Off-Season Running Program
Coach Schmidt has designed a summer running program for those players that want to stay on
top of their game. The program is designed to help build endurance and your overall fitness
levels off the ball. This is a fairly unrestricted running program, in that there will be some
suggested weekly workouts that you can use, or you can come up with your own to meet the
weekly/monthly goals that are set up. The coaches will be keeping track of your efforts to meet
the goals via an online group that they have set up on MapMyRun.com – Linn-Mar Soccer. We
encourage and welcome all players (past, present, and future) along with family members of
those players to sign up and join the Linn-Mar Soccer group. We feel by setting this running
program up that players will stay more active when not participating in our season and be
better prepared when those two-a-day practices roll around in the spring. By having all players
sign up along with welcoming family members to join in, we feel it will keep everyone more
motivated and help keep players on track and accountable for their off-field efforts to become
better all around athletes.
Workouts
The program will be set up with a series of weekly and monthly goals, followed by some
suggested weekly workouts. The suggested workouts will be designed for 3 workouts a week
and cover an entire month at a time. We plan to post the suggested workout at least a week
before the next month starts so each participant has a chance to see what’s coming up and plan
accordingly. We also hope to include a group run once or twice each month so we can get out
as a team/group to see how everyone is doing (details of these will be sent out at a later time).
Please know that you are more than welcome to come up with your own workouts to meet the
weekly/monthly goals and we encourage you to run with your teammates and family members
that are participating in the program for added motivation.
Monitoring the Program
Since the Off-Season Running Program will be done away from our structured team practice
season we will be using MapMyRun.com to track individual progress. This is a completely free
website, where you can log your workouts, compare times, distances, and even compete for
the best times on courses that others have done (or they can try and beat your best time on a
course you create). You just need an email address in order to sign up for a user ID, be sure to
click ‘No Thanks’ on the page asking you to pay for something. For those players/families with
smart phones or other devices able to run apps, there is an Android/Apple app which you can
use as well, then you can track your run/workout right on your device instead of login it on your
computer (either way works well). We have set up a Group within mapmyrun.com called LinnMar Soccer. You will need an activation code to join, so once you have a user ID please send an
email to coach Schmidt and a group invitation will be sent to you. We have already created a
couple of routes on the site and plan to put create a few more, but feel free to create your own
to challenge your teams.
How the workouts work
The month will be broken out into it’s weeks starting on the first Monday of the month. The
week will then list the three workouts followed by the goal for the week. Each workout will
have what needs to be done followed by a brief description and then which course we
recommend using. Each workout should start with a warm up jog then stretch, and each
workout should end with a cool down jog/walk and a stretch. Depending on your current fitness
level you should take a one day rest between workout days. I typically use a
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday schedule each week and mix in something light or other sport
related on the off days. Feel free to tailor any workout to your needs and abilities.
June Workout Schedule
th
th
Week 1 (June 11 to 17 )
Workout 1: Interval Run - 1.5 miles total
 Intervals – 2 x ½ mile runs with ¼ mile jog/walk between.
 Description: Run portion should be done at 80-85% of mile run pace with the jog/walk
being equal in time for the distance covered as the run portion (full recovery). So if you
run the ½ mile in 4 minutes your ¼ mile jog/walk should take 4 minutes. For this
particular interval set you will be ending on a jog/walk section.
 Course(s): LM 1 or LM 2
Workout 2: Build Up Ladder - 2 miles total
 Increasing speed/pace as the workout goes on
 Description: Start out by running at a comfortable pace (one in which you can have a
conversation with someone), then at each ½ mile speed up your pace so that for the last
½ mile you are cruising at 90-95% (if your normal mile pace is 8 minute, then the last ½
mile should be at a pace of 8 minutes 53 seconds to 8 minutes 25 seconds) it should be
hard to carry on a conversation during that last ½ mile
 Course: LM 3 could also be done on LM 1
Workout 3: LSD (Long Slow Distance)
 3 mile run/jog
 Description: for the LSD you should be running/jogging at a comfortable pace, a pace
that is easy to have a conversation while doing
 LM 4
Goal for week: Complete all three workouts this week for a total distance of 6.5 miles.
Week 2 (June 18th to 24th) – speed week
Workout 4: Speed Challenge
 1 mile run – ½ mile warm up and cool down recommended (2 total miles with the warm
up and cool down)
 Description: This is a 1 mile challenge to see how fast you can run one mile. Make sure
to warm up appropriately before embarking on this challenge, recommend a slow ½
mile jog and stretch. Follow the run by an additional ½ mile cool down and stretch.
 Course: LM1 or other easily identified one mile course
Workout 5: Speed Intervals 3 total miles
 3x ¾ mile intervals
 Description: This interval will start with a slow section and end with a fast section. The
fast sections should be done at 90% of your mile pace (workout 4s time) while the slow
sections should be done at 70-75% of that pace. So if you did the Speed Challenge in 7
minutes, the fast sections should be run at a 7 minute 45 second pace, and the slow
sections should be run/jogged at a pace of 9 minutes 20 seconds to 10 minutes.
 Course: LM 1 or LM 4
Workout 6: LSD (Long Slow Distance)
 3.5 miles total
 Description: Run/Jog at a pace that is easy to have a conversation while doing. This is a
slow run to help shake out the legs after some faster paced workouts this week
 Course: LM 5
Goal for week: Finish the Speed Challenge with a mile pace under 7:30 and accumulate a total
of 9 miles for the week.
Week 3 (June 25th to July 1st) – progressive distance week
Workout 7: Light Distance/Quick Pace
 2 mile run
 This is a light distance run and should be done at a moderate pace where conversation
would be hard. Goal would be to finish the 2 miles in less than 19 minutes.
 LM 3
Workout 8: Medium Distance/Easy Pace
 3 mile run
 A medium distance run that should be done at a pace where conversation could take
place. Goal would be to finish the 3 miles in 28 minutes or less
 LM 4
Workout 9: Group Run – Long Slow Distance
 5 mile run
 This will be our longest run, as well as our first scheduled group run. We will meet at the
practice field behind Excelsior Middle School, warm up, stretch and run together. Pace
for this run should be at an easy effort level where you’re able to talk with those
running with us, anywhere from 10 minute miles to 12 minute miles for a total of
around 50 to 60 minutes. The plan is to follow this with a cookout at the practice fields
(more details to follow).
 Excelsior 5m/8k loop
Goal for week: Finish the week with at least 10 miles and participate in the group run
June Monthly Goal
Complete at least 75% of the workouts with a total monthly distance of 18 miles.