Tips to improve my distance running?
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i find it very useful to keep a track of what fitness training you do (just on a very simple excel sheet), using that it's easy to see if you're progressing, or not and potentially do something about it.
at the moment i'm running a mix of 12 min runs, quick 5km runs and steady 10km runs. happily i'm improving on all fronts and have knocked 25 seconds off my 5k PB which i hadnt got near for 3 years! this lockdown thing is great!
at the moment i'm running a mix of 12 min runs, quick 5km runs and steady 10km runs. happily i'm improving on all fronts and have knocked 25 seconds off my 5k PB which i hadnt got near for 3 years! this lockdown thing is great!
Great bit of material with the 100 workouts! Thanks!
WiisardNic
Well-Known Member
I'm harking back to my playing days as a teenager here, and will probably ramble on a lot, but I was really unfit when it came to running, luckily up until U17 in my local comps, it was unlimited interchanges, so since I was 1 of 2 fat kids to play on the wing, made it easy to just swap eachother out every 5-10 minutes.
Then, since everyone bar us 2 and another kid went to boarding school, we joined the club that had most of our other mates on it (who won the league 3 times straight leading into the next season), so there was an expectation on us to get more fit.
So, the new coach devised our new warm-up: In staggered pairs, 10 laps of the field, with no rest breaks, but segmented into jogs, sprints, and walks. Starting from the right hand corner (and heading anti-clockwise), from memory it went like this-
- Jog from the start to the next corner
- Keep jogging until the edge of the penalty area
- Sprint to halfway
- Jog to the corner, and then also to the edge of the penalty area
- Sprint to the other edge of the penalty area
- Jog to the corner, and then to the edge of the penalty area
- Sprint to halfway, then walk back to the starting corner
EDIT: I added a diagram because I'm probably confusing. (Yellow is jog, red is sprint, blue is walk)
The first few weeks, me and the other kid did this together, to build up our own pace, until he put us with the fittest kids and everything was hell, but we would try to keep going. Basic moral of the story was we hated it at the start of the season, but by the end of the season, we wanted to do more than 10 laps for the warm up, because we got used to the workload.
Then, since everyone bar us 2 and another kid went to boarding school, we joined the club that had most of our other mates on it (who won the league 3 times straight leading into the next season), so there was an expectation on us to get more fit.
So, the new coach devised our new warm-up: In staggered pairs, 10 laps of the field, with no rest breaks, but segmented into jogs, sprints, and walks. Starting from the right hand corner (and heading anti-clockwise), from memory it went like this-
- Jog from the start to the next corner
- Keep jogging until the edge of the penalty area
- Sprint to halfway
- Jog to the corner, and then also to the edge of the penalty area
- Sprint to the other edge of the penalty area
- Jog to the corner, and then to the edge of the penalty area
- Sprint to halfway, then walk back to the starting corner
EDIT: I added a diagram because I'm probably confusing. (Yellow is jog, red is sprint, blue is walk)
The first few weeks, me and the other kid did this together, to build up our own pace, until he put us with the fittest kids and everything was hell, but we would try to keep going. Basic moral of the story was we hated it at the start of the season, but by the end of the season, we wanted to do more than 10 laps for the warm up, because we got used to the workload.
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Going too fast?
If you have a fitness tracker you can see mile split timings.
In my matches, even at the top end of local leagues I was looking at 15-17 minutes per mile, because of the stop-start nature of the game. When I'm training I get the mile split to be around 10 minutes, which is supposedly the 'average' for someone in shape (hah...)
It's probably the mentality aspect that is holding you back rather than the physical fitness. Try getting a running partner who is fitter and is happy to be a pace-setter. I usually find I train better when I have someone to follow or run alongside.
Otherwise, if you have to duke it out alone, don't be afraid to stop when you hit the wall, get a breather and then run again. In football you're going to have those breaks and the modern fitness tests don't expect you to run constantly anymore - you get your little recovery walks in-between, so it's not essential to be able to do miles of running without stopping anymore. Having said that, it's still a nice goal to aim for, since if you can run 5 miles non-stop, you should be able to do 5 miles with the recovery walks, kinda.
