advice 4 12yrold doing 600m

snowbabe

Hi all
have a 12 year old who is doing a 600k next week and hasn't a clue how to beathe or pace but runs fast,nearly gave herself a heart attack not breathing last time but really wants to do again and train for it.Any tips at all,i know he sped ahead and just had to top because she wasnt breathing properly and was annoyed with herself.She wants to go to track and run it for the next wekk until race.Would appreciate any help.tnx

snowbabe

Sorry,meant 600m:):)you must think me mad

snowbabe

no just once and a half around track,but she really wants to do it right,thought i'd ask for advice,.......has really only sprinted before

SteelyDanJalapeno

Saw the thread title,

was like OMFG

donothoponpop

I'm not a qualified coach, but have been training some kids this age for the 600m Community Games. It's too late now to begin a dedicated schedule, so the best thing to go might be to optimize how they run the race. As they know, going off at a sprint pace will lead to breathing difficulties, so the object should be to pace better. With my crew, this consists of running a few time trials around a football field (c 450m), so they know when its going to start to hurt.

When they first started doing this, they all raced off, and it wasn't long before they were walking. After a few weeks, they were pacing better. This meant that they were running the first third feeling easy, the second third feeling a bit more like work, and then the final third was a matter of running through the hurt and picking up the knees. So I'd imagine if your 12-year old got to a track, and ran a few 600's like this- getting to 200m without difficulty, getting to 400m its starting to hurt, and finishing the last 200m strong- they would have a better idea of how to pace their race. All of this is done at the same pace, btw, (except for whatever sprint you have left on the last finishing straight).

snowbabe

thanks that sounds like a plan,she wants to have a go tonight.makes sense

ecoli

That is one option however given the fact she wants to get down to the track every day until the race she may find that she is extremely tired come race day. Its a bit of a balancing act because you want her to be fresh but also learn to pace better. This will come in time if she sticks at it however for the next week my suggestion would be this.

Day 1 4x200m walk 200 recovery

This should help for similar reason to the time trial already suggested. She will learn that going out too hard on the reps will make her struggle later on in the session. The main difference is that she will not be as tired from this session as you would a time trial as the recovery allows the body to deal with the distance with less stress

Day 2 400m @ 600 pace 5 min break, 2x200m

This makes the body tired through the Time trial but she has to learn to maintain form when tired in the 200ms after.

Day 3 1200ms (3 laps) walk the bends, sprint the straight

This is a lighter one to make sure she is not over doing it because you are walking a fine line between over doing it. She is still getting 600m running but the long breaks should help. Try to stress to her these are not all out sprints but rather at the race pace

Day 4 2x (2x300m) 2 min between reps and 5 min between sets

This should build strength and make her try to maintain things when she is tired in the second set

From here you should let her rest up for the race. It is usually not reccommended to do so much interval work however it is more idea than have her Time trialing every day between now and the race