Welcome. Making Running Fun! John Skevington. When children are having fun, they are likely to continue doing whatever they are doing.

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1 Running is fun!

2 Welcome For many years I have been involved in running and especially in cross-country. To me the sport has always been one of great fun and recreation and as a coach I have always encouraged all my athletes, both young and old, to enjoy the experience of running off-road, through mud, streams and over hill and dale. My involvement over the past few years has been with the Leicestershire primary school cross-country league, which is no doubt the biggest in the UK, and with the generous help of Thule I have produced the following information and ideas to help you make training with your young athletes fun and rewarding both for them and, just as importantly, for you. None of these ideas are set in stone; use your imagination and your own ideas to adapt these fun training activities to the space that you have available and the young people that you are working with. For young athletes, cross country is a great way to experience proper endurance running whilst ensuring that their bones and muscles are kept safe by running on forgiving surfaces. Children love to run and to compete. However, without the proper background of good training, being in a race, be it with the school or at a local fun run, the experience may have long-lasting negative implications. Introducing a well-structured, fun and exciting training schedule to suit your needs, the available space and your environment will ensure that, whatever the ability and aspirations your young up-and-coming athletes have, they will be able to gain much more from their crosscountry experiences. The following information will hopefully give you some ideas and insight into how to make running, and especially cross-country running, fun, exciting and inspirational and hopefully lead to a lifetime of experiencing the joys of running for your aspiring young athletes! John Skevington John Skevington UKA Level 3 performance coach Making Running Fun! When children are having fun, they are likely to continue doing whatever they are doing. I have to assume that, as you are reading this, you want to get the young and hopefully competing children at your school taking part and, most of all, enjoying running. There are lots of technical things to learn about running but these can come later the only thing that matters for the time being is making every run a challenging but above all a fun experience. By doing this you are hopefully building the base for a lifetime of fitness incorporating the joy of running. One thing also to remember is that, if you want your young charges to have fun, you have to be having fun yourself. Get involved and enjoy the session with them! One of the early mistakes that many teachers or coaches make is to go back to what they remember cross-country training to have been like when they were younger. Times have changed, so don t stick to three times round the field as this type of training can be both fairly boring and, more seriously, a big demotivator for those who are enthusiastic but not so quick. Instead, introduce fun games which will work a range of energy systems and keep things exciting and entertaining. Children love to compete, but try to find ways for them to do this whilst not letting the fastest always win. A good example of making the session immediately inclusive would be to arrange your warm-up around a small area, such as a reasonable sized oval, or using lanes that the athletes can run up and down. This has two immediate advantages. First, it keeps everyone together, inspiring a group mentality cross-country running is always something that I have loved and the games and ideas in this booklet are ideal to get potential young athletes experiencing the joys of running and competing at cross-country Jo Pavey Four-time Olympian and ,000m European Champion. 2 3

3 and making sure that those who are less able are always included. The second great advantage from a teaching and coaching point of view is that, by keeping everybody within your immediate view, you are able to see more closely where improvements might be made in terms of style and ability. You will be able to control the group more easily and ensure that all warm-up exercises and drills are done in a correct and safe manner. A good starting point for your training session would be to set up a fun obstacle course using, for example, SAQ hurdles, and introducing change of direction work such as running in and out of trees, round bushes or whatever is available (remember that cross-country is not always flat, and that courses are not always straight!). You can then begin to introduce and utilise some of the series of running games that are described in this booklet to make sure that your sessions are fun, meaningful and bring great results. If after each session you have a group of tired but very happy runners you will have succeeded! Build a team spirit If you are looking to take part in competitions at any level you should start to bond your group members by looking forward to races and ensuring that everyone is part of the team regardless of ability. Being with friends and enjoying a sense of belonging are very important to get young children running, and keep them running. Try to keep everyone together as much as you can and include team games as much as possible. This breeds a naturally supportive environment where everyone is sharing the experience. Training Always start with a dynamic warm-up and finish with a warm /stretch down. Don t do static stretches before running. Warm-up 1) Jogging. 2) Low skips keeping the back long and maintaining a tall posture. Look out for arm swings. 3) Skips bouncing of the toes and higher knees. 4) Side steps with arm swings. Body should not be twisted. 5) Walking lunges (arms above head as an option). 6) Running with high knees. 7) Running with reverse flicks (bring the legs under the body in a running motion rather than butt kicking ). 8) Quicker running to raise the heart rate. Looking for correct style Try and look out for and highlight/correct running style. Significant improvements can be made by using simple cues, such as thinking about swinging the arms correctly. Have the athlete carry a bean bag or something similar to remind them or, better still, get everyone do it! Please remember though that everyone is different and what is right for one won t always work for everyone. 1) Balanced Forward Posture Stand tall & straight, gaze ahead Slightly lean from the ankles without bending at the waist Chest forward with shoulders band and relaxed 4) Cadence Up to 180 steps per minute depending upon age and ability Strive to count 30 steps per leg in 20 seconds = 180. Younger athletes will vary enormously! Light, soft and quick foot placement 2) Compact arm swing Short, relaxed arm movement Elbows should not extend in front of the waist at most speeds Pump back & recover forward, arms should not cause body to sway side to side 3) Proper feet strike under a bent knee Cue: feel like foot is landing softly underneath the body Avoid overstriding & heel striking ( run a little quieter ) Keep the knees bent & feet relaxed 4 5

