I don't favor hard training for most young kids either but more because it is likely to just make them hate running not because its bad for them or ineffective in kids (that notion is ridiculous). But some kids do train hard and improve significantly, so if a kid is motivated...
Injuries, in my experience, are not a huge problem among kids that run, even the ones who run a lot.
Impressed and Curious wrote:
I ran a 5K yesterday and noticed in the results that an 8-year old girl ran 18:55. Does anyone know if that's a record?
The Garritson kids ran a lot faster than that back in the 80's. The arrs list that somebody cited is worthless. They have the 8k record for girls' age 10 at 35:42, while a random google turns up Carrie Garritson running 28:25 for 8k on a legit course at that age in 1987.
And for anyone doubting the legit, note the details: third place in an open race with significant prize bucks behind Monica Joyce and Polly Plumer.
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-25/sports/sp-16536_1_carrie-garritsonRunningusa.org used to maintain the single age records but I don't see them at the website any more. My recollection is that Carrie G. ran close to 19 flat at age 6 and was well into the 17's by age 8.
Curious Dad wrote:
TrackCoach wrote:Running is a sport, I would expect a kid to practice running in the same way they practice playing soccer, basketball or any other sport. With that said, there is a limit to how much an 8 year should practice any sport, but I would not expect a kid's track practice to be any less structured than any other sport.
Are you advocating interval training? I know there is a lot of trolling here, but it's a serious question. I am not a big fan of serious training for girls until age 13 or so. I'd rather they be multi-sport athletes. The girls who are injured on my daughter's soccer tm are the ones who only play soccer and nothing else. I would fear the same thing with just running, especially hard running at this age.
YES, I advocate interval training, as well as tempos, long runs, block starts, calisthenics, form drills, etc. I have coached at every level from little kids to professional athletes. When I coached, college athletes did about 90% of the same training the pros did, high school athletes did about 90% of the same training the college athletes did and youth athletes did about 90% of the same training high school kids did. Obviously the lower the level, the lower volume and intensity and in the case of kids, you are only training a couple times a week and you put more emphasis on making training fun. There is nothing uniquely bad about any type of training, intervals, long runs, etc., the type of training is not the issue, the appropriateness is about the volume and intensity.
For perspective, an 8 year old might only practice 3 times a week, intervals might be 5x200s or a long run might be 3-miles. If I didn't do any intervals training, I would be one of the few youth coaches who didn't and it would not like teaching Pop Warner 8 year how to tackle. Btw, kids rarely get hurt practicing track & field.
1 error makes it worthless?
They do the best they can. Nobody is paying them.
Either nobody submitted that mark for evaluation, or the course was not record eligible for some reason (P2P maybe?).
If it was legit, she (or you) could probably submit it right now. They can only evaluate what is brought to their attention.
Her 10K records are on there, and 8 mos prior she ran 10K at the exact same pace as the 8k you cited, about 5:49, which is pretty amazing.
only ended up running 4:49 for 1600 in HS, but 11th last weekend at WCC xc champs as true freshman