Cross Country Training

Our annual return to the mud of Brancumhall starts on Monday 25th September and continues at fortnightly intervals thereafter until the National Cross Country in Falkirk in late February. Cross country training develops the strength that serves us all in good stead whether we decide to use that strength racing on the country or on the roads and trails.

For those new to the Brancumhall sessions, turn up at the club as normal for Monday training but in addition to your road shoes, bring a pair of trail shoes or XC spikes. These will be transported to Brancumhall for you in a car. We run to Brancumhall and back again after the session. The sessions are on the grass perimeter of football pitches and are reasonably flat. The main issue is that the going underfoot is soft. I expect it will be particularly soft this year given the wet summer.

A further opportunity for regular cross country training is provided by the start of the Glasgow Endurance Squad  cross country sessions which are held at a different park in Glasgow on Saturday mornings every fortnight from 21st October through to just before the national. I have regularly participated in these sessions over the past 20 years and they are very worthwhile, although they are geared towards faster runners. These are good sessions for the juniors too.

The sessions for this year are:
Saturday 21 October Bellahouston Park; Saturday 4 November Pollok Park; Saturday 18 November Tollcross Park; Thursday 28 December Bellahouston Park; Saturday 20 January Pollok Park;  Saturday 10 February Tollcross Park

All sessions start at 10:30 sharp. There is a Facebook page where you can find further details (especially of last minute cancellations or changes in venue which do occasionally happen). See here.

The sessions are detailed as follows:

The GAA Winter endurance sessions for 2017-18 are listed below. All athletes should be warmed up and ready to start the session at 10:30am sharp. For more information, please contact glasgowathleticsassociation@gmail.com

• Saturday 21st October 2017 Bellahouston Park (meet at Pitch & Putt) Up to 8 x 3 mins with 90s recovery
• Saturday 4th November 2017 Pollock Park (meet at trenches excavations near Burrell Car Park) 10 min tempo , 10 x 1 min with 1 min recovery, 10 min tempo
• Saturday 18th November 2017 Tollcross Park (meet at the top of the hill) Up to 8 x 4 mins with 2 mins rec
• Thursday 28th December 2017 Bellahouston Park Up to 10 x 3 mins with 90s recovery
• Saturday 20th January 2018 Pollock Park 
• 10 min tempo, 10 x 1min with 1 min recovery, 10 min tempo
• Saturday 10th February 2018 Tollcross Park Up to 10 x 4 mins with 2 mins recovery