Physical training will consist of lots of long easy runs gradually increasing the hours of training over the next couple of months. In order to do this, the easy runs have to be EASY. That means one should be able to hold a conversation while running at this pace. If a heart rate monitor is used, the heart rate should be between about 65 and 75% of the maximum.  If the runs are too fast, the weekly volume goals will be more difficult to complete. On top of that, a different energy system than what is desired will end up being trained. Therefore most of the workouts should be at this easy pace. There are several desired effects of base training:

• increase in size and number of capillaries feeding blood to the muscles
• better efficiency in heart
• strengthening of muscles and connective tissues
• greater ability to tolerate training load
• better muscle endurance to tolerate long races or multiple days of racing

Mental Training at this stage of the season is also about building a foundation. Goal setting is important as it guides and informs the training over the next year. It also provides motivation by keying in on particular results at particular races. At which races do the athletes want to be at their best? For most of the athletes that I am working with the following races are the most important:

• Junior World Championships, Slovakia
• Western Canadians and Canadian Championships, Alberta
• North American Championships, Delaware

Monthly, weekly and daily goals should also be set to provide focus to the tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve the desired results during race season.

Another important mental training component at this time of year is relaxation/activation level. It is important for the athlete to be able to get quickly to the desired activation level. Not only is this skill very useful for coping with the stresses of racing but it also essential that the athletes are able to achieve the desired activation level in order to make the most of imagery and focus training that comes later.

http://yukonorienteeringteam.wordpress.com/

Whitehorse Star article

Evaluation of 2010 Season

The Good

• lots of regular sessions for the athletes (Mon, Wed, Fri)
• weekly winter sessions
• on site coaching at North Americans, Westerns and Canadians
• race Plans and Race Analysis forms for major competitions
• clear instructions for most training exercises
• Test Run established
• good overall season plan and development

The Needs Improvement

• amount of help (coaching and non-technical tasks)
• quality of sessions – flags hung, pre-printed maps, etc
• feedback and individual attention during sessions
• mental training and visualization especially during practice
• training plans and follow up

Goal Setting for 2011

Ultimate Goal

• to coach world class athletes
• to be a professional coach

Long-term Goal

• to coach the best athletes in Canada
• to coach in the perennial best club in Canada

Season Goal (2011)

• YOT Juniors and Elites win 24 medals at Canadians
• 3 YOT members at Junior World Orienteering Champs
• 5 YOT members named to 2012 Canadian HPP (based on 2011 performance)

Intermediate Goals

• meet with other coaches and volunteers
• set training plans for athletes and follow up at monthly intervals

Weekly Goals

• maximize feedback to each athlete
• incorporate visualization and goal setting into each session
• have specific physical training focus for each session
• have at least 50% of sessions with flags
• have all technical sessions with pre-printed maps

Comments

It is worth looking at my previous post on goalsetting because there is a list of what makes a good goal. I will comment briefly on how I see my own choices.

Firstly, goals have to be realistic. I can try to improve over last year by providing more training sessions for the athletes. However, with a busier work schedule and a 1-year old at home, that is simply not going to happen. I have to find a different way to improve. We need to think about how much time we are willing and able to commit.

Goals also have to be challenging but achievable. As an example, in 2010 the YOT juniors won 18 medals at COC. This year, I put down the goal of 24. That might seem like a really big jump but with COC on home turf in Whitehorse, we will have more athletes. The athletes from last year will be even better prepared. So, if everything goes right, it can be done.

Goals should be measurable. I tried to put specific numbers on my goals. From the example above, I said, “24 medals.” It becomes a bit harder to measure your weekly task-based goals. Even there, I said things like, “have at least 50%…”

It also helps if goals are task-based. Of course, you can use some result or selection to a team as the major goal for the season. That can help get you out the door to train. However, for the goals between now and that season goal, it is best to focus on what you can do. For example, something I will try to do is, “incorporate visualization and goal setting into each session.”

Your Turn

If you are a YOT junior in the Red Group, you will be meeting with Tracey, the sports psychologist in the next few weeks. Have a look at your maps from this past season and try to think about what went well and what needs improving. What do you want to achieve this season? or even in the next few years? What can you do to get there? Look at the qualities of good goals prior to your meeting. I encourage the rest of you to give goal setting a try on your own. Let me know if you have any questions.

Whitehorse Star photo

It is nice to see Yukon Orienteering Team member, Dahria Beatty, get some recognition. Of course, as well as being a great orienteer, she’s a pretty good skier I believe the picture to the right is of her on the Dachstein Glacier in Austria. Fellow YOT members, Colin Abbott and Kendra Murray were also there training this fall. Check out Colin’s blog post about the Yukon Ski Team trip.

The AthletesCAN Forum is coming up at the end of the month. In preparation, I was given a small assignment. One of the questions asked was, “Do you have any successes to share? e.g. positive change that has occurred in your sport through athlete leadership or otherwise or a personal success you had as an athlete representative or team member over the past year, etc.” Since I was answering the question anyway, and since the end of the season is a good time to take stock of what has happened through the year, I thought I would share these successes with you.

