How comes my daughter is getting slower?

Hi my daughter who is now 12 was doing pretty well last year at 800 meters doing 2mins 50 after a winters training which seemed to go well, she is really struggling to even break 3mins for 800 meters. Could it be her age as she is going through her age development or could it be her training.

Thank you

Comments

  • Has she lost interest and focus

    is she doing it because she wants to or because she feels she should

  • No she loves to run, she trains at her club twice a week and with myself twice so 4 times in a week in total. Though i have stopped her racing just at present as i don't want her to get put off from something she loves.

  • Tricky age, who knows what is going on in terms of development right now - puberty is chaos.

  • Yes very tricky, though how long if this is the problem would one expect this dip in form to last.

  • Grendel3Grendel3 ✭✭✭

    You say she is training twice a week with her club and then a further 2 times a week with you, is she perhaps overtraining slightly enough to take the edge off what she is doing?

  • DustinDustin ✭✭✭

    has she had a surge in growth this year, more so than last?
    My youngest (nearly 12) shot up last year and her performances were way down on the prior year. This year she has grown less, but has become more toned, and has improved vastly (took 40s off her 1500 time, 13s off her 800)
    I see it quite regularly at the club - it seems to take a while for muscles and tendons to catch up and for their bodies to adapt. 
    I know it can be frustrating for them, but seems to be a common issue. Also there is often a change from U15 to U17 as they become more developed. Its not uncommon for the U15s to be faster.
    She should be OK training 4x a week as long as the two sessions with you are easy (assuming the club ones are harder efforts) 


  • Hi Dustin some very good comments from you, funny enough she trained tonight the best she has for months 2000 m warm up then 4 x 400 around 81-84 sec and 4x 200 around 38-42 secs came off training face beaming as if she was over her problems. Grendel3 i don't reckon she is overtraining as she never complains about training and i'd much rather her train than sit indoors watching TV as arunner myself i'm very careful to monitor her training.

  • Had she perhaps forgotten how to run 800 if it was longer slower runs over the winter?

  • Hi Rich no it is obviously just a problem related to her age hopefully. The idiot Nick Windsor 4 has absolutely no idea about running, as parents we support our children in everything they do. Apart from running my daughter is also a keen dancer and plays piano though running is her 1st love like many people. It would be a lot easier for me if i didn't have to travel all over the place for events and training, i guess Nick Windsor 4 is just a sad lonely person looking to just give critical comments without advise saddo, get a life.

  • Nick i had a look at a few of your Forums, seems to me your just on this site to try and wind people up. Trouble is people like you hide behind computer forums as you don't have the nerve to go out in the public. I bet you was one of these boys who was useless at every kind of sport, the kind who would hide in the corner of the playground. Sport and activities for children promotes good self esteem, friendship, fitness, something you obviously was lacking in life and still are. My daughter has read these comments and would like to thank the positive remarks, however Nick your the kind of person that is obviously a loner with no idea or concept of children growing up. I would feel sorry for you children if you had any??? as they would just be sat in front of the T.V as you would let them do anything. Encourage, support, are actions you have no idea of. 

  • Oh Nick Windsor 4, what a misguided person you are! i truly pity anyone though i doubt that possible you are close too.

    I came on this site for advise from any other parent or coach who could advise, the problems children have with any sport but my daughter's is running, i'm a lone parent and these problems can be difficult. 

    You are just a horrible nasty pice of work, though i do hope you find peace and help in your life as you need it.

  • Tony, Nick did put a "maybe" before that sentence. You seem to have gone off in quite an alarmingly quick fashion at the mere suggestion.

     

    Also, are you a real Wizard? image 

  • Nicky that is twice he has suggested i'm pushy far from it, if he had read my earlier comments he would have seen that my daughter loves to run it gives her great confidance and it is a very social thing as well. Wher she can hang out with her friends. Not to many places for children of her age to go and feel safe and secure. Wizard is my surname.

  • Yes Wizard is the name, very protective other my children i see many people in life push children sometimes in a positive way, others in a negative way. I personally support my children in any activity they do. My daughter runs for enjoyment, her school, club and county. Believe me! it would be a lot easier for myself if she didn't run the miles up and down the motor ways to venues the cold wintery evenings when after a days work i would rather sit indoors than take her to training. 

