Track and Field

[rocklee]

Hi, any track and field experts out there?


DS 1 (in P3) has been very disppointed when he was not selected for any track and field event during the school sports day. He has great interest and wanted so much to take part in the competition. Unfortunately, perhaps he’s just not talented.

He asked me to teach him how to run fast? I told him that mummy took part in many heats during my school days but never once qualified to compete. He got even more disappointed after hearing that.

I encourage him to keep up the interest by working on his stamina for the longer distance run since he doesn’t have the speed.

I just wonder even though he may not be talented, can he still be trained? If yes, how to go about training?

Thanks in advance.


Any advice from the experts?

[lwm99]

Not sure about kids. But for adults, to improve running, gradually increase distance and speed (but not both at the same time), and do not increase more than 10% of the the total distance run per week from previous week. As long as you are not aiming to become elite runners, by running more should put the kids among the faster runners in the school. No matter what, running benefits many other areas like health, concentration, etc.


Sign him up for one of the kids' runs will also provide some motivation and run too.

[sleepy]

Depending on which category he intends to train for. Long distance or short distance.


I was in the school team in primary school. Pocketed more than a dozen of trophies in track & field. Arh... good old days, now my feet ache if I've to walk one bus stop distance :faint:

Anyway, my proficiency was 100m and 4x100m. 200m was alright but I usually ended up getting silver instead of gold, not enough stamina towards the last 50m. So marathon is completely out for me. Couldn't even pass 2.4km I can only spring to complete race quickly, cannot handle long distance.

My coach just made us do warm up, stretching, run 100m. Rest, chit chat, run 100m again. Don't seem to recall any special training method by him :lol:

[rocklee]

Hi there,


Thank you for the response. DS1 is interested in 100m and 200m run but he lacks the speed. Not sure if it has anything to do with a pair of good running shoes, the postures, the sprint etc?

[lwm99]

Even when running short distances, beside the speed, it is also important to build up the distance and endurance as well. Primary school kids at most run and train a few kilometers at one go.


Learn the right way to run is essential. Just like you need to learn how to swim.

[cwongny]

You can sign him up with some athletics training lessons for kids. Either go for private running clubs or ActiveSG.


For ActiveSG, you can refer to the link below:
https://www.myactivesg.com/programmes/academy/athletics

[deardear07]

i dun recall any special techniques too… just keep training for endurance especially… speed is almost always most difficult to train.