Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

Hi, Im new to running and XC and started maybe a year ago. Im in 8th grade, and they don't have a track of XC team till high school. An older friend of mine, who runs the NY marathon almost every year, suggested that I try it next fall. After doing a couple of local 5k's and going to a couple of highschool track meets Im greatly discouraged. My best friend is also training for 10k's and Im just trying to get back into my prime. Does anyone know anytips generally for running longer distance such as 10k and higher? How to get better and faster than my competitor? Are there any runinnng secrets out there for long distance? What about diet? Would also appreciate a few references, like books, for stuff on mind over matter.
Eternally grateful,
Zeth

[Distance_Guru]

First off I'm glad to hear your motivated to try some races. On the other hand I don't think you should run a marathon for a while (like until after high school) they're pretty rough on a growing body. My advice for running longer races (5-10k's) is just run, get out there and try to run at least 4 or 5 days a week keep your weekly mileage around 15-25 I don't think you will need to top 30 for a while yet. Just gradually work on increasing the distance you run (no more than about 2-3 mile increases from one week to the next) and the distance of your long run. Beyond this I would need to know more as far as what you are doing now before I can give you any more training advice.
As for the race itself try to run steady early, on you can always speed up if you feel good late in the race. As for diet, just eat healthy, try not to have to much soda, fatty foods and junk foods but for the most part nothing is totally off limits, just don't eat anything major within an hour and a half or so of when you want to run, but something small (like a granolla bar or a peice of fruit) usually won't hurt.

[Dan]

Good advice.

Dan

[training2run]

I see 8, 10 and 12 year-old kids running marathons all the time. They seem to just glide along (almost floating) without effort.

I don't believe young children should be "forced" into distance racing by pushy parents, but if a kid truly wants to run a marathon, and trains for it, I don't see any problem.

A year of gradually increasing training mileage (beginning easy, and culminating in 45 miles a week), and frequent 5K and 10K races should do the trick.

Towards the end of the year the runner should drop the 5K races, and stick with 10Ks and 20Ks (or half-marathons).

Rest is important, and, in my opinion the kid should train no more than 4 or 5 days a week, and only with parental permission. Mike www.training2run.com