Club Training Thursday 3rd April

Thursday's session is a threshold session at Carron Place comprising 4 x 8 minutes at threshold  2:30 jog recovery. This is a great circuit for threshold due to the mix of flat, downhill and uphill sections, the aim being to keep the effort level constant by varying the pace according to the slope.

Apologise for any typos in this post. The Blogger app on my phone is not displaying text as I type, so this is raw, right (or wrong) first time typing!) 

Alan

Crieff 10k Mixed Terrain Race - Scottish Mid-Trail Championship

Further to the list of upcoming races published in the Oyster Catcher newsletter issued by Alison today, an event just too late to make the newsletter is the Crieff 10k (Sunday 13th July), a race that several from the club have done over the years. This year it also incorporates the National Mid-Trail Championships. Being a national championship, there is a full range of overall, age-group and team national medals up for grabs and the old saying is still true "you've got to be in it to win it".

There are about 140 places left as of today. Entry via Entry Central: https://www.entrycentral.com/Crieff10k

There is also a junior 5k: https://www.entrycentral.com/CrieffJunior5k which incorporates the National Junior Trail Championships for U15 and U17.

Alan

Club Training Monday 31st March

Except for those who were racing Tom Scott (who should do this run as an easy run if coming up to the club) the session is becoming more 10k to 10 mile specific as we approach the Summer racing season.

The session is at Langlands Place and consists of 6 x 800m at 10k pace, with 1 minute stand/jog on the spot recoveries followed by 4 x 400m at 5k pace with 1 minute recoveries.

Thursday's session is a threshold session at Carron Place. I will be overseas with work, so the session may get posted at a strange time.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 27th March

The return of threshold Thursday. This session is a repeat of the session from two weeks ago which is 5 x 6 minutes at threshold effort with a 2 minute jog recovery between reps. As before, use the Sainsburys Loop in a clockwise direction. Check back on your Garmin to see how consistent (or not) you were the last time we did this session. Did you start the first effort too fast and slow down as the reps progressed, or did you start too slow on the first rep. When done correctly, your heart rate should build up to a level and stay there from about the second minute to the end of each rep and each rep should achieve this same heart rate.

For those doing Tom Scott on Sunday, this session is far enough away that it should not impact your race performance. In fact, it would be a good idea to try to maintain the effort you plan to achieve throughout the 10 mile race. Unless you are running the 10 mile in 60 minutes, then your 5 x 6 minutes should be at the slower end of threshold.

Alan

Strathclyde parkrun Takeover Volunteer Roles

Calderglen Harriers are going to do a parkrun takeover at Strathclyde parkrun on Saturday 24 May.  This will be the third year of us doing this. For those that are new to the club this involves members of Calderglen Harriers filling all the roles at parkrun that Saturday. Parkrun will provide us with a run director.  You may be familiar with some of the roles but if you are not sure then ask about as there are many of us at the Harriers who are familiar with parkrun and we can explain what the role is all about.  A list of the roles we need covered are below. Please select all the roles you would like to do using this form and one will be allocated to you. parkrun also need your parkrun membership number (the number below your barcode), so please have that ready to enter on the form.

The roles to be covered are:

• Timekeeper- 2 
• Barcode scanning - at least 4 (but can add more on)
• Marshalls - 3/4
• Finish Tokens -1 + Finish Token Support - 1
• Funnel Manager - at least 5 (but can add more on)
• Number checker - 1
• Pre-event set-up - 1/2 (will be needed from about 7.30/8.00 but could go home once they have helped with the set-up). The race director will help the volunteer with this.
• First Timers Welcome - 1
• Tail Walker - 1
• Photographer - 1
• VI Guide - 1 (although dependent on whether they are required for this role on the day) 

Thanks

Julie B

Club Training Monday 24th March

Monday's session is another basic speed endurance session at 5k pace, the eventual outcome being that the slower paces required for longer races (10k, 10 mile, half and full marathon and beyond) will seem easier. Remember that training is not practicing racing (except for some specific race pace sessions intended to allow race pace to be achieved automatically based only on feel); training is intended to adapt the different physiological systems that are used in races and specifically, training is not racing so should not result in the same levels of deep fatigue that result from a race. Hence training is broken down into intervals with recoveries.

Monday's session is at Langlands Place again and is 12 x 400m at 5k pace with a 1 minute jog around/stand recovery. It is simple training, but it works!

Thursday is another threshold session.

Alan

West Highland Way Relay 2025 - accepting participants!

As announced last month, the Harriers' West Highland Way Relay weekend is from Saturday 17th May (early morning start) through to Sunday 18th May (afternoon return) and will cost £108 per person, dinner, bed & breakfast. The minibus cost will be covered by the club. We stay the Saturday night at the Ben Nevis Hotel in Fort William.

For those new to the club we hire a 17 seater minibus and leave East Kilbride about 3:30am (pick-up time will be confirmed nearer the time) on the Saturday morning and drive to Milngavie where Alan will allocate a section of the Way to be run by each person (although you can, if you wish, run with others on their legs). All but one of the legs are reasonably short and in any case we give the longer legs to the fastest runners such that we stand a chance of arriving in time for dinner. The plan is to arrive in Fort William early evening for a swim if there is time and dinner with some refreshments. Depending on the weather we may do an outdoor activity on the Sunday before arriving back in East Kilbride around 6pm. As places are limited it will be a first come first served basis upon giving Frances a deposit of £40 from Thursday 27th March at the Sports Club when entries will officially open. As Frances has to pay the hotel in full two weeks before the event, the balance of the payment is due by 31st April.

Alan