High School girl running high mileage

Her body is not fully developed, probably has not had her period yet, this will end badly.

shell be fine. If things start going badly she can always just back off. It's not like any possible negative side effects would be permanent. Besides, any negative side effects would be better than the side effect of not doing it, ie staying sucky.

long dong silver wrote:

shell be fine. If things start going badly she can always just back off. It's not like any possible negative side effects would be permanent. Besides, any negative side effects would be better than the side effect of not doing it, ie staying sucky.

Because no 14 year old girl can be successful without doing 90 minute runs right? Where do people come up with this stuff. And yes girls have had permanent side affects from doing too much mileage too soon, delaying puberty.

I think the norm for mileage for h.s. girls looks something like this:

Freshman: 30-35

Sophomore: 35-40

Junior: 40-45

Senior: 40-45 or 45-50

I, personally, would be cautious taking a h.s. girl over 45 MPW. Why? You want to leave room for mileage improvement over her lifetime (something colleges like to see). Add to that, you want her to be safe. And, you want running to continue to be fun.

It is good to have concern for your fellow runners. Let me see if I can help you. Why in particular are you concerned about with this young lady?

Let me ask a few important questions that you will need to know the answer to in order to determine if there is cause to be concerned.

1. How long has she been running?

2. Has her training been consient during this time?

3. What has her training progression looked like over this time?

4. Do she like what she is doing or is she being forced or coaxed into running this much?

5. What does her training week look like?

6. Does she run at home or have to travel to a team practices

7. Who is her coach and what experience/expertise does he/she have?

8. Is she underweight or just runner skinny.

9. Does she have any eating problem?

10. Does she get the proper nutrition/supplements for someone doing that mileage?

11. Are their any problems she has experienced with growth or injuries?

12. What running events is she interested in pursuing?

While its good to have a healthy concern for other runners, especially kids, it can be very hard to make judgements that there is a problem without knowing the answers to questions like these. If there is numerous evident problems or even one large obvious problem outwardly apparent than your concern may be justified.

But don't fall into the trap so many do and just assume that because something is unusual that its bad for everyone. Don't let limited frame of reference sway you into making snap judgements as so many do.

If you know the answer to the above questions (or even some of them) let us know and we can help you decide if there if cause for concern.

All of the pediatricians and sports doctors I have talked to have told me that it's fine for kids to run a good abount of mileage as long as they enjoy it (i.e not forced), have built up to it slowly and don't have nutritional deficencies. After all isn't that how so many young Kenyans got started.

Best,

MPR

It depends. You didn't give us anywhere near enough information to make any meaningful conclusions.

she'll be fine. I know plenty of teen girls who ran that much and continued to improve in college. There is nothing wrong with that kind of mileage and girls' bodies don't break if they exceed 60 mpw. So long as they eat right (healthy and enough), they'll still have their periods and everything.

cooooach wrote:

she'll be fine. I know plenty of teen girls who ran that much and continued to improve in college. There is nothing wrong with that kind of mileage and girls' bodies don't break if they exceed 60 mpw. So long as they eat right (healthy and enough), they'll still have their periods and everything.

Read the original post, the girl is 14, nuff said.

I hate it when people tell me that I'm running too much or that I'll slow down when I hit puberty or my knees are going to be shot by the time I'm twenty. I'm your age - I've been running over 45 mpw for over a year now, and 50-60 for the past few months. As long as you listen to your body and watch that you aren't losing weight I think its okay. I personally do 15 milers on the weekends and race half marathons. A lot depends on the individual.

USArunforeva wrote:

I hate it when people tell me that I'm running too much or that I'll slow down when I hit puberty or my knees are going to be shot by the time I'm twenty. I'm your age - I've been running over 45 mpw for over a year now, and 50-60 for the past few months. As long as you listen to your body and watch that you aren't losing weight I think its okay. I personally do 15 milers on the weekends and race half marathons. A lot depends on the individual.

It is nice that you are able to see in the future and know how this is going to affect you. I wish I had that ability.

Many girls your age have had the same attitude and it didn't work out for them. You may be different and I admire your work ethic. It sounds like you are trying to be careful and make sure you aren't losing weight and things like that, so hopefully you will be one of the rare ones that trained harder at a young age and were able to keep progressing as they get older.

USArunforeva wrote:

I hate it when people tell me that I'm running too much or that I'll slow down when I hit puberty or my knees are going to be shot by the time I'm twenty. I'm your age - I've been running over 45 mpw for over a year now, and 50-60 for the past few months. As long as you listen to your body and watch that you aren't losing weight I think its okay. I personally do 15 milers on the weekends and race half marathons. A lot depends on the individual.

Yea, and Chelsy Sveinson was the next superstar.

When was the last time she ran a good race?

How bout the Jersey girl who set the national indoor 5k record while she was in 7th grade, how is she doing?

How bout Cassie Hinz form Maine, who just missed the 5k record while she was in HS, the list goes on?

But you are different, it won't happen to you.

I hope I'm not committing some type of crime by posting the link I'm about to.

