A friend's son, age 9, loves running and gets out several days a week -- typically 4-6 miles with his dad. He recently went out and did a 10 mile run on his own (loops on a golf course, measured with a GPS watch). My question: Is that too long for a kid his age to be running? I told my friend that I thought it was, but I didn't have any evidence or science to back it up. Any thoughts or advice on the topic of kids and running would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Only if he wants to be a badass.
laughingostrich wrote:
Only if he wants to be a badass.
Yes, all the 9-year-old badasses are the ones who run long slow distance.
Why on earth would you be giving advice/opinions without any "evidence or science". And as the article in the shows, you are dead wrong.
Absolutely not......
No
Try doing some research first wrote:
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=23029Why on earth would you be giving advice/opinions without any "evidence or science". And as the article in the shows, you are dead wrong.
Yeah, I've long suspected that running 70 MPW for a young teenager wouldn't kill them. Even 50 MPW for a 9 year old doesn't seem like a big deal. We are MADE to run, and if we were living in pre industrial times, we would run to hunt down our food, BUT today as a matter of practicality, I would be more concerned about mental burnout than physical burnout when running so much at age 9. My 11-year old son eats up running and would run 7-10 miles a day if I'd let him. I don't let him. He's got one other sport to participate in plus other things that keep him active while he runs 3 days a week on average right now. When he enters middle school, he'll run 5 days a week in season, and that will be new and a step up for him. When in HS, he'll run 6-7 days a week. I'm fine with that progression.
and when will Flagpole Jr. start posting here?
Thanks all -- particularly for the great Running Times article on the subject.
toujour wrote:
laughingostrich wrote:Only if he wants to be a badass.
Yes, all the 9-year-old badasses are the ones who run long slow distance.
Who said slow?
If he wants to and feels good.
man with a plan wrote:
and when will Flagpole Jr. start posting here?
Good question. He'll probably discover this site some day. High school perhaps...that's 3 short years away.
instead, said 9 year old should be playing wii, morphing into a giant butterball.
We'll never really know these answers unless we let a few 9 year olds run 10 milers.
I wouldn't be a proponent of this but I am not going to stop someone from letting their kid do this.
The kid is fine. That's what I meant when I said absolutely not by the way answering your question in the paragraph.
My kids have all run 10M by the age of 9. It really isn't a big deal at all. If the kids enjoy it and are fit enough for it not to be too hard, there is no reason not to.
Not all kids have the speed and can enjoy the accomplishment of beating a few adults in longer races. I have seen all my kids thrive on it.
That kind of fitness is a huge help for life and whatever activities they end up doing, even if it is not running.
Its not unhealthy (as long as he's not doing it every week) and if he enjoys it why not. If he feels pressured however that's a different story. I say let the kid do what he wants.
I would wander around outside my house(grew up on a farm in Idaho by hells canyon). and wander through and around there for hours from age 7 on fishing, hiking,and running. Be gone for hours or days even up through the time I left for college at U of Idaho. I came out perfectly fine. Kids don't get hurt like you do if they have been active their entire life. Only injuries I had had are from falling or doing something stupid. No stress fractures, no knee pain, nothing like that.
My grandfather had a lake 3-4 miles from his house and would run or walk there everyday from when he was 6 or 7 to fish and play. He didn't do it much any more when he was 9 though because he stated working.
outsidekiddo wrote:
I would wander around outside my house(grew up on a farm in Idaho by hells canyon). and wander through and around there for hours from age 7 on fishing, hiking,and running. Be gone for hours or days even up through the time I left for college at U of Idaho. I came out perfectly fine. Kids don't get hurt like you do if they have been active their entire life. Only injuries I had had are from falling or doing something stupid. No stress fractures, no knee pain, nothing like that.
What happened to that young kid in India who was doing very long runs? Wasn't he in the care of a promoter or something? It wasn't going well, as I recall.