Serious thread/ running/ off season training

[Orchardman]

Lot of nonsense flying around lately, and I like a good anti dub or anti tyrone wind up as much as anyone, but i'm hoping to get some the good contributions I've seen before on here from guys who know what their talking about, either as players or coaches.


I'm 30 year old midfielder, hovering between my senior team and reserve team. I want to play football for another 4-5 years no bother, and luckily I've always been injury free. Used to have pace to burn, but a good bit of that is gone, though I wouldn't be carrying any extra weight that I had years ago. My last game of the year was played last week so i'm now looking at doing a serious winter running programme (as well as gym), before going back to the team training in January. This year I've found myself tiring both endurance wise, and feeling slow on the sprint, a big drop over the last year or so.

I'm planning on starting 5k runs over the next while, don't have any plans to go over that, as I certainly don't think a footballer should be running even a half marathon, but that's just my opinion. My aim will be to just get quicker at the 5k. I realise that I would need to complement that with sprinting work to make it more relative to a game scenario, but when should I do this?
Should we be focusing on gym leg strength and long running over the winter and worry about the sharp sprints coming into spring or what is the best way? Taking into account someone playing in the middle of the field as well
thanks

[general_lee]

I'm probably in the same boat as you although I am younger than 30   

Not as lucky with injuries though, have had to endure two frustrating injuries (and before that a suspension) that meant I couldn't get close to playing any senior championship football in the last 3 years. I last played a league match about a fortnight ago, prior to that I hadn't trained in roughly 5/6 weeks due to injury that ruled me out of this years championship and which I played with for our last game. Suffice to say I was in some pain in the days after that match, even though I was still injured I never felt as unfit in my life.

What I did around October/November last year was join the gym. I made a point of going at least every other day, nothing serious weights-wise just a bit of everything to try and tone up a bit; complementing this with 5k runs at least once/twice a week, doing the same run each time and trying to reduce my time. Continued this up until and including pre-season (our club usually start late January), though I wasn't as fit as I'd have liked to have been.

This year I want to do the same though I think I will try it without the gym membership as I feel I have enough equipment at home to make use of. I would say 5k is more than enough to try and build your stamina, a rough guess I'd say I'd probably do it in 25 mins the shape I am in at the minute, I would hope to aim to reduce that by 5 mins before Christmas (ambitious enough).

The sprints is something I'm not sure about, I never did any sprint work at all last year but I'm sure it couldn't hurt to do a few, I always found the weather a bit of an obstacle with frost etc anytime I considered it. What our midfielders did this year after training was do 5 or so 3/4-pace runs from the halfway to the byline, not sprints but good exercises for the position they play. You could possibly do something similar to that on your own?

[The Iceman]

No expert by any means but here's my two cents worth. The 5K's will help with endurance and coupled with sprint work (I would do hill sprints and sled pulls too) will help.
I would try staying away from the weights for a while and working on your core and more functional strength exercises. Fireman's carry's, farmer's walk, squats, dead lifts, body-weight exercises. If you can find a crossfit gym it would be worth going to for the off season. Try something completely different than you always do - MMA, Boxing, Kickboxing. You'll find a new level of fitness and when you go back you'll find you made a difference.

[Orchardman]

Yea, I think the 5k will do me good this side of xmas anyway, the danger of doing any other long running for too long would leave you very one paced, I remember reading an interesting article 3 years ago with david Matthews who argued that 800 m is the perfect running training for a GAA player. A year later JBM ended up taking him in as the cork hurlers physical coach. This is a more recent interview with him where he explains some of it

http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/0808132214-interview-with-david-matthews/

[CD]

I took up serious running in my mid twenties and it definitely had a major impact on my pace. I was always a very quick player and just about got away with it until I was forced to retire. Long distance training and a fast contact sport like GAA don't go together - your stamina will obviously improve but pace suffers and you can't train for marathons etc with a dead leg from a rough match at the weekend.

I would definitely go for 5Ks. Run mid paced 2/3 times a week and do a disciplined fast 5k at the weekends. There are loads of organised 5k events and you can always find one  - try parkrun. I find that running in organised events forced me to be more disciplined and helped get me off the pints! Target 23 minutes and then try to knock a couple of seconds off each week. I got down to 19mins 50s just by slowly chipping away and I never timed my mid week runs.

I also started swimming - the cheapest physio out there! It definitely helped with the aches and pains that started when I hit 30. I took lessons to improve technique and get out of bad habits - it's amazing how establishing a different breathing pattern can enable you to do 20 extra lengths. I never did weight training of any kind - boring and unnecessary - but I would recommend pilates or yoga - great for core strength. There are loads of simple core training programmes that you can download that focus on simple exercises to maintain core strength using balls, squats etc.

In saying that, I'm awaiting knee surgery and I haven't been able to train in three months due to knee and hip problems so maybe my advice is best left alone.

Christ, I wish I was 30 again!!

