Too Young To Run? Children Marathoners

[Stephan]

Let's put this one to rest guys. No need to pursue any further, many variables in play here and everyone made strong points. It's saturday, lets all just have a cold beer and watch the Habs kick Ottawa's butt this afternoon.

[rune163]

Hmmmph.... As I was trying to do the gentlemanly thing and erased my post, you added more garbage. I'm not talking about kids in university. I'm talking about young teenagers or younger. Now perhaps you should shut the F up. Please.

ya so am i and you have yet to provide any proof or basis for your claims. your opinion is your own and thank god a small percentage have it but if you are going to spout off be prepared to back it up!

ever consider that "young ones" in track clubs ages 12-18 run upwards of 100 miles per week pending how competitive they are? if your mathematically inept that is almost 4 marathons per week in training. so that's okay but running 1 in a day isn't?

show me research dude or get off your soapbox and shut the F up

[Run26.2]

ever consider that "young ones" in track clubs ages 12-18 run upwards of 100 miles per week pending how competitive they are?

There are 12 year olds running upwards of 100 miles a week? Wow.

[rune163]

ever consider that "young ones" in track clubs ages 12-18 run upwards of 100 miles per week pending how competitive they are?

There are 12 year olds running upwards of 100km a week? Wow.

serious ones competing for track and cross country provincials yup. when i did track club it was 5 workouts per week and mileage runs on 1 or 2 of the non workout days and pending caliber and recommendations from the coach some days were double workouts....

[Jay-Lorens]

This 'family' site sure isnt what it used to be.
See ya later...

[Jo-Jo]

This 'family' site sure isnt what it used to be.
See ya later...

actually this debate kinda sounds like some of the wild dinner conversations in my family...I think it's called "familiarity breeds contempt"

[turd ferguson]

EVERYONE:


1) No obscenities or explicit talk, please; let's keep it family-friendly!
2) No flaming, insults, etc.
3) No spamming.
4) Respect is key. We welcome diverse discussion and opinions, but within the boundaries of respect for others and their opinions.

[ultraslacker]

Seriously, guys I don't know how it can be SOOOO hard to have an intelligent discussion without falling into personal insults. It's really a simple concept: state the facts, state your opinion, but do it respectfully and without attacking each other. Why is that such a difficult thing to understand? You wouldn't be speaking to each other this way in person, so why do it here?

[Stephan]

Anyone else like tacos?

[HCcD]

Anyone else like tacos?

umm, the correct answer is, "I like soup ..." stephen ...

[ultraslacker]

Anyone else like tacos?

umm, the correct answer is, "I like soup ..." stephen ... :roll: :wink:

but that's not good either, because then the actual discussion can't take place thanks to a couple of people who can't seem to control their fingers. How about I just remove the problem people from the discussion... my banning finger is itchy...

[Midge]

must admit the original appeal of RM is diminished by these petty arguments

[trixiee]

must admit the original appeal of RM is diminished by these petty arguments

I agree.

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Running Mania is an online community of runners from across Canada with the purpose of encouraging and supporting runners of all ages and abilities. We welcome beginners, elites, and everyone in between to join us in sharing our knowledge, enthusiasm, and experience with each other. We also have a very enthusiastic group of multi-sporters in our midst, so you can connect with others involved in duathlons, triathlons, and the like.

[Pat Menzies]

Somewhere in there the difference between a kilometer and a mile got a bit blurry I'm quite skeptical that many 12-18 year olds are doing 100 mile weeks. I do know that recent top Canadian runners like Sullivan, Brannen and McKenzie did drastically less in high school. There isn't a huge trend for Canadians to jump to the extremes of mileage and distance racing in their early years. It's usually a pretty balanced program that they follow.

[DougG]

It's saturday, lets all just have a cold beer and watch the Habs kick Ottawa's butt this afternoon.

Ok Stephan NOW you've crossed the line.!!

[Stephan]

Montreal 1 Ottawa 0 after one


I say let the young ones run, some say nay....That's O.K.


...that's all I have to say about dat!!

[Portentous]

I will say that I like soup too.

So, please list the names of all of these 12 year olds running 100+miles /week. You expect sources, so start backing them up. Yeeeesh.

Again, theres a huge discrepancy between 12 & 18. Kids over 16 running that mileage aren't overly shocking or disturbing. Having a 12 year old running like that is.

[ultraslacker]

So, please list the names of all of these 12 year olds running 100+miles /week. You expect sources, so start backing them up. Yeeeesh.

I believe I asked for a stop to this. Why are you still going?

[HCcD]

Montreal 1 Ottawa 0 after one

...that's all I have to say about dat!!

