those longer races at that age, too much risk for injury and burnout as we all have seen. I used to practice with my kids 3 days/week and 1 race day purposely keeping the milage down to quality not quantity. I hope her coach pulls in the reigns a little and keeps things in perspective - at that age you do a little training keep it fun and see where your talents take you.

I have also taken several kids to USATF/AAU nationals and after several years on those levels come to realize it is too much for 9-10 year olds to do these major events year after year - I have seen too many of these kids regretting the sport and dropping out freshman and sophmore year of HS.

That's a good time especially a lot of younger runners struggle with a longer distance (or more the case over here don't run them at all)

The main thing with any young athlete is that they don't quit or get injured

Keep us updated on her progress

She's run several races longer than an 8k; the longest being a 15k. She runs 65 miles/week and hasn't had a day off since June.

someone new wrote:

wilfredo wrote:

That race is nowhere near a 5k. the guys in the top 5 all ran a minute faster than their next best time.

I didn't run it this year, but I have in years past, and it is most definitely accurate. Philip West's PR is 15:09 or 15:07...not sure which, but I was there when he ran it, and Joel Stansloski has run in the 15's as well. Don't know about the rest of the top 5. This was a PR of course for Cody...his next best is somewhere in the 16:50's.

Was that the Phillip West who ran 4:10 in high school and went to Stanford?

alfredo wrote:

You have to be careful running those longer races at that age, too much risk for injury and burnout as we all have seen. I used to practice with my kids 3 days/week and 1 race day purposely keeping the milage down to quality not quantity. I hope her coach pulls in the reigns a little and keeps things in perspective - at that age you do a little training keep it fun and see where your talents take you.

I disagree. It is the intense workouts trying to hit peak performance at the shorter distances that are more likely to cause injury and burnout. Miles alone, particularly if done at an easy pace, will do no harm. They will more likely protect from injury with the faster stuff later on.

I routinely see kids doing very well when they are under 16 but performance stagnates, or they get injured or burnout and they drop out. Mostly it is kids who were training intensely on low mileage to race over these short distances. Alana's coach seems smart to have do more distance work and not to rely so heavily on the shorter stuff.

In US / Europe we tend to focus on running shorter and faster younger, building up distance as the children get older. In Africa it is more common to cover large mileage at a slower pace (or at least not a prescribed pace) in the younger years and add the faster, shorter work later on. I think Lydiard said soemthing similar.

Julie wrote:

She's run several races longer than an 8k; the longest being a 15k. She runs 65 miles/week and hasn't had a day off since June.

To add to this: her training log is on Athleticore.com . She's consistently at 60-70 mpw.... in junior high! I couldn't even fathom running that much at that age, let alone 14+ mile long runs and speedwork in July. Did Jordan Hasay even run that much in junior high? It's no wonder she's running what she does, without having hit puberty yet. Most of the elite women I know usually got a late start on serious running and played other sports growing up. So take it for what it's worth....

How many miles a week is 10km to school and 10km home per week? 65M or so? From age of 5 or 6?

Not sure the miles are the big issue here, it is that those miles include more intense work. But if she has built up to that, I'm sure she'll be OK. But it's the tough workouts, not the overall mileage that should be the concern.

3 x 2 mile repeats with a 2 min. recovery in July as a 13 y.o. isn't childsplay.

Thanks for everyone's interest, concern, or curiousity about my daughter.

We decided to keep her trining log public for 3 reasons: there is nothing secret about what she does; it might serve as a good example of a balanced approach; it cuts-off speculation of what she is doing.

But in order to look at her log in perspective, there are few things you should know.

1) She has been running since she was 6 yrs old, so that is over 7 years now and she loves every minute of it, so she is not a new runner by any stretch, she comes from a running family and is very familiar with the sport.

2) She has never ever had any type of running injury. Yes 7+ yrs of running and 0 injuries. Everything she has done has been very incremental and gradual. She has just been at for 7 yrs so naturally has worked up comfortably and slowly to 65 miles per week, and yes that will probably grow as time goes along. That is just where she is at her training age.

3) The primary focus has always been showing her the right way to train and execute workouts in a fun wat and with a good attitude and how to do all different types of workouts (tempos, VO2 max, fast intervals, hills, long runs, etc.) She never races any workouts but works within herself and looks forward to her quality days with a refreshing enthusiasm.

4) She does a full range of workouts and is a very balanced runner, she is quick at 50 meters and 14 miles, her current race range is 800 meters to 15k. We have never tried to peak her for any race, but rather introduce everything into the mix gradually over the years. She runs her LT tempo runs at the same performance level (VDOT if you use Daniels) as her VO2 Max Intervals and at the same level as her Repetition intervals. That is a good thing in my estimation and what will likely keep her progressing: lack of a weakness to hold her back and a gradual approach.

5) She is happy, healthy, a straight A student, on her schools chorus team and lives a balanced life. Running is great for her and she loves it, more now than ever.

