my daughter is a toddler, just about 3, and shows an enormous amount of interest in running.
always wants to run a little racecourse that we set up in the house
what age is appropriate to move her into distances?
my daughter is a toddler, just about 3, and shows an enormous amount of interest in running.
always wants to run a little racecourse that we set up in the house
what age is appropriate to move her into distances?
I would stick to easy running for fun with mom or dad in your neighborhood or at the park and not push things. Just make it a fun thing she does with her family.
You might also look at soccer, which builds running ability but keeps younger kids' attention better than running.
8th grade
What he said. Running is fine, racing and training are not. 7th grade is a good time to start racing- modified/junior high XC.
You need to build speed early on. I suggest lots of plyometrics and hill runs until they hit double digits and then start cranking up the mileage. Should be at about 120 by the time they hit high school
kidrunning wrote:
my daughter is a toddler, just about 3, and shows an enormous amount of interest in running.
always wants to run a little racecourse that we set up in the house
what age is appropriate to move her into distances?
Yup, my son is in 6th grade, I drive to his school in the morning to drop off his back pack etc., he runs to and from school each day, about 9.4 miles per day. On weekends he plays soccer like the rest of the kids in town.
He thinks it's fun, some days he passes some of his friends riding their bikes to school, they are in awe. He has no idea he is building a huge base, we have never talked about running someday.
just let your daughter keep rolling with how she feels. ask if she wants to do soccer, if she does let her! if you keep running/racing and she wants to join you, let her.
there was a chinese marathoner in the beijing olympics who'd be a distance runner from a really young age and i know people who started running in elementary school. just chill and see what she likes, i bet she could run. (keep in mind though that kid distance running is probably 5-20 miles a week depending on age..probably not as high as what you are doing!)
i would say junior high, so seventh grade. But you can jog and do some fun runs, just no serious training. My mother used to jog a mile with me every morning when i was a kid and it introduced me to running without being to much. We just did it easy and for fun.
Enroll her in a competitive swimming program. After doing that up to about age 10, if she is still interested, I would let her run races up to 5K.
kidrunning wrote:
my daughter is a toddler, just about 3, and shows an enormous amount of interest in running.
always wants to run a little racecourse that we set up in the house
what age is appropriate to move her into distances?
You sound like a very competitive Dad. The sooner you move her up into distance races, the sooner you can beat her, so don't delay, 10k today.
Cleese wrote:
Enroll her in a competitive swimming program. After doing that up to about age 10, if she is still interested, I would let her run races up to 5K.
Yes. Get her into swim lessons now, then put her on a local age-group swim team. She will be ready for any other sport by middle school and ready to move over to distance running by high school.
I suggest 1 mile per day per years old. Your 3 year old should easily be doing about 20 miles a week. I wouldn't race her in anything over 5 miles until she is at least 6. Then she can jump up to some quality 10ks.
some old coach.... wrote:
Yup, my son is in 6th grade, I drive to his school in the morning to drop off his back pack etc., he runs to and from school each day, about 9.4 miles per day. On weekends he plays soccer like the rest of the kids in town.
He thinks it's fun, some days he passes some of his friends riding their bikes to school, they are in awe. He has no idea he is building a huge base, we have never talked about running someday.
dude, if that is/were true, that would be awesome.
my 3 year old is getting a lot less exercise now that she goes to school three days a week but prior to that, most days since she turned two, she'd run about a mile, sometimes a mile and a half, alongside the jogging stroller on the way to the park or library. if she ever gets tired, she gets in the stroller, but she loves to run and I've let her do the kids races at the turkey trot this year and last year. she also copies my dynamic stretching and lunges. I see only good from her getting a lot of exercise. But school is such a sedentary experience that she is already less active than three months ago.
If you want an honest answer, she should not be running distances (longer than a soccer field) until she is around 15. In the meantime, gymnastics and soccer would be excellent sports to develop her agility and speed. You don't want her running distances until she is into her mid-teens, unless you want to have a burned out phenom by then.
I started running at 12 - about 20 mpw I think - and haven't had any problems whatsoever. I think 6th grade is a good time to start. I'm not amazingly talented or anything, but I startinv earlier made me more resilient if anything.
If she's doing soccer or whatever they'll be getting a good amount of running in without "running", anyway.
really? this board has really lost any sense of intelligence. 6/10.
just encourage her to be active. i dont think its a good idea to train until about 7th or 8th grade. swimming is great. many good runners come from swimming backgrounds. soccer is also very good, plus its fun
Joaquin Cruz' coach Luiz de Olivero used to say that it is a mistake for any kid to start running seriously until he/she is around 15/16 years old. He recommended sports like Soccer and gymnastics for the younger years.
Thomas Watkinson wrote:
If you want an honest answer, she should not be running distances (longer than a soccer field) until she is around 15. In the meantime, gymnastics and soccer would be excellent sports to develop her agility and speed. You don't want her running distances until she is into her mid-teens, unless you want to have a burned out phenom by then.
You are totally clueless. Age 15 is way too late. The top runners in the world, the Kenyans and Ethiopians start running regularly long distances to school at age 5. Developing aerobic capacity takes years and if you wait to age 15 you will be hopelessly behind reaching your full potential.
Do soccer if you want to be good at soccer. Do swimming if you want to be good at swimming. Do gymnastics if you want to be good at gymnastics. If you want to be good at running, get out and run.
There is no "agility" required for middle or distance running.
If you want to improve speed, do structured speed development, short sprints with long recoveries. Don't waste 10 hours a week playing soccer.
To the let kids do what they want crowd. Time to stop being your kid's friend and be the adult in the relationship. If you don't give the kids direction and at times a little shove, they won't excel at anything. Not that there is anything wrong with just being an average kid, but this is a running forum.
I think competitive swimming might be a good idea. Alan Webb and Jordan Hasay were both serious swimmers at an early age and transferred that fitness over to running.
Also lots of soccer players switched over to running after developing fitness at a young age from soccer - Shalane Flanagan, Desi Davila.
Of course Rowbury spent her youth doing Irish dancing.
In general, keeping it fun should be the main idea until they get to be teens and are more motivated and physically better able to push themselves with serious running.