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Wednesday 30 June 2021

Club Training Thursday 1st July - Auldhouse 5k

As this is the first Thursday of the month, it is time for the July Auldhouse 5k (if you can't make Thursday, you can do a solo effort up until Sunday and record on Garmin /Strava). Run to the course via the Strathaven Rd and round by Sainsburys. Eddie will set you off at 30 second intervals and take the official times. However, make sure you record your time on your Garmin, just in case of disputes! The conditions should be warm and relatively calm, so near perfect for fast times. Focus on an even effort, holding back on the hills and letting yourself go on the downhills. There have been many fantastic course bests and even 5k personal bests so far this year, so let's keep the progression going.

Alan

Monday 28 June 2021

Harriers Sports Challenge & Team Relay Race 25/6/21 - THE RESULTS

The event was successfully completed on Friday mostly according to plan. We were lucky with the weather some earlier evening showers disappeared prior to the start and a slight wind came up driving away the midgies which were really bad, so that we started in ideal conditions. 


I mentioned on the night that the referees were an integral part of the event which could not have went ahead without them and I have no hesitation in thanking them again here in print for their sterling efforts in keeping all the teams informed of their challenge and scoring them scrupulously fairly.

Referee                   Challenge
Sandra Reid            Darts
Alison Searil           Pool
Billy B                    Golf
Frances Ferguson    Cricket
Geo Ferguson          Rugby
Frances Phimister   Gym
Emma Lawton        Tennis

Just an aside for anyone reading this, the above activities were probably not as you know them!! Ask someone who took part.

The teams as drawn out of 3 hats or paper cups to be precise ended up as follows:

Each team started of with a particular referee at their dedicated challenge which was timed to last 10 minutes and then the teams were moved onto the next challenge until all 6 challenges they knew about were completed.

The final challenge was a team relay race which consisted of a lap of the perimeter of the cricket pitch to be completed by each team member in any order set by their team.
The full results for each challenge and final total scores follow and some photos taken on the night are in this album.
Billy
 


Sunday 27 June 2021

Club Training Monday 28th June and Vertical Mile Advance Notice

 As we have the Auldhouse 5k Time  Trial coming up on Thursday (through to Sunday for those who cannot make Thursday), then Monday's session is a light 5k paced session to get the pace in the head and the legs in gear.

The session is 10 x 2 minutes with a 2 minutes jog recovery.

The overall distance of the session is relatively short to ensure legs are fresh for Thursday. The route is through the glen, all the way to Langlands. Start the session at the junction, running past Langlands Club House. At Auldhouse Cross, turn right and through the new housing estate to the fingerposts. From there, join the nice new pavement on Greenhills Rd and back to the club.

Note that on Monday 12th July, I am intending to make the club session The Vertical Mile. Could the trophy holders from last year get the Brasso out and make sure you are ready to bring your trophy up on the night or hand to Russell or Frances in advance if you cannot make the 12th of July. One of the steady club runs before 12th July will be to the Vertical Mile course so that those not familiar with it know what to expect (sort of).

Alan

Saturday 26 June 2021

Trialling a one way traffic system during the school holiday period

 Park information received from SLLC

We are currently reviewing traffic management in and around Calderglen and there are concerns in relation to congestion on the main drive from the main entrance of the park, over the bridge and to the entrance points of both the sports club and K-Park. As your club members will have experienced, the bridge can be a bottle neck with the road as two way. Add to this, there are concerns with the increasing volume of park visitors entering on foot from Colonsay Field or further afield. In the long term, we have raised these issues with the Council in the hope that significant funding can be identified to improve the layout of the entrance road, access from Colonsay Field, and widen the pavement. 
In the short term however, we are appealing to all members of the sports clubs and also K-Park users in trialling a one way traffic system during the school holiday period. Would you be able to send your database of members/users an email to ask if they can exit Calderglen via the exit road and not go out the main entrance road as most probably do? We would like to trial this to gauge the effect it has on the queues at the main entrance and safety aspects for pedestrians. If we collectively think it has improved then we can ask SLC Roads to install signage and road markings to make it a permanent change. If you have any events which are being stewarded, then it would be appreciated if the parking attendants can ensure cars are directed out the exit road via the main car park. We realise not everyone will bother to adhere to this request however if we get at least some of the regular users doing this then it will allow us to monitor the impact on the main entrance area.

