Intro

Welcome to ERFCW Running 2022.

As an intro to the program, here’s what I think you need to know:

Using running to gain fitness requires different types of running. Simply running the same pace all the time, won’t reap as good a result, plus it’s boring, right?

So runners generally try to get at least one of the following types of runs in every week:

1. Intervals - Repeated short bursts of high speed running
2. Threshold - Also called tempo. Running at a pace believed to build a tolerance to lactic acid build up (the heart rate threshold at which that occurs).
3. Long - Longest run of the week. 1.5-2.5 times longer than your normal sessions

In summer training, we’ll program all of these. For the immediate term, I’m going to say that:

• Footy training (done right!) is your Interval training
• Matches (80 mins) are your Long runs .
• You’re welcome.

So that just leaves us adding one Threshold run a week.

By the end of the season, we want to get you to about 30 mins at this pace per week. It’s a great feeling running comfortably at threshold pace.

Your program will look like this:

Based on your Cooper test, I’ve calculated paces and some guesses at race times (if you had this Cooper result after training for that distance - you probably won’t run a marathon at that pace tomorrow!)

Note: Threshold pace is slower than your Cooper pace. Stick to it. It’s enough!

So with all that said, I think it’s pretty straight forward. You just warm up, stretch, then run the due session at the pace prescribed. Everyone has a personalised program (paces and times) lasting until the end of the home and away season.

“6:06 Threshold” pace in the table above means “run at a pace of 6 minutes and 6 seconds per km”. A GPS watch or phone (using Strava say) will all tell you this information as you run.

Do these whenever you like, I suggest a Monday. Do them alone, or with mates, whatever.

We’ll check in with another Cooper test here and there (scheduled in the program) to see how things are going.

Running is a very human activity and the purest sport there is. Running is fun! Truly.

Watch little kids on the beach or in the playground. Running everywhere and loving it. At some point, adults tend to forget how to have fun running. The answer is….stick with it.

You don’t “hate running”! (say that to yourself out loud). Nobody runs 20 metres and says “Boy, I hated that”. We hate running at the point it starts to hurt. You’ll be surprised how little these sessions hurt at the designed pace.

Sticking with the program will help you defer fatigue until later in your runs and games. THEN, you’ll remember how fun running can be.

Don’t be shy about asking questions. I know things that I think are straight forward aren’t necessarily so!