The weekend was a mix of different workshops covering all aspects of trail running. We had a very mixed team in terms of people's running experience and ambition, from experienced runners preparing for their first 'ultra' event, to new runners and people rediscovering running after a long break. We even had a road runner wanting to break free of the tyranny of tarmac!

We started the weekend looking at some basic navigation skills. Navigation is the essential skill needed to start exploring new areas, planning and enjoying running in new places. We worked on map setting, information gathering and simple compass skills. 

After a coffee break we worked through a warm up routine and how to easily fit it into our good running habits. The next gentle run was focussing on our running technique and posture. To help with this we explored some barefoot running to analyse our foot strike and cadence. As well as a lot of fun this is a very effective way to check out your running and can have a real impact on your style. Marianne claimed at the end of the weekend that adjustments to her technique had increased her easy running pace by 1 minute a kilometer! 

The afternoon was focused on injury prevention. We started with a range of screening exercises, finding out surprising things about our bodies! Tightness here, weakness here, which is our strongest leg and how good is our balance? Most of these things can easily be worked on with simple exercises, basic squats, balance drills and a nice stretch. 

Sunday morning started with a nice gentle and thorough warm up, getting the legs firing again ready for the fun bit, dealing with technical terrain. 

This session was all about improving stability and confidence in descent. Dealing with loose ground, rocky steps and steep slopes. We were finding grip, letting fly and even doing the Salsa at one point!

The weekend finished by putting it all together. The team planning and navigating around their own trail run from Glenmore into the Ryvoan pass and seeking out one last technical descent to really let rip!

Thanks to a great team for making this weekend such a success. 

Keep an eye out here for details of our next course.