Get him to enjoy jogging and appreciate the joys of running community 5ks.
Maybe in a year he can develop as needed to make a cut team, but seriously if you can help him enjoy running every day and chase 5k PRs, that something all by itself.
Yup! Getting him to enjoy running is my top goal! I don't know if he will want to do 5ks just yet, but I think just getting him into running will be a good start. Thanks for the advice! :)
I started out very slow back in middle school so maybe I can help. I remember in 6th grade when I broke 10 min for the mile for the first time so a very similar starting point, just younger. I would advise just focusing on building his endurance. Start out with 3 min run 2min walk for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week and then build up to where he is comfortable running 30-40 min 3 times a week. Really emphasize to him the importance of running at an aerobic effort no matter how slow it is.That should help him to not hate running once he gets used to it. Then maybe start including light fartleks or tempos. Nothing too intense and probably only do 1 a week. Seems like he mostly just needs an aerobic base at this point. He's young and he'll probably improve a lot fast if he sticks with it. During the season my freshman year of high school I cut 4 min off my 5k time from 31 min to high 27 min. Not sure if he'll improve enough to make the team but he'll probably be a he'll of a lot faster regardless and maybe even learn to enjoy the process.
Thanks for the advice! Yeah, I really like the idea of the run-walk intervals, seems like a good way to build a base for him. And hopefully, we can go from there, and yup, I don't think I should do anything too intense with him, at least not at the beginning. Thanks again for helping, and thanks everyone for practically saving my life haha!
He has a vdot just like anyone else. Just put together some basic training for him to run consistently and he'll get better. If he ran a 13 second 100 off of absolutely nothing, there has to be something to work with, 41 in the 200 isn't that bad either.
Hey, not sure if this sentiment has already been shared (don't have the time to scroll all the responses). But when I was an assistant coach for XC/track, my job was to work with all the new kids to the program who had little/zero running background in order to get them familiar with the program and help them move up in the running groups. Now we didn't have cuts, so our goal was to build a big program and make kids feel welcomed. That said, I distinctly remember one kid who came out for track his sophomore year, maybe weighed 95lbs soaking wet, was around 5'10", and came to practice for the first week dressed in his school clothes because he didn't know any better. I spent the entire first week helping him make 1 time around the track without stopping and convincing him he wouldn't die. He needed a lot of help. Fast forward to his senior year, he is splitting 1:58 on a 4x8 and running low 16s in XC, being a contributor on title winning teams. Over the course of my coaching career there have been more than a few kids who followed a similar path. Now I am not saying the kid you are talking about will take the same path (obviously all kids are different), but if you have the time and desire, help him understand what he is capable of with consistency and focus. A dedicated coach can do wonders for a kid.
He has a vdot just like anyone else. Just put together some basic training for him to run consistently and he'll get better. If he ran a 13 second 100 off of absolutely nothing, there has to be something to work with, 41 in the 200 isn't that bad either.
Thanks for the advice! And yeah, hopefully there is something to work with! Thanks again!!
Hey, not sure if this sentiment has already been shared (don't have the time to scroll all the responses). But when I was an assistant coach for XC/track, my job was to work with all the new kids to the program who had little/zero running background in order to get them familiar with the program and help them move up in the running groups. Now we didn't have cuts, so our goal was to build a big program and make kids feel welcomed. That said, I distinctly remember one kid who came out for track his sophomore year, maybe weighed 95lbs soaking wet, was around 5'10", and came to practice for the first week dressed in his school clothes because he didn't know any better. I spent the entire first week helping him make 1 time around the track without stopping and convincing him he wouldn't die. He needed a lot of help. Fast forward to his senior year, he is splitting 1:58 on a 4x8 and running low 16s in XC, being a contributor on title winning teams. Over the course of my coaching career there have been more than a few kids who followed a similar path. Now I am not saying the kid you are talking about will take the same path (obviously all kids are different), but if you have the time and desire, help him understand what he is capable of with consistency and focus. A dedicated coach can do wonders for a kid.
Thanks for the response! Wow, that's an amazing story, you must be an amazing coach! I will try my best to put in the time with him, I really do want to help him out (even though I have a freaking crazy summer schedule) and to do my best to encourage him (I also really want to help him boost his self-confidence, it's not really great right now), and hopefully it will be a good experience for both of us.
When I was going to high school there was a 9th grader who was always trailing back in last place on the cross country team and was very discouraged. His coach told him he might not ever be able to keep up with the others but he could inspire them to be better. So that's what he did. His coach was Tracy Walters, and his name was Gerry Lindgren.
Your neighbor has some speed, but simply has not done any running before. Suggest to him to just go out and run every day at a comfortable pace, and try to add on a minute or so each day as he feels able to do that, and to see if he can build up his total minutes each week. An alternative is to pick a convenient loop course, and gradually add more distance on the course, up to for example 30 or 40 minutes a day.
Something like that should help his enjoyment and also prepare him well for cross country.
I’ve never heard of a high school track/ xc team having cuts. 0/10
I suppose that most don't, but his high school/my old high school is pretty massive, with a lot of kids going out for all kinds of sports, and they have a pretty strong team, and the coach has always cut. It's unfortunate, but I don't think it's that uncommon.
