Aerobic Base drill
Extensive Tempo Runs
Build work capacity and aid recovery between hard days without adding meaningful fatigue.
- Time
- 35 minutes
- Players
- 1 to 30 players
- Intensity
- Medium
- Equipment
- None
- Space
- Pitch length and width, no cones needed
- Positions
- All positions
Setup
Pitch markings only, no cones. Try line to try line is roughly 100m, try line to halfway is 50m, and touchline to touchline is about 70m.
How to run it
- Work out your pace first: time yourself over 60m flat out, then run at 65 to 75% of that speed - a 9-second 60m means tempo pace is about 4.3 m/s, so roughly 23 seconds for 100m.
- Run each rep smooth, tall and relaxed at that pace, then rest for double the time the run took.
- Accumulate 1000 to 1500m in total, which is 10 to 15 lengths of the pitch.
- It should feel controlled the whole way, and if you are straining you have gone too hard and turned a low day into a high day.
Coaching cues
- Fast but never straining
- Tall, relaxed, loose hands and jaw
- Rest is double the run time
Common mistakes
- Creeping up towards 85% because it feels good, which wrecks the hard-easy structure of your week
- Counting reps instead of total metres, when metres are the actual dose
Related drills
- Pitch-Length Long IntervalsDevelop aerobic power with longer efforts held at your maximal aerobic speed.
- Four by Four Aerobic IntervalsRaise VO2 max with four long, hard intervals and a steady jog between them.
- Pitch FartlekBuild an aerobic base with varied-pace running that needs no equipment and no measuring at all.
- Bronco TestTest rugby-specific fitness with the shuttle test widely used in rugby.
- MAS Time TrialMeasure your Maximal Aerobic Speed, the number every other conditioning session in this library is built from.
- Maximal Aerobic GridHold time at or above your maximal aerobic speed, which is the single biggest driver of aerobic power.