How long does your 5/6 year old take to run 1km?

[BusWankers]

DD is 5 (6 in December), and has been trying to run 1km. She's got good core strength and loves swimming and cycling and gymnastics, does ballet, scooting, playground, climbing trees all good stuff.... But we realised that whilst she runs around the playgrounds etc it's all in short bursts and she isn't really doing prolonged aerobic exercise.

Anyway she wants to be able to run all the way to her Nana's which is just over a km away. We've been out a few times practising and running with bits of walking.
Her fastest time so far is 8:52 - she's yet to manage to run all the way, but she's only started this last week and has chosen to 4 runs so far. I've been encouraging her to run a bit further,and prompting her to run again after a short walking break (10-20m or so). She can currently do it with 3 walking breaks.

What kind of time do your kids do it in?

I don't want to push he too fast but think 1km is probably something she should really already be able to do (and I think she will be the end of October easily)

I would think for many 5/6yo running 1km as a run is boring so you’ll get start/stop and bursts because they make it like play. It’s how they run in the playground as you said.

It’s definitely better to focus on aerobic activity at this age (you’re right that’s important) than speed because many won’t actually run at their ability due to maturity iyswim?

I was not aware we should be recording our 5 year old child's personal best.

She does swimming, cycling and gymnastics but apparently does no prolonged aerobic exercise?!

At that age if the child wants to be timed you are best doing it in some form of fun not actually quantifiable way. For example mine used to say "time me to that lampost" and I would count in elephants or chimpanzees or something. so they could do it in 10 elephants this time and try to do it in 9 elephants next time. In reality I wasnt even counting anything.

What a strange post

i would never time my 6 year old’s PBs. She is active and enjoys exercise and that’s all that matters for now surely.

I’d like to think you were joking…

I would like to think so as well however having been involved in the world of junior competitive sports I fear sadly she is not.

A lot of races have a minimum age to join in.

i used to run 5ks and so on and often there would be a “family” run of 1k but even that would usually have a minimum age of 8 or so.

very young kids of this age aren’t encouraged to do long runs.

I agree with others about junior park run as it'll give more focus to running rather than just randomly running 1k on her own.

Your daughter can start off walking it / running in short bursts and work up to running the whole way over the next few years. Nobody cares and it's emphatically not a race.

My daughter's personal best is 11:20 for 2k which isn't particularly outstanding according to the park run stats guide but she's 7.

We did a 2 or 2.5k run once a week as a family for a while. It was on muddy trails with some moderate hills and would take about 20-25 mins when my daughter was around 8 or 9. We did it because she was pretty much the slowest in the year to try to build up some strength (and me and her dad were running anyway). We would let her walk when she needed to.

I'm 45 and still employ a run walk strategy when running 😊

I don't get why people are giving the OP a hard time.
To me it reads as someone with slight concern her DC isn't as fit as she should be, that's all.
Hopefully she has realised her DC is fine.

My then 7 year old entered a race, got lost (it was not her fault - the race organisers severely cocked up) and ended up running 10K.

Just boasting really. I've no idea what time she did it in, as I was frantic, knowing my 7 year old was running on roads. When she (& two other children) turned up she was completely unfazed. Slightly out of breath, though.

This! I have extremely active Gdcs but I can’t imagine them ever wanting to run a timed km!

My five year old does Junior Park Run (a “really boring one” around football fields, coincidentally!

Junior Park Run is really fun for the kids, and the simple football field arrangement means they can run without parents and be in sight at all times. It works really well.

My five year old is the slowest at park run and he does 2km in 25 mins or so. His speedy friend does 2km in 16 mins. So 1km in 8 mins sounds speedy to me!

I don't think there's any reason that justifies timing a 5yo child's run. That's very odd.
If she likes running great, let her run.
But there's no frame of reference for what a 5yo should be able to run in what time.. because that's kind of demented?

I have no idea! My dd6 prefers cycling and can happily cycle for over an hour, if that’s a guide.

