13 years old want to take up running help?

Question

Hi I am 13 years old and i want to start running. My mile time is around 9 minutes to 9 : 30 and I really want to be able to run a 5K. What would you reccomend is a good running "plan". I went to http://www.runnersworld.com and for beginners they had like run / walk. I want to just run.

Answer 1

mollie,

You'd be best off doing as Runner's World says. If you don't, you will be injured.

I've been a runner for years, and I've seen and suffered my share of running injuries, most of which were caused by just your attitude. I wanted to run, not walk and run, and whenever I pushed myself, I wound up with tendonitis somewhere and had to stop running for long stretches at a time.

Some years ago I attended a conference with a world-class marathoner, a Brit that everyone seemed to call "Jonesy," so that's what stuck in my memory, who was asked by an experienced runner for a six-month plan to get in shape to be a world-class marathoner. Jonesy told him, "You can't do it in 6 months. To be a world-class marathoner will take you 6 years."

Oh.

So setttle in your mind that if you're going to run, you're going to do it right, and that means that you're going to improve slowly.

Especially at your age. Too many important developments are going on in your body right now to jeopardise them by running too intensely. Take it slowly.

Now, you should do 2 things:

Go back to the runnersworld website and find out what kind of running shoe you need. You'll have to figure out what kind of arches you have in your feet, but it will tell you how to do that.

Then go through their shoe reviews and pick out a good pair and buy those. Make sure that they fit before you leave the store, and buy them a half-size to a full size larger than your regular shoes. If you don't, when you run you'll batter your toes against the toes of the shoes and you'll bruise your toenails and they'll turn black.

Ask me about that one.

Then follow a beginner's training plan. It won't be as bad as you think. Be patient with yourself (yeah, yeah, I know that people say a 13-year-old can't do that. Prove them wrong) and go slowly. As you train, the weeks will pass, you'll improve, and one day you'll be running miles and if you are determined, turning out for track and winning races.

You'll find that an 800-meter race is not a 1500-meter race which isn't at all like a 5K race which is a very different animal from a 10K which is different from a half-marathon, and people will start asking you for advice.

And no one will remember that you started slowly. You won't even care, 'cause you'll be fast and strong.

Answer 2

the run walk is actually going to get you more in shape.