We had a rule growing up, that I wasn't allowed to begin weight lifting until I was 16. This was enforced by my parents and in the meantime, I grew to 6'1". I know lots of folks from my cohort that began to early and stunted their growth. I'm glad they knew better. That's of course, in regards to strength training. I was also a competitive swimmer from age 6 to 14. We practiced most nights and traveled for meets on the weekend. This burned me out. I never wanted to swim again until this year. I also remember giving up on baseball because I was "pushed" to practice pitching, like a chore. When given the option of trying a different spring sport at my new school, I walked away from the years of practice, summer camps and the batting cage and pitching machine that my father purchased and constructed in our backyard. I revolted. Not because I didn't like the sport--I had a blast being out there with my friends and improving year-to-year. Why did I quit? For my independence? I was 14 and had something to prove. I still don't have an answer after all of these years... the potential I had makes me sick, so I just try to forget about it. The one thing that is for sure is that I was ingrained with a work ethic from a very early age which still shines through and has compounded over the years through my schooling, my job and my current athletic endeavors. So much can be learned about oneself through being physically active so starting at an early age can definitely have its benefits because of the lasting results... just be careful

There is a reason NA Sports puts a restriction on age. You are not allowed to participate in an Ironman sanctioned race until 18 years old. Some kids/teens may think they are ready, but really. I would be very surprised to find enough teens that would be that dedicated. They may just want to finish, as most of us do, but what about all the complications??? I'm sure NA Sports would raise all their fees, as insurance for the event would go up to cover more, and younger individuals.  Some things in life are a blessing. I was not introduced to endurance events until my mid 20s. I think if kids/teens want to do these endurance events, they should wait their turn. You can't vote until your 18, so they can wait for this. I think one of the biggest problems with kids/teens today, is that parents let them do anything and give them everything. Set boundaries, let them mature. Teach them they can't have everything they want. Teach them to wait and the reward will be sweeter. Plus, if they can handle waiting a few years, they may be able to participate later in life as well. Or, they may find other interests and laugh that they ever thought about doing an endurance event. Let 'em train all they want, and when there time comes, then they will be prepared. Until then, wait your turn!

I don't think you can find the age requirement on an Ironman site until you register through active.com. Unfortunately, you can only look it up when registration is open, and most fill up within minutes-days. As far as other iron-distance races, I know the Silverman Tri in Nevada has an age group for 16-19 year olds.

As far as other distances, I agree with Gale. There should be restrictions on ages and distances allowed. If parents and the media-driven race directors are striving to have themselves or races recognized, I think there are better ways to go about it. Parents, don't try to live through your kids. Race directors, if you put on a good race, you will develop a good reputation for the right reasons, and your races will grow.

Personally, I think the best way for kids/teens to be involved with any endurance event with an age requirement, is through volunteering. We've all seen the young ones out there helping. Without them, and all volunteers for that matter, we would all struggle to finish. And when I am old and nursing "old" injuries that allow me to not compete, I will be out there volunteering and encouraging those whose time has come.

Im running a marathon in two weeks!

Sara, 17, FL

All good comments.  One thing to note though, for many sports, people reach peak fitness and race conditioning in their mid to late 20's.  Maybe not so much for "true" endurance sports, but I think the article started out with 30 minutes or longer.  My son competes in mountain biking.  The top national atheletes are in their mide to late 20's.  If you waited until 18-20 years old, you just won't be able to compete - unless your natural talent is just incredible.  You need to start younger.  But the sport is actually designed to deal with young riders.  When you first start out you're a "beginner", which usually means races that take maybe 30-60 minutes, which I think is very realistic and doable for anyone 10 years of age and older.  Then as you advance in skill and category, the races get longer.  I think for young atheletes, the risk is more about burn-out.  I see some parents really pushing those kids, they are putting in the hours those 20 year old pros are putting in, most burn out and quit.  Like someone mentioned, you have to let them be kids, and training 2-5 hours per day just doesn't allow that!  For my son, just ready to turn 16, he's doing about 2/3 the number of hours an adult would be doing trying to compete at the same level.  This is still quite a few hours.  We encourage him to try and stick with his plan, but if he says he just wants a break, we don't push it and he does what he wants.  Then we made sure he had some months between season, no biking unless he wanted to go ride with his friends, and just doing what he wanted.  But we encouraged him to remain active and he did. Once you get a habit of all that exercise, it's weird to totally stop, but if you can do what you want it's not like you're on a training plan.  As he gets older, he'll need to be more disciplined and doing more hours.  But hopefully by then he'll be more mature and know what he wants to do.  We just need to keep him interested and having fun, then if he wants to be competitive he can be.  That's the main reason we haven't gotten him a coach yet. The team he's on is saying he needs a coach, but I'm afraid it's to soon and to serious at this time.  Maybe next year, when he's about to turn 17, if he's still serious, then a coach might be the next step.  I think we should be patient, give the kids time and the chance to go at their own pace, and provide opportunities as they grow up - in age and skill!  I do know I've seen several very good, nationally competitive youth atheletes just drop out.  If they quit before they really get a chance, we all miss out.

