Just this past Saturday my two boys ran the Junior Dillo one mile. The smiles I saw on their faces as they ran past the finish line. So now I’m all excited for them and want to get them into more interested in running. So I did some research to see what is appropriate for their ages. This is what I found for ages preschool – 18 years old.

Preschool
Doctors and coaches agree that kids should not start running in any purposeful way before they start kindergarten. That’s because most children won’t achieve a mature running gait until they are at least 5 years old. They also worry about shin splints in a very young child whose gait is not yet coordinated. 3 and 4-year-olds have short attention spans, and their vision is not yet mature, making it difficult for them to track and judge the speed of moving objects.

Young children should still run as part of play and can try short children’s races of up to a couple hundred yards. As long as the child is capable of running without falling down, it’s okay to run in brief spurts, if the parents do a 5-K race, a child can do the kids dash.

Gait: The way in which we move our whole body from one point to another. Most often, this is done by walking, although we may also run, skip, hop etc.

Ages 5-8
Youngsters 5 to 8 years old should be encouraged to run as part of play, such as in games of tag, or in short bursts with walking or other activities in between. Running in this way allows children to use more of their body than if they were jogging continually in a straight path, which makes it less likely that they’ll become bored or injured.

Many experts, however, warn against 5-Ks for those under 8. A mile fun run, but nothing longer, and a child who says he or she is hurting or tired must be allowed to stop. Experts also believe that 7- or 8-year-olds can run a couple of miles, provided it’s their choice and they enjoy it. How can you tell? Smiles.

Ages 9-12
In the preteen years, growth and maturity allow for formal training, and competitive opportunities are abundant. Some kids this age will lean toward training and racing year-round, but they shouldn’t give up other sports. A big reason for restraint at this age is growth-related injury. As the long bones in kids’ legs grow, the cartilage is not ossified, and hard running can lead to discomfort near the ends of the bones. When this syndrome strikes the knee–a common running condition known as Osgood-Schlatter–it can be very painful and may require medical attention. Plus, too much too soon can lead to burnout.

Ages 13-14
At this age many children enter a period of “peak height velocity. Early teens experience rapid growth while their bones have not fully mineralized and their muscles are not yet good shock absorbers. Consequently, experts advises against the kind of heavy training loads–running several miles a day at a hard pace with frequent competition–that bring young runners into orthopedic surgeons offices with stress fractures.

Puberty can also impact early-teen runners. During puberty, boys gain strength and muscle mass–a definite plus for performance–while girls gain body fat, which often slows them down.

Ages 15-18
For many teens, high school running is year-round, with base training in the summer, cross-country in the fall, and track in the winter and spring. While training loads can vary widely–with weekly totals ranging from 20 to 70 miles–the best coaches learn how much training each athlete can handle and find ways to adapt their programs to the individual. Good coaches will also employ a total fitness approach for teen runners, including elements like weight training, calisthenics, and pool exercises. Cross-training helps to maintain fitness while reducing the risk of overuse injuries to the lower extremities, which can plague high school runners. The idea is to build up your running, while mixing in other sports.

So what is the bottom line for high-schoolers? Incorporate other activities with running. Don’t go crazy with the mileage and speed work or you’ll risk injury or burning out. The idea is to enjoy running in the long term.