Ottawa 3 vs Montreal 1

Neil and Alfreddson RULES !!!!!

[Stephan]

Montreal 1 Ottawa 0 after one

...that's all I have to say about dat!!

Ottawa 3 vs Montreal 1

Neil and Alfreddson RULES !!!!!

Yes I know!! It's a sin they always choke when it counts though...like the playoffs...hahaha I will always relish watching the ducks win last year....it was priceless......I heard the choking sound all the way back here.

[HCcD]

Montreal 1 Ottawa 0 after one

...that's all I have to say about dat!!

Ottawa 3 vs Montreal 1

Neil and Alfreddson RULES !!!!!

Yes I know!! It's a sin they always choke when it counts though...like the playoffs...hahaha I will always relish watching the ducks win last year....it was priceless......I heard the choking sound all the way back here.

Yeah, I hear ya ... at least they made it to the Playoffs and Finals last year ...

[Stephan]

Montreal 1 Ottawa 0 after one

...that's all I have to say about dat!!

Ottawa 3 vs Montreal 1

Neil and Alfreddson RULES !!!!!

Yes I know!! It's a sin they always choke when it counts though...like the playoffs...hahaha I will always relish watching the ducks win last year....it was priceless......I heard the choking sound all the way back here.

Yeah, I hear ya ... at least they made it to the Playoffs and Finals last year ...

History only remembers the winners though and I have seen the Habs win the cup on TV ...color TV!!!

[HCcD]

Montreal 1 Ottawa 0 after one

...that's all I have to say about dat!!

Ottawa 3 vs Montreal 1

Neil and Alfreddson RULES !!!!!

Yes I know!! It's a sin they always choke when it counts though...like the playoffs...hahaha I will always relish watching the ducks win last year....it was priceless......I heard the choking sound all the way back here.

Yeah, I hear ya ... at least they made it to the Playoffs and Finals last year ...

History only remembers the winners though and I have seen the Habs win the cup on TV ...color TV!!!

Absolutely, stephan ... what a great memorable game today on colour tv today, scoring 3 goals in last 5 minutes ..

[Corpus Cani]

Dare I say it again.
Why the obsession with marathons?
And now children running marathons
Children are not smaller versions of adults and as such they should not be trained using adult methods.
Judging by some of the replies this has been overlooked because some of you are focusing on short term results.
Certainly children can run marathons but is that right for their long term health wise and their future in the sport?
The marathon drives the training regime.
Early specialisation in young people results in them falling short of their true potential in their adult years.
Surely all of you people who are pro children running a marathons realise that there are many changes that take place from childhood to adulthood. The structure of young athletes training must reflect the special needs, which accompany the various stages of development.
Children between the ages of four and eight can cover 10km. at play during the day, however it is done with frequent recoveries and never approaching the limits of reserve. The reason for that is that heavy work loads set considerably harder tasks for the organism of a young runner than for adults. It is closely connected to the smaller capacity of the heart and oxygen transport system.
Age alone is here not the only restricting factor, because the development of the heart is not always proportional to general growth.

In his book “Total Training for Young Champions” Tudor Bompa is adamant that it is …”important for young children to develop a variety of fundamental skills to help them to become good general athletes BEFORE they start training in a specific sport”

Bompa sites both East German (Harre 1982) and Soviet (Nagari 1978) studies that report multilateral development set a solid foundation for the long term and that early specialisation is more likely to lead to burnout and athletes prone to injury.

In addition the COACHING ASSOCIATION OF CANADA (1997) warns, “Early specialisation limits a child’s potential in all sports including the one he/she is currently specialising in”.
The argument is that by limiting a young athletes involvement to the narrow demands of one sport or event may limit the development and general endurance, flexibility, coordination, balance, agility strength speed and power – all of which are associated with later high performance in sport.

[Stephan]

How do you explain Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Tiger Woods or any pro athlete who excells in his sport...ALL of them started training heavily during childhood. I know it's a different sport but the principles are exactly the same. The reason studies only mention distance running is because it is not mainstream.

I played hockey, went to hockey school, was at the rink at 5:30 am for 2 hours of "lines" and a game at 7pm. Running 30K at LSD pace is much easier..trust me.

Some have the choice not to agree, but nobody achieves excellence in sports (by that I mean professional/Olympic) without starting at a young age. Does anyone ever watch the Olympics anymore???? I've never heard of a professional athlete who started after the age of 18. "Well you know..I had to let my bones finish growin" lol

All these studies do is clip a child's wings before they learn how to fly.


Kenyan runners start training in grade school where most of them run 16 miles a day just to get back and forth to school, they turned out alright I might add and if someone says anything about them being genetically different I am going to bust out laughing.