The inaugural NAV4 Symposuim will take place on 14/15th February at Longsleddale Outdoor Pursuits Centre in The Lakes.
What is a Symposium? 'The term Symposium originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means "to drink together") but has since come to refer to any academic conference or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive rather than lecture and question–answer format.' ...
..... although in our terms it will be a combined social and training weekend open to all adventure racers. It is intended to have a simple Symposium Supper on Saturday night, and the after Supper discussion about all things 'AR'. Maybe I'll be able to entice a guest speaker to kick off the evening but whatever the outcome it will be a fun, informative and an enlightening evening.
Day time activities can involve a wide range of things; walking, MTB, running, even paddling or 'ropes', but it will work like this... either, do your own thing , or sign up for a workshop, or two.
I hope many people will wish to come and join the fun, even if you wish to do your own thing rather that join a workshop, as Longsleddale OP Centre is ideally placed for excellent MTB trails, access onto The High Street Range of fells. We have original pre-marked 2005 KIMM maps for you to use .... plenty for everyone to do.
A flat rate will be charged for two nights' bunkhouse accomodation (Friday and Saturday nights) with free porridge each morning and a simple Symposium Supper. The cost of this is guesstimated to be around £35-40 per person. tbc.
Alongside that we hope to provide a number of skill 'workshops' focusing on what ever people want to do, ie, Intro or Micro Navigation, Advanced Score and Route choice strategy, MTB Navigation and racing skill, etc. 'Ropes Skills' or 'Paddle Skills will be offered if the demand exists. There will be an aditional charge for participation in any tutored workshop but the cost of this will be in the regionof £30-35 per 'short' day session and epending upon activity type, equipment, etc.
More details will follow in due course, but I need your suggestions and commitment to make it happen. Please be aware that the number and type of workshops and places on offer will depend upon the level of interest and bookings.
If you are interested please get back to me asap ..... I look forward to hearing from you in the New Year. Have fun.
Joe
Friday, 26 December 2008
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Moving on ... 2009 looming large
This is the time of year when I often think there is a long winter ahead before ‘next season’ … which in reality is simply not just the case. I’m at my most unfit and least healthy part of the year, having had a heavy cold for a few weeks. And there appears little reason to motivate myself. However, I’m not one to complain, nor push through illness or injury as that is simply foolhardy and did make me seriously ill many years ago.
Looking head to 2009 there is so much to do, both from a racing point of view and in terms of stuff to organize. On the race front my biggest news is that I have taken on the role of Race Director for The Hebridean Challenge, which is both scary and an honour at the same time. I’ve raced it a few times as a pair, solo and team and it is simply the best AR race in the UK. Working with Steph as organizer, and Gavin as route planner, it’s going to be an adventure of it’s own making. 'The Heb' race is highly to be recommended for many reasons; the scenery is stunning, the race atmosphere very friendly and the ethos of the event refreshingly simple and pure. There is no better way to have an adventurous holiday with your mates. It's also a good stepping stone for less experienced racers to sample longer, or Expedition type racing. Getting a team togther can be trying but it is well worthwhile. The 2009 race will see a few minor tweaks which will have quite an impact so I urge you all to get signed up in due course. I acknowledge that the web site is currently not quite upto date, but look out for a few ‘developments’ in the near future. I will also appreciate any feedback from participants as to what things you like, and dislike, as I aim to represent the racers opinion amongst the organising team, in order to help Steph and Gavin continue their excellent work. So if you have any comments or questions for me please get in touch. faulknerjoe@hotmail.com
Closer to home I’m busy plotting our own GL3Day event and busy with bookings for our next NAV4 training course in March. www.joefaulkner.com The full details are available on the website - remenber places are limited and will fill quickly after the New Year. The course is applicable to all mountain marathoners, adventure racers and off-road runners of all ability and experience. We deliver excellent instruction and coaching to tutor groups of no more than four people, during the Saturday, and then enable you apply your self to a mock training event on Sunday, but with support and feedback to help you progress. The evening indoor session and optional night nav later in the evening completes the programme.
On the racing front, the Open5 Series is in full swing although I dipped out of the Staveley event due to high levels of snot and snow! (Urgh) It was just too icy for me but t'was good to meet a few new faces, as well as the old ones and offer advice at the 'NAV4 Help Desk'. Team NAV4 were a bit short on numbers due mainly to the weather. Certainly, Wilko was iced up deep in Keilder Forest and was told not to travel; she does still head the overall leaderboard for Open5 points.