4 Fun Games to make running fun! Beat the Clock This is a fun way for everyone to challenge themselves. There are no winners or losers as everyone works to their own ability and challenges themselves to beat their target. Set out a fairly short circuit. This could be a circuit around half of a football pitch or similar, or a smaller circuit set out with cones. It must include at least one straight to allow a safe start. The circuit should be small enough for multiple laps to be counted in the time allocated. Split your athletes into two or more groups. The first group runs round the circuit for (say) 1 minute 30 seconds. Each runner counts the laps that they have completed. The second group then takes their turn whilst the first group recovers. After all the groups have gone once, the first group start again, this time running for double the time (3 minutes for this example) with each runner aiming to complete double the number of laps they achieved before (runners can use their recovery time to calculate how many laps they each need to run). The remaining groups then take their turns and again try to achieve double the number of laps that they achieved in the first session. You will find that the fitter that the participants get, the nearer to achieving this they will come, so it is a really useful way of motivating your runners and seeing first-hand how much that they are improving on a week by week basis. Progression progress can be monitored over a number of weeks. RELAYS All children love to compete and relays are a great vehicle for allowing them to do this. By mixing different abilities within each team a well organised relay can be inspiring great fun as well as being inclusive for all. Continuous Relays Divide the runners into teams of 5 or 6. Mark out a circuit and mark equally spaced positions around it. For a team of 5 you will need four positions (as shown) for a team of 6 you will need 5 positions. Spread the team out around the circuit with two athletes at the first (starting) position and one each at the other positions. The first athlete runs to the second position, handing over to the second athlete who runs to the third position, and so on. Run for a set time or number of laps, or end the relay when every runner has arrived back from where they started. Teams can be mixed up or randomly selected to make it more inclusive. Progression Increase the distance run or the time set over the weeks to demonstrate improvement. If the same distance is used each time, record times and see if these can be beaten Engine & Carriages (also known as Snake in the Grass, among other names) 3 2 This activity again builds fitness by introducing change of pace work. It also keeps the athletes working as a group. Using a marked out area such as a football pitch or other suitable area, or utilising the cones from one of the other activities, divide the runners into several groups of no more than 8-10 athletes each. The athletes run round the circuit in single file. On a signal, the athlete at the back of the of runners sprints to the front. Once the sprinter reaches the front, the new athlete at the back sprints to the front, and so on. The lead runner should not allow the train to be detached from the carriages and should 6 7

5 always be running at the correct pace to allow the sprinting runner or snake in the grass to reach the front and not so fast as to break up the group. The activity can either be run for a predetermined time or for a given number of laps. This will depend upon the facilities available and the fitness of the participants. Whistle Blows Rear athlete sprints to front Organise athletes into appropriate size groups. It doesn t matter on this occasion that they should be all of similar ability in fact it is probably a good idea to have a wide range of capability for this game. One of the group is designated as leader. On a marked course of any reasonable size set your athletes off at a steady pace that they can all keep up with. On a whistle command, groups should vary their stride or pace you might use two whistle blows to signify long strides and three for short strides. Once the whistle blows again the group should revert to the original pace. It is the responsibility of the leader to bring their group back together at this time, ready for the next whistle command. Adding more whistle commands to introduce more disciplines within the run for example using four whistle blasts to signal sprinting will add to the fun as everyone needs to pay attention and remember what each command mean. Progression Increase the time for the session and increase both the frequency of whistles or duration of the stride changes. But not on the same session! It is good practice to increase volume and intensity at different stages. Zig-Zag Running The great benefit of this activity is that athletes will learn how to slow down on a bend, change direction and sprint away as they would in a cross-country race. Flags or cones are placed every 30m to 60m in a zig-zag pattern. The athletes runs to a flag/cone, turns and accelerates to the next. This activity can be extended and adapted by having zig-zag cones of different colours with each one denoting a different activity. For example a green cone might indicate green for go and would denote that a sprint should begin, a yellow or amber cone would indicate that the athlete should slow down to the next cone. This introduces lots of work across all of the energy systems and of course is great fun. Progression start by working as individuals and then progress to working in groups to get everyone used to race conditions. Paarlaufs Paarlauf (sometimes written parlauf ) is a German word which literally means pair running and involves two athletes working together around an oval circuit of any length. For younger children something in the region of m would be ideal. Pair up athletes of reasonably equal ability. The lead off runners are positioned halfway around the long edge of the oval (issue them with a baton to increase the feel of it being a relay and working together) with the second runner positioned directly across on the other side of the loop. The lead off runners set off round the circuit. On reaching the waiting second runner they change over (passing the baton if you are using one) and the second runner continues round the circuit. Meanwhile the lead runners jog back across the middle of the oval to their starting position to be ready to change over again. After another change over the second runner jogs back to their starting position... and so on. This activity can be a straight race, or a number of loops against the clock, or simply run to see how long the pair can keep going (to a maximum of say 5 minutes). RUN ROUND JOG BACK JOG BACK RUN ROUND START Run < 30m-60m > Sprint Run Jog Sprint Run FINISH Adaptations Making a narrower longer oval allows more recovery as the resting athlete has less distance to travel back to the changeover. The width of the oval can be made progressively wider and longer as fitness improves. 8 9