 

Many thanks for your help.
Colin Girvan
Recreation Officer

Wednesday 23 June 2021

Club Training Thursday 24th June

Thursday's session is a steady run (i.e. something like marathon pace). The route is the Market Hill route in an anti-clockwise direction (for a change). That is, start off up the Strathaven Rd to the NEL roundabout and then along the Kingsway. Turn left at the petrol station and up and over into the village. Turn right and then along to Market Hill. Up and over to East Mains Rd. Cross East Mains Rd and then pick up Market Hill again on the other side. All the way to the top and then follow the road around to the left and then the long descent past the Museum of Country Life and eventually out onto the Queensway at the back of the Holiday Inn. Up the Queensway back to the club.

Remember to fill in the training registration form before 18:30 precisely and also to submit with "no-longer attending" if not able to attend. For these longer runs, we tend to go with more, smaller packs to ensure the packs are well matched whereas for short reps, we can go with larger packs as there is time to regroup.

Alan

Monday 21 June 2021

Harriers Sports Challenge Update

Following some exhausting !!😃 testing of the challenges and taking times into account it has been decided that the running aspect of the event will be reduced to a more manageable level, it will be nowhere near the original 5/6 miles originally proposed.  (Try not to be too disappointed!!)

The Tor Trail will no longer be used and the perimeter of the cricket pitch will be utilised instead so a nice soft running surface for everyone to fly round at least once. (No more hints apart from this)

The challenges themselves will each take 10 minutes during which each member will take an active part to demonstrate their unique talents other than running.
Depending on final numbers entered there will be either 6 or 7 challenges to be completed with the running challenge the final event of the evening. The overall event should be approximately 1 hour 30 mins including the time taken to move between the challenge points.

The event is planned to start at 7.00pm so if all "athletes" who have entered could be at the sports club for 6.40 pm in order that the names for the teams can be drawn out the hats that would be ideal.

We do have the function room in the club available for the post event prize giving and celebratory drinks and discussion on who did what at an Olympic level or not as the case may be.

Please bring a mask for wearing inside the club at anytime, it may also be an idea to bring a clean t-shirt to change into when you have finished the event though this may have to be done discreetly somewhere as the changing room facilities will probably not be available.

Any questions prior to Friday , apart from what you are actually doing of course , please ask myself or Frances or Kenny.

BillyB

Sunday 20 June 2021

Club Training Monday 21st June

Quite a short session for the longest day but not easy, as you know. With a view to sharpening up again before the July Auldhouse 5k next week, tonight's session is the descending pyramid:

  • 2 x 90 seconds @ 5k pace (90 second steady run recovery after each effort) +
  • 4 x 60 seconds  @ 3k pace (60 second steady run recovery after each effort) +
  • 4 x 30 seconds @ 1 mile pace (30 steady run recovery after each effort) +
  • 4 x 15 seconds @ even faster (15 second steady run recovery after each effort).

The idea is to run slightly faster as the reps get shorter, starting off with 5k pace during the 90 seconds efforts and getting gradually faster from there. Remember that the jog recovery is a "steady run" recovery (something like marathon to half marathon pace). This is difficult and simulates the stress of a race but over a relatively short total distance. The rep splits should show a gradual acceleration, the recoveries should be the same pace every time. Slow down to the recovery pace after each rep (don't stop after the rep and re-start). Check how well you have done the session by looking at the lap splits page on Garmin Connect afterwards, you have programmed the session or are pressing the lap button manually (switch off auto-lap or auto mile recorder as that completely confuses the actual rep splits on some of the older Garmin watches). You can guarantee that I will be checking your splits and in particular the consistency of the recovery pace! The video showing how to set up the session in Garmin Connect is repeated at the bottom of the post as a reminder.

I recommend we do this session on the Sainsbury's Loop. To get a decent warm-up, start off through the Glen and when you come to the couple of steps in the path where it is eroded beside the burn, turn right towards Sainsburys rather than left towards Langlands. Start the session in our usual place at the main gate and run in a clockwise direction around the loop.

Remember that, although the restrictions on us are much relaxed in terms of numbers that can train together, we must still maintain a record of our packs and contact list, so please fill in the attendance form as per usual.

