Watching the World Cup has made me think about how fit I use to be when I was playing soccer and how I wish I still had the endurance from my good old college days, or even high school days. But as we all know, there is no turning back in time, only moving forward and to get there again.
I am currently playing in a co-ed adult soccer league and it's nice to do "disguised fitness" as we use to call it in college rather than just running down Sumneytown Pike and back. When you're playing soccer you're so focused on the ball you don't think about the fact that you are running non-stop for 90 minutes. (Granted I was NOT running for 90 minutes because I was a goalkeeper, but my fitness level was sure much better than what it is now as an old, washed up, has been.)
Studies show that a competitive midfielder in a soccer match averages 6 to 7 miles per game. That length of distance is something not many average people can do. One of my best friends from college, Lea Day, was an outside midfielder for our soccer team in college and she is the quickest person I have ever met in my life. I would put money down and say that she ran more than that per game....jog, sprint, jog, sprint. Go to a neighborhood and jog to one mailbox and sprint to the next for 90 minutes straight. You will then know how Lea Day felt for 4 years.
I've decided that when I play in my adult league this week (which I'm a field player, not a goalkeeper) I am going to put on my pedometer and see how far I run. In college we use to wear heartrate monitors to indiciate how hard, or lack-there-of, each player was working at practice. Because we were wearing them, it was hard to slack off. I hope wearing my pedometer will make me realize if I am or am not working as hard as I possible can. If I find out I'm not getting many miles in...I'm going to boost up my effort and push myself a little farther.
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