I'm interested too. I've seen some of the faster runners wear them at times for the 1600/3200 but not that often.
I'm interested too. I've seen some of the faster runners wear them at times for the 1600/3200 but not that often.
Nothing wrong with spikes in middle school since the distances are all so short.
To the poster who mentioned structured bball/soccer, etc. programs for kids real young, well duh those require a significant amount of actual technical development of key skills. And they are actually fun and enjoyable to play.
Running, especially once you start obsessing over performance and times, can become a very lonely and painful activity for kids who don't enjoy the actual act of running.
The key is to get the kids to enjoy running first, so that they want to do those harder workouts for the right reasons - not because they are chasing some arbitrary time standard. Because eventually they will come across kids faster than them and they will lose despite their best efforts. What are you left with then? Shattered dreams and a kid who is wondering why is running in the first place.
Probably why you have so many college runners quit running after college, because they never learned how to enjoy the sport in the first place. It was always about results and performance, and once those stopped coming, they stopped caring.
What I tell my middle school kids is if this is your first season don't wear spikes. After first season runners choice
A+ and 100%
Unfortunately not many coaches think this way.