West Highland Way - What to bring..........

For those Harriers new to the WHW relay, here are a few pointers on the format and what to bring. We start very early on Saturday morning so, come dressed to run with leggings and warm tops on over your running gear as it will be quite chilly. Who is running which leg will be revealed on the bus. Everyone is assigned a leg and that person should wear their Calderglen Harriers vest when running their leg. Some of the more experienced runners may accompany some of the newer runners on their legs to take the pressure off on the navigation. However, don't be tempted to do too much before your own leg as all the legs are tough in their own way and every second counts towards us making it to Fort William before the hotel kitchens close (I'm not kidding!). With regard to navigation, all junctions where there is a turn off the straight ahead are marked with WHW markers on posts at and/or a few metres along the path you should be taking. Be particularly on the lookout for those. If in doubt, stop and look.

The minibus is quite tight for space, so pack a compact sports bag or rucksack for the weekend (think Ryanair cabin baggage allowance!). The forecast is for cool, showery conditions over the weekend, so bring appropriate clothing for running and hanging about in those conditions, particularly a running jacket and some layers. Bring your normal running shoes that you would wear down the glen or Chatelherault. The WHW is not the place to experiment with new running shoes. A few t-shirts, your club vest, shorts and socks. Bring clothing appropriate for the evening dinner at the hotel and on the Sunday we usually go for a relaxing walk on trails somewhere on the road back, for which normal shoes or trainers will be fine. However, if you burn easily, do bring appropriate body cover, a hat and sun screen for the running and for the Sunday walk. If we are lucky, it will be too early and cold for the midges to be awake at Rowardennan but if you suffer, bring your favoured repellent/net. Those on pre-sunrise legs have already been told to bring a head torch. However, even if you have not been told, you may wish to run with one of the early leg runners so bring a head torch if you are likely to be so inclined (and also to provide backup torches should someone forget theirs).  I am hopeful that we will be in Fort William in time for a pre-dinner swim in the hotel pool so bring your swimming gear if you want to do that.

None of the legs are particularly long. 13 of the 18 legs are less than 10k and many are less than 5k. These shorter legs are all manageable distances without gels or carrying water. The more experienced and faster Harriers are on the 5 longer legs. Therefore you won't need massive amounts of food with you. A few sandwiches and snacks should be enough. Focus more on bringing liquids for pre and post-run hydration. There will be 10 litres of drinking water on the bus. There are a few locations (Inveroran and Tyndrum in particular) where there are shops/cafes where you can top up with a quick coffee and snacks.

The final thing to bring is plenty of enthusiasm as always!

If you have any questions, get in touch. I'll be at the club tonight for a committee meeting.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 14th May

Thursday's session is an easy run as many of the club will be running the WHW Relay at the weekend and some having done the Troon 10k on Wednesday. The route is through the Glen to the Strathaven Rd, out to the Crutherland and then across the road to pick up the country back road. At Leaburn Rd turn right and then carry on through Leaburn, turning right again at the Park Farm junction. Carry on back to the club via Sainsburys. Keep the pace easy and conversational.

Alan

Club Training Monday 11th May - Chatelherault

Monday's session is another easy(ish) lap of Chatelherault to get used to the terrain and the route. At any pace, slow or fast, Chatelherault builds fitness. As usual, either be at the car park at the far end of the main drive into Chatelherault on the right for 19:30 ready to run (in which case mark "Training Venue" on the registration sheet) or be at the Sports Club if you are able to give a lift or need a lift at 19:00 ready to leave (select "EKSC" on the registration form).

Alan

Club Training Thursday 7th May - Auldhouse 5k TT

Thursday is the first Auldhouse 5k TT of the year. For this first one, treat this as a familiarisation lap to work out how to pace it in future months. We may have the additional complication of road resurfacing works near Auldhouse. If that is the case, then make your way past the road works safely, walk or jog on the verge if necessary, and then resume your time trial pace on the other side, making it a two effort time trial.

As I enter the start list onto the timing app in advance, please register for training as normal and I will use that registration list as the start list in the timing app. For newcomers to the monthly 5k TT, we run this as an individual time trial, setting each runner off at 30 second intervals. The fastest runners start last such that everyone finishes relatively close to each other. Kenny is going to help me on the finish line. All previous times are available via the menu on the left of the blog.

Warm-up to the start via the Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys.

Alan

Club Training Monday 4th May

Monday's session is another session at 10k effort, this time 7 x 3 minutes with a 3 minute jog recovery, regrouping during the recoveries. As usual, moderate the pace depending on the terrain and wind. In addition to the benefits in fitness and running efficiency, doing these sessions on the country roads also teaches pace judgement on the sorts of roads many of our summer road races are on i.e. undulating.

The route is a warm-up through the glen to Langlands and then down the steep hill (the start of the 5k TT). The first rep starts at the 90 degree corner at the bottom of the steep hill. Run past park farm and turn left then right at Leaburn Rd and continue climbing up the hill to the next cross-roads junction where you turn right. Carry along this top road and follow it as it turns right back down towards Leaburn Rd. At the Leaburn Rd junction turn right and first left and down the dip and up to Auldhouse Cross. Turn right again and back past Langlands Club House and Sainsburys and back to the club. These are the sorts of Summer routes which make training with Calderglen a bit special with the EK streets banished to the darker nights.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 30th April

Thursday's session is hopefully a run in the sun around the country roads. The session is 10 x 2 minutes at 10k race effort (pace depends on hills) with a 2 minute jog recovery during which regroup as much as possible ie everyone turns and jogs back until they meet the pack at the back and then turn around and continue jogging.

The route is through the Glen to Langlands junction. Start reps at junction heading past the clubhouse to Auldhouse. Straight through Auldhouse Cross and turn right at the kennels. Carry on along Shields Road to turn right on Greenhills Road and back to the club.

Alan 

Club Training Monday 27th April - Chatelherault

Monday's session is the first Chatelherault session of the year. This week it will be an easy, post-race recovery and route familiarisation run. Details of where and when to meet and how to fill in the registration for training are in this post from a few weeks ago: https://calderglen.blogspot.com/2026/04/chatelherault-training-starts-monday.html

However, to recap, if you are going direct to Chatelherault, select "Training Venue" on the training registration form and be at the meeting point in the car park at Chatelherault by 19:30 as described in the above post. If anyone is leaving direct from the club and can give a lift or needs a lift, then select "EKSC" in the form and be ready to leave the Sports Club at 19:00. This lets us know if we are waiting on anyone before the run.

Alan