For any sport, speed is an essential part of the game. It’s the key ingredient used to determine who has a better chance of winning. In lacrosse, the faster you are, the quicker you will be able to pick-up ground balls, break away from defenders, and get closer to scoring. Speed is something every player can work on to improve their chances of reaching success as an individual, and more importantly, as a whole team.
Being able to run faster is a long-term commitment, it takes time and a lot of training. But it’s easy to accomplish if you set your mind to it. To start, you should figure out your current speed is so that you are able measure your progress each week. Timing how long it takes you to run a mile is a good way to calculate your current speed, and it’s also a helpful for building your endurance. If you have access to a track it’s very easy to run a mile each day and calculate your speed with a stopwatch. By doing this, you can also measure how many strides you take per minute, and once you calculate the strides, your goal should be to double that amount for the next mile you run.
Having a fixed schedule is an important aspect of training to improve your speed. Running for five days a week on a set schedule will not only get you into great shape in terms of cardio-training, but it will give you the opportunity to get to know your own body and how long it takes you to maintain a steady pace. Make sure you vary the length and speed of your runs so that you are not overworking your body. Five days per week is a lot for cardio, so be sure to switch it up. Sprints are really helpful to disperse between your longer runs. Not only do you build muscle-strength, but sprinting helps to regulate your breathing.
Another good tip to improve your individual speed is to set goals for yourself. By setting a goal, your motivation level will increase and you’ll be more prone to achieving success. Remember, you can have both long-term and short-term goals. Perhaps one day you set your goal to run a mile in less than 8 minutes, and by the end of two weeks your goal is to run a mile in 7 minutes flat. It’s important to keep yourself in tact with your long-term goal by completing a set of tasks day-by-day.
Keep in mind that you should not expect results in one day. Be patient – but push yourself. With great speed comes great determination: when there’s a will, there’s a way.