For those who say that her workouts are "not kid's play" I'd have to disagree, she is a kid, she does them and thouroughly enjoys them. Training done correctly and in a sustainable way and with a good attitude is fun. I suggest if you don't like 3 x 2 mile workouts, then maybe you aren't doing them correctly.

Maybe one day when she is older and has things to peak for she may try and peak for some races, but for now her emphasis has been on building good training habits, developing evenly and having a blast doing it. She can get more serious about racing later.

Thanks.

I have seen this same story numerous times and she is on the road to burnout. In fact I am not even sure how talented she is if she is running 65 MPW. My advice is restric her running to 4 days a week, and allow her only to enter 5 races a year. Have her play other sports soccer, basketball, etc. If she has talent now, she will have talent in three years. This is not tennis or golf where you need to learn a skill. Please Trust me!! I am so sure she will not finish as an all american division 1 college XC runner if she continues down this path that I would be willing to wager 20k to your 5k.

Out of curiousity, why do you say that? Just your gut feeling or do you have some physiological evidence you care to share. The man said his daughter has run for 7 yrs and loves it now more than ever so why do you think that will change.

Or do you just want her to ruin her knees playing soccer or bsketball so you can win your bet?

Scott is a Crazy man wrote:

Out of curiousity, why do you say that? Just your gut feeling or do you have some physiological evidence you care to share. The man said his daughter has run for 7 yrs and loves it now more than ever so why do you think that will change.

Or do you just want her to ruin her knees playing soccer or bsketball so you can win your bet?

No evidence. It's an urban legend put out by African runners so that muzungo stays slow. ;)

I'd wager MPR has forgotten more about training than Scott E knows. His marathon training thread was a classic.

If she played basketball and soccer there would be no bet.

This comes from my observation following running for 30 years as both a former college runner/coach/ and former 12 year old prodigy who was burned out by sophmore year of HIGH SCHOOL and almost quit. I actually only enjoyed running again after college. Sorry i have no evidence other than look at the age group records under 13 years old and very few people will recognize the names.

12 year old girl -37:02 in the women's feild of the Zatopek 10k next thursday.

Abigail Bayley 26-Nov-77 33 F 10000m 34:46.00 OLD XAVERIANS VICTORIA

2 Brooke Condon 13-Feb-79 31 F 10000m 35:32.00 BOX HILL VICTORIA

3 Meredith Cook 29-Jun-73 37 F 10000m 36:30.00 BENDIGO YMCA VICTORIA

4 Hannah Flannery 31-Jul-98 12 F 10000m 37:02.00 TUGGERANONG TERRITORY

5 Clare Geraghty 15-May-86 24 F 10000m 33:58.00 GALEFORCE RUNNING CLUB QUEENSLAND

6 Belinda Martin F 10000m 35:26:00 ST GEORGE NSW

7 Ellie O'Kane 10-Dec-88 22 F 10000m 35:50.00 BORDER TRACK & FIELD VICTORIA

8 Kellie Palmer 5-Dec-83 27 F 10000m 34:14.00 UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY

9 Lauren Shelley 2-Dec-76 34 F 10000m 33:59.00 STIRLING SWANS WESTERN

MPR wrote:

She has been running since she was 6 yrs old, so that is over 7 years now and she loves every minute of it, so she is not a new runner by any stretch, she comes from a running family and is very familiar with the sport.

I agree that this is the important thing: not how old you are, but how old your training age is. You cannot compare a 13yr old who has been training for 7 years with a 13yr old who has been training for a year or two.

I never had injuries, ever.... then I grew 4 inches, developed Osgood Schlautters, and suffered a few stress fractures throughout high school and college. Just forewarning you.

You have no idea. She's doing workouts we do as elite HM/marathoners. Of course I know how to do them correctly, yes I enjoy them, and no, that is not childsplay. No child should be doing 2 mile repeats.

Sorry that you had the trouble as kid, and glad that you made it through.

Alana is 5'3" and already taller than both her grandmothers and just an inch shy of her monther. She is not likely to grow much more (we figure 5'4" to 5'5" at most). Not expecting another big growth spurt but we'll see.

I do have an idea.

I'm not sure how you decided that 2 mile repeats were not ok for kids. Do you have a master list of what is OK at what age? If so can you share it and explain to us how you came up with it? Does training age matter?

I do hate it when people put blanket limitations on others, and for no other reason than they think thats best.

I don't believe prepubescent girls get injured. I'm a middle school coach and there was a girl that ran 2:09 in the 800 meter, 4:34 1500, 10:01 3000 and 18:07 XC 5k as a freshman. She ran 20 miles a week in 7th grade, 25 in 8th and 30 in 9th grade. All at 5'3", 95 lbs. Her first injury came at the end of her sophomore year during a growth spurt she went from 5'3" to 5'8" between freshman year and senior year and has been struggling with injuries ever since. It has nothing to do with what she did as a 12,13, or 14 year old. She is having to learn how to run in a new body. People keep telling her she will be able to faster now because she is stronger, but she cannot stay healthy. Girls who get their periods young and who are done growing by 9th grade do not have as many problems as late bloomer runners.