My soccer season ended just yesterday, on Saturday the 10th. We played our last game, won our last game, came out with a winning season. My only problem is just that. We had such a great season, and I'm so pumped, but now where do I go?


For one, I know that I want to train in my off-season. I need to maintain/increase my endurance, maintain/increase my speed, and maintain/increase my strength. As for strength, we have a professional guy who is coming in to train us 2-3 times a week every week until the end of the school year, which turned out pretty well last year. For speed and endurance though, that's where I don't know what to do.

As previously stated, I want to maintain/increase my Speed and Endurance. The only problem is I have no experience with this. I've been reading a lot of articles over the past month in preparation for this moment, but I don't know how to put together a plan of any sort. This is why I'm asking you, the members of this group that Lee put together, for advice.

Also if this doesn't get much response I guess I'll try the thread.

If I were in your situation, I would definitely look up a local running club. Most clubs won't ask you to compete if you don't want to but they'll be happy to allow you to take part in their training sessions. The speed and endurance you could develop in such an environment is on a different level to what you'll gain by yourself but if that's not possible I could write up a basic speed/endurance programme for you (I'd most likely just use my clubs training diary here http://www.heatonharriers.org.uk/diary.php and expand on it a bit for you).

Thanks Lee, just took a glance on that and I'll be sure to read it tomorrow for sure. I'll look up some local clubs, and hope they exist/will take me. If not, I'll probably post again asking for a bit of an expansion on the read, maybe a dumbed down version; it looked a bit higher on the smart scale for my non-running brain.

He's definitely got a point. Track/running is a good way to maintain endurance and speed on off seasons. Most people that were in my track class were mainly staying in shape for other sports. A bit of cardio doesn't hurt anyone, either. I've even found it helps the mind.

You could try ankle weights if you're aiming to boost strength without a ridiculous amount of muscle buildup. Extra mass can slow you down. I'd suggest starting at like 1 lb. or 5 lbs. until you're used to it and work up to maybe 20 lbs. I know they have adjustable ones. It helped with a bit of my martial arts training. Just don't kick while having them on or try running. If you're not used to it, you could hurt yourself.

If it's your style, you could try some boxing or sparring. I can't say it's for everyone.

Alright, I've found sort of a program to do. Basically, I found a plan for myself that will last about 20 weeks. It was designed to get a 5K in 22 minutes or less, so I figured that was pretty good place to aim, although I'm going to sub out some of the easy run sessions for Interval Training maybe. Basically it consists of:

Cross Training
Track Running
Running (Distance)
Running (Timed)

It looks solid, although I'll probably have to go over it and adjust it to soccer needs.

Help/Thoughts?

My only thought is - have you actually done a 5k to see just where you're at? Chances are that if you play soccer regularly you're probably already hovering around the 22 minute mark for the 5km. Feel free to adjust the intensity of the programme if that is the case because 20 weeks is a -long- time.