My nine-year old boy has recently expressed a desire to become a distance runner. Both my wife and I are runners, so he's been around the sport since he was born. I guess I'd like to ask for any advice on how to nurture his interest in running, whereby,hopefully, he will eventually learn to love the sport. Any advice would be appreciated.
You should probably start him off with just easy runs and enter him in meets. If there is a local track club for kids in your area it could be fun to sign him up for that.
If at all possible, get him in the shorter fun runs at local races. Give him a positive experience running and he will develop a love for it. As far as training, if he wants to run a mile, let him run a mile. If he wants to run 2, let him run 2. Every once in a while, get him out for 30-40m strides and make it fun for him. If he has fun doing something, he will naturally want to do it again and more often.
I'd say the best way to nurture an interest in running is to make him associate it with fun things. In other words, make running fun, both by the traditional method of allowing him to do light training, as well as disguising it. For example, make an obsticle course for him and time him. Let him break his own personal records for the course and so on. Small races to the car. Also, let him watch your road races and get him into the fun runs.
You could incorporate a number of these things and time him on how fast he can fetch you a beer. Maybe put in a few chairs and trip-wires and it'll be fun.
Keep him active in other sports that will compliment his running. Soccer, for one. Is he pretty active otherwise? Does he like to ride bikes, roller blade, run around playing tag with his friends? Overall fitness and activity shouldn't be overlooked.
You can always have him run to school and back everyday. Seems to help the Kenyans.
Keep him active in other sports that will compliment his running. Soccer, for one. Is he pretty active otherwise? Does he like to ride bikes, roller blade, run around playing tag with his friends? Overall fitness and activity shouldn't be overlooked.
You can always have him run to school and back everyday. Seems to help the Kenyans.
I started running when I was 9 years old, which was a 2 mile run home from school (we lived a little bit in the boonies). Plus, for the first year or two I thought it was only a mile, so I guess that improved my endurance.
I ran a lot in the woods, which also made it fun.
My dad started to run with me. He was 60 pounds overweight. The first time he made it about 100 yards before collapsing and almost having a heart attack. He rode a bike next to me and we would talk about stuff--father and son style.
Eventually he did learn to run. He never lost weight. But he could 7 miles with me and my brother, "Carrying 60 pounds of groceries," as he used to say. He also used to show up at our summer practices and run with my team once I got to high school (this was the middle 1970's). The coach liked having him around--a second adult to be out on the trails with us as a good influence, chapperone when necessary, and a second set of eyes to keep the coach informed on what was happening once we were out of sight deep in the woods.
My dad never lost weight because he probably didn't run regularly enough, and he's always had trouble with food, compulsive eating, stuff like that. He's thinking about what he'll eat for dinner while he's eating lunch, which is pathological when you think about it (he knows).
Anyway, a great thing for me was my dad talking to me (and my brother once he started coming along), either on the bike or running with us.
We never raced or went to a meet until high school. It wasn't about racing or being fast. I guess it was about our relationship and that running was fun in and of itself. My dad would say, "running gives me a sense of satisfaction I've never gotten from any other sport. You can really feel proud of yourself after running 5 miles." I don't think I understood that as a kid, but I sure remember him saying it and it got in my head somehow, and now that I'm an adult I know what he was talking about.
It's all about the fun. My dad also used to help us round up a few other kids, and we'd play tag and pom-pom (which is tag running back and forth with sideline boundaries), and we used to play soccer on the high school football field with no goalies--you had to kick it through the uprights to score a goal--which is harder than it sounds. We did a lot of running in many different ways. But it was always about the fun and my parents never put any pressure on us.
I started running competitively at 11, but didn't really train heavy at all until 8th grade. Everything else was behind soccer fitness. When I went to meets on Saturdays, I was still a pretty good shape.
See if he likes swimming and soccer. Good way to cross train at a young age. Another way to keep him interested is take him to your local HS meets.
Also a personal suggestion, if he does want to be a mid-long distance runner, start him at the 800. I remember seeing kids pain through 1500/3000s when I was young. It looked like they did want to be there by the end. Closest thing to torture I have seen.
I found this book helpful:
Training for Young Distance Runners, 2nd Edition, by Larry Greene and Russ Pate.
It spoke to some of my concerns about the impact of high mileage on a developing musculoskeletal system. It\'s a great resource for coaches of young runners, but parents can learn something about where to draw the line with an overly enthusiastic young athlete as well.
I agree with the posters above who said make it fun. You don\'t want him burning out on the sport before he reaches a competitive age level.
Also, encourage him to participate in other team sports that will develop balance and coordination in a way that running can\'t, and sports that offer more social interaction, as distance running might isolate him at an age when developing social skills is important.
You and your wife must be excited that he has an interest in a sport you both love. Sometimes it goes the other way around and kids shy away from sports that parents or older siblings were successful with, so you must be doing something right. Have fun with him!
My 8 year old son also expresses a big interest in running. On weekends I'll usually let him run the first mile or two of a run, then drop him off at the house before I continue.
I also like to show him Youtube videos of Haile, Sebastian, Cram, Aouita, etc. I won't push him into it, but like the other posters have said--make it fun!
Take him to a therapist. Now!!
Then buy him golf clubs and sign him up for golf camp.
Hawkeye 48 wrote:
My nine-year old boy has recently expressed a desire to become a distance runner. Both my wife and I are runners, so he's been around the sport since he was born. I guess I'd like to ask for any advice on how to nurture his interest in running, whereby,hopefully, he will eventually learn to love the sport. Any advice would be appreciated.
I've been running 5K's with my 10 yr old son for 2-3 years. When he first asked, I was a bit surprised and signed us up, expected to walk at least half, but he surprised me. We run ~3 5K's a year together and have a great time. I won't let him run a race more than 1K / year old, so for his 10th birthday we did a 10K trail run. I just try to keep it low key. We don't train together - he just runs a lot for play. And I don't want him to burn out young.
...or do as Peter Coe did with Seb.
Go ahead and outline his training schedule now. Include WR and Olympic medals. If you need a sample it's in his book.