Distance Running with Kids Part 2

Safe Running Routes

Mark running routes with cones, lime, paint, chalk, arrows, or other means. Avoid marking routes the night before in case of rain, wind, or vandals.

A year and play on one squad per season for mental and physical rehabilitation. John, a 10-year-old child, should attend track club practices five days a week and not try out for the baseball team during the same season. Additionally, John should not run with the track club in the spring and summer and then on a cross-country team in the fall and winter, which would total more than nine months of distance running. He may join a winter sports team to stay active, improve his cardiovascular fitness, and recuperate from distance running.

Motivation prevents mental exhaustion. Greene and Pate (2004) offered some tips for motivating and retaining young distance runners in Training Young Distance Runners. First, practitioners must recognize that motivation levels vary within a group and that motivation must be cultivated. Musically,

Running Games

Variety and running games may encourage kids to engage for enjoyment and socialization. Competitive success may demotivate children. Connecting effort to self-improvement boosts motivation. Inspiring commitment, hard work, self-improvement, and applauding effort can boost intrinsic motivation.

When combined with intrinsic incentives (self-satisfaction, improvement), extrinsic rewards (trophies, prizes) can remind children of the joy of achievement.

A medal for finishing a race, a T-shirt for complete summer training, or a ribbon for running a new personal record are examples of prizes. Finally, defining short- and long-term goals with each child can help them focus their mind and body. Childhood motivation, self-esteem, and self-worth depend on practitioners providing realistic training sessions and program goals.

Process goals include running an even pace throughout a session, whereas outcome goals include reaching level 17 on the PACER test. Establishing ambitious but achievable goals can boost confidence and happiness. The practitioner may assist the youngster to overcome disappointment, examine what went wrong, and prepare for future success by changing the aim or training plan.

Running systems that measure daily distance or steps can assist create long-term objectives (e.g., running one mile a day for several weeks to finish a marathon) and motivating. The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (2006) online log (www.presidentschallenge.org) lets kids document their physical activity for the President’s Challenge.

* Track laps around a track, steps with a pedometer, or mileage in a session with age-appropriate journaling. Older kids can keep a reflective journal to communicate their running feelings and track injuries. These diaries can help set intermediate and long-term goals.

Establish an extracurricular running group before or after school.

Practitioners should consider the following while creating elementary-age training sessions:

Avoid “cookie cutter” programs that force all kids to do the same workout.

* Adjust volume (distance), intensity (speed or effort), and frequency to gradually increase running workloads (number of days a week; Greene & Pate, 2004).
Youngsters new to jogging should start with modest volume, low intensity, and two days per week.

* Never increase training volume by more than 10% week-to-week (Brenner, 2007; Daniels, 2005). Time or distance can measure this.

Individualize training by time, not distance, so fitter kids run farther and less fit kids run less. Everyone finishes at once.

Hill, fartlek, whistle, progression, pace, and other workouts.

Change workout intensity. Avoid back-to-back strenuous workouts.

* Run on tracks, trails, fields, bike routes, etc., but avoid hard surfaces.

* Run events should be age-appropriate for students. The Road Runners Club of America (2012) advises “dash” events starting at 50 meters for five-year-olds and “fun run” events starting at a one-half mile for older children, allowing them to run and stroll at their own pace.

A Practitioner’s Perspective: The Mighty Milers

NYRR offers schools and community centers the Mighty Milers incentive-based running program (2012a).
Students earn medals for each full marathon up to four times (26.2 miles to 104.3 kilometers). Prekindergarten, kindergarten, and adapted physical education students can earn 13.1-mile half marathon medals. Mighty Milers is free for schools with at least 50% free and reduced lunches. The second author, who was new to distance running, used the NYRR Mighty Milers program to start a running program for her prekindergarten to second-grade physical education students.

Distance mining is safe for elementary school kids. Will-Weber (2001) defined an excellent distance-running coach as “someone who helps you progress but leaves something “in the bank,” and also instills a love of the sport as you move on… plus… someone who teaches you something about life in the process” (p. 46). Running must be fun and safe to avoid mental burnout. Distance running can assist physical educators to satisfy national requirements for motor skill competency, understanding of movement principles, regular physical exercise, health-enhancing fitness, and displaying responsible fitness behavior and valuing physical activity (NASPE, 2004a). Well-organized elementary distance-running activities may also enhance adolescent running and lifetime physical activity.

REFERENCES:

Seth Jenny & Tess Armstrong (2013) Distance Running and the Elementary-age Child, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 84:3, 17-25, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2013.763709