Alan



Saturday 19 June 2021

HARRIERS SPORTS CHALLENGE TEAM TRAIL RACE - 25th JUNE - 7.00pm

Just a reminder that the event is fast approaching and we need all names in the hat for team selection.

As there is no Harriers Trail Race scheduled for the end of June this year for obvious reasons, the above Challenge Race has now been setup for all Harriers and also any of their families or friends who wish to participate, the more the merrier.

The "race" will be run by teams of 3 , though not as a relay but as a coherent unit ðŸ˜ƒ which will participate in some sports "challenges" set up to test any skills which have been possibly lying dormant or which will even be discovered during the course of the event. The team will be "clocked" In for the challenge only when ALL the team members have arrived at the challenge point and are ready to go.

In order that the teams can be evenly balanced names of the participants will be drawn from a hat or hats on the evening of the event. Each team will start at a separate challenge point,and then run round the Tor Trail  for the next challenge, which when they have completed they will then run round the Tor Trail again and so on till all the challenges have been completed.

The total running distance will probably be approx  5/6 miles maximum and the challenges about 10 mins each, with each team member being an active participant in every challenge. At each challenge points will be awarded according to the team performance and of course points mean prize 's so so it is certainly not all about running.

The evening  is about having fun trying out the different sports challenges and having a" laugh" while doing so.

 As we have the function room for our sole use for that night there is also the possibility of a "Caberet" after the "race" which is being looked into at the moment. Hopefully this should be able to go ahead, more on that later.

Again as we have the whole function suite available feel free to bring along any friends or family to either participate in the Challenge of just to join us for the evening as hopefully the bar may be open for a fine social occasion.

Finally if you are now fired up and ready to go for glory please add your name to the list Alan has set up using this form for this event, your team needs YOU  in it to win it. List of entries received.
Any questions regards this event just ask myself or Frances, though not about any of the challenges which will only be revealed on the night but I can assure you are well within the scope of all the Harriers.

Billy B

Wednesday 16 June 2021

Club Training Thursday 17th June

Back to Threshold Thursday after a 10 day gap since our previous session of this type. It is the same session again:

3 x 9 minutes at threshold with a 3 minute jog recovery. As before, if this is only the first or second time you have done a threshold session, then only do the first 2 reps and run easy for the third rep and recovery to catch your pack up during their recovery.

The route is Strathaven Rd to Sainsburys and then on to the corner at the bottom of the steep hill at Langlands. Start the first rep at this corner. Run past Park Farm to Leaburn Rd, turn left and then right and continue climbing up to the cross roads. Turn LEFT at the cross roads along the rough road and then turn LEFT again at the T junction at the end of the road and back down the hill until you reach Leaburn Rd again. Turn left and run along Leaburn Rd, through Leaburn and then turn right at the Park Farm junction and follow the reverse of the route to Sainsburys, Strathaven Rd and the club.

Remember that threshold is a level of effort and not a pace, so your pace will go up and down depending on hills and wind direction but your level of effort (and hence heart rate and breathing) will remain constant and uncomfortable.

Alan

Sunday 13 June 2021

MEMBERSHIP FEES

 The fees this year as your probably aware are a bit complex as a lot of you carried a credit over from last year. For those that carried a credit you should be looking to start making payments again. You should all know what your credit was and what your due to pay this year. As a reminder the annual fees this year are for a family membership its £194.00. For an ordinary membership its £130.00. For a retired member its £90.00. For those that have paid or making payments thank you.  For anyone thats joined us this year you should be looking to pay fees now so please let me know if your unsure whats due or you need to know how to pay. You can speak to me at training too if you wish.


Russell

Club Training Monday 14th June

Travelling at the moment so quite a brief post for tomorrow's session:

6 x 3 minutes @ 5k pace, 2 mins jog recovery

The route is through the Glen to Langlands. Start the session at the junction and run past Langlands club House into Auldhouse. Straight through Auldhouse cross then turn right at kennels, along Shields Rd to Greenhills Road and back to the club. Regroup to your pack between reps.
Alan

Wednesday 9 June 2021

Warning - Caffeine Gum

 Giffnock North AC have brought the following to the club's attention. The Harriers' committee has agreed that the GNAC communication is repeated in full for our members' information.