[Milltown Row2]

I took up serious running in my mid twenties and it definitely had a major impact on my pace. I was always a very quick player and just about got away with it until I was forced to retire. Long distance training and a fast contact sport like GAA don't go together - your stamina will obviously improve but pace suffers and you can't train for marathons etc with a dead leg from a rough match at the weekend.

I would definitely go for 5Ks. Run mid paced 2/3 times a week and do a disciplined fast 5k at the weekends. There are loads of organised 5k events and you can always find one  - try parkrun. I find that running in organised events forced me to be more disciplined and helped get me off the pints! Target 23 minutes and then try to knock a couple of seconds off each week. I got down to 19mins 50s just by slowly chipping away and I never timed my mid week runs.

I also started swimming - the cheapest physio out there! It definitely helped with the aches and pains that started when I hit 30. I took lessons to improve technique and get out of bad habits - it's amazing how establishing a different breathing pattern can enable you to do 20 extra lengths. I never did weight training of any kind - boring and unnecessary - but I would recommend pilates or yoga - great for core strength. There are loads of simple core training programmes that you can download that focus on simple exercises to maintain core strength using balls, squats etc.

In saying that, I'm awaiting knee surgery and I haven't been able to train in three months due to knee and hip problems so maybe my advice is best left alone.

Christ, I wish I was 30 again!!

Injuries are part and parcel of keeping fit. Can you imagine the damage you can do by sitting on your fat ass doing nowt??

Swim a lot also, private lessons CD? Going for a lesson tomorrow night to iron out my bad habits and improve my technique. What was the best thing you took from the swim lessons that dramatically improved your swim? Currently at 30 length's in 17 minutes

[manballandall]

That's a baby pool though .
Strength and conditioning has to part of any training . So under estimated the difference it makes. Plyometrics is great for developing power in legs

[CD]

I took up serious running in my mid twenties and it definitely had a major impact on my pace. I was always a very quick player and just about got away with it until I was forced to retire. Long distance training and a fast contact sport like GAA don't go together - your stamina will obviously improve but pace suffers and you can't train for marathons etc with a dead leg from a rough match at the weekend.

I would definitely go for 5Ks. Run mid paced 2/3 times a week and do a disciplined fast 5k at the weekends. There are loads of organised 5k events and you can always find one  - try parkrun. I find that running in organised events forced me to be more disciplined and helped get me off the pints! Target 23 minutes and then try to knock a couple of seconds off each week. I got down to 19mins 50s just by slowly chipping away and I never timed my mid week runs.

I also started swimming - the cheapest physio out there! It definitely helped with the aches and pains that started when I hit 30. I took lessons to improve technique and get out of bad habits - it's amazing how establishing a different breathing pattern can enable you to do 20 extra lengths. I never did weight training of any kind - boring and unnecessary - but I would recommend pilates or yoga - great for core strength. There are loads of simple core training programmes that you can download that focus on simple exercises to maintain core strength using balls, squats etc.

In saying that, I'm awaiting knee surgery and I haven't been able to train in three months due to knee and hip problems so maybe my advice is best left alone.

Christ, I wish I was 30 again!!

Injuries are part and parcel of keeping fit. Can you imagine the damage you can do by sitting on your fat ass doing nowt??

Swim a lot also, private lessons CD? Going for a lesson tomorrow night to iron out my bad habits and improve my technique. What was the best thing you took from the swim lessons that dramatically improved your swim? Currently at 30 length's in 17 minutes

Instructor said I was raising my head too far out of the water and almost stopping to breath so I was losing momentum all the time and using far more energy. She just got me out of bad habits and helped me to straighten my back. It made a dramatic difference to me - Hope it goes well for you!

[AQMP]

I'm a former tenacious (dirty and cynical) corner back the wrong side of 50.  This might sound silly but take a look at your running technique (a bit like your swimming) and improvements there will take time off your 5km.  Changes in your running posture and how you pump your arms and stride pattern etc. can all help.  Go and chat to someone who's involved in your local running club.  I did this and now I'm comfortably sub-25 mins for 5km and can "beat my age" for a 10km.

Away from training take a look at your diet and how you prepare nutrition-wise for a run or a game.

[Milltown Row2]

I'm a former tenacious (dirty and cynical) corner back the wrong side of 50.  This might sound silly but take a look at your running technique (a bit like your swimming) and improvements there will take time off your 5km.  Changes in your running posture and how you pump your arms and stride pattern etc. can all help.  Go and chat to someone who's involved in your local running club.  I did this and now I'm comfortably sub-25 mins for 5km and can "beat my age" for a 10km.

Away from training take a look at your diet and how you prepare nutrition-wise for a run or a game.

Nearly 42 but you have described me perfectly    Where ya doing your 5K's AQMP?

[CD]

Anyone else using parkrun??

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/queens/

[Eamonnca1]

Cyclo-cross?