The challenge: A 90-minute running session comprised entirely of running up and down giant sand hills. Best undertaken in the middle of summer, in searing heat.
Targets: aerobic fitness, mental strength
There’s something primal about pitting one’s reserves of strength against an enormous sandy incline, over and over again, until the point of exhaustion.
And it is for that reason that sand dune sessions spark a mixture of excitement, angst and dread in even the most seasoned of professional athletes.
Legendary athletics coach Percy Cerutty - the mentor of multiple world record holder Herb Elliott, among others - popularised dune running as a method of training his charges at Portsea.
It didn’t take long for football clubs to follow his lead, with Hawthorn players undertaking sessions with Cerutty in the late 1960s, and it’s a method that remains effective today.
Essendon, the Western Bulldogs and the Sydney Swans are among the clubs to incorporate sand dunes in their pre-season training programs in recent years.
The Swans’ elite performance manager, Rob Spurrs, said a prolonged session in the dunes provided physical and mental benefits that a regular running session could not emulate.
“It’s a different form of running in that you’re not getting the return from the ground and you’re having to work a fair bit harder,” he said.
“Not only is it running on sand, but you throw the hills into it and you’re not getting any help from the ground. You’re working with greater resistance and the heart rate is high, the lactate is high.
“But the rationale behind it is really a mental thing. It’s a really challenging session, mentally.”
Players who excelled in general running sessions tended to shine in the sand dunes, Spurrs said, but the workout varied dramatically depending on the type of running involved.
“Each session is pretty tough on its own and the same guys who have the capacity or the willingness to push themselves to the max will do that, pretty much every session regardless,” Spurrs said.
“What you will see in the sand dunes are slightly different results, depending on what circuit we’re doing.
“For example, there’s one where we do a continuous run for two minutes and some guys are better at that because it’s more aerobic, whereas on some of the shorter ones, the more powerful athletes will do better.”
How the pros fare
Dune running is less about times and benchmarks than a personal challenge, according to Sydney Swans midfielder Ryan O’Keefe.
“It’s just a case of head down and bottom up. There’s no hiding out there; you’ve just got to get through it,” he said.
“You just have to push yourself. It’s hard to compare it with anything like a time trial; there’s no real markers so it’s just something where you’ve got to push yourself.
“When you do these really tough sessions, you know you can really draw upon it later in the season. You know that you’ve done the work and you can really back yourself.”
Niggling injuries were no excuse at the Swans’ most recent sojourn into the sand hills at Kurnell, south of Sydney.
Lewis Johnston (toe) and Craig Bird (calf) were both withdrawn from the main group during the session as a precaution but they had little respite.
As their teammates continued to punish themselves, the young duo was made to crawl repeatedly up and down a giant dune under the watchful eye of development coach Stuart Maxfield.
Despite their pain, Spurrs said the feedback from the players was generally positive.
“While it’s a very tough and intense session, they do quite enjoy it for its variety in a long pre-season,” he said.
“Maybe they’re not really enjoying it while they’re doing it, but their spirits were certainly high when they were having a splash around in the water afterwards. There’s also a sense of achievement once they’ve got through it.”