Agreeing with you;
For most people, stopping to walk is an important skill to learn. If we consider stopping as failure, we'll fail every time we need to stop, for whatever reason. Besides, for longer runs, there might be more to gain from stopping to take on fluid than passing drinks stations, anxious about losing time. That said, there are also times when the urge to stop should be sent to Room 101... just depends what the goal is
I’m not overly worried about my match fitness as I’ve always coped fine with the short bursts around a pitch.
My concern is the 2.6k in 12 minutes! It seems a silly way to testa referee’s fitness as it’s not really representative of match requirements!
You're absolutely right, it's not. But it's incredibly easy to run that test for a thousand or so 4s as opposed to something more appropriate like the test level 3s were going to be doing this year (75m run in 17 seconds, 25m walk in 22 seconds x 40 reps).
It isn't I agree, but equally it isn't difficult to do for someone with a good level of fitness. It's 13km/hour, and if you think about it that equates to a marathon time of around 3 hours 15 minutes. That sounds fast, but you aren't running a marathon and are actually running just over 6% of a marathon. If you train well you will pass it, and that training must include actually running around an athletics track.
In an ideal world you're right but I've not used a track for training for years. Do all my fitness test training on a treadmill (pre-lockdown) or on the road.
For me the test is more mental than anything though. Just making sure the legs keep moving. Test day itself helps, you're running with colleagues who help get you over the line, if you're struggling.
That does work for some, but equally I know others who have comfortably done the distance on a treadmill or even road running but have then fallen apart when it comes to the test. Bottom line is you need to know how to pace yourself around the track, if you are comfortable doing that away from a track environment then all well and good, but not everyone will be able to.
You also need some kind of strategy as to how to run it. Equal laps of 110 seconds will get you there just, but that is risky as if your legs go towards the end and there is nothing left in the tank you will drop below that target and fail. For that reason I would advise aiming for lap times no slower than 105 seconds which gives you over 30 seconds leeway. Personally I always went out very fast for the first two or three laps as I'd rather have the distance in the bank so I could slow down later if necessary, but I know that doesn't work for everyone.
Absolutely valid. You do what works for you. I've genuinely only ever 'passed' the test in training once in 6 years. Always comfortable on test day.
Oh that... We used to cheese it. Run a lap (or two) at full pace, and then you walk - run - walk - run for every 100m give or take. They never said we weren't allowed to stop, just that you make the distance in the time limit. If this testing method is still being used, then check if you can 'cheat' like this. It really does make things simpler.
I'm glad they got rid of that testing method tbh, I hated it.
Pretty much this. Its impossible to replicate test conditions as out on the open road the surface is uneven and even the slightest incline takes more effort than the perfect flat of the track. I never manage the 2.6 out of test condition but come race day I tend to be jogging over the finish line with time to spare.
Kes
I'll Decide ...
Blah blah blah. There's a myriad of ways to improve your fitness and ability to complete the test, many of them already alluded to on here. Forget the nonsense about sprints and/or equivalent output and any rubbish about whether the run actually "equates" to how you'd run/walk/jog/cry during a match etc.
If you can't run 2.6 km in under 12 minutes you're:
a. Not fit enough to operate as a Level 4 referee.
and/or
b. Too old to operate as a level 4 referee.
Deal with it.
If you can't run 2.6 km in under 12 minutes you're:
a. Not fit enough to operate as a Level 4 referee.
and/or
b. Too old to operate as a level 4 referee.
Deal with it.
Ciley Myrus
RefChat Addict
Its really that simple.
granted it cant happen, servicing the game and all that but I would have all refs do the test, cant do the test, you cant get a match fee.
Even with a change of measurements, instead of 2.6 make it 2.2 for over 50s
There should be some form of test, are teams wanting someone classed as fit enough to do their game, or are they happy with just anybody to do their game...
The onus should be on associations to ensure the people representing them are suitable
And, a level of fitness, when it comes to refereeing, is essential, not, optional.
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