Stanford 7's Rugby Prep
Welcome back UCD Ruggers, you've had a few weeks off but now we need to get ready to play some 7's. For those of you without much experience in the 7's game, it is a very different animal. A well played game of 7's rugby will push you physically harder than anything I can think of. The two reasons for this are A) the time domain. A game of 7's is made up of two 7 1/2 minute halves. With a game this short, you don't get to take a break and walk around behind the ruck. The 7 1/2 minute time domain is brutal, think about running a mile as fast as you can while having to tackle someone every 30 seconds, then rest for a minute and do it again.
B) 7's is hard because guess what? You only have 7 players on your team and you're covering a full size rugby pitch. there are no off plays in 7's, you have to be moving, on offense and defense the entire time. It is very possible you will run the length of the field up to 10 times in a half... and then do it again the next half.
Ok, 7's is miserable but here's the good thing, 7 1/2 minutes is a time domain we can really focus on and train to.
7's Workout #1
8 Mins AMRAP
Buy in, 100m sprint on the minute
10 burpees
20m shuttle
What's a buy in? A buy in means you must complete this movement at the beginning of each minute before doing any other work
What is a 20m shuttle?
What does AMRAP mean?
As Many Reps/Rounds As Possible
So, the best way to do this work out is; go to a rugby field with a stop watch. Starting on one goal line, start your timer and sprint to the other goal line. Start doing as many sets of 10 burpees and 20m shuttle runs as you can (use the goal line as you center cone for the shuttle). As soon as your timer hits 1 minute, sprint back to the other goal line and repeat. Continue for 8 minutes. Rest a couple minutes and do it again if you want to simulate a whole game.
20100430
Mega-Race Follow Up
First, the Mega-Race was a big success last weekend. Thanks a bunch to everyone who volunteered, the staff at the CSUS Aquatic Center and of course, all the Mega-Racers. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. I have a bunch of pictures from the race and I'll post a couple here, hopefully I'll get around to throwing the rest up on flickr in a day or two.
The Start - 400m Partner Carry
Mega-Racers enter Phase II - Kayak Attack!
Working on getting pics from the hill run
After the race, Mega-Barbecue!
Working on getting pics from the hill run
After the race, Mega-Barbecue!
20100417
MEGA-RACE!!!
Just a heads up, this coming Sunday, the 25th, I am putting on an event for one of my Rec classes at Sac State. My event is the Mega-Race. It will be awesome. So here's the deal; we have the CSUS aquatic center reserved from 12-3. Show up, ready to go by 12. At 12 we will have a brief recap of the course and boating safety. At 12:30, the race starts. To race, you must be in a team of two (2). the cost is $20 general public or $10 with student I.D. Cash or check, paid at the event/day of race. So, what do you get for your $20/10?
The race begins with a 400m Partner carry. One person can carry all the way or you can switch at your will, makes no difference to me. the only rule is that you may not advance if more than one person is touching the ground. At the end of the partner carry, you will arrive at the dock where you will get in to your tandem kayaks (that's right, two person kayaks, awesome!). There will be a 1.5k course marked with buoys that will take you to the other side of Lake Natomas. Once there, you will carry you kayak (no dragging!) across a bike trail to a boat check area. After dropping off your kayak, you will either begin your trail run or, if you are in the Crossfit division, pick up your 35lb sandbag and start your run. For the Crossfit people, you get one (1) 35lb bag to carry per team. You may carry it however you like between the two of you, switch off, one person carries the whole way, you each hold a corner the whole way, I don't care. You just need to arrive back at the kayaks with your sandbag at the end of the run. The run is challenging; it begins with an ascent of Rattle Snake hill, a 300m section with 15-30% grade before leveling off into rolling hills of single track style trail running. The run course is approximately 2.6 miles long loop. At the end of the loop, you will arrive back at the kayaks and paddle for the finish line, a straight shot back across the lake. As soon as the tip of your kayak crosses into the boat slip area, you are done. We will have some food and an awards ceremony on the beach by the barbecue pits once everyone is back.
