Club Training Monday 20th April

Monday is a threshold Monday (doesn't have the same ring to it as a Thursday). The session is 3 x 8 minutes with a 2:30 jog recovery. Once again, we will do this out on the Auldhouse roads on a relatively flat route. Warm-up on Strathaven Rd and around by Sainsburys to the Langlands junction where the reps start. Run past the Langlands club house to Auldhouse. Run straight through Auldhouse cross and turn right past the Kennels. Carry on along Shields Rd to the fingerposts and then turn right on Greenhills Rd. If the faster ones are running out of space to complete the reps (I don't think you will), turn right into the Kelvin industrial estate at the top of the hill on Greenhills Rd and run around the Sainsburys circuit anti-clockwise to finish. As always with threshold sessions, maintain constant effort by varying the pace to suit the slopes and wind. The effort should be about two or three word talking level.

Thursday's run will be an easier run with strides ahead of the Grangemouth 10k.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 16th April

Thursday's session is at Langlands Place with the focus on 10k race pace (rather than 5k pace, so do take care to turn the pace down compared to recent weeks). This will be more of a threshold session for those with 10k times in the 55 minute + range.

The session is 6 x 800m at 10k pace with a 1 minute stand/jog around recovery. 

Alan 

Club Training Monday 13th April

 With a good number from the club doing the Dumarton AAA 10 Mile on Sunday and several more doing a long-run, Monday's run is an easy run. For those with an impending marathon in the next few weeks, then this is a good chance to do a section of the run at marathon pace (give yourself a a mile or two to warm up and then lock in to marathon pace/effort (remember, as with any run, if the terrain or wind make it more difficult to maintain marathon pace, then ease back to marathon effort as you only have so much energy to distribute through the marathon so don't waste it).

The route is the Auldhouse 5k route, starting off through the glen, all the way to the point where the trail race crosses Langlands Rd on the way out. Then pick up the Auldhouse 5k clockwise circuit and back to the club via Sainsburys and Strathaven Rd.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 9th April

Thursday's session is a slight progression from last week's Langlands Place session with the addition of an extra 800m rep. The session is 2 x 800m, 4 x 400m, 4 x 200m at 5k pace with 1 minute stand/jog around after each 800m and 400m rep and a 200m jog after each 200m rep. This totals 4k at 5k pace with recoveries in between and should therefore feel hard but not on the limit. If you are struggling during the 800's and 400's the chances are you are going faster than your realistic 5k pace or are still fatigued from previous training or racing. Slow it down such that you are able to run all the reps at a consistent pace.

Alan

Club Training Monday 6th April

Monday's session is a threshold session out on the road to Auldhouse. So rather than running the threshold session on a loop, as we often do in the winter, this session is integrated into a run in the country. The session is the same as we did a week or two ago but we will build on this significantly over the coming months. Do 3 x 6 minutes at threshold with a 2 minute jog recovery. The route is similar to our first Auldhouse run of the season last week, running out via Sainsburys to Langlands corner and then starting the first rep from that junction, heading past Langlands club house and onward to Audlhouse. This time, carry on to Auldhouse cross and then turn right heading towards the new houses at the fingerposts. Turn right on Greenhills Rd and head back towards the Strathaven Road and the club. As usual, manage your pace to maintain a constant effort depending on whether going up hill, downhill, into the wind or with a tailwind. As well as the physiological benefit of threshold sessions, when we do them out in the country this also trains you to manage your effort during a race where we are usually dealing with variable terrain and weather conditions and running on feel is way more beneficial than trying to maintain a pace from your watch.

Alan

Summer Pub Run

Edit - voting will close Friday 10th April at 6pm.

The committee are proposing the following dates for this years summer pub run. Friday 7th August or Friday 14th August. Please vote for your preferred date here.

Responses can be viewed here.

Chatelherault Training Starts Monday 27th April

Our 2026 series of fortnightly training sessions at Chatelherault Country Park will start on Monday 27th April and will continue through the Summer with the last session being on Monday 17th August when lack of daylight becomes a problem. The full calendar of sessions is listed in the club calendar at the top of the blog and in the club website.

The session is around an approximately 7 mile undulating trail. Some weeks we do it as an easy run, whilst on other occasions I turn it into a sort of fartlek session with e.g. efforts on the uphills and easy in between. For one of the weeks we hold a timed "race" around the circuit as part of the Harriers Grand Prix - this being the "Chatelherault World Championships" round.

We meet in the last car park on the right of the main Chatelherault entrance/drive off Carlisle Road, Fernigair ready to run at 19:30. The map below shows the location. Some are also available to give lifts from the Sports Club, in which case be there ready to run at 19:00. So that we know who to expect, fill in the training registration form and if going direct to Chatelherault select the "Training Venue" option or if going to the Sports Club to give or get a lift select "EKSC".

Alan

Car park is located at the marker on the map