Physical training for 14/15/16 yr olds

[RichT]

Trying to split out the Historical WOC Results thread to cover junior physical training.

I help out with the local school kids who are a mix of technical ability and normally have other sports interests as well as orienteering.

The structured parts of the week are
Tuesday - 45minute run after school
Wednesday – 60minute school o club which involves both physical/technical components
Thursday – 60minutes at Club Talent Squad during the evening which is complete physical mix
Sunday – Orienteering event

They will probably also be involved in swim, cycling, football, hockey training one evening, not to mention gcse studies, music practice, etc.

Question is, how much more/less should they be doing?
As the boys are coming up to running Blue and the girls Green, where do you try and fit in a long 60-75minute run (which will be the time on their feet with mistakes), a shorter tempo run, etc, etc?

Is there any documentation I could read about training routines for this age group?

[batty]

I always think it is hard on the boys moving from light green to blue when some are only just 14. They would not be running a cross country race for an hour.
I think you need to be careful with young athletes running long distances. Many injuries can occur as they are still developing and interval training or hill reps would probably be of much greater benefit than a long run and they can work at their own ability.
My advice would be get advice from an athletics coach.

[Copepod]

Assuming these 14 / 15 / 16 year olds attend a local state school, they probably live within 5 miles, so should also add a few miles cycling per day.

[Strider]

I help out with the local school kids who are a mix of technical ability and normally have other sports interests as well as orienteering.

The structured parts of the week are
Tuesday - 45minute run after school
Wednesday – 60minute school o club which involves both physical/technical components
Thursday – 60minutes at Club Talent Squad during the evening which is complete physical mix
Sunday – Orienteering event

Question is, how much more/less should they be doing?
As the boys are coming up to running Blue and the girls Green, where do you try and fit in a long 60-75minute run (which will be the time on their feet with mistakes), a shorter tempo run, etc, etc?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to your question. Each individual will be different and it depends on a number of factors, such as training age, maturity, individual response to training and recovery, etc....

At first glance it looks as though they are doing a substantial amount of physical exercise at the moment, so I would be wary about doing too much on top of this. I would look to try to tailor programmes to the individual, which is more difficult and time consuming, but will reap better rewards in the long term.

I would also try to ensure that they are keeping records of their training to allow you (and them) to monitor their ongoing development and look to begin to periodise their work, if possible, to allow you to begin to focus on different areas at different times of the year.

Sorry for the rather generic answer, but as I say, this is difficult one to get right and is certainly not something where a 'one size fits all approach' should be applied.

S.