There's a local 12 year old girl who I'm confident runs 75 or 90 minute runs frequently. Instead of this being some kind of death march ruining her life, all signs seem to indicate that this type of running is a bright spot in her life and a source of great fulfillment.

http://www.athlinks.com/searchbeta.aspx?term=avery%20cunningham

mass co. wrote:

Yea, and Chelsy Sveinson was the next superstar.

When was the last time she ran a good race?

I am not arguing with your logic at all. But Chelsey Sveinsson is not a good example in the case--she was never ever high mileage, or even normal mileage. I'm too lazy to look the specific Running Times feature up, but I think her sophomore year, when she won NXN, she was only doing 25 mpw or something crazy low like that. The rest of her training was done in the pool, because she was always fragile.

There are countless other high school girl burnouts from too much mileage. Choose them instead.

And for an example on slowly increasing mileage, look at what Salazar is doing with Rupp. Again, I'm too lazy to find the exact quote, but Salazar has mentioned that sure, he could have Rupp running 120 miles a week now, or in college and he might be fine. But a slow and gradual progression is better for a number of reasons.

Shoebacca wrote:

I hope I'm not committing some type of crime by posting the link I'm about to.

There's a local 12 year old girl who I'm confident runs 75 or 90 minute runs frequently. Instead of this being some kind of death march ruining her life, all signs seem to indicate that this type of running is a bright spot in her life and a source of great fulfillment.

http://www.athlinks.com/searchbeta.aspx?term=avery%20cunningham

I will say what I said to the 14 year old girl earlier posting about her mileage not hurting her; it is nice that you can see in the future. I am not against kids being dedicated; I just worry when they start doing too much at too young of an age. Sometimes it works out, more often than not it doesn't. With girls you have the additional concern of amenorrhea and anorexia which can potentially have a huge impact on the rest of their lives.

I'm not saying that high mileage is right for everyone. I'm simply saying that it's worked for me; I have continued to grow steadily and my doctor is happy with my health.

Also take into consideration that there is another thread right now about a 15 year old male running a marathon and there are people immediately saying that would be great for his XC base.

mass co. wrote:

USArunforeva wrote:

I hate it when people tell me that I'm running too much or that I'll slow down when I hit puberty or my knees are going to be shot by the time I'm twenty. I'm your age - I've been running over 45 mpw for over a year now, and 50-60 for the past few months. As long as you listen to your body and watch that you aren't losing weight I think its okay. I personally do 15 milers on the weekends and race half marathons. A lot depends on the individual.

Yea, and Chelsy Sveinson was the next superstar.

When was the last time she ran a good race?

Chelsea's mileage was restricted to 30 miles per week or fewer.

H.S. Coach wrote:

I think the norm for mileage for h.s. girls looks something like this:

Freshman: 30-35

Sophomore: 35-40

Junior: 40-45

Senior: 40-45 or 45-50

I, personally, would be cautious taking a h.s. girl over 45 MPW. Why? You want to leave room for mileage improvement over her lifetime (something colleges like to see). Add to that, you want her to be safe. And, you want running to continue to be fun.

Could you explain this to me? Say we have identical twin girls. One runs 7500 miles, as you've prescribed, and the other runs 9000 miles, following a pattern of 30 mi/wk her freshmen year and increasing her mileage by 10mi/wk/yr. Let's assume equal talent, and the first girl ends high school with bests of 5:12 for the mile and 11:20 for 2 Miles, while the second girl, with the additional mileage, has run 4:57 and 10:51. Why would the first girl be more ideal to a potential college coach than the second?

USArunforeva wrote:

I'm not saying that high mileage is right for everyone. I'm simply saying that it's worked for me; I have continued to grow steadily and my doctor is happy with my health.

Also take into consideration that there is another thread right now about a 15 year old male running a marathon and there are people immediately saying that would be great for his XC base.

As I said in an earlier post to you, it is nice that you are able to see in the future and know how this is going to affect you. I wish I had that ability. It is great to see your dedication, but for those of us who have been around running for a long time, you really do need to be careful. It is great that your doctor is happy with your health, but they may not have the proper background to deal with this issue. Face it, very few 14 year old girls are running high mileage and more than likely, he has never had a patient doing what you are doing. In regards to the thread about the 15 year old boy running the marathon, some are for him doing it and some aren't. However, if you don't understand the difference between a boy and a girl at this age doing high mileage, you are not thinking logically. The biggest risk is problems with

amenorrhea and the female athlete triad. I have seen many promising young running careers be ruined by this, after a lengthy time of successful running. Does this have to happen to you? Absolutely not and I hope you are one that is able to get through this stage in your life while doing high mileage. Odds are against it however and I am always one for not pushing the odds. You have many years ahead of you to increase your mileage and become successful, why push it so much now and take such a risk of potentially ruining a lifetime of running. I sincerely wish you luck and hope your hard work continues to be a benefit.

Sebby wrote:

[quote]USArunforeva wrote:

... for those of us who have been around running for a long time, you really do need to be careful...However, if you don't understand the difference between a boy and a girl at this age doing high mileage, you are not thinking logically. ...

You apparently have been around running since the time when it was thought that a woman shouldn't run farther than 800 meters. There is absolutely no physiological evidence to support your position. It has nothing to do with the mileage. It's about the individual physiology of the person and the progression that they have made to reach that level of training.