6 Chase / Last One Standing Whilst not strictly a relay, this is a great activity to add in after a Paarlauf as you can use the same area provided it is not too big to make catching the other person impossible of course! Either use the circuit from the Paarlauf, or set up a circuit or loop of approximately m around. Pair up the athletes to as near equal ability as possible. Partners are set across opposite sides of the circle (as with the Paarlauf) and must then try to chase each other down. Very evenly matched runners will never catch each other, so set a time limit! Anyone catching or being caught within the first minute (or whatever time is agreed) will need to start again. Progression make the circuit bigger and increase the time allowed, although this game can be viewed as self-limiting as fitness levels progress. Handicap Runs It is almost inevitable that within your groups you will have a huge range of abilities, some will be far quicker over the shorter distances and some will embrace longer distances at a steadier pace. This activity allows you to introduce a race where everyone has an equal chance of being the winner. From your experience working with the group, send off the slowest runner first and then at suitable intervals send the rest of the faster ones off with the best endurance runner going off last. If all goes well and you have correctly predicted your handicaps all of the runners should finish at the same time. It will be interesting for you to note how much the slower runners are able to pick up the pace when they have a chance of winning! Run a long way (but not very far) Often asking an inexperienced athlete to run any great distance can be quite daunting for them and as they tire they lose focus and walk or stop. This activity keeps everyone within a small area, so that they can be easily monitored and encouraged, but also gets them to run a good distance without stopping. As they will be working as a pair or group they can encourage each other and it never seems quite so far running from centre of a pitch to the edge than it does to go off into the distance! Anything up to half a mile can easily be accomplished using enough cones. Using a football pitch or similar area, set out cones around the edge. Put athletes into pairs or small groups of fairly equal ability. Everyone will start around a central point, perhaps the centre circle of a football pitch, facing outwards, and decide which cone they will run to first. On the command of Go!, working as a team they run to the first cone, then back to the centre, then work clockwise around the pitch visiting each cone in turn. The activity can be run continuously for an agreed time, which allows everyone to do the same amount of training. Alternatively, if the group is fairly evenly matched make it a challenge to see who can complete every station first. Highlight Cone Highlight Cone Progression Increase the number of stations, make the area bigger, have highlight cones which need to be sprinted or run from at a different pace. Sharing the Load Highligh Cone This activity brings in a different element tactics. It allows the less able runners to team up with better runners and work tactically to cover the required distance or number of laps by utilising their strengths. Although not directly related to running as an individual it does though bring in elements of thinking about tactics and how to utilise individual strengths against the weaknesses of others. Runners are put into pairs or small teams depending upon ability (mixing abilities is encouraged for this game). Using either a full or half football pitch or similar area, the teams are given the task of completing a given number of circuits (for example 10 circuits per pair/team). Each runner in the pair/team will run an agreed minimum number of circuits an evenly matched pair may wish simply to alternate laps but runners should be encouraged to experiment with different tactics over time. Once the teams or pairs are chosen, each is given a short time to decide on their strategy for how to best complete the target number of circuits. As an example, each 10 11