Stokesley is the next event in the series although I’m likely to miss that due to a combination of wedding anniversary, my wife’s birthday and an increasingly pressing need to get up north in prep for The Heb. However, Team NAV4 will be there in force. John Allen will be fronting up the Help Desk - his experience and skills are legendary!!!
Have fun over Chrimbo ... remember ... 'there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing (and sometimes the wrong choice of activity)'
Looking head to 2009 there is so much to do, both from a racing point of view and in terms of stuff to organize. On the race front my biggest news is that I have taken on the role of Race Director for The Hebridean Challenge, which is both scary and an honour at the same time. I’ve raced it a few times as a pair, solo and team and it is simply the best AR race in the UK. Working with Steph as organizer, and Gavin as route planner, it’s going to be an adventure of it’s own making. 'The Heb' race is highly to be recommended for many reasons; the scenery is stunning, the race atmosphere very friendly and the ethos of the event refreshingly simple and pure. There is no better way to have an adventurous holiday with your mates. It's also a good stepping stone for less experienced racers to sample longer, or Expedition type racing. Getting a team togther can be trying but it is well worthwhile. The 2009 race will see a few minor tweaks which will have quite an impact so I urge you all to get signed up in due course. I acknowledge that the web site is currently not quite upto date, but look out for a few ‘developments’ in the near future. I will also appreciate any feedback from participants as to what things you like, and dislike, as I aim to represent the racers opinion amongst the organising team, in order to help Steph and Gavin continue their excellent work. So if you have any comments or questions for me please get in touch. faulknerjoe@hotmail.com
Closer to home I’m busy plotting our own GL3Day event and busy with bookings for our next NAV4 training course in March. www.joefaulkner.com The full details are available on the website - remenber places are limited and will fill quickly after the New Year. The course is applicable to all mountain marathoners, adventure racers and off-road runners of all ability and experience. We deliver excellent instruction and coaching to tutor groups of no more than four people, during the Saturday, and then enable you apply your self to a mock training event on Sunday, but with support and feedback to help you progress. The evening indoor session and optional night nav later in the evening completes the programme.
On the racing front, the Open5 Series is in full swing although I dipped out of the Staveley event due to high levels of snot and snow! (Urgh) It was just too icy for me but t'was good to meet a few new faces, as well as the old ones and offer advice at the 'NAV4 Help Desk'. Team NAV4 were a bit short on numbers due mainly to the weather. Certainly, Wilko was iced up deep in Keilder Forest and was told not to travel; she does still head the overall leaderboard for Open5 points.
Stokesley is the next event in the series although I’m likely to miss that due to a combination of wedding anniversary, my wife’s birthday and an increasingly pressing need to get up north in prep for The Heb. However, Team NAV4 will be there in force. John Allen will be fronting up the Help Desk - his experience and skills are legendary!!!
Have fun over Chrimbo ... remember ... 'there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing (and sometimes the wrong choice of activity)'
Joe
Monday, 1 December 2008
Cyclewise Whinlatter - MTB Skills for AR
This was actually the second MTB skills course that I have undertaken within the year, the previous one being a Day at Glentress with David Webster and is also highly recommended.
What did I learn? Well, Firstly – I’m still a crap mountain biker, and secondly; it is important to identify and practice your weaker disciplines for successful improvement across AR. Just like triathletes needing to training at their weaker discipline in order to gain maximum improvement overall, most of us favour doing what we like best, and not what we like least. Therefore, we go out and train at our favoured sport and neglect skill development.
So, how was Whinlatter? Embarrassingly, I had done very little technical riding over the summer and arrived clutching my ‘trails’ bike which is a smart and relatively unmarked Orange P7, bought about a year ago with the sole aim of improving my technical riding. Even more annoyingly I had done no ‘prep’ for the course and hadn't managed to ride my bike or practice at all. I always ride my other bike, my ‘race’ bike in ARaces; I’m used to it, it has a map board, cross roads tyres and bar ends all set up for efficiency in longer events and it seems to go faster. Consequently, at the recent Open5 in Blanchand on a wet and muddy day, I shied away from spending too much time mud plugging on the bike and allowed more time to ‘clear’ all the run controls. Was this right? Had I under achieved on the bike?
The answer is ‘Yes’ possibly, I had under achieved on the bike section, but I had played to my strengths so that my overall strategy was right for me in those conditions. Setting that aside, in order to move up the finishing order I need to improve my ‘efficiency’ on the bike, and whilst there is nothing wrong with my navigation and route choice is usually very good, I need to ride faster on more technical terrain. But this would only pay off in an Open5 if I can spend, say, the half an hour I spent clearing low value run controls, and replace them with better value MTB controls. Such is the dilemma of Open5 … of course.