Ken

This is really interesting to read!!  I am currently 17 years old, have completed 3 marathons ( will be 4 before I'm 18) and am also training for an Ironman AZ. I have been the same height since I was 12, and was verified a few years ago, that I am done growing. My parents encourage me to be the best I can be at running and triathlon. I take many precautions, and have yet to be injured.

A wee bit disturbing to have an "expert" openly muse about an 11 year old child running 50 miles (a double marathon) or an IM Triathlon. Disturbing and sad. I'd substitute "endurance junkie" for endurance "OCD".

Maturation growth plates and competition aside, perhaps the question is "Why would a child WANT to do this?" Or, heaven forbid, a parent support and encourage such activity. This would take the discussion away from healthy physical activity into the realm of unhealthy mental issues as well as irresponsible and incompetent parenting.

Perhaps it is best that some adults don't become parents.

As an active parrent as well as Ironman and marathoner, I think 10k's are about as far as a pre-teen (under 14) should take it.  Half marathons/marathons are ok once a teenager (15-18) has been running for a period of time (3-4 months) consistantly, however, there are always exceptions.

I don't want either of my two children getting into endurance events until they hit that magical post growth, post hormonal stage of their life.  The human body is a great machine IF it is broken in properly.  We must allow our children to make their own physical activity choices, but we do owe it to them to let them be kids first and then only after they show the ability, to become athletes when they are physically and emotionally ready.

"It's coming" 11 - year old IM triathletes and double marathoners, seeing as a 13 year old wants to do so? Ah, no. But if irresponsible parents, seeking to live vicariously through thier children, or a misguided grab for "money and fame" attempt to go that route, then we hope responsible officials and child advocates will prevent that.

What next.... by that logical extension, then we should be here next year pondering 9 year old marathoners; 7 year old half-marathoners, 5 year old 10k races. Why, a toddler might just do a 5k race with a safe injection of a cycle of steroids!

Jesse, "disturbing" is an apt word. The last thing we need is more dialogue around this. Such dialogue merely plants seeds, condones it, makes it seem acceptable. That is, unless a person thinks its acceptable. And hey, think of all that fame and fortune, right?

And I was "generalizing about endurance athletes" - not at all! As both an endurance athlete AND a team sports athlete, I believe I was specific enough in condemning this line of thinking and practice. Full stop. However, I disagree with your clearly generalized view of youth team sports having a negative influence; in fact, many unique benefits are to be gained by youth participants in team sports that are exclusive to individual endurance events.

There's just no getting around the fact that some adults have a confused parental compass. These people need more capacity-building, more skills, more enlightening. As a parent of 4 children, I have one (ironically just 11 yrs old) who has the potential to be an elite runner. He won the school board district X-C championships as a first time competitor. He was up against seasoned soccer and hockey cross-trainers, and competitive, pure runners. As proud of him as I was, I would never take him on a 15 run or a 100k bike ride. Or set up a daily training regime for him. If I did, it would be time to take a good look in the mirror.

I began running at the fairly early age of 6, instead of PE class at school. I ran my first 5k at age 8, my first 10k at age 13, and my longest run to date, a 9 mile race also at age 13. As a kid, I was always the one pushing to go farther, with both my parents (also runners) helping me train properly so I didn't burn out from increasing mileage too quickly. Unfortunately, I kind of burned out the next year as I tried to train again for the same 9 mile race and ended up not exercising for about a month, and running 2 instead of 4 miles a day for a while afterwards. I think it was because I ran year-round, except during the summer which was swimming. My parents encouraged me to keep training, thinking I was just losing motivation, but let me stop when I lost interest. However, despite burning out for a short while, at 16 I went to college and started rowing Division I. Now, at age 18, I am still rowing during the school year and cycling during summers, and have every intention of becoming a true triathlete and doing a half-Ironman in the next 1-2 years and a full Ironman whenever I feel ready. I have never had a serious sports-related injury and I'd say I'm more sturdily built than anyone I know who's my age.

I think that in general kids should be encouraged to push themselves but only to a point. I was the kid that would dream about breaking the 4-minute mile and running a marathon in the same breath, when I was about 12. Luckily my parents convinced me that this could wait until I was a little older, and now I definitely agree with their decision, having witnessed my father running both a marathon and an ultramarathon (it was "run as far as you can in 8 hours"). Endurance training and competition is quite strenuous, as we all know, and I'd say that I'd put a cap on training time (any sport) at 2 hours a day for kids under 16 and 1 hour/day for under 10. That's just from personal experience though.

As for the responsibilities of race directors (especially Ironman and half-Ironman events, marathons, half marathons, and century rides), I think that participants under the age of 16 should be allowed to race on a case-by-case basis, determined by previous racing experience. If a 14 year old kid has run a 15k, let him/her run a half marathon. If they've run a half marathon and have a proper training plan for a full marathon, let them run it. Although I've never been an exceptional athlete, there are definitely kids out there who are. For example, I recall racing a 5k run and winning my age group (U-14), but only because the first place finisher in my age group won the overall women's category (though keep in mind it wasn't that big of a race).

Anyway, that's my rambling two cents.