20100401
Thursday 4/1
Playoffs
Sorry for the lack of workouts over the last week, the regular season for rugby is over, I was competing in the Nor-Cal Sectionals of the Crossfit Games and life got busy in general. Speaking of the regular season being over, that brings us to everyone's favorite time of the year, playoffs. Playoffs, particularly for collegiate rugby require a different approach than the regular season. With playoffs you are in a tournament format, this means you will get much less recovery time. With less time to recover, you need to focus more on nutrition, sleep and active recovery techniques.
Nutrition: Eat clean, nothing processed. This is a good time to be strict with your paleo diet and for those of you drinking milk, it's time to stop. You're not going to be making any more strength gains but you will increase inflammation and bloating so cut the dairy. Additionally, make sure you're eating enough. Playing multiple games this weekend takes a lot of energy, make sure you eat enough to compensate for that. On game days you will want to wake up early and eat immediately. About 3-31/2 hours before your first game eat again. As soon as your first game is done, eat again, preferably something high in protein and carbohydrates. An hour or so after that eat a regular meal.
Sleep: Sleep is often overlooked by athletes as a recovery tool. It can be particularly hard to sleep if you're excited about something. Alcohol is a bad ways to get sleep, good ways are sleeping masks, anti-histamines, herbal stuff like Valerian root and not eating right before bed. The more sleep the better, if you can get 10+ hours of sleep, go for it.
Active recovery: ICE, ICE, ICE I can't stress enough how critical icing is. In your hotel room, you should fill your bathtub with ice and water and sit in it for at least 5 mins after your game. Once you've warmed back up, do it again. Beyond icing, after your game, do a proper cool down, light jogging and plenty of stretching. Post game stretching is much more valuable than pre-game stretching.
Myofacial massage is the other key, it will hurt if you do it right but will get any knots/stiffness out before it becomes a factor in your performance. If you have to, you can just bring a tennis ball with you. Put the ball on the floor, put your body weight on top of it wherever it's sore and roll around until you tear up.
That's pretty much it, good luck guys.
Regarding programming for the off season; Everyone should take a couple weeks off after the season and recover. Two weeks after the playoffs end I will begin posting off season work outs.
Sorry for the lack of workouts over the last week, the regular season for rugby is over, I was competing in the Nor-Cal Sectionals of the Crossfit Games and life got busy in general. Speaking of the regular season being over, that brings us to everyone's favorite time of the year, playoffs. Playoffs, particularly for collegiate rugby require a different approach than the regular season. With playoffs you are in a tournament format, this means you will get much less recovery time. With less time to recover, you need to focus more on nutrition, sleep and active recovery techniques.
Nutrition: Eat clean, nothing processed. This is a good time to be strict with your paleo diet and for those of you drinking milk, it's time to stop. You're not going to be making any more strength gains but you will increase inflammation and bloating so cut the dairy. Additionally, make sure you're eating enough. Playing multiple games this weekend takes a lot of energy, make sure you eat enough to compensate for that. On game days you will want to wake up early and eat immediately. About 3-31/2 hours before your first game eat again. As soon as your first game is done, eat again, preferably something high in protein and carbohydrates. An hour or so after that eat a regular meal.
Sleep: Sleep is often overlooked by athletes as a recovery tool. It can be particularly hard to sleep if you're excited about something. Alcohol is a bad ways to get sleep, good ways are sleeping masks, anti-histamines, herbal stuff like Valerian root and not eating right before bed. The more sleep the better, if you can get 10+ hours of sleep, go for it.
Active recovery: ICE, ICE, ICE I can't stress enough how critical icing is. In your hotel room, you should fill your bathtub with ice and water and sit in it for at least 5 mins after your game. Once you've warmed back up, do it again. Beyond icing, after your game, do a proper cool down, light jogging and plenty of stretching. Post game stretching is much more valuable than pre-game stretching.
Myofacial massage is the other key, it will hurt if you do it right but will get any knots/stiffness out before it becomes a factor in your performance. If you have to, you can just bring a tennis ball with you. Put the ball on the floor, put your body weight on top of it wherever it's sore and roll around until you tear up.
That's pretty much it, good luck guys.
Regarding programming for the off season; Everyone should take a couple weeks off after the season and recover. Two weeks after the playoffs end I will begin posting off season work outs.
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