My 13 year-old daughter wants to be a distance runner and currently runs six days per week. I put a limit on her mileage with her longest runs being 6 miles maximum.
So my question is...what is the longest distance she should run for training/racing at this age? She is very motivated and is willing to work hard, but I am having trouble finding information about any sort of limits and don't want her to get hurt.
Please help!
Don't push her to run, but if she does it on her own then let her run what she wants. Contact the high school coach, if she is good they will prob let her run with the HS team.
Seriously though, don't push her to do it. Kids pushed by their parents to run never pan out. So don't run with her and don't talk about running all the time with her and that kind of junk.
I agree with everything the previous poster said, except the "don't run with her" part. As a young runner her age and even younger I loved getting to run with my dad, and I still do run with him probably 4 or 5 days out of the week whenever I'm home from college, so assuming you run too I say go for it! Just let it be when she wants to and when she suggests it, not the other way around. As long as she's the one wanting to do more running rather than you pushing or pressuring her, I think you're fine with *almost* whatever she wants to do. Just keep it fun! Think running, NOT training,; at her age, she has plenty of time in the future to get more serious with it. IMO she should wait at least until high school to start to switch to the mindset of training seriously. But it sounds like you guys already have that all pretty much figured out, so that's great!
As long as she isn't obsessed and anorexic and crap, let her run as much as she feels like running.
Do you think African girls are worried that they run too much?
She's well past her limit. She'll burn out by 18 and won't have a collegiate career if that's even a goal.
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I am not pushing her at all...it was all of her own accord. We were watching the olympics and she suddenly decided that she wanted to start running more seriously. She's been training with her junior varsity cross country team for about three months now and is doing quite well. Last week, she ran a 5K road race in 21:16 and seems to be getting faster quickly.
No worries about me running with her because I can't. She has a sister who runs in college and I think that has something to do with it as well.
Anyway, I have been trying to figure out if she was in any danger of over doing it at her age and stumbled upon these forums a while back and thought I would pose the question here.
Thanks for your help.
I would suggest that you make sure that she practices sprinting often. This will set her up for the most success later on.
The important thing is that you are supportive without being overbearing. If she wants to run, great. If not, then that's fine, too. Make sure she's not obsessive or anything. As long as she's enjoying it and not getting carried away, six days a week is probably okay. Although, I would encourage (or at least allow) other interests, such as biking, or swimming.
Also, pay attention that she is eating well and understands the importance of good nutrition. This is one thing, above all, that can cripple young female runners.