I can highly recommend undertaking any sort of coaching to improve your performance and simply your enjoyment of your sport. All too often we reach a plateau in our activity and it is very difficult to move on without some form of external feedback. Sports psychology is a fascinating subject and by ‘getting inside your head’ a good coach will be able to allow yourself to identify what is holding you back. It may be possible to do this yourself, but is easier with an external feedback.
This past weekend I have been working with some Mountain Leader candidates assessing their skills and performance. Over three glorious weather days I thought a lot about learning styles and performance under stress. During the MTB courses I found it very difficult to perform ‘to order’ as the group circled in a regular formation, and had better success when away from any peer group spotlight. Of course this is quite normal for everyone and Rich and Neil, and also David Webster are excellent and breaking down those barriers and providing coaching tricks. Recently I decided that I must swim regularly over the winter months to strength my swimming ability. Living a mile form Ullswater I prefer to swim in the lake. I like swimming but hate swimming pools but whilst ploughing up and down one night I thought this through. I concluded that it actually originated from the childhood stress of swimming pools and actually the changing room part of a swimming session; I was the fat kid uncomfortable in the changing room! Well now that I’m 46 it made me smile but that actual realization was a powerful one.
Whether swimming or biking what is necessary is practice …. practice …. ractice … but based on feedback and with great awareness of your weaknesses and inhibitors.
Go on a Cyclewise course – you won’t regret it.
What did I learn? Well, Firstly – I’m still a crap mountain biker, and secondly; it is important to identify and practice your weaker disciplines for successful improvement across AR. Just like triathletes needing to training at their weaker discipline in order to gain maximum improvement overall, most of us favour doing what we like best, and not what we like least. Therefore, we go out and train at our favoured sport and neglect skill development.
So, how was Whinlatter? Embarrassingly, I had done very little technical riding over the summer and arrived clutching my ‘trails’ bike which is a smart and relatively unmarked Orange P7, bought about a year ago with the sole aim of improving my technical riding. Even more annoyingly I had done no ‘prep’ for the course and hadn't managed to ride my bike or practice at all. I always ride my other bike, my ‘race’ bike in ARaces; I’m used to it, it has a map board, cross roads tyres and bar ends all set up for efficiency in longer events and it seems to go faster. Consequently, at the recent Open5 in Blanchand on a wet and muddy day, I shied away from spending too much time mud plugging on the bike and allowed more time to ‘clear’ all the run controls. Was this right? Had I under achieved on the bike?
The answer is ‘Yes’ possibly, I had under achieved on the bike section, but I had played to my strengths so that my overall strategy was right for me in those conditions. Setting that aside, in order to move up the finishing order I need to improve my ‘efficiency’ on the bike, and whilst there is nothing wrong with my navigation and route choice is usually very good, I need to ride faster on more technical terrain. But this would only pay off in an Open5 if I can spend, say, the half an hour I spent clearing low value run controls, and replace them with better value MTB controls. Such is the dilemma of Open5 … of course.
I can highly recommend undertaking any sort of coaching to improve your performance and simply your enjoyment of your sport. All too often we reach a plateau in our activity and it is very difficult to move on without some form of external feedback. Sports psychology is a fascinating subject and by ‘getting inside your head’ a good coach will be able to allow yourself to identify what is holding you back. It may be possible to do this yourself, but is easier with an external feedback.
This past weekend I have been working with some Mountain Leader candidates assessing their skills and performance. Over three glorious weather days I thought a lot about learning styles and performance under stress. During the MTB courses I found it very difficult to perform ‘to order’ as the group circled in a regular formation, and had better success when away from any peer group spotlight. Of course this is quite normal for everyone and Rich and Neil, and also David Webster are excellent and breaking down those barriers and providing coaching tricks. Recently I decided that I must swim regularly over the winter months to strength my swimming ability. Living a mile form Ullswater I prefer to swim in the lake. I like swimming but hate swimming pools but whilst ploughing up and down one night I thought this through. I concluded that it actually originated from the childhood stress of swimming pools and actually the changing room part of a swimming session; I was the fat kid uncomfortable in the changing room! Well now that I’m 46 it made me smile but that actual realization was a powerful one.
Whether swimming or biking what is necessary is practice …. practice …. ractice … but based on feedback and with great awareness of your weaknesses and inhibitors.
Go on a Cyclewise course – you won’t regret it.
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