Club Training Monday 31st January

Monday's Brancumhall session is basically a threshold session but with a couple of shorter reps to start with to get the heart rate up and to simulate the usually fast start to a race before easing back into a sustained threshold effort and then a final effort to simulate picking it up at the end of a race.

The session starts off with 2 sides at 5k effort, 1 side jog. Do this twice and then after the final 1 side jog go immediately into 1 x 10 minutes at threshold effort. After the threshold effort, jog for 1 minute and then do a final 2 sides at 5k effort. That's it.

In these cross country sessions, experiment with your stride length and cadence until you find the sweet spot for you i.e. what feels most efficient to maintain the pace. A shorter stride/faster cadence may work better on softer ground whereas on firmer ground, you may lengthen to a more powerful stride.

Probably best to programme this on your watch as:

1 x open rep (until button press), 1 x open recovery (until button press) (repeat these steps x 2) and then 1 x 10minutes + 1 x open recovery (until button press) + 1 x open rep (until button press).

Alan

Devils' Burdens Hill Relay Final Instruction

For the team members (Leg 1 me, Leg 2 Kenny/Jim, Leg 3 Frances/Geo, Leg 4 Chris, Reserve Gordon) here are the final important instructions issued by the race organiser today. 

NOTE POINT 1 IN PARTICULAR THAT NO VEHICLES SHOULD ENTER THE ESTATE VIA FALKLAND AND THE EAST GATE. ALL VEHICLES SHOULD ENTER VIA THE PILLARS OF HERCULES RD, AVOIDING FALKLAND COMPLETELY. FULL INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. 

LEG 3 HAS CHANGED A LITTLE - The difference is that the gate about halfway up the "motorway" is no longer a check point. All other checkpoints are the same (Gate at top of "nasty den"; hill-top fort; emergent spring; forest track junction.

BRING A MARKER PEN - SEE POINT 6 - FOR CHECKPOINT RECORDING

The full instructions from the organisers are as follows:

As usual, we are indebted to Adrian Stott of “Run and Become” for his generous sponsorship and his offer of discount to all participants (see the reverse of your race number for details).

1. Do not approach the race site by coming through the village of Falkland and attempting to access the Estate via the East Gate.     Instead, exit the A912 (Falkland to Strathmiglo road) at the Pillars of Hercules and follow a farm road (ignoring a no entry sign) to the race site.    Falkland Estate have made this conditional on their permission to the staging of the race, so please ensure full compliance.

2. Parking: there is parking available in the Playing Fields (maybe “soft”) and in the Estate Carpark just off the A912.

3. Registration will be in the Playing Fields adjacent to the Start / Finish / Changeover.

4. Please note there was an anomaly between the published instructions for Leg 3 and the corresponding map.    The map has been altered to reflect the instructions and can be downloaded from the Fife AC website, our apologies for this error.

5. Leg 3 runners must wear the red numbers.

6. Due to the continuing presence of COVID-19, there is a change to the recording of the checkpoints this year.     To minimise the risk of transmission, there will be no punches at the checkpoints.     An orienteering card will be in your race pack, corresponding to your team number, and this should be used to record the various checkpoints which will be marked with circular pieces of slate each having a random letter of the alphabet.    This recording card should be passed baton-like to each successive leg and handed to a designated official at the end of the race (completion of Leg 4) and will act as a record of completion.    Please ensure that the team members carry a marker pen or pencil for recording purposes.

7. Again, due to the continuing presence of COVID-19, there will be no provision of post-race refreshments or a prizegiving in the Falkland Community Hall.    Toilets will be sited in the Playing Fields adjacent to the Start / Finish / Changeover area.    Complimentary soup, tea and coffee will be available for competitors at the rear of the Stables Café within the Estate from 10:30am onwards.    There will be signage local to the Café directing competitors to the relevant area.     Prizes will be sent by post to the Team Organiser/Captain.

