1 mile race training for an 8/9 year old

Light jogging everyday and some fartlek, hill reps and strides throughout the week. Also add some cycling and East German vitamins.

Play a variety of sports. Recommend that he go for a short jog or do sprints when he wants to.

6:15 is SLOW although it is impressive for his age group. The main thing is that you want him to enjoy the sport!!!

He's 8 or 9. Here's what his training should look like:

2xvideo games

4xplaying outside with his friends

3xtouch football

2xbuilding lego stuff

3xjuice box recovery

all done at a fun pace

Soccer.

Or, if the timing doesn't allot soccer, then let him do easy running at the gym, 1-3 miles at a time, as often as he wants up to once a day. Some days shorter and faster, some days longer and slower, but nothing super fast or super long. Let him set the pace and encourage him to vary what he does over the course of a week. Maybe once a month, let him try going all out for 400m, 800m, 1200m, or a mile.

A lot of towns have community elementary school races later in the spring or summer. Making him aware of other possibilities may help him sustain his interest in running or give him a chance to try racing more than once.

I have a son his same age, and I'd never want to put him in any type of structured training program at that age. You can help him reach his goal, but he needs to be the one pushing himself. If he decides to hang it up and play Minecraft next week, let him do that.

Lots of tag and team tag withbhis friends. An occasional visit to the track if you really want to do some short sprints in a playful way.

I'm in the same boat and even started a thread about it recently. My son is 8 1/2 right now, and his best mile time is 8:10, from last fall. He ran an 8:20 a couple weeks ago. It's hit or miss as to whether he's going to be motivated on a particular day or huff and puff and complain through it, but he wants to be fast. (I told him we could get a Playstation when he breaks 7 minutes.)

It seems to me like he's at his best running the mile when we are doing regular bike rides together during the week and just generally being active in the summer.

observer_of_things wrote:

He's 8 or 9. Here's what his training should look like:

2xvideo games

4xplaying outside with his friends

3xtouch football

2xbuilding lego stuff

3xjuice box recovery

all done at a fun pace

^This, except the 3x juice box. Careful with the hard stuff. Maybe 3x chocolate milk, it is the official recovery drink of many high school associations.

waltertompatton wrote:

6:15 is SLOW although it is impressive for his age group.

Lol! only on LR.

I appreciate all the feedback!

I think the general consensus is to just keep him active and add in some playful sprint type games/exercise versus any type of program or training schedule. The last thing I want to do is push him or turn something he enjoys into "work"...at least not at his age. Thanks again for the feedback.

erwerw wrote:

waltertompatton wrote:

6:15 is SLOW although it is impressive for his age group.

Lol! only on LR.

Yes, there are also people like you who would run a 8/9 year old hard to run that 6:15. He will be done running before he is in 7th grade, but that's okay by you.

I think most parents would take my interest in a young person's future rather than a greedy approach for the here and now.

There are people on LRC that take a snippet and run wild with it because they want to lash out at the world because of a perceived lack in their own life. You need to return to church, see a counselor, and/or whatever it takes to get you back to positive thinking.

These shoes the best wrote:

erwerw wrote:

Lol! only on LR.

Yes, there are also people like you who would run a 8/9 year old hard to run that 6:15. He will be done running before he is in 7th grade, but that's okay by you.

I think most parents would take my interest in a young person's future rather than a greedy approach for the here and now.

There are people on LRC that take a snippet and run wild with it because they want to lash out at the world because of a perceived lack in their own life. You need to return to church, see a counselor, and/or whatever it takes to get you back to positive thinking.

I can't speak for anybody else, but I want my 8-year-old to keep pushing himself running - to the degree an 8-year-old is even physically and mentally capable of "pushing" himself - is that it is a really cut-and-dried way of seeing that there is a correlation between working hard and a benefit. I also know that he's pretty awkward and not graceful, and he's never going to play baseball or basketball or football in high school. But he has some running talent. Parents can tell what their children are good at better than the kid can usually.

These shoes the best wrote:

erwerw wrote:

Lol! only on LR.

Yes, there are also people like you who would run a 8/9 year old hard to run that 6:15. He will be done running before he is in 7th grade, but that's okay by you.

I think most parents would take my interest in a young person's future rather than a greedy approach for the here and now.

There are people on LRC that take a snippet and run wild with it because they want to lash out at the world because of a perceived lack in their own life. You need to return to church, see a counselor, and/or whatever it takes to get you back to positive thinking.

Lol! What are you talking about?