NOC Middle

Check out the NOC Middle Distance Map (mens) courtesy of Pasi Ikonens blog Leg 10-11 is a goodie, possible routes left, right and straight...the good guys go straighter a lot more than the rest of us...

Squad Email

Hey people Some squad stuff... Welcome New squad members Lise and Lizzie, you guys rock. Hold your breath and wait for the amazing reality of the National O Sqaud :-) We should start having ceremonys or something to welcome to new members, I might arrange this sometime in the near future. And Tane and Martin are in the squad, this happened last year sometime and was all very vague (as has happened often in the past), but yeah welcome to youse two as well Training Weekend As previously advertisied next weekend in the Hawkes Bay. Combined with D Squad. James and Mark are bringing cars down from Akld so get in touch with them if you are from that part of the world, Wellington dudes you should definitely come up. I will be arranging somewhere for us all to stay...so it should be a blast. Training on Tangoio. Maraetotara and others...also OY race on Sunday. Let me know if you are planning on making an appearance.. QB Entry has probably closed/closing but you could probably wangle something if you haven't entered, should be great weekend, with oceania spots up for grabs. INOV8 Deadline for orders today!! Orders to Carsten, don't skimp on your O shoes, there is nothing that prevents injury more than running in a good pair of shoes. Ring Around The Squad is being sponsored free phone calls (from my home ph) by the Kane foundation, so don't be surprised if you get rung in the near future and asked some questions,eg where you are at with your training, what we can do to help you out...whats your mojo, I am real keen to establish a motivational benchmark so I can try to take some credit when everyone is gagging for more orienteering and training 20hr weeks. Squad Blog I have been quietly working away on this, check out http://osquad.blogspot.com/ the idea is you guys have somewhere to go to find out about high performance o stuff and generally to help you feel part of a community that is working away trying to achieve goals in the big wide world. I recently invited a few of you I thought might be interested to be authors on the blog....to do so you have to set up a blogger account, but the whole process takes about 5 minutes, Anyone who would like to contribute...give me a buzz. Taupo Training Weekend Still working on dates for this with Derek Morrison (JWOC Coach) sometime in June...will let you know soon as possible Summer Camp Am interested in thoughs about a camp this summer....physical or technical?...location? keen not keen? when? I have a few ideas but am keen to see what others think first... Wicked...take care out there Jamie

Map My Run

Finally got round to checking out www.mapmyrun.com, it seems like a really good tool, for seeing just how long those training runs actually are... Heres one of my runs in Gisborne...

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

In planning for the upcoming Hawkes Bay training weekend I have been thinking about what I want to achieve as squad coach. As well as creating a good squad bond and helping people find opportunities to maximise their physical potential a big focus has to be assisting squad athletes to develop bulletproof technique. There are rough edges out there and we need to grind them down! Comment 1: Perfect Practice Makes Perfect. Everytime we orienteer whether we are training or racing we are practising for future races. The decision making processes we adopt at crucial times on a course become habit. Notice that experience doesn't necessarily = good technique, it would be easy to name the head cases out there with bad habits. Reflecting on orienteering training I have done I see a theme, sporadic, high quantity, low quality training, often on poor maps. When you train make sure that there is a specific purpose, make sure that you are physically and mentally prepared and ensure that the map is sufficent for the purpose. It is surely better to hit 15 controls bang on, with control than wobble through 25 controls. We will talk more about this at the HB training weekend and look at the principles wider integration into your training. Hope a few of you can make it. All comments welcome, any ideas?

Maps Maps Maps

So the plan now is to start providing links to interesting maps...to get you guys fired up. Try this one Its a Swedish park event with map and corresponding aerial photo and some analysis

Akld Training Weekend

A brief report from James on the Akld training weekend...sounds good, Huriwai has always been a challenge "we started saturday arvo: 1st Exercise: simplification Aim: to try and eliminate all the unnecessary info, especially the intense rock. getting the kids to run across large strecthes of land and rather than identifying the hundreds of rocks, just think of them as big groups of rocks and navigate by using the contours. Then once Attack points have been reached, start reading the rock detail to nail the control. 2nd exercise: Hard out 'red light' navigation Aim: using the most intense rock detail on the map, we set a small course to try and get the kids to navigate through huge boulders and rock formations. Requiring heaps of 'thumbing' and concentration and paying special attention to the control descriptions to make sure they are attacking the controls from the right directions and are also lookin in the right place, rather than just 'in the control cirlce' and ideally saving those crucial seconds entering and exiting the control as they weave through a maze of giant rocks! 3rd exercise: Contour appreciation/Night navigation Aim: Careful map reading while trying to create safe routes using contours and rock formations as handrails. Also paying special attention to the compass as they cross areas of more detailed contours and aim for big attack points. Sunday: Long course: We set a course all over the map to simulate a big race. Aim:To try and put into practice all of the techniques that we worked on saturday."

Southerly Storm Gathering

from Jenni... Southerly Storm Potluck Dinner (don't need to make anything fancy, we'll do lots of pasta and sauce so if you can just bring bread or salad or desert or drink...) 7pm Thursday evening at Jenni and Carsten's Optional training (just running) beforehand 5:30pm (can maybe have showers here and in the surrounding neighbourhood) I could give a ride to 2 or 3 from university and there will hopefully be someone who could give you a ride home (or I can if not - you won't have to stay here!) We'll discuss *training plans, both o-technical and physical so we get ourselves into good shape for the next season (or WOC/JWOC for some) *ordering new Southerly Storm ogear *Night Navigation series *gossip

Running races in Wellington

These races in Wellington look great training for orienteers...harriers thinking outside the square that is scary