pre season training for ladies hockey team?

Steven PortplanOther, England

Hi David,

I think the first thing you need to look at is the time frame you have available i.e. how committed and/or driven are your team? The more they want to succeed, the earlier you can start your preseason work.

Once you have a time frame in mind, you can build a schedule. The strategy I used is to build a target sheet up, which players progress through as quick as they can.

So, you ask for a minimum amount of cardio sessions a week (start slow, and as the season approaches increase), and a player doesn`t move from their current step until they have achieved the goal. For example;

Step1: Run 2 miles in 18 minutes (~ 9 minute miles)
Step 2: Run 2 miles in 18 minutes, twice in a row (~ 9 minute miles)
Step 3: Run 2 miles in 16 minute (~ 8 minute miles)
Step 4: Run 2 miles in 16 minutes, twice in a row (~ 8 minute miles)
Step 5: Run 3 miles in 27 minutes (~ 9 minute miles)
Step 6: Run 3 miles in 24 minutes, 3 times in a row (~ 8 minute miles)

etc..

This way you let people work at a pace they are comfortable with, and if the team embrace the strategy, they are likely to push each other on to work harder and move through the program quicker.
I believe the strength here is to give people the mental strength to work harder mid run, as they have a target in mind at a given work rate.

Let me know what you think,

Josh

David ReidCoach, Northern Ireland

Thanks Josh for replying,

Am I correct to assume the training session will be:-

1st night run is 2 mile in 18 mins = 8 min/mile

2nd night run is 4 mile in 36 mins = 9 min/mile

possibly concluding with

6th night run is 9 mile in 72 mins = 8 min/mile?

Steven PortplanOther, England

Hi David,

This is more of a progressive system, implemented in people`s personal cardio training time. The idea is that you get people in the right mind set to work on cardio outside of training time (thus the reason you don`t ask for longer distances).

For clarity, once a player has managed to run 2 miles in 18 minutes once, they have completed Step 1. The next goal is to run 2 miles in 18 minutes twice in a row, therefore to complete Step 1 and Step 2 takes at least 3 runs. A player would then move onto Step 3, looking to run 2 miles in 16 minutes, and so on and so forth.

If you actually have a full week with your team, I would avoid `pure` cardio as much as possible, focusing on high intensity hockey drills to improve fitness. You could possible run a shuttle run on the first and last day to show your teams progression if you wished, but if you`ve got that much pitch time I would definitely recommend putting as much emphasis on the hockey as possible.

Hope this is more clear,

Josh