🏃 Quick Snapshot
- Who it’s for: Athletes aged 14–20 looking to develop distance running ability
- Focus: Middle and long-distance running (800m to 5000m), aerobic development, strength endurance, and race tactics
- Training style: Structured endurance sessions
- Typical commitment: 2 sessions per week
- Typical level: From developing endurance athletes through to District and National Competition
Progression from: Junior Squad
Progression to: Performance Endurance Squads: Moray or Kara
🧠 About the Group
The Junior Endurance Squad is CAAC’s supports athletes transitioning from broad athletics experience to more specialist structured endurance training.
Coach David Arnott focuses on developing strong fundamental endurance skills while gradually introducing higher training volumes, structured sessions, and race-specific preparation.
🏃 What Training Looks Like
Sessions are structured, varied, and designed to build both aerobic capacity and racing ability:
- Aerobic endurance runs to develop base fitness
- Tempo and threshold sessions for sustained effort control
- Interval training to improve speed endurance and race pace ability
- Strength and conditioning drills to support injury prevention and resilience
- Race preparation for road, cross country, and track events
Training is delivered in a supportive group environment, with athletes often split into pace-based groups to ensure sessions are appropriately challenging while still inclusive.
Sessions take place across a mix of terrain, including road routes, track sessions in the summer, and cross country or grass-based running during winter.
📈 Progression & Pathway
The Junior Endurance Squad is a key stage in CAAC’s endurance pathway.
Athletes typically join when they are ready to move beyond general junior training and begin focusing more specifically on endurance development. From here, the clear aspiration is progression into senior performance squads.
Athletes may progress by:
- Increasing training consistency and volume
- Competing regularly at District and National Level over Track, Cross Country and Road Disciplines
- Transitioning into Senior Performance Endurance Squads (Moray or Kara)
🧑🤝🧑 Culture & Atmosphere
The Junior Endurance Squad is supportive, focused, and development-driven. Athletes are encouraged to work hard, stay consistent, and support each other through training and competition.
While performance progression is a key goal, the environment remains inclusive, with an emphasis on personal improvement and long-term athlete development.
Many athletes train together across multiple seasons, building strong team connections.
🔗 Interested in Joining?
If you’re interested in joining CAAC:
👉 Visit our How to Join page
👉 Explore our other Training Groups to find the right fit.