Do be careful - young skeletons can damage easily. I did a lot of running tarmac and sun-hardened fields as a young child and I got terrible tendon issues from overuse (knees and ankles). Contrast my dh who took up longer distance running aged 11 and became a running machine and is still incredibly good at running age 50.

All bodies are different. I would encourage a mix of running and walking until age 8, do not time it, get truly excellent shoes and if your child is in a growth spurt (measure accurately every week) then stop running until it ends.

Also focus on other activities to gain strength and balance to help support your little runner

Not that it matters, as her level of fitness sounds fine, but what do you mean by she 'has to stop' to walk? Is this because she is so out of breath that she actually can't continue? I think a journey from one house to another is not really a set up for a continuous run . if you got her to run the same distance around a set course (like PP have mentioned park run) she would be able to do it, especially if someone was jogging continuously alongside her.

For comparison my 5 yo does a 2k parkrun on Sundays and her run time is 13 mins.
It was almost 17 mins when she started, age 4.
8:52 for 1k isn’t amazing but isn’t too bad either. Good on her for getting in to it! I’d recommend joining park run and doing it with a friend or friends, with as little pressure as possible! It’s just meant to be an enjoyable (free) activity.

To clarify the junior parkrun “running around football fields” point, in order to actually run a junior park run you need all the children to be within adult sight at all times. That usually means loops of a field because you need say 10 Marshalls for that whereas if it was a less repetitive route you’d probably need 30. Some junior parkruns really struggle for volunteers. They are well organised and the kids that turn up love it. Take your child down and volunteer to help out. Initially you’ll probably want to run with her, which is totally fine and accepted. You get the odd “go faster Oliver!” dickhead parent however the vast majority of parents just encourage their kids to run it without really worrying too much about their times. The kids themselves will pay more attention to the times as they get older and stronger.’

My DD is a terrible runner. She's 6 now and from her 2 sports days it's pretty obvious that running is not her forte!

Most of the time she stops halfway through and skips. (She swims very well, does ballet, tap & modern and plays football - she's fit, she just doesn't have the coordination for running yet!)

Some kids are runners. I wouldn't say comparing them timewise is particularly helpful (especially given the quite large ability difference between just 6 and almost 7).

So could my DD run 1km in one go, no. Would she ask to try, absolutely not!

The tiger mums (and dads) do this near us. Some of them even have their DC on treadmills. Admittedly their DC are the best at sports because they're out doing timed cross country every weekend with their parents (we see them as we are wandering in the woods with the dog looking at sticks and leaves)

They are very high pressured families so maybe the running is a way to ensure they don't end up super stressed? I worry for their joints though.

You say What's odd about "do you want to run now or carry on walking.?"

You originally said "I've been encouraging her to run a bit further,and prompting her to run again after a short walking break"

That suggests you're not giving an option... If that's not the case, that's good. It's so important at a young age for them to understand and listen to their bodies. Knowing their baseline will help them to push it and develop.

I see a lot of anxiety and mixed messages in your OP. You seem to want to be coaching your child when they have an innocent goal that they will be able to achieve themselves with practice. Give them plenty of opportunities to practice and meet their goal but you don't need to overthink or over engineer this!

Any athletics coaching at this age would be focussed on fun. If you think they have a talent that needs nurturing, then I suggest you find a club to send her too.

I think if a child has a goal like this and is interested in seeing how fast they can go - crack on, that’s how kids get into sports. If you are cracking the whip and pushing her to be faster - not so cool. But doesn’t sound like you are. I’d be interested to time my 7yr old as she is fast and has good stamina. Her 9yr old sister is at a running club but they won’t take them til 9.

I never happen to time the walk to a relative’s 1Km away or happen to notice the exact leaving and arrival time.

I don't think Junior parkrun is boring for 5 year olds even if it is laps of a field - they run with friends or family, the marshalls cheer and Interact and there's the fun of getting a token and scanning.

You may find it a good outlet for your need to time and measure and she will incrementally become more confident at longer distances so then the 1km to her Grandma's will feel short.

FWIW, my dc have all run competitively to county level and none of them would have been up for timed or measured running at 5 at all.