Dear Club Secretary,

I write to you as a longstanding coach and Masters athlete at Giffnock North AC to advise you of the serious concerns about the potential health risks to athletes who use caffeine gum for performance enhancement, in case you were unaware of them, and to ask you draw these health risks to the attention of your club and its members.

Having had many conversations on the subject with those involved in safeguarding in sport I know that there are many informed people who share these concerns. Two groups are particularly vulnerable: older athletes with higher risk of cardiovascular disease and young athletes with undiagnosed life threatening heart conditions.

The environmental health officer at East Renfrewshire Council is one of those who shares my concerns. In his opinion, clubs should include caffeine gum in their risk assessment and put in place an appropriate action plan to manage the risks. In addition, clubs, coaches, team captains and others with a duty of care should be made aware of the risks so they can take steps to ensure athletes are not harmed taking caffeine gum or other legal stimulants.

After looking at the issue, my own club passed a resolution calling for a ban on the use of caffeine gum for performance enhancement.

It seemed to me imperative that all clubs were informed of the risks and of the advice that clubs should put in place a risk assessment that covers the use of caffeine gum for performance enhancement.

To that end, I thought it might be helpful to share a copy of the risk assessment (enclosed), along with some of the evidence that I have relied upon, to your club.

I would appreciate if you could forward to the relevant people at your club and would be happy to discuss further.

Kind regards

Ted Gourley


Club Training Thursday 10th June

This Thursday's run is a steady run. By steady run I mean a constant pace throughout but definitely not a hard run. The pace for this run should be something like marathon pace. The route is Strathaven Road, Greenhills Rd to the fingerposts, Shields Rd and then turn second right and then left and up and around by the recording studio. At the top of the climb, the road turns 90 degree left and you are then on Auldhouse Rd. Continue all the way into Auldhouse and straight through the cross to Langlands. From there run around past Sainsburys and back to the Strathaven Rd and the club. 

Alan

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Glen Lyon Ultra-Marathon - My Backwards Walk

Glen Lyon is a tough day out. Endless miles of twisting and turning undulating dirt tracks, the sun blazing down, only sheep and the odd rabbit for company, praying you’ve taken on enough nutrition and fluids, your body dripping in sweat, muscles aching, longing for the end to come…. and that’s just the drive to get there. 

Yes, Glen Lyon is a tough day out.

It is remote. If you key in the start line co-ordinates into the “What 3 Words” app, the three words generated are ‘Where. The. F**k”

I had stayed the Friday night in the comparative metropolis of Aberfeldy and set off from the hotel at 7am for the 1hr 15-minute drive to the start line. A distance that’s approximately 25 miles as the crow flies. Google Maps took me 15 miles down a windy road, advising I go straight on at Narnia until I reach the Back Arse of Nowhere… from where I had to take a right turn and go another 15 miles down a single-track road so narrow and isolated it makes the last one seem like the M25. Absolutely stunning though – even thought I caught a glimpse of the Clown & The Wolfman riding by at one point. 

Following the arduous drive, I arrive at the race meeting point next to the dam at the top of Loch Lyon at around 8:15am. “Dam” would feature heavily in my day. I would start the race at the dam, I would reach halfway at the dam, I would finish at the dam. And all the miles in between I would be muttering “this damn race”.


Having registered, pinned on my race number, and completed my rigorous pre-race stretching routine (two half hearted lunges whilst trying to get a reception to check in on Facebook) I still had an hour to kill before the get go. It’s been a while since last being involved in an actual race so I relished the opportunity to take in all the wonderful pre-ultra-sights… from the runners applying so much Kinesio tape to their bodies you fear that one vigorous sneeze will cause them to explode, to the middle aged blokes unashamedly liberally applying Vaseline to where the sun doesn’t shine in a rigorous and quite frankly intimidating manner, to (my personal favourite), the cautionary “once bitten twice shy” runners who stand for 10 minutes in the queue for the port-a-loo, only to come out of the toilet and go straight back to join the same queue again. 

Yes, it was good to be back in the ultra-running racing community.

The weather forecast had been favourable. Slight breeze, middling temperatures and cloudy with sunny outbreaks. Perfect. Unfortunately, the weather hadn’t listened to the weather forecast. The slight breeze had been downgraded to no breeze, the middling temperatures were on the increase and the clouds were drifting apart to reveal the bluest of blue skies. Ominous. A liberal application of sun cream later and I was at the start line. Covid rules dictated that all runners should wear masks at the start and finish and on approaching each checkpoint / water station. This resulted in me resembling a sweaty Dick Turpin in all race day photos.

