I know this is mostly adult orientated, but I need to ask.
My daughter is recovering from shin splints, (She does sprints, mid distance) my fault, as I didn’t know any better and let her dictate her own “extracurricular” after School track and weekend training…which amounted to way too much…she is very agressive, competitive and a hard working girl who is hard to get to slow down.
I have looked all over the web and found some information on training, so as to help my daughter keep from training too much…but…
How relevant it is to an 11 year old 6TH Grader, I don’t know.
I would like to find a program designed for girls in her age group, with whatever is needed for her to succeed, and keep from injuring herself.
Even with the shin spints she is winning her races by large distances…
I can only imagine how much faster she would run if she had some competition…she has won all her races this year.
Her times from Last nights meet:
100 meter dash: 13.6 seconds
200 meter dash: 28.8 seconds
400 meter dash: 64.4 seconds
Her coaches want her to try competing in the Junior Olympics this summer, and I was hoping to find a training program to help her with.
I apologize if my post should not have been placed here, but, I just wanted to at least ask.
Do workouts on turf or grass for a few weeks. Use a tennis ball to massage the bottom arch of her foot. Also might want to check out orthotics and massage for her calves.
ESTI, thanks for the advice about getting a soft orthotic.
As for the Training Programs, that is the first place I looked (for sale items), but like I said in my original post… I need something appropriate for an 11 year old girl…
I was basically asking for referals, as, I don’t think my daughter can train as agressive as most of these programs are set up?
I don’t know… that is why I’m asking.
A little can go along way with an 11 year-old. i expect she’s doing PE in school and is active… this acts as fitness and tempo work in itself.
I believe that you only need two sprint sessions a week at this age… the other activities acts as recovery and fitness. Develop strength with a medicine ball and bodyweight circuits… but keep all the volumes low. Keep half of the running on good grass or in trainers to.
I would say first and foremost though, that you should see a physio to examine her flexibility, any inbalances, core issues etc. Any problems need to be sorted now… a magnitude of things could be causing her shin pain… which is bad news at 11 years old.
She needs to sort her form now aswell… i wish i had at a young age. Does the local track have a coach who can look at her form?
Well, actually she has Japanese and Orchestra instead of PE.
We figured since she is in Cross Country in the Fall, Basketball in the Winter and Track in the Spring at School, that was enough to fill in for PE, as this way she was able to take an extra Class.
Is there a special doctor to do the Physical?
She had a School Sports physical about 6 months ago, but I doubt that is the same thing your talking about?
She only uses her spkes for meets, and all running is mostly on the track (mondo) or on grass.
If she has a series of meets now at the end of the school year, bring the training volume WAY down and let her performances come up and her shin splints go down. The meets will take care of her needs. Age 11 is very young for an extensive training program- her performances are very good now but you must be careful. it is always better to undertrain than overtrain and especially at a young age. The previous advice is good also.
yes, she has one last meet this coming Wedsnday…
it is the “All City Championship” which all the Middle Schools get together and compete…
This is the meet they have been working towards all Season.
She is also going to do the AAU Track meet this July in Tacoma.
I really appreciate letting me know that she needs less training. I will just keep it at what she recieves during School sports and I will remind her that she needs to not do extra…she is a very competitive girl…
which surprises me, because she has been in sports since she was age 5, and was not overly agressive.
But in the past 2 years, she pushes herself in Soccer, this past fall in Cross Country and this past Winter in Basketball to be the best but, she plays so agressive she gets too many fouls…
2 years ago, she was happy to just play… but now, since she feels confidence, she is pushing herself too much.
So, I will keep an eye on her and we will concentrate on just having fun again.
I really appreciate the very good advice, and thankful for this forum… I will be spending lots of time reading here.