Importance of Running when Young

[Running Man 101]

I was listening to BBC Discovery on the radio this weekend driving my kid to his grandparents and they had an interview with Roger Bannister (if you don't know who he is don't read anymore of this post). He later became a doctor, specializing in neurology. It was a lengthy interview, but the part I found compelling was the following:

Importance of running when you are growing. It was his opinion that the single most important factor in becoming a good runner as a young adult or adult was significant amounts of running during the fastest growth rate periods in human growth phase. By this he meant that when kids are growing the neural pathways are evolving, higher stress brought on by running influences these neural pathways in ways not completely understood, but show up in much higher running efficiencies (mechanical geometry of leg movement and foot strike during running) and mental ability to push yourself, so that your perceived exertion level in one physiological state is lower than someone else with the same physiological state, but acquired later in life. The brain gets hardwired for this during the development phase. They key is the maximum POTENTIAL is set during this time, and no amount of work later can increase it proportionally. He said a mixture of running, sprinting and playing on hills is the best.

His points are in complete alignment with the Kenyan model. The papers that I’ve read suggest that the Kenyan’s advantage is in the biomechanics of the foot strike phase, they are on average about 2-3% more efficient in the elastic storage processes that just about anyone else.

 

[moemancc]

Well it makes perfect sense. Just think about it if you run earlier, you have a greater training age compared to other people. That is why you often see some of these schools continually pump out guys that are awesome. Take for example someone like a Jeff See or a Zach Wills. They had organized training and running when they were in junior high. That means by the time they got to high school they were already in a 3rd training year at least, compared to many in our sport who start from scratch then. Couple that with great natural ability and they are sure to be better than most.

 

[Running Man 101]

Well it makes perfect sense. Just think about it if you run earlier, you have a greater training age compared to other people. That is why you often see some of these schools continually pump out guys that are awesome. Take for example someone like a Jeff See or a Zach Wills. They had organized training and running when they were in junior high. That means by the time they got to high school they were already in a 3rd training year at least, compared to many in our sport who start from scratch then. Couple that with great natural ability and they are sure to be better than most.

He didn't say, but I got the impression that he meant running at 7-8 years old.

 

[JAVMAN83]

I concur with Dr. Bannister's recommendations (not that he needed it :laugh: ), but the years of 8-12 are critical in nature in development of coordination AND speed. The greatest gains in neurological speed are gained during those years, but unfortunately, too much of sports-related training for the youth fail to take that into account. Instead, they involve slower-movement exercises that end up in long term reductions in neurological speed capabilities. Mid-long distance runners would benefit far more by training as long sprinters at a younger age. Likewise, short-long sprinters benefit through early development of neurological speed and motor coordination exercises. The same applies for field events. Sergey Bubka, STILL world record-holder and STILL the only man to clear 20 feet in the pole vault, was a beneficiary of such development starting at the age of 10. The old East German sports machine (ignoring State program 1425) was known to identify talent of athletes during those early years (8-12) and move the more talented kids into key sports-related training schools that focused on development of coordination and speed-related coordinative capacities.

 

[Running Man 101]

I concur with Dr. Bannister's recommendations (not that he needed it :laugh: ), but the years of 8-12 are critical in nature in development of coordination AND speed. The greatest gains in neurological speed are gained during those years, but unfortunately, too much of sports-related training for the youth fail to take that into account. Instead, they involve slower-movement exercises that end up in long term reductions in neurological speed capabilities. Mid-long distance runners would benefit far more by training as long sprinters at a younger age. Likewise, short-long sprinters benefit through early development of neurological speed and motor coordination exercises. The same applies for field events. Sergey Bubka, STILL world record-holder and STILL the only man to clear 20 feet in the pole vault, was a beneficiary of such development starting at the age of 10. The old East German sports machine (ignoring State program 1425) was known to identify talent of athletes during those early years (8-12) and move the more talented kids into key sports-related training schools that focused on development of coordination and speed-related coordinative capacities.

Again he didn't specify what he meant by running, but he implied mostly fast running to exhaustion (to the physiological limit, more or less daily). He wasn't prescibing training for distance per se, but more talking about running from one village to another, over Hills and juts running as kids normally would do in nature. In many ways, the type of play most of us did as kids before we had to be concerned about kidnapping, get run over by cars, getting shot by our neighbors for being on their property... also mentioned he had about 3 miles to school and had no problem getting there in 25min as a young child.

 

[said_aouita]

Sounds similar to some studies on youth lifting weights.

"Young people do not generally add muscular power in quite the same way as adults. They rarely pack on bulk. Adults, particularly men but also women, typically add muscle mass when they start weight training, a process known as muscular hypertrophy (or, less technically, getting buff). Youths do not add as much or sometimes any obvious muscle mass as a result of strength training, which is one of the reasons many people thought they did not grow stronger. Their strength gains seem generally to involve “neurological” changes, Dr. Faigenbaum said. Their nervous systems and muscles start interacting more efficiently. A few small studies have shown that children develop a significant increase in motor-unit activation within their muscles after weight training. A motor unit consists of a single neuron and all of the muscle cells that it controls. When more motor units fire, a muscle contracts more efficiently. So, in essence, strength training in children seems to liberate the innate strength of the muscle, to activate the power that has been in abeyance, unused."

