Gangly teenage runner!

[Woollyweaver]

My 14 year old asthmatic son finished C25K last week and I am so proud of him! It was my idea that he should try to get fit during lockdown, and we started out on the challenge together. Although he only now has mild asthma, he had a few scares and hospital admissions when he was younger which left him lacking in confidence and afraid to do any exercise that made him out of breath. I know he found the running tough, and he had to repeat quite a few runs along the way but he did it! He even bottled his teenage pride and learnt to run slowly.

He came on his first consolidation run with me yesterday. We ran and chatted at a very respectable slow pace for 30 minutes and he reassured me that his breathing was fine, but he confessed that he struggles with extremely tired legs, and often gets tight 'knotted' shoulders when he runs. Having watched his running style, I have to say that I am not surprised! To my inexperienced eye he looks 'all over the place'. Is this a teenage thing? He really looks as though he cannot properly control his long gangly legs and arms - I feel tired just watching him run 😱. Does anyone have any tips/advice, so that I can help him to improve his running style, and maybe expend less energy?!?! I really don't want him to give up now that he has come so far, but I can see he is not entirely at ease with the running yet (although he does acknowledge that is is good to strengthen his lungs). Tbh he is probably just sticking at it to keep his mum happy 🙄!

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

That is a brilliant result......well done.

I think it is a teenage thing, but so is giving up if likely to be seen with mum.

Try to get it to become habit and get him to parkrun when they start back, as that has its own dynamics and should get him hooked.......hopefully.

It is a brilliant time to get a teenager running as it can transform his own physical confidence.

This article about running form for beginners has a few easy to follow guidelines, which will improve his efficiency and make him look and feel more like a runner active.com/running/articles...

What's wrong with keeping mum happy?

[Woollyweaver Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thank you! I think Park Run sounds a good idea when it starts up again, and hopefully with a few weeks more practise he will start to feel much stronger so that it doesn't come as too much of a shock. We only have sheep for an audience around here, so running in public might be a bit daunting at first!.

And thanks for the link about running technique - I shall try to introduce some suggestions tactfully 😁👍

[Dtay1978 Graduate]

Congrats 🥳

[SandraY1 Graduate]

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