Nagging Injuries Holding Your Young Athlete Back? It’s Not Just Growing Pains.
When I was a young high school and college runner I really wanted to be fast… I loved running in part because I thought if you just ran 100+ miles a week and ran hard you could be great…. maybe even an Olympic level runner.
Even though I loved football, I was too small to really play without getting hurt… But running… here was a sport for me. Just run more, run faster and you can be great!
I ran some decent times. Marathon in 2:28 was my “claim to fame”… but I was running workouts that made me think I could run low 2:20’s. A couple times preparing for the New York Marathon and another time for the Chicago marathon I ran my hardest workout 5 weeks before the races. A 4 mile loop marked course at UCSD in San Diego. I ran 4 loops, 16 miles at 5:31/mile…. That’s 2:24 pace. I felt great….
but….
Chicago and I was so dissappointed 2:34 argh…..
and a few years later
New York rolled around and I was injured… a hip injury and ended up limping home in 3:11…. Argh….
It’s kinda like cooking salmon… this running training thing… especially for middle school and high school runners… for everyone really…
There’s a sweet spot… an optimal number of miles and speed work… and here’s a key… while there are principles to guide us… every runner is unique. Some respond to easy gentle miles and a few strides each week…
Others could use less mileage, more days off and do some speed, mile race pace stuff and the rest, easy jogging.
Some can handle 6 days a week and others 3 days a week is the perfect schedule….
And some kids play soccer and volleyball and baseball in addition to running and may benefit from more days off from running, especially the quality running.
Some principles we use to keep young runners healthy, happy and excited about running…. to improve performance…
1. Any pain?…. No Running for a day or two until there is no pain at all.
2. The bulk of the training is phase I running. Easy paced distance runs all aerobic with some days with some 100 meter strides and full recovery between strides.
3. Only adding in tempo work after a runner has had months of phase one and even then only 3 miles total at tempo pace. Workouts such as 3 x6 minutes at tempo or 2 x 10 minutes at tempo.
Some other things we use are some specific self treatment techniques to stay light and bouncy. There’s more and my blog posts have more healing and training resources for you.
Reach out if your young athlete needs help getting over an injury. Let’s get runners running! Pain-free, Happy & Fast!
Here’s a video to get you started with some self treatment. Also if you’re in the Bellingham, Fairhaven WA area each Thursday we do a free Runners Injury Healing Clinic at 6 pm on Thursdays. Join us!
Ralph Havens PT IMTC
Beyond Limits Physical Therapy
1134-10th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
360.599.2217
https://www.ralphhavens.com/
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