 

[field&track]

Having been in health care for 30 years and reading a lot of research on muscle and neuro development, this all fits. You can improve your muscle development at any time but the neuro development occurs between 8 to 16 years old. Much beyond the age of 16 the neuro system prunes the unused neurons. The neuro system is similiar to the muscle system, you use it or you lose it! By age 25 neuro development is gone, which is why changing behavior is so difficult later in life. You do what your neuro system is use to. Making drug use the worst time to try between the age 8 to 16 group because you may change your biology for good. My concern with all the school budget cuts, this increases the chances of a kid doing drugs not miles.

 

[Track XC]

There are pros and cons of getting kids involved in running at a young age. It's a good thing to have kids participate in a variety of sports, especially when they are young. I have seen parents make their kids focus on one sport from a very young age. This usually results in the kid getting burned out or them not enjoying the sport. As long as kids are involved and active at a young age I don't think it matters.

 

[said_aouita]

My concern with all the school budget cuts, this increases the chances of a kid doing drugs not miles.

Theirs a lot more for youth to do now a days that's more fun compared to doing miles.
Can also blame xbox, ps3 and the internet.

 

[moemancc]

Running doesn't have to be so structured as we are in the high school and beyond level. We can do other sports or activities that require continuous movement in order to train the kids neuro-muscularly. It's giving the kids the coordination and body control at that age that they may not have otherwise. It will also start to develop the cardiovascular system and get kids into better shape throughout childhood. Sports for youth are a very good thing.

 

[Mr. Slippery]

The gist of this discussion seems to be that the best thing a parent can do early on for a kid's athletic future is to just let them go outside and play with their friends.

 

[Running Man 101]

The gist of this discussion seems to be that the best thing a parent can do early on for a kid's athletic future is to just let them go outside and play with their friends.

Yes, more or less let them (force them) to be kids that play outside. Like it used to be before A/C, video games and ADD/ADHD drugs. We would be amazed at what problems this would solve.

I do think it means more than this though. What the qualitative data actually says is that some type of sustained running (i.e. running to school) of 30min or so is also helpful on a regular basis. This is probably considered child abuse in today's world in the US.

 

[field&track]

(force them)

When my children where young I would tell them work around the house, clean, pull weeds, etc., or exercise. They usually went the lesser of two evils and exercised. Now that they are semi-adults they tell me they hated me for it at the time but get it now, both T&F collegiate kids, the collegiate participation is just a bonus, mainly was trying to instill heatlh and a sense of self discipline and satisfaction. About as forced as it gets, but I'll take the rap from the bureaucrats, and I'm still pulling my own weeds!

 

[EuclidandViren]

There are pros and cons of getting kids involved in running at a young age. It's a good thing to have kids participate in a variety of sports, especially when they are young. I have seen parents make their kids focus on one sport from a very young age. This usually results in the kid getting burned out or them not enjoying the sport. As long as kids are involved and active at a young age I don't think it matters.

I agree. Focusing on one sport is the worst advice and the only time that burnout could occur IMO. Not only do diverse athletes, even if they are not good at the other sport, rested mentally, but physically and they work different muscles to help their overall athletics abilities. Most of the top athletes in the world albeit soccer, football, basketball or baseball were well rounded athletes growing up. If not another sport then sport specificity should be mixed in with karate, ballet, yoga, or plyometrics. I read an article in soccer journal the other day regarding the top US soccer players and the other sports they played growing up and how it helped with growth and development. Landon Donavan- Gymnastics. And over 75% of the US women's national team ran track in high school.

Regarding mileage at a young age. Make it fun. Lydiard believed 12 year olds could handle 100 mile weeks. But he also said that he would recruit his best runners at the soccer pitch when they were 14-15 years old.

 

[Running Man 101]

I don't have the article in front of me right now, but the most recent Running Times article had a section on summer milege for top finishers in the FOOT LOCKER XC race.

It stated that during the 80's it was 40-50mpw, 90's 50-60mpw and now it is 70-80mpw. They are getting back to mileage some ran in the late 70's.

Do any of the old dogs have any thoughts on this? Some of the best national ranked teams have mileages in this area. Is it really that simple?

Take Indiana Carmel. They put in that kind of mileage.

 

[moemancc]

I don't have the article in front of me right now, but the most recent Running Times article had a section on summer milege for top finishers in the FOOT LOCKER XC race.

It stated that during the 80's it was 40-50mpw, 90's 50-60mpw and now it is 70-80mpw. They are getting back to mileage some ran in the late 70's.

Do any of the old dogs have any thoughts on this? Some of the best national ranked teams have mileages in this area. Is it really that simple?

Take Indiana Carmel. They put in that kind of mileage.

Well more mileage will help you run faster distance times, but it's up to the kid and how well he/she handles it and how you run those miles. Granted I would have a hard time having an entire team do that much mileage but a few elite kids maybe.