Is this a public school? Are there any sports without cuts? If my kid got cut from one of the few teams that doesnt require expensive equipment I would be pretty pissed. Why should tax payer money be going towards teams that are excluding other tax payer's kids?
When I was going to high school there was a 9th grader who was always trailing back in last place on the cross country team and was very discouraged. His coach told him he might not ever be able to keep up with the others but he could inspire them to be better. So that's what he did. His coach was Tracy Walters, and his name was Gerry Lindgren.
Your neighbor has some speed, but simply has not done any running before. Suggest to him to just go out and run every day at a comfortable pace, and try to add on a minute or so each day as he feels able to do that, and to see if he can build up his total minutes each week. An alternative is to pick a convenient loop course, and gradually add more distance on the course, up to for example 30 or 40 minutes a day.
Something like that should help his enjoyment and also prepare him well for cross country.
Thanks for the advice! I will definitely try to add on minutes gradually, so that he can adjust and have fun with it hopefully. Thanks again!
I suppose that most don't, but his high school/my old high school is pretty massive, with a lot of kids going out for all kinds of sports, and they have a pretty strong team, and the coach has always cut. It's unfortunate, but I don't think it's that uncommon.
Is this a public school? Are there any sports without cuts? If my kid got cut from one of the few teams that doesnt require expensive equipment I would be pretty pissed. Why should tax payer money be going towards teams that are excluding other tax payer's kids?
Yes, it is a public school, and I don't know if there are any sports without cuts, I only ever did track and xc, and I know the big sports (basketball, football, soccer, volleyball...etc) had cuts. I don't know if EVERY single sport had cuts, but I think most of them did, so yeah. And I agree that it does kind of suck, since the weaker kids don't get the opportunity to get better unless they pay for lessons outside of school which is kind of a bummer. In my opinion, they should let everyone come to the practices/workouts, but I mean, it's not like I have a say in that. :(
I suppose that most don't, but his high school/my old high school is pretty massive, with a lot of kids going out for all kinds of sports, and they have a pretty strong team, and the coach has always cut. It's unfortunate, but I don't think it's that uncommon.
Is this a public school? Are there any sports without cuts? If my kid got cut from one of the few teams that doesnt require expensive equipment I would be pretty pissed. Why should tax payer money be going towards teams that are excluding other tax payer's kids?
Just because a school has cuts, doesn't mean they're good either.....both of the public high schools in the town where I live make cuts in CC, yet you never see either of them with a team on the podium at our section meet much less our state meet.
Just because a school has cuts, doesn't mean they're good either.....both of the public high schools in the town where I live make cuts in CC, yet you never see either of them with a team on the podium at our section meet much less our state meet.
That is absolutely true, but our high school actually always places in the top 3 in the state, and pretty much dominates all the other meets, so in this case, they are pretty good, but yeah, I know of a lot of other high schools that make cuts and are not very good, so that is definitely true.
I didn't read all the posts, so I don't know if it's been recommended, but the Nike Running club app, beginner 5k Program with Coach Bennet is phenomenal. Download the app here: (H
My wife (not a runner) has tried to start running multiple times and has always quit after a bit because it's just not fun. The Nike program has kept it really fun and perfectly matched to her pace and goals. And Coach Bennet (video recorded coach) is super positive and inspirational. And...she has kept running, because she enjoys it.
I think the biggest goal is for him to enjoy it. If he gets even somewhat "fast" that's cool, but not really what running is about. And then you could occasionally check in, maybe do a run together.
Also you could checkout ParkRun (https://www.parkrun.us/) to see if there are any races near you. They are hyper focused on running accessibility and participation over speed and would be an awesome place for him to join and build community. Again, if there is speed there, it'll come. First, it just needs to be fun.
A 13-year-old who is "not very sport-oriented," and "doesn't really want to do either xc or track" shouldn't be forced to run. He'll hate what he's doing and will shirk his training and fail to be motivated.
He has never ran before, and I told him to go out on the track and have a friend time some different distances (over a couple days ofc) so that I could see what we are working with. Here is what he said his times were (I I didn't actually see him do it, but he's an honest kid, so I don't think he lied about anything).
The first step is realizing that "has ran" is never correct.
Why hasn’t anyone suggested the social aspect of the whole thing? My favorite part of running in hs as the fastest girl on a really terrible team was running with friends. 30 years later I still remember pushing my pace enough so I could run with the slow guys on the team. Figure out who the slowest kids on the team are and introduce them.
It sounds like the mom is pushing her son. If he does not want to do it, then forcing him seems like a really bad idea to me. He is old enough to make a decision like this for himself.
The young man is doing this of his own free will. He even got times for the various distances suggested to him by the OP, and no one forced him to do that.
He doesn't know anything about running because he hasn't done it before, but no one is forcing him to do anything that he doesn't want to do.
Why hasn’t anyone suggested the social aspect of the whole thing? My favorite part of running in hs as the fastest girl on a really terrible team was running with friends. 30 years later I still remember pushing my pace enough so I could run with the slow guys on the team. Figure out who the slowest kids on the team are and introduce them.
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