Talent Squad Weekend in Glen Urquhart
Running in the hills
Last weekend, Maroc junior talent squad travelled across to Glen Urquhart for a full weekend of training. They worked hard and had lots of fun. Read on to find out more.
If you would like to join the junior talent squad in the future this is what you need to do:
(1) Be in age class M/W 16 or older
(2) Have reached a technical level where you are achieving consistently high performances on TD5 courses (green and above)
(3) Have demonstrated commitment to improve your orienteering
Contact one of the talent squad coaches (Jon, Sarah, Roger) if you would like to find out more.
Last weekend, Maroc junior talent squad travelled across to Glen Urquhart for a full weekend of training. They worked hard and had lots of fun.
The squad travelled over after school on Friday to arrive at the hostel in time for a late “meals on wheels” tea followed by a general chill out and early night (at least for the coaches while the youngsters watched dvds).
Saturday morning was a technical training session planned by Roger on Achtemarack. This is a cracking little area with some lovely birch wood and mature forest, with lots of complex contour detail. There were three short control picking loops around the most interesting bits, which everyone found challenging. It was a bitter morning with some squally hail showers, but despite that everyone finished the session smiling. Athletes tested out some new GPS watches to see how they could be used for analysing technique and identifying areas for improvement. Later in the day the watches were downloaded into QuickRoute software which lets you plot up your route round the course and shows how your speed varies too. Lots of learning potential there.
After lunch back at the hostel, everyone headed up to Glen Affric to run on another amazing area which was scene of the World Championships classic race final in 1999. This session involved a long group map run. There were no controls out in the forest, but we drew a course with some long legs on the map and then took it in turns to navigate a section of the course. The lads headed off first in one group with the girls following at a more sensible pace in another. There must have been lots of rain recently, as the forest resembled a giant sponge with more than a few swamps, and the going was distinctly heavy. At one stage Rhona, Fran and Evie all disappeared up to their waists, much to the amusement of the coaches following behind. The light faded as a snow shower moved across the forest and both groups decided to cut their courses short but still came back smiling after a tough but fun hour and a half.
After refuelling well, it was time for some thinking in the evening. The squad had been joined for the weekend by sports psychologist Bryan McCann who led some great discussions on routines and goal setting and this lead into some further thinking about year planning.
On Sunday, the plan was for a steady group run in the hills behind the hostel. We awoke to snow on the ground with more showers likely to follow, but glimpses of sun too. Our route started off up a track but then diverted through the heather onto the hills and round a couple of lochs. Once again the girls waved the lads off up the hill and then took advantage of the trail that they left to make the going a bit easier underfoot – smart thinking. After an hour or so, as we turned to drop back off the hills to the track we realised a wall of blackness was rapidly approaching. The call of “snow storm” was enough to see everyone moving at a significantly faster pace than during the rest of the run. Despite the cold, there were still lots of smiles and happy faces back at the cars.
Back at the hostel, showered and lunched, the weekend wound up with another discussion lead by Bryan, this time centred around the theme of confidence. One of Bryan’s observations on the weekend was that everyone seemed to be having a good time and it looked that way to me too.
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