7 runner might decide that they would like to run alternate legs or may decide to run two consecutive legs then have one as a break. The decision on how to best utilise the talents of the pair/team is left entirely up to them though remember you agree a minimum number to be run by each one. Progression increase the minimum number of circuits that each runner has to do. Increase the size of the area as fitness increases. If you have very slow runners, or perhaps a runner with a disability you can, to be inclusive, pair up unequal partners and have two sizes of loop so that the more able partner runs further. Spring the Pack This is a real favourite with many of my training groups and you might find yourself being asked to do this week after week! Whereas Sharing the Load encouraged thinking about tactics as a pair or group, this very much gets individuals thinking about how best they might win a race by playing to their strengths or the weaknesses of others. Set up a route of around 300m - 500m or whatever is available and appropriate for your athletes. A distinct start and finish line and cones or flags placed m from the finish line should also be set up. Runners should organised into ability groups of around 5 or 6. Before each run, the runners line up at the start line side-by-side. The instruction to close their eyes and put their hands behind their back is given. The coach will then walk behind them and tap the hands of one (or more) runner and this person then becomes the spring in the pack. Only that runner(s) will know that he/she has been tapped. The group then (obviously after opening their eyes!) sets off at a comfortable pace that everyone is able to keep with. The pack must say together. When reaching the allocated spring cones the spring in the pack can then decide to either make a long run for home and sprint off then and there, or leave it until the very last few metres. This will depend on his/her confidence about beating the rest. No one in the pack is allowed to make a break for the finish until the spring sets off. The other runners in the pack must immediately respond to the move and try and beat the spring who has made the break. The chosen runner must be encouraged to make the decision to break depending on their confidence to hold of the others. If they are confident in their stamina then an early break may be appropriate, if not so confident they would delay the break and make a short sprint for the line. Red Cone Alert Changing pace within a racing environment is a real skill to be learnt and this activity encourages this skill to be developed outside of the pressure of a race. It will also encourage the stimulation of all the energy systems. Set out an appropriate length course (one which will take around 3 to 4 minutes to complete) using every possible feature of the landscape that you have available. You might include running around bushes/trees, up and down hills etc. You should also include some coloured cones which will indicate that the athlete must sprint, or at least pick up the pace, to the next cone. You can also put in small hurdles or any other obstacles that you have to hand and feel are appropriate. If space is limited you can utilise the available space better by creating a zigzag course. The athletes should be divided into pairs or small groups and allowed to start at any point on the course that they choose. This prevents early congestion on the course if you have a large group. On the command go the athletes set off following the trail of cones or obstacles. The athletes follow the trail and sprint when they arrive at a red cone, once the next cone on the trail has been arrived at the athletes can slow down to normal pace, or if they have found it particularly arduous, to a brisk jog or walk. After a set time, for example 2 minutes, blow the whistle to indicate that a rest can be taken either by walking or (as long as the weather is not too inclement) having a standing rest. This session has many benefits but the main one is increasing the ability to change pace and stride length in order to get round or over small obstacles, as you would in a cross-country race. Progression The time that the athletes run for can be extended on a week by week basis as their fitness improves and the amount of rest reduced again as fitness improves. You can also increase the distance and/or the number of pace change cones. 1-5 (0r more!) This is a great game and I have found an ever popular one regardless of the age group I am working with. It is great for building up speed and change of pace over short distances. It is also really great for improving listening skills and improving attention under fatigue. It can be used either as an energiser session at the beginning, especially in after-school clubs where energy levels may be a little low, or it can be used at the end of a session for some fun before the children depart for home. Divide the children into teams of approximately five each and have them stand in their teams lined up across the edge or behind a line (for example on a football pitch) 12 13

8 next to each other. Number each child 1 to 5 (or if there are teams with extra in them the extra runner can either run as a double or one member of each of the other teams can be given two numbers). Set out cones or other markers no more than 20m away from where the athletes will start to run. You then call out a number and that number child has to break out of their pack and run to the cones and back. Once they have become used to this, you can begin the process of tricking the children by introducing numbers into sentences. For example is no ONE listening to me or make sure you go TWO the cones! The variations on this are endless and it is a good way for both the athletes and coach/leader to have fun together. Team A On the command three Team B /6 Team C Now over to you... Hopefully you will find this short guide of use and a basis for your cross-country and running sessions within your school or the club environment. It should though only be regarded as a base level resource as it contains very little technical detail. If you are keen to progress and learn more about the technical aspects of running it is suggested that you look out the England Athletics resources for teachers and also the Athletics 365 resources. Both of these resources and indeed a great deal more information can be found on the England Athletics website: Start line 10-20m Line of cones Acknowledgments My sincere thanks go to Thule who have been incredibly generous supporters of primary school and year seven cross-country running, not only in Leicestershire but across the whole country, and to England Athletics who very kindly contributed with the design and illustration aspect. I must also thank and give credit to the countless coaches and teachers that over the years I have borrowed ideas from and adapted to my needs and hope that you will be able to do the same as sharing and passing on information and ideas is the key to progressing our young people in the sport! 14 15

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