How much is too much?

[Pefrio]

Hiya. I am interested in advice about how much running my 2 children should be doing. Specifically how much is potentially too much! At the moment they train with the club twice a week and race at the weekend. They also go to tae kwondo once a week and swim twice a week, (and walk too and from school 3 miles a day!)

The club sessions are mixed athletics with a focus on running. The races are Fell Races up to a mile and a half, but once a month they do a 5km Park Run with me.

They are 8 and 9 year old girls.

I worry that they might be over doing it and if that could cause issues/injuries in the future? They really enjoy it all and I wouldn't want to curb their enthusiasm but also don't want them damaging themselves.

Is 5km too far?

All advice gratefully received!

[FellJunior]

There is some useful information here in the 'Norman Matthews' section.

[LissaJous]

I worry that they might be over doing it and if that could cause issues/injuries in the future? They really enjoy it all and I wouldn't want to curb their enthusiasm but also don't want them damaging themselves.

Is 5km too far?

You seem more worried about potential injury than exhaustion, which is what I would be concerned about. A short extract from the Norman Matthews / understanding children section (FellJunior's link):

Children's perception of severity of exercise is less the younger they are. Adults sensibly stop when exercise is too hard, children tend to press on. In certain circumstances this can lead to them over doing it! The safest way to avoid the problem is to plan shorter periods of activity, where feasible, than would be the case in an equivalent senior squad. Drinking water or squash in the breaks during a session is a sensible procedure for all athletes, in particular for juniors.

The most important factor to watch out for with youngsters, is when they are not responding as usual in a training session. Don't always assume it is lack of effort, there are many reasons - especially with the junior girls - why they are below par and not up to their usual active self. Sensitive handling at these times ensures that the youngsters return each week in the knowledge that their problems have been noticed and discrete action taken.

To me it sounds OK (and a little Kenyan in walking/running so far to school!) so long as they're not showing signs of fatigue. The 5K won't have much training benefit from the conventional LTAD point of view (long term athlete development) as we'd really be working on much shorter sprints at that age, but then you'll always find one or two who may not be the fastest, but who can seemingly keep going forever! And yours are doing 5K twice a day even if walking (at this age almost equivalent?).

From a quick look, Norman Matthews was very concerned about motivation and how different children mature differently, easily leading them to give up sport at times when they are finding it hard. The key was making sure they had fun and that group sessions varied the load individually according to ability.

[Mike T]

Give children an appropriate space and some equipment - football/skipping rope/hopscotch area/basketball hoop/playground climbing area - and they will do their own short sharp runs/body weight session/balance and coordination session/plyometrics. Too often these basics are not available to them. As long as your girls are genuinely enjoying what they do, and are not being bribed to participate, overtly or covertly, and they are doing a wide variety of other sports, I would not be concerned that they are doing too much.

[Rob Furness]

I've been training with my nephew who is 9 verging on 10 and I've been doing a slightly reduced adult track session run at his pace or an easy run of around an hour (again at his pace) once a week and leaving him to do his own thing the rest of the time. He plays football so the idea is to improve his endurance and work on his speed endurance as he is very quick and sometimes blows up too soon into a game. Motivation is not a problem at all, there is no pressure to continue doing the sessions or to push harder except from himself as he's a very determined individual. He is responding very well and is fast become a very good runner. I'm hoping that this won't be too much in the long run

[Pefrio]

Thanks everyone. The link to Normans info has been particularly useful - great resource. Some stuff there that I had not even considered - particularly the emotional stuff which is really relevant to my girls. They are enjoying it and that is the key, and I am enjoying sharing it with them which helps too (and gets me off my backside!)

Thanks again and any other tips on what I should looking out for etc gratefully received x

[wycoller]

Make sure that the club coach knows what they are doing. I quite often get an otherwise good youngster struggling on one night. After questioning they've often done other sports that day and are just tired, in which case I won't push them.

[Pefrio]

Make sure that the club coach knows what they are doing. I quite often get an otherwise good youngster struggling on one night. After questioning they've often done other sports that day and are just tired, in which case I won't push them.

Will do x

[AndyA]

Make sure that the club coach knows what they are doing. I quite often get an otherwise good youngster struggling on one night. After questioning they've often done other sports that day and are just tired, in which case I won't push them.

Seconded, I sometimes get the same problem, less so now that we moved our Saturday session to 9.00a.m; we get them first! We also target parkrun but every 6-8 weeks at most. The emotional side is the key; as long they're enjoying it and you're not having to persuade them to go along (even if they then end up enjoying it) then I reckon you're fairly safe. You'll need to be more careful in a few years when they go through puberty; all sorts of training pitfalls waiting for you there!

[Lefty]

Andy, I think targeting Parkruns at 6-8 at the most is good advice. Juniors should be discouraged from running regularly on hard surfaces for obvious reasons. Lots of parents who run but don't race apart from Parkruns take their children with them and think its a good idea for them to run each week, not a good idea.