Running advice: From what age can you practice road running and try to perform well?

Questions about running arise from a very young age. Basically, one might imagine that it is good. The more a child moves, the better, we say.

But what about a more advanced version? In short, when can we start getting a little more serious about road running, by increasing the distances and/or the intensity? What precautions should you take?

Answer with a training connoisseur, Fernand Brasseur (USBW), present around the slopes for decades and whose young prodigy Thomas Bascourt (13 years old) has just released an incredible time of 16’49 over 5 km in Lille, at an average of 18 km/h.

From what age can you take part in road races to improve your performance?

There is not a direct answer to this question. Firstly because everything depends on the athletes, then because it is the whole process which is important.

The answer to this question is therefore full of nuances. At home, we are pushing towards general training (running, throwing, jumping, hurdles, etc.) among young people. It’s good. But some people get bored with that.

Take the case of Thomas Bascourt. At 7 or 8 years old, he often got into trouble during training. There was too much waiting between two long jumps or between two hockey ball throws. During an hour, he would work maybe 10 minutes. Even though he already knew he wanted to run. I would say, since you want an age, that around 10 or 11 years old, we can do 30 to 40′ of endurance two or three times a week. I never worked with Thomas 5 or 6 times a week. Two or three, I repeat. No more. Other less traumatic sports such as swimming and cycling complete the program.

Tous nos conseils running

Should we only work on endurance in younger children, not speed?

Yes. My method has always been characterized by an emphasis on gentle endurance, regardless of the age of the athlete. There is no point in wanting to build a house on foundations that are not solid, they always say. I sometimes see parents who are going to push, who perhaps want to see their child achieve results as quickly as possible that they have perhaps never managed to achieve. That doesn’t interest me.

I want harmony. The child is there to develop harmoniously. The important thing for the child is just to run, especially for endurance. We are not here to make a young person the best in Belgium. We are here to help him grow. Immediately doing fartlek, hills… it’s not good if you don’t have a base behind it. In any case, I am not advocating. We objectify the child’s abilities with a VMA test, then we essentially work at 65%-70% of it…

What are the risks of wanting to push a child towards performance too quickly?

If we don’t allow the foundations to settle, we’re heading towards tendon problems, tears, anemia… A whole lot of injuries.

Apart from the physical aspect, we are heading towards frustrations, even disgust with sports practice. It’s really not good.

I repeat it one last time, we need harmony, dialogue with the young person, with their parents. The coach and the coach must pull the rope in the same direction…