The Talent Squad are spending this weekend in the North Lakes working on their technical skills as they move into more specific training towards their competition targets.  

After arriving at the accommodation yesterday evening, dinner was served and then it was into the classroom for clarification of the objectives for the weekend. 'Picture' is the focus for the camp and so the training exercises have been planned to give the athletes the opportunity to visualise the key features on their routes and in the control circle.

Training began this morning, in the snow, at Low and High Hows, Borrowdale, with a forking exercise without compass, so that the athletes could focus on the detail and features on the map. With several of the coaches shadowing, the feedback from and to the athletes was comprehensive and taken into the afternoon session.The snow began to fall as the squad moved to Hogs Earth for a pairs exercise with a map memory challenge. After looking at the first leg, one runner planned the route, put away the map, and ran it from memory, whilst his/her partner planned the second leg and they switched back and forth along the course. This exercise was described by one of the athletes as ‘a method of training I’d never considered before for improving visualisation [map memory]’

The athletes thoroughly enjoyed the areas, describing them as 'the best I've been on in ages' and went away with many ideas and inspiration for future training sessions.

Tonight the athletes are analysing their routes and evaluating their training, before building on this, when they train at a higher intensity putting these skills under more pressure tomorrow.