Kelly Penfold is a Physical Performance coach at the QLD Academy of Sport, currently working with Men’s field hockey, triathlon and race-walking. She has been involved in athletic development from grassroots to professional and Olympic sports, including three years as the strength and conditioning coach for the QLD Women’s State of Origin Team. Her coaching experience ranges from field and court sport to endurance athletes, and has worked with youth, adolescent and older athletes. She was Head Performance Coach for Ace Performance in Melbourne prior to her QAS role where coaching speed, acceleration and agility were a strong focus. She holds her Level 2 ASCA accreditation and is an Elite coach within the ASCA Pro-scheme.

QUOTES

“Endurance first is the underlying factor that I think should always be worked on in a preseason”

“At the very start of preseason is when I start to get them confident and comfortable at running a reasonable distance”

“It is very important in any endurance sport to build kilometers in a patient approach year by year”

“Somewhere around that 25 km mark is my minimum in the preseason to know that the hockey players will get through a normal week inseason”

“If I can give them a cue the players have in their mind, those external cues seem to gee them up the most”

SHOWNOTES

1) Kelly’s voyage in strength and conditioning to the Queensland Academy of Sport

2) The importance of building aerobic capacity in preseason work

3) Approaches to develop aerobic capacity in preseason, including in semi-professional athletes

4) How to balance strength and endurance work and using the gym to stay in touch with speed and power

5) Using hill work and other field progressions to get players ready for accelerations and decelerations on pitch

6) The physiological base, polarised training and building mileage year after year in players

7) How change of direction and sprint work can be applied with triathletes

8) The footprints concept from Thorpey's former coach

9) Monitoring an athletes fitness during the season and using aerobic running tests to decide what type of running an athlete may need

10) External cues versus internal cues and athlete retention

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Gennadi Touretski

Nick Winkelman