Club Training Thursday 8th May

It's a threshold Thursday (except for those who were racing on Wednesday, in which case it is an easy run on the same route as the reps). The session is 4 x 6 minutes at threshold effort (could only say 3 or 4 words after the initial few minutes of each rep) with a 2 minute jog recovery. The route is out the glen and up onto the Strathaven Rd at the Crutherland, cross the road and take the back road to the 90 degree left hand bend where we start reps. From there, run the first rep up towards Leaburn Rd, turn right and follow Leaburn Rd all the way until it turns right, steeply downhill towards Auldhouse road. At the bottom of the hill, turn right and then first left past the Kennels. Follow Shields Rd back to the fingerposts and Greenhills Rd. Carry on to Strathaven Rd and back to the club.

Alan

Strathclyde parkrun Calderglen Takeover - 24th May 2025 - Final Roles

Thanks to all who volunteered to assist with the Strathclyde parkrun Takeover on Saturday 24th May. Julie has assigned roles to all of the volunteers. See the link to the list at the end of this post. Could those who are doing the barcode scanning or timing roles please download the parkrun Virtual Volunteer app and install on your phone which you will need with you on the day. These links show how to use the app for scanning or timing.

The list of role assignments is here.

If you have any questions or are no longer available, please contact Julie as soon as possible.

Alan

Club Training Monday 5th May

Monday's session is out on the roads around Auldhouse as will become very familiar over the Summer. The session is 12 x 2 minutes with a 2 minute jog (regroup) recovery. The pace is 10k race pace (or effort rather than pace if going up hill) and as before, the intention is for the recovery to be slowing down to a jog without stopping completely. The faster runners should turn around and jog back to behind the slower runners such that everyone stays quite close together.

The route is out Greenhills Rd and then left into the Fingerposts at Shields Rd. The reps start here. Follow Shields Rd past the Kennels. At the junction, turn right and then left up the very steep hill. At the top of the hill, the road turns left onto Leaburn Rd. Follow Leaburn Rd along to the junction for Park Farm and turn left down past Park Farm. Return to the club via Sainsburys and Strathaven Rd as usual.

These sessions on very undulating terrain build (appropriate) speed endurance and improve the ability to judge the right level of effort to apply during races when the course is not flat.

Thursdays session will be a threshold session, also out on the back roads.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 1st May - Auldhouse 5k TT

Thursday is the first of our monthly Auldhouse 5k time trials. For those new to the club, this time trial is on the first Thursday of each month from May to September. It is an individual time trial with each Harrier being set off at 30 second intervals in roughly reverse order of expected time such that everyone finishes quite close to each other. The list of names/packs produced by the training registration system is the start list. Therefore it is imperative that everyone participating registers for training so that I have a complete list to upload to the timing software. I will be at the club beforehand to confirm who is running the time trial.

The course is a clockwise circuit, starting part way down the steep hill at Langlands, continuing past Park Farm, turning right on Leaburn Rd and then first right down the hill and up to Auldhouse Cross, right at Auldhouse cross and then back to Langlands. The finish is about 10m before the T-junction just after Langlands Golf Club.

See you tomorrow.

Alan

Club Training Monday 28th April - Chatelherault

Monday is the first fortnightly Chatelherault session of the year. The Chatelherault session is an approximately 7 mile trail run around an undulating trail loop in Chatelherault Country Park, Hamilton. We do this every other week during the Summer season when the daylight is good enough, ending mid to late August. Mostly, we do this as an easy paced run as the benefits of the challenging terrain are experienced best at an easy pace. However, some weeks we do the session as a sort of farlek, working hard on the hills. This week is an introductory, easy run to refamiliarise us with the lap and the underfoot conditions. Road shoes are fine for the route.

We meet in the car park on the right hand side of the main drive into Chatelherault off of the A72 at Ferniegair. The car park is marked by a pin on this Google Map:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qpcQVuvsSzxMbpx

For those going direct, please select the "Training Venue" option in the training registration form and please be at Chatelherault ready to run at 19:30. For those needing a lift (or able to offer a lift), please meet at EK Sports Club ready to run at 19:00. Those going direct to Chatelherault will know to wait on those coming from EKSC before starting the run.

It is particularly important that everyone stays in their pack during this run as it is very easy to take a wrong turn and end up miles off course. Every pack will be arranged such that there is at least one person who knows where they are going!

Alan

Club Training Thursday 24th April

Thursday's session is a 10k paced session out in the country following the format of one of our usual Summer sessions. The session is 8 x 3 minutes at 10k effort with 3 minutes jog recovery during which you should regroup into your pack whilst still continuing to jog/run ie don't stand and wait for others to reach you; if you are ahead of your pack, turn around and jog back, if you are behind the majority of your pack members, keep jogging forward. Recovering whilst still moving along rather than standing still is an important part of the session given the generous recoveries. If you need to stand still to recover, then you have almost certainly gone too fast in the reps.

The route is a warm up to the bottom of the hill at Langlands via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys. The first rep starts there. Then past Park Farm, left on Leaburn Rd and immediately right to continue climbing. First right and along the top, following the road down to the right back to Leaburn Rd. Turn right on Leaburn Rd then turn left down into the dip and up to Auldhouse Cross. Turn right back to Langlands and back to the club via Sainsburys and Strathaven Rd.

Remember that Monday is the first Chatelherault session of this year. 

Alan 

Club Training - Monday 21st April

As we enter Summer 10k race season, we carry on with a mixture of faster than 10k pace reps, slower than 10k reps (threshold for those running 10k's considerably faster than 60 minutes) and 10k pace reps (which will be threshold for those running 10k in about an hour). We will also introduce hill reps a bit earlier in the summer than usual. We have Chatelherault starting next Monday, which is good, strength and aerobic training. Most of our club night runs will be out on the country roads around Auldhouse.

However, this Monday, we are on the 5k pace 400m reps at Langlands Place. The session is 12 x 400m with 1 minute jog recovery. Consistency is the objective.

On Thursday, we will be out on the country roads.

Alan