What is a good off season training regime for a u14 girl playing in the top division of her state? Anyone have links? She wants to substitute biking for the running her coach is prescribing. Any opinions? How far should she bike (and how fast) to be the equivalent of a 2 mile (16 min) run? The coach is asking the girls to run 1 and a half miles every day. He want them to eventually increase it to 4mi every day before school. Opinons?
Part of the running is for cardio but part of it is to build up and strengthen muscles she will use during a game, unless she is playing on a bicycle, she should do the running. Have her do 3 5 minute sets of jump rope 3 sets of 20 push ups and there should be a site online where she could find a good plyometric workout. My U12's are doing this in preparation for the season. The jumping exercises are vital for girls and their knees which a 5 times more likely to have problems than boys (escpecially ACL and/or MCL)
Thanks, I like the jump rope idea. Interestingly she has complalined this year about upper body soreness after games. The pushups should help. Do you think 4 miles is too far as a goal?
Have her jog (3/4 speed) every other day, starting at 5-10 minutes straight, and increase her running by 2 1/2 minutes each day till she can run 30 straight non stop. If she's already at 30 minutes non stop, great, then she should continue to run for 30 straight, but increase the distance she is covering each day. She doesn't need to run more then 30 or else you could start to get shin splints or other joint pain. She can also add in biking 2-3x a week for cross training the quads. She should start at 45 min and increase to 90 min, (but don't do this on the days she running). As with jogging, once at 90 min..increase the distance, not the time. She can also do sprint work to include sets of 4x40's, 4x50's, 4x80's. She should rest double the amount of her sprint times in between her sprints. Sprints can be done on the same day as her bike work and should eventually be increased to be opposite her long distance runs. You can also have her ad in footskill work (Coerver style) for 30 minutes 3x a week, plus partner trapping (or wall traps) 3x a week as well. If she can somehow get a group of players together, small sided games 1-2x a week will help keep the game in the training. If she starts having any joint pains, then have her backoff her routine. She should always hydrate plenty before, during and after her workouts, and also stretch, before, during, and after workouts too. Best of luck!!
Yes, 4 miles is too much for a 14 year old. I agree with spartan's regime above. I work with 14 year old girls and the offseason program I have for them is very similar. I use the identical 30 minute run. The sprint rotation I use is a little different. Mine is 2-20, 2-30, 2-40, 2-50, 2-40, 2-30, 2-20. If all you do is distance running, your muscles adjust accordingly and you will lose some of your explosive speed. That is why there needs to be a mix of distance and sprints. Since the girls are doing this without my supervision, I tell them to take 2 days off per week from their routine. Hopefully, their parents are monitoring their hydration, stretching, and injuries. But, just in case they are not, or they're an overzealous parent who figures if 30 minutes is good 1 hour would be better, I strongly encourage the 2 days off. If you are monitoring her closely, 1 day off a week should be fine, but 2 days wouldn't hurt. Your muscles need rest to rejuvinate and repair fiber damage.
Some more questions. I have told her to walk 5 minutes briskly to warm up, and 5 minutes at the end to cool down. Is this part of the 30 minutes or is the 30 min just the running time? Also, she likes running on the treadmill at the Y (cute boys hanging out ). Is the treadmill an adequate substitute for road work? And can she do speed work on the treadmill? Thanks for your help!!
I count the 5 minute warmup as part of the 30, but not the cool down. So, total it is 35 minutes. Yes, you can substitute a treadmill. I use treadmills almost exclusively through the winter when snow doesn't allow us outside. The benefit of the treadmill is you can easily monitor heart rate and speed. You can also add incline to work the heart and leg muscles more. Do a web search on how to calculate target heart rate for different workouts types. Speed work can be done on a treadmill, but I would ask someone with that kind of experience show her how to do it. It can be dangerous if she doesn't do it right. I have some girls who do acceleration training on an incline treadmill, but they are supervised by a professional acceleration trainer the entire time. If your Y has a track, she can do the sprints there much more safely and still see the cute boys. Hope that helps.
What happened to the ballwork? There should be at least an hour of that everyday that includes footskills and passing against a wall.