Is this kid too young?

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16 years ago 06/09/2007 5:46am EDT

My 12 year old nephew has qualified for and is running in his State x country final next week.

He has never run a specific training run in His life.

All his training has been aimed at playing Rugby League.

It is likely that He will get his Butt kicked on race day.

However, the family believed that at the local qualifier and also at the regionals and He proved us wrong.

He is small and it is unlikely that He will be able to

play Rugby League at the top Level because of his stature.

I have always been of the opinion that it is better to let kids do whatever sport they like until they decide it is time to quit and do something else.

This kid obviously has some future as a distance runner.

Is 12 to young to start formally training him?

He is quite happy to do the work but my gut feeling is to wait.

Anyone advice appreciated.

16 years ago 06/09/2007 6:58am EDT

re: Wish I could run too.

the conventional wisdom is that its best to focus on developing his speed at this age - a "long" run of 4-6 miles plus a few 20 minute jogs would nicely supplement some speed training

of course there will be some morons who say that kenyan kids in the rift valley are runnng 85 miles per week a this age, etc...

16 years ago 06/09/2007 7:15am EDT

re: dmb

I ran every other day when i was that age and i'm glad i didnt do more. The kids who i know did run alot more then stopped improving at a certin point. Yeah i'm sure it was the fact that i had a bigger intrest in running then them and some other things too but i dont know... so far its working out for me.

6 miles was probably the most i ever ran at once and it was rare... lots of workouts? And actually for the first two years of running when i didnt really have a coach that gave us specific workouts we just ran the 2 mile loop for practice.

16 years ago 06/09/2007 10:35am EDT

re: maybe?

I don't think he is too young to start training. I'm with the two previous posters- if he does begin training, it shouldn't be very much. When you're that young, running isn't quite fun yet, so burning him out on it will ruin his running future. Physically, he could probably handle 5 or 6 days of running a week, but mentally, he won't do so well with that much stress. 3 or 4 days a week with one run longer than 3 miles and one shorter, faster workout would probably suit him just fine.

16 years ago 06/09/2007 10:58am EDT

re: Wish I could run too.

This can't be the United States, right ? what 12 year old wants to play rugby over every other sport? Rugby is a sport for third worlders and washed up hooligans.

16 years ago 06/09/2007 11:05am EDT

re: Wish I could run too.

I started at 12, and I was fine. Let him work hard! Let him build up gradually. There are plenty of runners that don't burn out, don't worry about that.

16 years ago 06/09/2007 11:24am EDT

re: Dinkerke

Just remember that at age 12, it should be more focused on having fun than on training hard.

I started track at 12 and didn't run a step over 3 miles until I was a freshman... nobody needs to develop overnight.

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