BACKGROUND

Hi all, Coach Derron here.

Every year, people ask me how to get faster. I do what I can, but in the middle of the season it is difficult to help someone perform the strength, conditioning, coordination and sprinting trainings necessary to make a significant difference. This has really frustrated me in the past, so this year I decided to try and make some progress. By running a dedicated program, we get a real opportunity to support each other with making & meeting personal goals.

I also have a selfish reason for running the program: it’s a great way for me to work on my own fitness, as I will be joining the sessions. Although this makes aspects of coaching more challenging, I hope that there will be plenty of coaching moments as well as specific benefits to me living the program myself. To slightly misquote William Wayland (a notable S&C coach), I’ll be eating from my own restaurant.

An important general disclaimer is that I do not have any formal training in Strength & Conditioning. I do have a background in track-and-field as a former 200m and 400m sprinter, but do not be under the illusion that I “have all of the answers“, and am up to speed on the latest and greatest training methods. What I will do is to do my best to help anyone who turns up and give them my two cents. As long as we keep an open & honest discussion going, I am sure we will make the most of our time together.

THE PROGRAM

GENERAL ORGANIZATIONAL STUFF

This blog environment will be the central hub of the program, allowing us to refer to a dedicated place for the training programs, our progress, and other materials.

Summer Quickness Program will start in mid-June and will last to mid-August. The concept was presented & discussed on the boat on May 23rd. The most important takeaways:

• Interest seems to be sufficiently (and surprisingly) high
• Good expectations alignment between club & myself personally
• Most are available Tues/Thurs/Weekends
• Trainings shall be published for all
• It is the holiday season, so no-one can be present at all trainings

You can find a copy of that presentation HERE.

The first session will be on June 13th.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The program will last for 9 weeks, and has been split up into:

• Foundational running form & capacity (3 weeks)
• Building power & speed (3 weeks)
• Peak acceleration & overspeed (3 weeks)

AWESOME, WHAT CAN I DO TO LEARN & GET BUSY NOW?

Here and there, I will be running tests over the coming 2 weeks to make sure that we have a decent training structure which can work. Feel free to join; I’ll throw out general invites in the Thor WhatsApp. Also feel free to go for runs to maintain your fitness levels. Assuming that you have a decent training program, continue with that so that you are maintaining your level of fitness. We will build from there together.

Here are some good things to (consider) hav(ing):

• Stop-watch (& heart rate monitor, see Decathlon for cheaper models)
• Decent running shoes, socks and running apparel (rugby apparel will also be fine)
• Foam roller (for home use)
• Valuables bag (I might ask the club to get something that we can lock securely to an immovable object)
• Water bottle

Here are some resources that I am currently reading into in preparation for our trainings:

• Cal Dietz on Triphasic training
• Cal Dietz & William Wayland on the French Contrast Method
• General quick introduction to the French Contrast Method [LINK]
• World Rugby Strength & Conditioning 1 and 2 (online) [LINK]
• Some of my old track-and-field programs
• A whole bunch of running drills to help develop running form (all over YouTube)
• Not something I know a lot about unfortunately but do your own nutrition research! You may as well start HERE

Feel free to reach out with additional information or questions, I would be happy to have that discussion and learn with you.