Athletes’ Representative on COF Board

One of the biggest positive changes technically occurred more than a year ago but it is important enough that I will put it in here. As I mentioned above, there is now an Athletes’ Representative on the COF Board. From now on, National Team and High Performance Program athletes have a vote and voice in major policy decisions within the Canadian Orienteering Federation. Some items from the COF this past year that directly affect athletes, to name a few, include the Strategic Plan, coaching certification, officials manuals and Canadian Championships bids.

High Performance Committee

The Athletes’ Rep chairs this committee. This is the first full year of the HPC. Basically, this group works for the betterment of the High Performance Program. We have met 9 times since this time last year. Each person leaves the meetings with an action item or two. All told, there were many hours spent by these volunteers:

• Patrick Goeres, Current Senior National Team
• Pam James, Former National Team (recently withdrew)
• Magnus Johansson, National Coach
• Eric Kemp, Current HPP, Former Junior National Team
• Brent Langbakk, Athletes’ Rep, Former National Team
• Charlotte MacNaughton, COF Executive Director, Former National Team
• Adrian Zissos, IOF Event Advisor
• Nevin French, Communications Officer (recently joined)

A lot of time was spent around setting standards and getting official documentation in place. Not only are items like the Athlete Handbook and Athlete Agreement a requirement for Sports Canada funding, they give the National Teams and the High Performance Program credibility. These documents provide a way for athletes to know all the information they will need for planning the coming season, such as selection process, dates of races, etc. Having the HPC create and review these documents allowed for a lot of input from athletes and former athletes around such things as the selection process. The HPC also provided feedback to the COF Board on the High Performance section of the Strategic Plan.

A second major focus of the HPC was fundraising. We had a really successful year of fundraising. While the athletes did a lot, the HPC organized and coordinated it. The HPC was totally responsible for the effort to ask clubs and associations to make donations towards the JWOC and WOC team leaders. Thanks to the generous contributions these fees were not paid out of the High Performance Fund. We were also pleased to negotiate some little perks for HPP members such as free entries available at NAOC, COC and, most recently, the Golden Leaf Orienteering Festival.

There was also a focus this year on raising the profile and visibility of the National Teams and the High Performance Program within the larger Canadian orienteering community. The stadium setups with radio and spectator controls were a huge boost. The creation of a red group with interviews and commentary meant that people stuck around to watch all the excitement. In addition, HPP members have all been making contributions to the Canadian Orienteering High Performance Program blog, which has allowed people to “meet” the High Performance Program athletes. We feel that all of these things will make it easier to get support as we move forward over the next few years.

We will be setting goals and priorities for the next year at our next meeting. I know one goal that the committee and I have for this upcoming season is to have better communication with the athletes and the larger orienteering community. Hopefully, this posting is a start. Please tell us your ideas. Let us know if you are able to help in any way.

Suffering at the end of the leg

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I was on a fairly competitive team for the Klondike Road Relay. Our aim was to try to challenge the Skinny Raven:Take No Prisoners team that has dominated the 176.5 kilometre, 10-leg relay from Skagway to Whitehorse for many years. We even went as far as to name our team Scarecrow in the spirit of friendly rivalry. Unfortunately, our would be rivals had some injuries and didn’t come this year. Of course, it was disappointing not to race them but we were pleased with our performance nonetheless. After all, we are all really just trying to get the best out of ourselves.

It was really fun to have this shared experience with teammates. Watching Andrew, Karl and Rodney do so well was inspiring. I ran leg 9,  so could easily have just driven to the start of my leg and then gone home afterward, but following along and providing support made it feel like we were in it together, helping each other. We can get that little bit extra out of ourselves when we have teammates relying on us.

Getting the team together in itself was a challenge as we had some injury issues ourselves. We had a core of guys to start with. Then we were lucky that Andrew Brown who is new to town could join us. We ended up with nine solid runners and made the decision that Rodney Hulstein would run two legs. Then on Wednesday, Rod got a phone call from Ryan saying he had fractured his foot. Yikes, we were down to eight runners!  Then, almost miraculously Willy came back from his work out in the field just in time. I have to say we were a little worried about his lack of training but this was no time to be picky. Willy himself admitted that he had only agreed to run for our team in a moment of weakness at the bar when he had had a couple too many. Amazingly, he gutted out 6:22/mile and came second on his leg on sheer determination.

Willy’s run was indicative of everyone’s effort. You can see why we were proud of our performances. I didn’t quite run as fast as I had hoped. Still, I was less than 1 minute off my goal of running 6 min/mile pace finishing the 11 miles in 1:06:57. I really hurt in the last third of the race but I kept trying to push and Andrew and Karl were awesome at cheering (there’s that team element again). I ended up winning my leg. In fact, we won seven of the ten legs and were second on the other three. So after all that, we came within a minute of our predicted time finishing in 11:20:56.  This is, by the way, about three minutes faster than Skinny Raven’s time from 2009, at least proving to ourselves that it would have been a great race. We know that next year they will come well prepared with a crew of talented guys. That will be our motivation to push ourselves this year. We are looking forward to the challenge.

Map and course profile

Results