Following the plan to avoid risks of exposure to grim winter weather in wilder bits of the Peak, this Sunday saw us at Norfolk Park with smallish groups; there has been lots going on this weekend!
Thanks to Jess & Michael for leading the groups.
Next week is back to Whitely Woods / Common Lane & leaders are Jess and Kris.
Coaching
The first Junior Championship race is fast approaching, Trawden on 26th March. Unfortunately, details are still hard to come by.
Leading up to the champs, there is value and purpose in adding an emphasis to the Sunday sessions for racing skills:
- For the U11s a key skill is in continuous running – so adding some structured drills with longer intervals; building on the short bursts of games running. To achieve this some focus on pacing will help.
- For the O11, the focus may be subtly reversed to focus on pacing, to also draw out that endurance.
These skills will not be unfamiliar to our cross country runners, but adding in the draining aspect of up hills and the need to preserve some strength for the down hills serves to highlight the value to be developed.
Incidentally, the following day (March 27th) is the Edale Skyline race. As there won’t be a session that day, it would be good to see as many kids as possible out there on the course cheering on all the runners.
Technical Skills
One of the areas that we can see the kids excelling is technical skill. Its one of the aspects where we can really make a difference within the structure of our sessions and exploiting the availability of good terrain to work on. The development of technical skills is good for senior racing skills. The disappointing, bit is that whilst its a factor in junior racing, its not as big a factor as for senior races. So we have to satisfy ourselves with limited gains for junior racing and the bigger picture of creating good hill skills.
At least one of our alumni has graduated to the senior ranks with excellent hill skills and has excelled there.
Champs bus
I’m still hoping that someone chooses to volunteer to organise a bus for the Trawden race.
Hopes for future development
At the moment, we are able to consistently field two groups on a Sunday. The numbers are rarely too large, but we do have consistency. The spread of capabilities is a bit too great to make the sessions ideal for all. It would be good in the future to be able to operate three groups. That requires more people to volunteer to lead groups. At the moment, we have just enough volunteers to cover the number of groups we have.
We are always keen for willing volunteers to assist with sessions. The club has the resources to support leader training, if people wish to step up from assistants to trained leaders.
Coaches & LiRF
English Athletic has a group leader and coaching pathway. The entry level courses are Leader in Running Fitness (LiRF) and Coach in Running Fitness (CiRF). These courses teach the skills required for leadership and development in running coaching. The current courses are general (track and road) and the FRA provide the option for a hill running top up. The basic courses are good quality, run over one day (LiRF) or two weekends (CiRF) and enable leaders to build confidence and skills.
FRA LiRF Off Road
The FRA have been in touch about the LiRF hill running extension, that is specifically relevant to recently qualified leaders, through the EA scheme (rather than the legacy FRA scheme:
I’ve received this from Nicky:
I am contacting you because the FRA and UKA are now ready to run three Pilot courses for the LirF Off-road Module in spring 2022 to be followed on by further courses in 2022.
- The Off road Leader in Running Fitness module will prepare you to lead a safe and enjoyable running experience for runners aged 12 years+, away from made surfaces and parks, using existing paths and fell/hill routes. It will include aspects of physical ability development, including how to have an enjoyable running experience while ascending, descending, and covering different terrains and under-foot conditions (such as rough surfaces, vegetation, muddy and wet areas).
- It will also cover the safety aspects of Off-Road running, in order to ensure to the extent possible that groups you lead will enjoy injury-free exercise sessions, with additional contingency measures in case of emergencies or accidents.
- Whilst abilities and environments differ it is designed for those who typically take groups on routes they are familiar with, which are well within the group’s ability, in environmentally benign conditions. The course does not prepare you for leading groups in unfamiliar areas, in adverse conditions or in more remote settings. Those wishing to do this are strongly advised to take the relevant Mountain Training Association Mountain Leader award or similar.
- It is assumed that Leaders completing the Off-Road module will wish to lead groups in more remote areas (classified as Category C in the UK Athletics First Aid policy). To retain qualification they must thus have an approved Outdoor First Aid qualification, to be renewed every 3 years as described below
Dates : Sunday February 20th, Saturday March 5th and Sunday March 6th 2022.
Cost: These will be priced at a reduced cost of £50 to FRA Members.
Prerequisite : to attend the Off road Lirf Module you must have already completed the UKA Standard Lirf course (https://www.englandathletics.org/coaching/qualifications/leadership-in-running-fitness/ )
Location: February 20th course is going to be held at Woodhead Mountain Rescue barn http://woodheadbarn.co.uk/?page_id=8 and will be a half day course.
Location: March 5th and 6th – I’m looking at Sedbergh People’s Hall
Qualification gained: Yes. By attending you will be awarded the LirF Off Road module
Booking will be available this week and on receipt of an email confirming your interest in a Pilot course I will email you the booking link for that course.
Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Please forward this email onto anyone else you think would be interested.
Please talk to Lewis if you’d like to volunteer as an assistant, or are interested in any of the training courses.