  • Well Nick with a surname such as Windsor, the name Duke of Windsor comes to mind do the honourable thing abdicate now.image

  • HellywobsHellywobs ✭✭✭

    Gosh I've logged in after a few days away and it's like Mumsnet on here.  I am finding this thread is pretty nasty and so is the parkrun timing one. It's really unpleasant when threads descend into personal insults.Would you be this nasty if you saw each other in person - I suspect not. I think someone should come on here from RW and delete all the nasty comments.  No doubt I will now get lots of sarky responses, but really, is it that difficult to transfer good manners to the internet?  I'm very disappointed.  

    And please don't say "don't come on here if you don't like it", good manners should be the norm.  We're runners and shouldn't need to be nasty.  Amicable disagreement yes.

  • I don't think its particulary nasty Hellybobs.its realistic.........people sometime take the written word in a way not quite planned.......and when you get an emotive subject like kids then people react more than they normally do..

    we all know that being a parent is always trying to work on that fine line between encouragement and dominance.............

    and there are many cases where it happens.....some of whom go on to be the best stars around because of it........its a hard line to judge.....

    Tony has probably seen it happen as well......and sometimes we do it without actualy realsing that we are and its good to take a step back and access our reasons sometimes......image

  • Hellywobs i came on here as a parent with a young aspiring athlete, a single father with a child going through changes in life and dip in performance i was looking for advise. Not somebody trying to accuse me of pushing my daughter into something she did not want to do. I myself take it as a personal insult when one suggests i push my daughter into running. How on earth do we produce athletes in this country with some of the rude, statements made. As my daughter said tonight to run over the fields this evening with her dog was heaven! who are some of you to JUDGE.

  • SideBurnSideBurn ✭✭✭

    The way we produce great athletes in this country is by investing in coaching, which unfortunately, normally costs money.

    She is 12 she enjoys what she is doing; great.

    Sit down with her, discuss her aspirations, join a club. Becoming more than a good club athlete requires an investment in time and money. An athlete tends to peak in their late 20's and requires 8 years to achieve that peak. 

    She will have a lot of distractions coming up in the next few years....

  • Maybe it's a puberty thing. Maybe it's nutrition, is she eating right? Maybe her training needs adjusting?

    I'd sit down and talk to her to make sure nothing is going on that you're not aware of. Then if all is good, then have a chat to her coach about adjustments in nutrition and training.

  • Hi Sideburn thanks for your advise and Tty-to-athlon, my daughter has a good balanced diet plenty of pasta, vegetables, fruit, meat. I've done the sitting down part suggesting maybe giving running a rest for a while whilst her body adjusts, though this is the last thing she wants. So we have decided to stop racing competively at the moment and monitor her training more carefully. Though my daughter would like to move up in distance, so today we are going to do a 1500m and see how she gets on.

  • The 1500 was my distance at school, I did better in it than the 800 image. Just concentrate on her enjoying it rather than improving & the times will come in their own time! 

  • DustinDustin ✭✭✭

    Good luck Tony - I see lots of pushy parents so I can understand some of the comments on here, but from what you have said your daughter seems to enjoy it. I'd maintain that she does her two sessions at the club and let her initiate the runs she does with you, so its her call. 
    As regards the times , I still think its age/development thing, as I said previously my youngest had it last year, and seeing same with several more of our U13s this year (seems to be a little older with the boys).
    I'm a little curious however as to you saying that she will stop racing competitively, yet today your doing a 1500? But please let us know how she gets on.
    Out of interest, which region are you from? With such an uncommon surname I think we would have noticed the name in the county regionals if you were (relatively) local to us - south/southeast
    All the best

  • Tony, cannot give great advice on running but as a cricket coach who has watched  boys develop from 9 - 16 it is very interesting to see  kids develop at different rates and have peaks and troughs. I have listened to wiser coaches than myself who have gone through this cycle before. In my opinion you are doing all the right things, being supportive and taking coaching advice. As frustrating as it may be I think it is a case of being patient and remaining confident that the good times will return, talent is permanent but off course we have to keep persevering. Hope that is of some use. Good luck.

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