13 year old running

As far as she wants to. Seriously, though, do you mean how far SHOULD she run for training, or what? 8k is a good, decent run. No need to run farther.

Hannah7563 wrote:

Hello,

I was just wandering how far the average 13 year old girl can run???

I did 8km which the other girls at school say is pretty good, yet there are no other runners my age around so i was wandering how i compare to other runners

Thanks x x

One longish run every once in a while isn't going to be a big deal, so 8km (~4.98 miles) is no big deal. Personally I don't think a kid younger than the summer before their freshman year in high school needs to be running more than 40 miles a week. Want to slowly build up to 40 miles a week before the fall of your freshman year in high school, then that seems ok with me...before that though, nope. A 5 mile run as a long run in the week for now seems far enough.

Are you following a specific program or plan? You should wait until you have someone advising you properly before running more than about 7-8k on your own. Do you have a school coach?

thanks for your advice..... at school running is no big deal.... no one cares!! there arent any coaches areound here exept a couple of running clubs but there is a specific age to join. So yeah i have no guidence!! x x

thanks.... whats a good target?? x

If you're in the under 15 age group (at least in the uk, but I doubt the US will be much different) even when racing over xc your races won't be much longer than 3k or so, so you'll be well prepared. At this age you will have more inherent speed, endurance comes later so you will have plenty of time to build it up and yes 8km is plenty at your age. If you're racing on the track that will probably only be at 800 or the mile too so feel confident knowing that you DON'T need to go much further at this age!

If you enjoy running distance but don't have a club/coach to devise session for you maybe try some fartlek training to develop your speed. So basically just go for a standard length steady run, maybe starting of with 5-6km but add random bursts of speed/sprinting. Eg. On your route, sprint from one tree to the next, easy run to the end of the block, the a hard pace to the next tree. You get the idea.

thanks... the tree thing sounds like a great idea!! cant wait to try it on my next run x

I'd say just run as much as she wants and have fun. I started running seriously just before my thirteenth birthday and was probably hitting low 30s mpw, up to low 50s inside of a year. I was never All American or anything, but I've been running ever since (17 years) and having a great time.

well thanks... i got through to the all wales race but unfortunately didnt get to run for wales..