Say you've got a solid 14 YO runner, who has steadily built his mileage for a few years. Not too many workouts, but mostly aerobic development pace(s). How much is too much? How about as much as 40 MPW in base phases?
Say you've got a solid 14 YO runner, who has steadily built his mileage for a few years. Not too many workouts, but mostly aerobic development pace(s). How much is too much? How about as much as 40 MPW in base phases?
Heck no! You are going to burn this kid out. 14yrs old, is he an 8th grader? In 8th grade I did maybe 30mpw tops.
As a HS senior I ran 15:10 5k.
Thats nice. Maybe somebody who ran some decent times can offer an opinion too.
I don't think it is excessive at all. It depends on there physical development and whether they are being "driven" to run the mileage.
15:10 in high school isn't decent?
I would say about 20-35 tops.
NO mileage whatsoever. Tell him to take up swimming to save his knees.
ubelcha wrote:
Thats nice. Maybe somebody who ran some decent times can offer an opinion too.
I don't think it is excessive at all. It depends on there physical development and whether they are being "driven" to run the mileage.
So you'll be offering up your PR so we know whether to take your advice? Let me guess ... 3:43? 12:36?
Sounds similar to me. I ran XC in middle school but only ran maybe 2-3 times a week until I got more serious the summer before my 8th grade year. 8th grade when I was 13 I was probably doing 25 MPW off of 5 days, some as high as 7-8 some as low as 3, all on how I felt.
I'd advise against any structured workouts unless he wants to do them, even then keep it to maybe 2 a month. If you give him the freedom to run how he feels some days he'll feel great and hammer and some days he'll just jog. For right now just focus on consistency and not working him too much. Ive never been that fast but I do think running consistently in the 8th grade is a great way to develop a strong aerobic base before hitting High School and doing faster intervals and harder workouts.
I was 14 in 9th grade. I ran about 20 miles a week in the summer and slowly built up to 65. I ran 65 miles a week during cross country and the winter before track. I improved steadily through my Senior year, running over 4 minutes faster in the 5k four years later. Five years later, my 5k PR is 2 minutes faster than that. As Dathan Ritzenhein said, burning out is all mental.
Everyone is different, I will tell you that starting my miles young has kept me injury free after very very many 100+ miles a week year in and year out. Never had a broken bone, I had achilles tendonitis for about a month. Besides that, I haven't really had to take a day off for anything.
60mpw is not a lot - if the 14yr old is self-motivated and relaxed, why not?
The idea that this kind of mileage would be dangerous is why we cannot beat the Africans.
I wouldn't put anything anything less than 100/week. I hit 240 last week and I'm on 16.