Getting Ready for 21/22
- Thread starter zarathustra
- Start date
This is the list of which ones do it @Ben448844 fyi
You can set you watch to show pace, average pace, time, distance though which will help
Yeh, just play about with settings til you find what you like.
Really good products, I've had v800 and the vantage V and I don't think I'd have any othe brand now.
RefIADad
RefChat Addict
This is going to be a much lighter fall for me game-wise. We've moved to a new community, and my 12-year-old son has joined a pretty competitive club team with some travel. I made the decision a few months ago to just officiate at his events (not his matches, but games around his matches). The level of competition at his events should be good for me to stay sharp and have the motivation to get into a lot better shape.
I'm looking to train six days a week, with four days of running and two days of strength and agility. All of my running is geared a lot more toward what I do on the field. One day is a sprint workout, a second day is short HIIT (15 seconds to cover a set distance, followed by 15 seconds of rest. Repeat 4-6 minutes and do 4-5 sets). One day is a longer HIIT of 3 minutes running, 2 minutes recovery and repeat 6-8 times. The fourth day is either a match replication session, shuttles, or a field workout. I try to vary these.
My son's training with me a lot this summer, so I have some competition (and the old man has some catching up to do with the youngster when it comes to running!!). I'm starting him slowly with the strength training and making sure he's using excellent form.
I'm looking to train six days a week, with four days of running and two days of strength and agility. All of my running is geared a lot more toward what I do on the field. One day is a sprint workout, a second day is short HIIT (15 seconds to cover a set distance, followed by 15 seconds of rest. Repeat 4-6 minutes and do 4-5 sets). One day is a longer HIIT of 3 minutes running, 2 minutes recovery and repeat 6-8 times. The fourth day is either a match replication session, shuttles, or a field workout. I try to vary these.
My son's training with me a lot this summer, so I have some competition (and the old man has some catching up to do with the youngster when it comes to running!!). I'm starting him slowly with the strength training and making sure he's using excellent form.
Just did the Cooper test in 11:14 following a week's training (4 Cooper test runs and a game of cricket). Was nowhere near on the first run after a period of doing very little for 6 months despite being previously fit. Dropped 3kg's over the week too which helps.
First pre season game on Tuesday. Finally feels like there's a proper football season upon us.
First pre season game on Tuesday. Finally feels like there's a proper football season upon us.
I've got my 2nd pre season at the weekend and then my first international fixture with a Welsh 3rd division side playing a step 6 side round here.
Welsh doesn't really count tho
Body doesn't improve that mush in a week haha
Brain must've been the problem or you must've been under the weather or summit
It's a mental thing. I've always been relatively fit so knew I could do it but after the first period in my life I've had a few months of doing very little exercise/sport.
It's getting back into things which is harder the older you get. Weighed myself last week and was 82.5kg which is the heaviest I've ever been. Makes a surprising difference to fitness to have a few more kg's and its something I've never had to worry about until now as I creep towards 40....
Justylove
RefChat Addict
It's only an international fixture if you have to go on a boat or a plane to get there.
We regularly have to take the boat to the Island where we are for our international fixtures
Give it another 10 years and then you'll be in my boat. I've been ~105kg and quite a few pints of ale down the line from ye
Still reckon I can do the Coops test tho if I stay injury free (although I have a fair gap to bridge in a short time)
BTW you fail the Cooper Test if you don't maintain a jog/run for 12 mins, so it just means you'll end up doing a few hundred metres over
Justylove
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Not quite correct. You have to do 12 minutes "continuous movement" so if you cross the line early you can slow to a walk and still pass. What you can't do is do the 2.6k in under the time and then stop totally.
I didn't realise that. I was aiming to do it in under 11 mins next week but thats probably a bad idea. Sounds like I'd be better off doing it in about 11:15 and then slowing to a slow jog?
Yeh, the Cooper test is a 12 minute test and how far you can cover running continuously for that time frame.
The min distance is 2600m. So 2601m is as much a pass as 3k.
