Parents naturally want to share our love of endurance sports with our kids, and young kids want to try the things that their parents love. There is a right way to do this but many adults make crucial errors during the process. Doing it right can make the difference between seeing your kid grow into an endurance lover or not; doing it right means that we parents should do the kid-appropriate “workouts” and races with them rather than the kids doing “adult-appropriate” training or racing with us.
Fun First
The first running or biking that kids should experience should be focused on fun. Go for a little walk and run on a cool trail or around a playground. Help control the early pace when the kids have energy and be very patient as things slow down naturally from there. Keep the distance so short that it leaves the kids yearning for more. The worst thing you can do is to go too long on that first bike ride. It can be fun to bike to a favorite playground or to a familiar landmark like a school or park. Bring some water and a snack and have a picnic. Make it a fun time together and your kids will want to go again soon.
Skills Second
After fun, developing skills are the second priority for young athletes. Get some orange cones and do a bike skills session on the grass, practicing turns, using their water bottle, biking one-handed, shifting and mounting/dismounting. You can play games like garbage ball and tag on bikes in the grass – fun and challenging for kids and parents alike.
Speed Third
Physiologically, kids’ bodies are primed for developing speed at short distances just before, during and after adolescence. Short bursts of speed are appropriate “workouts” for these age groups. This can include telephone pole sprints, hill sprints, grass tag and other like games. Work on speed now with short rides and they will have those speed skills for their longer efforts later in life.
Endurance Last
Adult endurance athletes tend to love “long and slow.” We go out for long rides and runs at an aerobic effort to build our endurance. This type of workout is not appropriate for kids who are adolescents or younger. Don’t bring your young kid with you on a 40-mile bike ride or a 10-mile run at a slow pace. This is hard on their growing bodies, with muscles and tendons/ligaments stretched out by lengthening bones. The slow pace is the opposite of what they are developmentally primed to use for speed development. “Slow and long” can quickly become “boring” to a young athlete, a feeling that they might not forget for a long time.
It is important to share our love of activity with our kids. Do it right by sharing the age appropriate activities that will help them develop a love for activity, the skills to be able to reach their potential and bursts of speed at very short distances.
