Early training for young sprinters

[cwil1]

I have a son who is 7 going on 8 and is in his first season of track. This season he competed in the 100 - 200 and 400. My goal is to make him a very strong 100 and 200 meter sprinter when he reaches high school.

After going through this season, I feel it would be more beneficial for him to compete in the 200 - 400 and 800 until he's about 11 years old to build a strong base and endurance.

Would this be a mistake? Would this adversely affect his ability to develop the fast twitch muscle fibers and speed necessary to be a solid 100 meter sprinter in his teenage years?

He has very good speed now but I am not sure if I see the value or sense in competing 100 meters at this age. I was thinking along these lines:

8 to 11 years old: 200, 400 and 800 meters

11 to 13 years old: 100, 200 and 400 meters

High School: 100 and 200 meters with occasional 400 meters.


I would appreciate your opinion on this.

BTW: He competed in the 400 meters this past weekend in the Florida State AAU meet and his missing the two weeks of training because of achillies soreness really affected his endurance. He was far off of his best time and I decided to shut him down for all of the other events. Thanks for your advice in that particular matter.

[greatwhitesprinter]

I have seen so many kids amazing for there ages at 7-12 years burn out by the time they reach high school in all sports, not just track. If you want your son to be able to run well through high school I suggest not training him now for a specific event but instead run him enough to keep him in good all around shape. Let him play other sports such as football and basketball and when he turns 11 or 12, turn up his track training gradually untill he gets into high school then let his coach take over.

[cwil1]

Thanks. He does play baseball and football as well. Track and field basically come third out of the three sports he competes in. I use the track and field to give him an edge in the other two sports. Having said that, speed kills and having good explosive 100 meter speed certainly increases his chance for success in all other sports.

My major concern is whether continued training for the 800, 400 and 200 would rob him of the chance to develop the explosive speed needed for the 100 once he matures into his teens.

I totally agree with you on the burnt out sprinters. In looking at all of the youth track results from years back, all of the record holders and winners are kids that I don't hear anything from now.

[George Payan]

Keep him in the short sprints (100, 200 and 400) and maybe the 800 occasionally, but the priority is the short sprints. This would develop the fast twitch muscles. The more you train and race, the more the fast twitch muscles develop.

Individuals are born with a certain percentage of fast twitch and slow twitch muscles. From what you are born with, the muscles must be taught to run fast. Keep young athletes running fast. By learning to run fast, they will always run fast. If you teach the muscles to run slow, they will run slow. In training for the 800, the pace is slower than the effort in the shorter distances. Therefore, when you decide to race the shorter distances, there is a delay in developing the muscles to run fast.

Burnout is a condition of doing the same thing frequently. By participating in other sports, this is not an issue. Burnout becomes a concern once an athlete becomes specialized and at that time the principle of variation will take care of this.

Coach Payan
www.CoachesEducation.com