The Glen Lyon Ultra is 31.75 miles with 4395 feet of climbing. 

I had mistakenly thought it was “only” 31 miles and was somewhat miffed to only discover the actual 31.75-mile distance when my watch beeped for 31 miles, and I could still only just make out the damned dam in the distance. At this point, I would like to apologise to any sheep that may have been offended by my language.

Anyway, back to the start; the run is split into two sections; an initial 16-mile loop of Loch Lyon finishing back at the dam followed by the second half, which starts with a (ahem) steep climb up and over the hill and down into Glen Lochay, looping round the valley floor there, before climbing the same hill again to drop back into Glen Lyon and the finishing line. 

When the starting hooter sounded there was a brief walk / run to climb up to the loch side from where I fell into what I thought was a reasonable pace and set off on the first half of the race, making sure to follow the RD’s instructions of always “keeping the Loch on your left-hand side or you’ll end up in Tyndrum”. The stony, dusty track was unforgiving on your feet but fortunately there were several river crossings that gave the welcome opportunity to cool your feet and soak you cap and buff in the crystal-clear water (thanks for the top tip Jim).  The sun was really beating down at this point and on reflection (and given the number of runners that passed me on the second half) I was going too fast for the conditions. 

I reached half-way in about 2 and a half hours. My customary “gag” to the marshal at the checkpoint of “am I still in first place?” was met with a rather blunt “naw, your about 40th”. Oh, well maybe some humour was lost in translation due to the facemask situation. Anyway, I drained my small bottle of flat coke and ate some salted cashews before saying a silent prayer for the loss of the macaroon bar I had been dreaming of since mile 8. Unfortunately, like me it hadn’t coped with midday sun and now resembled something you would see dog owners casually swing in their hand as they stroll through Calderglen. Anyway, I slung it in my bag and set off on the second half of the run – rather cruelly I thought, having to run past my car…

The second half is brutal. Even if you had not just run 16 miles in the heat, the second half would be a tough shift. The first two-ish miles out of the checkpoint are a very steep climb which I just had to accept I was not going to be able to run up. On reaching the summit I managed to start to run again but only in short bursts as I was really beginning to struggle both physically and mentally. It was around this point that I decided that my often thought about running ambition of doing the full 96-mile West Highland Way race may well be beyond me.

After taking on some water at the next water station at around the 19–20-mile mark, I carried on with my walk run strategy round the side of the hill – with the emphasis primarily being on the former. The path in front of me just seemed endless and although I could see some runners way below on the valley floor, I could not see how far I had to go to get down there. My phone briefly buzzed into life as I began to pick up a signal and although the good luck texts that came through were welcome given how I was feeling they didn’t lift my spirits (or legs) sufficiently to power on and pick up the pace. I decided to sit down on a rock, question my life choices and try to salvage some of that macaroon bar. It was whilst sitting on that rock that I decided that ever running another ultra-marathon again may well be beyond me. 

That melted macaroon bar though! Although it was incredibly messy, it was superb. I must have looked quite the sight to the female runner that passed me at that rock with my face and hands covered in the brown sticky mess of the macaroon. The look of relief on her face when I declined her kind offer of assistance was something to behold. Lord knows what she thought she had just stumbled across. Suitably fuelled I powered on and was delighted to eventually reach the sharp drop down to the valley floor, even managing to overtake a couple of runners on the way down – including the same runner who had offered assistance. She must have been impressed that the chap she had thought had shat himself not ten minutes previously was now offering her a cheery “hello” whilst motoring on down the road. 

Miles 24 to 27 rolled by ever so slowly though, with the post macaroon high slowly fading and me falling back into a walk run strategy. Upon reaching mile 27 I clocked that some wag had spray painted “Wee Hill Ahead” on the path and I finally had to confront the fear that I had been subconsciously trying to block out since mile 20 ish. To get to the finish line, the huge hill that I’d climbed coming out of after halfway was indeed to be tackled again, although on coming at it from this side it wasn’t in stages, it was a straight full-on climb from the valley floor. 

