Coming Soon: Terra Kids Run Camp!

Announcements

Apr 18

As a former teacher, I take advantage of any opportunity to work with students, so it comes as no surprise that the activity I am most excited about Terra adding to the summer schedule is our brand new Terra Kids Run Camp! This has been on my radar for years, and the addition of Tiffany to our staff has helped me be able to follow through with some awesome ideas I've had for years.

The most exciting part of camp this year is that we are able to offer it completely free for to up to 50 students thanks to the generous support from Wright Brothers Construction! This is a huge benefit to the youth in our community. We are able to welcome children of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy the healthy habit of running thanks to Wright Brothers Construction's commitment!

What is the Terra Kids Run Camp?

The Terra Kids Run Camp will be a week-long day camp hosted at Terra Running Company and Lee University for rising 1st through 6th graders, both boys and girls! We will have some indoor instruction, snack time, and games, as well as running at the Forum on the Lee University campus.

The TERRA Kids Run Camp will be following the Road Runners Club of America Kids Run the Nation curriculum, which emphasizes the FUNdamentals of Youth Running:

MAKE RUNNING FUN: First and foremost, running should be fun. Do not use running as a punishment. Encourage children to participate and try their best.
EMPHASIZE GOOD FORM: Teach youth good form early and help eliminate bad habits such as excessive arm movement, twisting of the upper body, or over striding.
FOCUS ON PARTICIPATION: In elementary school, running should be about participation and developing a healthy lifestyle, not about being the fastest kid in the school or program. Save competition for middle and high school aged students.
RESPECT INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: Avoid a one-size-fits-all running program. Accommodate for differences in abilities within the group. Children mature both physically and emotionally at different rates, and this will factor into their ability to participate in running. Ensure physically challenge youth can participate.
LIMIT SYSTEMATIC TRAINING BEFORE PUBERTY: Before puberty children are rapidly growing and changing. Excessive, systematic training may interfere with normal growth and cause injury in a child.

Between the ages of 3 and 9, encourage regular exercise, including organized running as outlined in the Kids Run the Nation Program.

Around the age of 8 to 12, children may enjoy participation in a more organized running program that has a more systematic training environment that lasts 2-to 3-months.

Around the age of 12 for girls, and 14 for boys, key developmental changes will enable students to increase training distance and duration leading to participation in a systematic and competitive training environment.
INCREASE RUNNING WORKLOAD GRADUALLY: Running workload includes volume (distance), intensity (speed or effort), and frequency (number of days a week). Just like with adults’ running training, children should start a running program with a low-volume, low-intensity plan and limit frequency to a couple of days per week. Workload should increase over the duration of the program, but should remain appropriate for the individual runner.
PARTICIPATE IN AGE-APPROPRIATE EVENTS: Running in a kid’s fun run or youth track event can be a great experience for kids.

For children 5 and under focus on “dash” events that range from a few yards to 400 meters.

For children 5 and over, kids fun runs that are a ½ to 1 mile long may be considered, but allow for a combination of running and walking.

Children ages 8-12 and over may want to participate in a 5K run.

Children ages 13-15 and older may want to participate in a 10K to half marathon event.

Children 15-18 and older may want to participate in a marathon or further distance.

These are general guidelines and the distance a child can physically and emotionally tolerate will depend on the individual, however longer distances (10K and over) should wait until after puberty.

These guidelines are based on the ten developmental principles that guide training and racing for young distance runners outlined in the book Training for Young Distance Runners by Larry Greene, PhD and Russ Pate, PhD, published by Human Kinetics.