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MONTHLY COACHING ADVICE FROM BRUCE JONES A training programme is pretty essential otherwise just going out the door and doing what you feel like is highly unlikely to allow you to reach your goals. So some sort of structure is required but is it running every day? running for an hour each day? heading to the track and doing some intervals? do I run hard out every day? and what about hill work? how often should I race? how do I peak for important races? do I need rest days? Lots of questions and the role of a coach is to help sort it out and explain. We cannot cover it all in this edition but let us start from the beginning with a key concept - CONSISTENCY. If you are serious about your running development then you must be consistent with your training and racing. Training for 2 weeks then voluntarily taking a week off is not going to help. If you are running 5 days per week then you should be running 5 days each and every week until the end of the season. Running every single day is not necessary to improve. Remember running is developmental and for secondary school runners it is wise to have a rest day or two. For a serious mature senior runner running every day is recommended (or no more than one rest day). Consistency requires discipline and organisation of your private life to allow you to train on a regular basis. Another key concept is building an AEROBIC base through long
running/endurance running. Aerobic running is where you are running
well within your capacity and a fit athlete can maintain this
sort of running for many minutes if not hours. The aerobic base
is built up with long running of different distances eg some
runs will be 10 km and others will be long runs of 20km or more.
Of course 'long' is a relative term and for a secondary school
athlete a long run maybe 60 - 90 minutes but for a mature senior
athlete a long run could be 2 to 2.5 hours. What is critical
to understand is that building an aerobic base is the most important
factor for getting the best results. It is as simple as that!!
Everything in distance running should be based on building this
endurance platform. You simply cannot perform at a high level
without it. Every week of the year you should include on 'long'
run (usually on a Sunday). Never miss this long run as it is
the most important days training in the week. However as stated
above building an aerobic base is much more than one long run
per week. Most other runs in the week (all year round) should
also be endurance running of different length/time. Any questions email coach@wesley.org.nz Next Coaching Advice: Other key concepts such as the pace
of your endurance running and recovery. (b) Moderation and Balance. In life and in athletics it certainly
helps to have things in balance. A well adjusted and organised
athlete is far more likely to succeed than an athlete who is
extreme in their daily training routine (see (c) below) or who
compromises their (balanced) training with erratic behaviour
in relation to sleep, rest and diet. (c) Distance Training is Developmental. If you wander out
to the Mt Smart track in summer or follow the Auckland Cross
Country season you cannot help but notice there are good size
fields in the Under 19 and below age groups and in the Masters
races but very little offering at Senior level. Why is this?
There are many reasons but one significant reason is that I believe
many young athletes are training too hard and getting carried
away with the rapid success and improvement that such training
will bring to a young athlete. (d) Learn From Your Body. This principle is related very closely to (b) and (c) above. Only the wise train according to their age and their capacity to run. Tiredness sets in from training/racing and athletes must respond by making sure they manage this tiredness by rest, recovery runs, plenty of sleep and eating and drinking sensibly. Gold medals and World Records do not come overnight - they come from years and years of DEVELOPMENTAL work. They do not come from pounding the body year in and year out from an early age. Any questions please email coach@wesley.org.nz Next Coaching Advice: A Training System is Based on Key Concepts Before we start I should tell you a little about myself as it may prove useful in giving some background to what I will outline with respect to training and racing. The advice I give on this website will be general and as a coach at the Wesley Club I am more than happy to give individual advice to members. I currently have a small squad of Wesley athletes and if you are a secondary school age or older then please feel free to contact me at bruce.jones@aut.ac.nz The basis of
any coaching advice I offer comes from years of experience as
an athlete in which I have won two Australian Cross Country Championships
as well as placing in Australian and New Zealand Track Championships
from 1500m to 5000m. I have represented New Zealand in two World
Cross Country Championships. As a coach I obviously believe in goal setting as it helps to motivate runners and striving for an objective brings satisfaction when it has been achieved. The goal set by athletes will not be the same for each individual - some aim to be the very best whilst others have the goal to just enjoy themselves and have fun. Moreover many will have goals that fall in between these two. Whatever your goal may be this section may prove helpful to you. I encourage all athletes to set goals and if you have not thought about this then now is a good time to do so for running will become mentally a lot more enjoyable if you go out the door for a run knowing it is going to lead you to achieving a personal goal. A good place
to start is to set a Short Term goal which might be something
as simple as running 3 times a week for the next 6 weeks or it
might be to break 2 minutes 50 seconds for 800m before the end
of March. Whatever type of athlete you may be and whatever your aspirations are you will gain more from your sport if you take a few minutes to sit down and make some realistic goals. Mentally you will gain an immediate impact and the next time you set out for a run you will have this mental focus to complement your physical training effort. Next Month: Fundamental Principles of a Training Programme. |