There was no way I was running it, so I started the long slow march upwards – even walking it though was tough and my legs were really letting me know in no uncertain terms that they were, quite honestly, not very happy with the current situation. It was in the early stages of this climb up the hill that I decided that running another Parkrun ever again, may well be beyond me. 

About a third of the way up and after about the 5th stop to (ahem) “take in the beautiful view” I had a brainwave. As my quads were burning so much and there’s nobody about to witness this, why don’t I turn around and walk backwards up this hill for a bit? So, I did. For about a hundred yards I walked backwards up the hill. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I repeatedly had to tell myself that the sheep are merely baa-ing and not in fact laughing. It was bliss, albeit short lived as the next water station soon came into view. After passing through with only a cursory grunt and pick up of a water bottle I carried on my walk until reaching the crest of the hill at just over mile 29. I managed to start a slow run again although it did feel like snipers were taking pot shots at my hamstrings. Miles 30 and 31 came and went and I am still going down this hill without reaching the bottom. Ok, so they lied it’s not 31 miles, it’s 31 and a “good bit” miles – I just had to accept it at this point, never the less, the damned dam was tantalisingly close now. 

I got to the bottom of the hill in one piece (just about) and with a final little walk/run up the short incline I then picked up the pace to jog the last 400 metres down to the finishing line - weaving in and out of the smug ba5tards fantastic runners who had clearly finished long before me and were now driving home. I donned the facemask for a final time and powered home to the rapturous applause of the handful of saintly volunteers who allow these events to happen. 

6 hours 4 minutes (or 5 hours 64) was my finish time – a bit slower than I had perhaps naively expected but then again taking the warm weather and ridiculousness of the hills involved, perhaps it wasn’t too bad. The top end finishers had completed the race in sub-four hours, proof, yet again if proof needed, that aliens live among us. 

With ultra-marathon number 6 now done, I quickly reverted to tradition of stating that the most recent one was “the hardest I have ever ran”. Maybe, this time that is true though. However, I do find ultra-marathons are a lot like giving birth (bear with me ladies), in the immediate aftermath of the pain and the trauma you swear ‘never again’ but a few months later, and after a few drinks, you suddenly find yourself counting down to a new ‘due-date’ on the calendar. I just need to do a wee bit on-line research to hunt down the perfect non-melting macaroon bar before the next one.

Graeme




Sunday 6 June 2021

Club Training Monday 7th June

It's threshold Monday for a change. Trying to spread the threshold sessions out to give plenty of time to recover, so that means one such session every 10 to 14 days.

This week we are on 3 x 9 minutes at threshold with 3 minutes jog recovery. For those doing a threshold session for only the first or second time, please do only 2 x 9 minutes with 3 minutes jog recovery. 

What is threshold? It is the level of effort you could sustain for 1 hour in a race situation. It's not a pace as such because the pace depends on whether you are going up hill, downhill, into the wind or with a tail wind. However, the level of effort is the same irrespective and is the level of effort which is controlled discomfort or you could gasp out 3 or 4 words but certainly not hold a conversation. For those who wear a chest strap heart rate monitor, when you download the session to Garmin Connect, the heart rate should be pretty constant, confirming that your effort is constant throughout the effort.

For the route, run through the glen to the tunnel and climb up the bank onto the Strathaven Rd and run out to the Crutherland and then onto the country road. Start the session at our usual 90 degree corner. Turn right when you reach the junction with Leaburn Rd and run all the way along Leaburn Rd until it eventually veers right and downhill. At the bottom of the hill, turn right on Auldhouse Rd and then immediately left past the kennels and along Shields Rd back to the fingerposts and then Greenhills Rd. Run back to Strathaven Rd and back to the club.

Alan

Wednesday 2 June 2021

Club Training Thursday 3rd June - Auldhouse 5k

Thursday's session is the Auldhouse 5k individual time trial. Eddie is going to do the timing but also take your own time on your Garmin just in case of mishaps. Take the short route to the start (Strathaven Rd, Sainsburys, Langlands). When pack A arrives, set off at 30 second intervals in the order in which you are named on the pack list. When pack A have all started, pack B then sets off in the named order and so through all the packs. When you cross the line, give your time off your watch to Eddie. After the TT, have a nice gentle run back through the glen to the club.

Alan