Building up endurance - 9 year old kid

Astro My name is Darian Townsend, I am an Olympic Gold Medalist and professional swimmer, currently training for the 2016 Olympics. I have also been coaching for the last 8 years. Your question intrigued me because I struggled with this issue for many years throughout my career. I am more of a 100 and 200 swimmer, but the issue was the same. I would be ahead of my competitors for most of the race and then they would pass me right at the end. It was very frustrating and it lead to many unhappy feelings towards the sport. It wasn't till I decided, after a particularly frustrating meet, that I wasn't going to be the "rabbit" anymore. What I mean by that is, that the other swimmers were using my fast pace at the beginning of the race to set their pace. Basically I was using all my energy in trying to get away and they were simply just pacing off me using less energy. I decided if I was going to carry on swimming, I wasn't going to be the pace setter. But to avoid not being the pace setter I had to learn how to swim from behind and more importantly get comfortable not always swimming from the front. This skill is learnt in practice!!!! She has to train the way she wants to race. "How can we help her to build up her endurance?" This can be done in many ways. Being that she is so young, training more is not the only option. As she gets older she will be able to handle more training, but right now it's important that she grows to love the sport and not dread going to practice. Before giving her too much advise, I would meet with her coach to discuss your concerns. There is no point her receiving 2 different forms of advise from you and her coach. This will only confuse her. I would suggest to her coach that she starts to learn how to race her competitors, instead of blowing them away on the first 25. In her next race she should focus on reserving energy for the finish and having her race the kids into the wall instead of trying to hang on. This is a much more fun way to swim any race. When you are pulling away from someone or catching them towards the end of a race, you get an energy surge and it's amazing how fast you can finish when this happens!!! "What should we have her eat before the meet? Should we take her out for jogging, hiking, biking or any other physical activity? All suggestions and hints are appreciated." I think doing other activities as part of her training at that age is really important. Swimming is a very unique sport in that we compete in a very different world to the one we live our lives in every day. I'm referring to the water here. Developing "land skills" is very important for later on in our lives as swimmers and as regular humans :) Biking is a form of cross training that really helped me develop my leg strength and as a result my kick has always been a strength of mine throughout my career. It is also non impact so their is very little stress it puts on any joints that could lead to injury. Before a meet you want to eat foods that are light and won't cause a heavy, full feeling. It all depends on how much time you have before you race or train. Oats are a great source of energy, granola bars, bagels, fruit, chicken, etc. Just make sure she is eating some sort of protein with her every meal! Hope this information helps! Contact me through my website is you have any other questions :)

Astro My name is Darian Townsend, I am an Olympic Gold Medalist and professional swimmer, currently training for the 2016 Olympics. I have also been coaching for the last 8 years. Your question intrigued me because I struggled with this issue for many years throughout my career. I am more of a 100 and 200 swimmer, but the issue was the same. I would be ahead of my competitors for most of the race and then they would pass me right at the end. It was very frustrating and it lead to many unhappy feelings towards the sport. It wasn't till I decided, after a particularly frustrating meet, that I wasn't going to be the "rabbit" anymore. What I mean by that is, that the other swimmers were using my fast pace at the beginning of the race to set their pace. Basically I was using all my energy in trying to get away and they were simply just pacing off me using less energy. I decided if I was going to carry on swimming, I wasn't going to be the pace setter. But to avoid not being the pace setter I had to learn how to swim from behind and more importantly get comfortable not always swimming from the front. This skill is learnt in practice!!!! She has to train the way she wants to race. "How can we help her to build up her endurance?" This can be done in many ways. Being that she is so young, training more is not the only option. As she gets older she will be able to handle more training, but right now it's important that she grows to love the sport and not dread going to practice. Before giving her too much advise, I would meet with her coach to discuss your concerns. There is no point her receiving 2 different forms of advise from you and her coach. This will only confuse her. I would suggest to her coach that she starts to learn how to race her competitors, instead of blowing them away on the first 25. In her next race she should focus on reserving energy for the finish and having her race the kids into the wall instead of trying to hang on. This is a much more fun way to swim any race. When you are pulling away from someone or catching them towards the end of a race, you get an energy surge and it's amazing how fast you can finish when this happens!!! "What should we have her eat before the meet? Should we take her out for jogging, hiking, biking or any other physical activity? All suggestions and hints are appreciated." I think doing other activities as part of her training at that age is really important. Swimming is a very unique sport in that we compete in a very different world to the one we live our lives in every day. I'm referring to the water here. Developing "land skills" is very important for later on in our lives as swimmers and as regular humans :) Biking is a form of cross training that really helped me develop my leg strength and as a result my kick has always been a strength of mine throughout my career. It is also non impact so their is very little stress it puts on any joints that could lead to injury. Before a meet you want to eat foods that are light and won't cause a heavy, full feeling. It all depends on how much time you have before you race or train. Oats are a great source of energy, granola bars, bagels, fruit, chicken, etc. Just make sure she is eating some sort of protein with her every meal! Hope this information helps! Contact me through my website is you have any other questions :)