They explain the necessity to keep moving for 12 mins on the day
Personally, I like to give something back, so I make sure I get lapped by at least one aspiring young Ref because I realize the importance of giving them the confidence they can 'make it' to the big time. To think, I was once a member of Gateshead Harriers and top 10 in the county for ~1.5m x-country. I was wafer thin, even though my teen years. And I really do mean 'exceptionally skinny'. I was too weak for footy until adulthood. Amazing how my I filled out as I got older. Anyway, no excuses, I'm back in training now, raw eggs in the morning, the lot
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If you've been at that level in Cross Country then you'll pass the test, it's just shifting some timber and getting back in training. The mental side of changing lifestyle is the hardest bit for me. I've always played football/cricket without any break since I was 7 and I'm now 37. I can still play in local football and I ref 3or 4 games every weekend and never feel like I'm struggling physically. Being on sports fields at the weekend is just what I've always done so it's muscle memory.
But changing lifestyle to lose a bit of timber at 37 feels alot harder. I'm going to sound like a proper gym snob here (and I am!) but I joined the gym for the first time in my life 2 years ago. It was a Bannatyne Centre so had the swimming pool, steam room, sauna jacuzzi etc. I was there pretty much 7 days a week because I love the sauna and jacuzzi etc. I'd do 2 games every Sunday and go there after without fail for a light swim and the jacuzzi. Exercise in the gym was always alot easier because I knew that after I'd enjoy myself. Theres no facilities like that near where I live now and the mental side of just going to exercise and nothing else I find more difficult. Motivation wains. But its just me being soft so I just get on with it, but long term I know I find it hard to train, the monotony of it is difficult. I've always had huge respect for people who can hit the gym or the road day in day out and can cope with the grind. Its a tough gig mentally
RefJef
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I was at the Somerset fitness tests yesterday (I was there as my school has a track which we let the FA use as long as a representative from the school (me) was there to ensure the referees didn’t burn it to the ground. I would have had a go at the test, just for fun, but tweaked a muscle the day before)
Anyway, what was really interesting was watching the L4s and those going 5 to 4, all of whom had to do 2600m (six and a half laps) in 12 mins.
A couple of fit refs smashed it, but the main body (the peleton to pinch a cycling term) were struggling- in part because they set of at the speedy pace of the aforementioned young whippersnapper who could have kept running at pace all day.
With one lap to go, they had a lot to do. A couple passed, many didn’t.
A minute or two later, those that hadn’t passed were up and about fully recovered. The couple that did pass were still on the floor recovering for a good 5 minutes. For this group it was all in the mind - those who ran through the pain (and therefore took longer to recover) passed, those that didn’t, didn’t and will be back on August 1st.
Training will get you through the first six laps, the mind does the final half a lap.
Good luck to all those still to take the test.
Anyway, what was really interesting was watching the L4s and those going 5 to 4, all of whom had to do 2600m (six and a half laps) in 12 mins.
A couple of fit refs smashed it, but the main body (the peleton to pinch a cycling term) were struggling- in part because they set of at the speedy pace of the aforementioned young whippersnapper who could have kept running at pace all day.
With one lap to go, they had a lot to do. A couple passed, many didn’t.
A minute or two later, those that hadn’t passed were up and about fully recovered. The couple that did pass were still on the floor recovering for a good 5 minutes. For this group it was all in the mind - those who ran through the pain (and therefore took longer to recover) passed, those that didn’t, didn’t and will be back on August 1st.
Training will get you through the first six laps, the mind does the final half a lap.
Good luck to all those still to take the test.
The trick for me, like any race, is to have a strategy and stick to it. I did a half marathon once, started off feeling fresh so put the hammer down and by 7-8k was completely gassing ended up missing my target time by 25 minutes...
The Cooper fitness test I used to go hard early doors and put the miles in the tank as I knew I could keep the pace but also that if for any reason I did struggle I'd be almost home and could grind it out.
The last couple I have ran "at pace" or a few seconds faster and have still passed comfortably.
The trick though is in the mind as you say, to have a strategy and don't worry what anyone else is doing. Yes there will be lads/ladies there that can and will do more than is required. Let them do their thing and you run to your ability, which you know will get you round.
The Cooper fitness test I used to go hard early doors and put the miles in the tank as I knew I could keep the pace but also that if for any reason I did struggle I'd be almost home and could grind it out.
The last couple I have ran "at pace" or a few seconds faster and have still passed comfortably.
The trick though is in the mind as you say, to have a strategy and don't worry what anyone else is doing. Yes there will be lads/ladies there that can and will do more than is required. Let them do their thing and you run to your ability, which you know will get you round.
zarathustra
RefChat Addict
That’s the hard thing with tests like this, resisting the urge to keep up with the whippets at the front, and/or trying to race other people.