Club Training Thursday 24th September

Continuing with the theme of consolidating endurance by maintaining mileage during the club sessions, tonight's session is a longish steady run but without so many hills as last week. The route is Down the Kingsway to Kingsgate. Along the Stewartfield by-pass as far as the roundabout at the loch. Turn left and climb through Stewartfield. Continue to the mini roundabout at Stewartfield Rd, turn left and follow the pedestrian lane parallel to Stewartfield Rd down to West Mains Rd. Back to the club via Lidl, Avondale and the NEL roundabout.

Take it very easy as far as the Whirlies. Be very careful crossing the road at the Whirlies and the next roundabout. Pick up the pace to steady once you are through that second roundabout (B&Q) and keep it steady (approaching half marathon effort) until the top of Avondale.

Note that the training registration form registers names for the next session from 9pm on the preceding club training night. i.e. Registration for Thursday's session automatically opens at 9pm on Monday and registration for Monday's session opens at 9pm on Thursday. So you don't have to wait until I post this to decide if you are coming to training.................. If I am held up working late, I may not have time to post the session until the morning of the training but the form is still open.

Alan

BRAMPTON TO CARLISLE 10 MILE ROAD RACE

The Harriers have gone to this event annually since 1986 and some have been to almost every event. We have booked a bus so for those that are new to the club. The bus will leave the Sports club at 7am on Sunday 15th Nov and travel to Brampton. This will get us there in plenty time for warm ups, team photo etc before the race starts at 10.00am. At the finish depending how long we take to run we will have a few hours in Carlisle and time to have a refreshment or two and a good chat about how our runs went. We will then leave for Moffat for a meal and the presentations of our Brampton trophies to our first Lady and Gent and the all important reveal of the sweep winner (please bring £1 cash for the sweep). Back on the bus and back in East Kilbride for about 7pm. Note the earlier times from previous years as the race starts at 10am now.

£20 will secure your place on the bus and should be paid asap. If you opt to pay this direct to the club bank acc then drop Russell a message to say its done and your place is then secure. At this point i dont know what the meal cost will be but probably about £20 and this will be collected on the day. If your coming on the bus please leave your name HERE. If youve added your name it will appear HERE.

Guests can come on the bus too so if you know anyone that wants to run then let them know the details.

As this is a long day you probably should bring something to eat on the bus for before the run and after to see you through to our dinner in Moffat

Entries are now only an online option so everyone will have to take care of their own entry. Details are on the sportsoft website and you will have to sign in for a login with sport soft and this link should take you to it Sportsoft Online Entries 

Club Training Monday 21st September - Brancumhall

Monday's session is the fist cross-country session of this season at Brancumhall. For those new to this, the session is on the grass around the perimeter of Brancumhall football pitches. There is one small bank to run up on the lap but otherwise the loop is flat. The underfoot conditions range from firm to soft, depending on the weather. At this stage of the year, I expect the conditions to be reasonably firm, therefore a trail shoe should be fine, although if you have cross-country spikes, now is the time to get used to them. The streetlights cast light around the periphery of the pitches and you will find that your eyes soon adjust to the conditions.  One Harrier is usually kind enough to take all of the off-road shoes down to Brancumhall in their car, everyone else running there in their usual road shoes.

The session is similar to last week's Carron Place session i.e. threshold:

6 x 1 lap (approx 800m) at threshold with 2 minutes jog recovery. During the recovery, jog on round the lap and each subsequent rep starts/finishes wherever you are on the lap after the 2 minute recovery. As always, consistency is the name of the game and as this is threshold, nobody should be bent over double after any of the reps.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 17th September

As we enter the winter season of building endurance and strength, it is never too early for a Harriers' traditional route, the 4 hills. So that is what it is tonight. This is between 9 and 10 miles but feels tougher due to the (at least) 4 hills. Start off easy until reaching East Mains Rd (immediately after Market Hill) and then for every subsequent hill pick up the effort on the uphill part to a steady effort, easing back at the top of the hill. There are more than 4 hills on the route ranging from short, sharp hills (Dunedin) to longer drags (Lickprivick). Keep the effort the same irrespective of the length of the hill. This means not going too hard on the shorter hills. There are obvious cut-off's for those who are not ready for approximately 10 miles, specifically when reaching the Queensway, taking the direct route back to the club from there cuts off a few miles and hills.

Alan

Club Training Monday 14th September

Monday's session is a reintroduction to Langlands Place and some 5k paced reps. It's just a short session to get us started. As Langlands Place is pretty flat, it provides the perfect opportunity to focus on good running form and perfect, even pacing (unless its windy).

The session is 10 x 200m at 5k pace with 200m jog recovery (i.e. half of Langlands Place per rep and the other half jog recovery before turning around and repeating on the way back along Langlands Place. Warm-up and cool down via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys.

Note that next Monday will be the first of the fortnightly Brancumhall XC sessions if there is enough interest.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 10th September

Thursday's session sees a return to the winter night venues. This week it is Carron Place for a threshold session. The warm-up is via Murray Roundabout and Kelvin Rd, Stroud Rd and Singer Rd to the post box on Carron Place.

Then it is 6 x 1 lap reps at threshold with a 2 minute jog recovery. Continue jogging round the lap on your recovery and your next rep starts and ends wherever you are after 2 minutes of jogging. As we are back on the pavements for the Singer Rd stretch of each rep and that is traditionally poorly lit and rough under foot, be very careful and don't run too close together so you can see where you are putting your feet.

The cool down is up Singer Rd to Greenhills Rd and back to the club via Strathaven Rd.

Alan

Club Training Monday 7th September

Monday's session is the final session on the country roads for this year. It is 6 x 1 minute hill reps at Langlands Hill with a jog down recovery.  The objective is the same as always..... Consistency! Reach the same point on the hill on each rep. Take the usual direct route via Sainsburys to the start and on the way back. Wear something bright to be safe.

On Thursday, we are on a threshold session at Carron Place.

Alan