Hi,
I have a group of students interested in running a local road race and would like to provide them with a training program that is age (6-8th grade) and level (entry level) appropriate. We're planning to run as a group. Does anyone have any good examples?
Thanks!
I'm sure you'll do better than my middle school training. I was preparing for a 1 1/2 mile cross country race, so my 'coach' had me come to school early three days a week to run 1/2 miles as hard as I could.
We could use some more information, such as:
How long is the race?
Beginning fitness level (do they participate in any sports or physical activities, or are they starting completely from scratch?)
Do they have actual time goals, or just to finish?
Aproximate amount of time available per day for training?
How far away is the race?
Tie them to a wheelchair that your sitting in and throw rocks at them while yelling obscenities. This method works great with fartlecks... just throw rocks harder at different times and change up the obscenities.
The goal with middle school kids is to teach them to run the entire race without walking. I would tell them during practice that I don't care how slow you have to run but I want you to run the entire time. I would start of with only having them run 15-20 minutes and after about a month increase to about 25-30 minutes for each run. I would not do any interval training with them! Who cares if they run fast in middle school. Let them learn about easy aerobic running because in the long run it will make them faster. Also, I suggest doing form drills before the runs a couple days a week and after the runs have a fun game that keeps them running around. Examples are ultimate frisbee, elbow tag, etc....
Example Practice
1. Form Drills (high knees, butt kicks, skipping, fast feet) Here is a link
http://www.runningplanet.com/training/running-drills.html
2. 15-30 minutes of easy running. Encouraging them to not race the run but to not stop and walk either. Also, avoid busy roads with the youngins.
3. A fun game that involves running!
I used to coach middle school track. I prepared the kids all year with a running club that met from September-February. The club grew from 10 members the first year to 95 members six years later. The goal of the club was for every member to complete a three-race cross country series that ended in February (5k-8k).
The key is to keep it fun. Meet with them several times a week and do 15-20 minute runs followed by some sort of game or relay race. I always had them do backwards running, piggy-back races, etc. Ultimate frisbee and capture the flag are great games that get the kids out in full force.
As the races approached in the winter, I would build up the mileage slowly until they could all run 30 minutes at their own pace without walking. Most of them had no idea they were actually running that long because they were having so much fun with their friends.
does anyone have a good link that has a list (or could someone make a list) of fun running related games? Trying to think back to high school, we would have a monthly game day which included:
Capture the flag
Relays (running, as well as hopping skipping and jumping)
Sack races
We are looking to complete a distance of 5 miles after 2 months of running. Some of the students that really do well will compete in a 5k road race after 3 and a half months.
Thanks!
anyone?