Kids Running - Breathing

Ed Poirier, an experienced youth coach, is superb at creating ways to help children with pieces of their running. In this letter, he explains a drill for breathing.
- Carol

BREATHING by Coach Ed Poirier

July, 2008

Dear Ed,
Hi my name is Anthony, I was surfing the internet and came across your site. My son is 7 years old and his best time in the mile is 7:30 and in 2 miles it is 16:40. Is that a good time and if so, how should I move forward with his training. His conditioning and stamina is fine. Do you have an exercise that teaches breathing that I can share with him? He runs 2 miles per day. Should I encourage him to increase his distance or run the shorter distance faster? Which is better to increase his stamina?

Thank you in advance,
Anthony

Photo courtesy of photosbyjohn.net
Hi Anthony,
That is one fast kid. At 7-years-old, 2 miles a day is good. What will happen is he will get naturally faster just for the fact that the 2-mile runs are putting him in great condition.

To help his breathing he could run in place on a soft surface (grass) and practice keeping his upper body loose and breathing naturally as he increases his pace to as fast as he can. The drill should take 10 seconds from running in place to a gradual all-out effort. He should not lose form and he should keep his upper body relaxed.

Repeat this drill 5 times 2 or 3 days a week. As far as running short fast distances he should do this at track meets or at practice with other kids or have him chase you around. This should be a fun for him. Everything he is doing is working so really just keep up the good work.
Coach Ed

Coach Ed is a Youth Fitness Specialist with the Attleboro YMCA. The Attleboro (Massachusetts) YMCA is the first YMCA in the nation to embark on a healthy youth initiative.

carolgoodrow@verizon.net