Youth Running

In last week’s blog on Fitting in Fitness (see 8/10/11 post) I mentioned running with your children, which prompted several questions from my readers, such as at what age should they begin running? and how far should a child run? These are not simple questions to answer because it all depends on the child, but I will provide some advice for the average child.

First, The Runners Handbook provides the following guidelines for helping children get into shape for running:

• Kindergarten through 3^rd Grade: gradually progress to 1 mile or 10 minutes of running
• 4^th through 6^th Grade: gradually progress to 2 miles or 20 minutes of running
• 7^th through 12^th Grade: gradually progress to 3 miles or 30 minutes of running

Second, The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (http://www.aahperd.org/) provides the following noncompetitive goal times for a one-mile run/walk:

Age	Girls	Boys
5	14:00	13:00
6	13:00	12:00
7	12:00	11:00
8	11:30	10:00
9	11:00	10:00
10	11:00	9:30
11	11:00	9:00
12	11:00	9:00
13	10:30	8:00
14	10:30	7:45
15-18	10:30	7:30

These guidelines are for an average child and not for competitive track or cross-country athletes. For information on competitive student athletes, please consult your child’s coach.

~Lori Dotson, CPT

President, DotsoFit, LLC

All Rights Reserved (2011)