8. There will be space for club / team tents in the playing field.

9. There is a probability of mass starts on legs 3 and 4 for the slower teams.    Final decisions will be made on the day.

Frank McLaren - Fife AC

Club Training Thursday 27th January

Thursday is another easy run around the 4-hills (except for those doing the Devils' Burdens Hill Relay - see instructions at the end for your run). Although it is an easy paced run, the 4-hills is never easy due to the amount of climbing involved. Therefore, don't be tempted to hammer it; the benefit will be achieved (particularly those who are stringing together plenty of miles between club nights) through the cumulative effect of these easy miles and the ups and downs of the course. In fact you will get more aerobic benefit from running this route slow and easy as you will be training for a few minutes longer than you would be at a faster pace.

For those doing the Devils' Burdens, you need to keep the legs fresh for the climbs on Saturday. Therefore, follow the 4 hills as far as West Mains Rd (i.e. do Markethill only) and then come all the way up West Mains Rd to McDonalds and back up the Queensway. Fit in a few 50m strides, running light on the feet to get the legs moving on the flatter stretch of the Queensway before the town centre.

Alan

Club Training Monday 24th January

 As we move towards a block of races in February and March, we take the heavy load off the legs (hill reps) and move back to running light and fast on the flat to bring everyone towards race fitness. 

The session for Monday is 12 x 400m at slightly faster than 5k pace with 60 seconds recovery. The session is at Langlands Place using the 400m straight as usual. Assuming the weather is fairly calm, the aim is to be absolutely consistent on every rep to within a second of each other.

For pace guidance, those running:

18 minute 5k should aim for 1:24 per 400m

20 minute 5k should aim for 1:34 per 400m

22 minute 5k should aim for 1:43 per 400m

24 minute 5k should aim for 1:52 per 400m

26 minute 5k should aim for 2:00 per 400m

All of the above 400m times are a few seconds per 400m faster than the indicated 5k time.

For the warm-up and cool down, run up the Strathaven Rd and and then around to Sainsburys and up the hill to Langlands Place. If there are road works making that route impossible, take whatever safe route is available.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 20th January

Threshold Thursday this week. The route for the run is Queensway all the way down to the Holiday Inn and then turn right to Morrisons, right again and down the lane leading to West Mains Rd. Along West Mains Rd to Lidl and back up to the NEL roundabout and on to the club. The session is 2 x 10 minutes threshold with 3.5 minutes jog recovery. The first threshold effort starts after crossing West Mains Rd at McDonalds.

The aim with these threshold sessions is to get to a state where you could only gasp out a few words if asked to speak but could keep this effort going for no more than an hour in a race situation (probably a lot less than an hour for less experienced/trained runners). So that puts the effort somewhere between 10k effort and 10 mile effort, depending on ability.

Alan

Club Training Monday 17th January

 As I don't think anyone did the Brancumhall session two weeks ago, the session this week is the same:

2 sides of the Brancumhall perimeter at 5k race effort, 1 side jog. Repeat until 8 efforts have been completed.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 13th January

Thursday's run is the 4 hills. This route fits in well with this strength building phase of training. The pace should be relatively easy i.e. conversation is possible throughout.

Alan

Devil's Burdens Hill Relay Recce and Race

The Devil's Burdens Hill Relay is now confirmed for 29th January. It is 6 per team and we have 7 names. It would be nice if we coukd get enough for a second team (please use the form at the link in the initial post below if you can make it but tick anything for the now past recce dates. A second, final recce of the actual leg assigned to each team member will be carried out the weekend before the race. Day and time to be decided. Those of us who did the recce already will partner any new volunteers around their assigned leg on this recce. 

Fife AC web site post here. 

Alan

The Devil's Burdens Hill Relay centred around Falkland in Fife (and possibly other counties depending on navigation ability) has been a favourite adventure for the Harriers for many years. The Fife AC calendar now shows the event as taking place on 29th January. They have published the maps for the 4 legs.  As this is a navigational relay over 4 legs in wild terrain, a recce in advance of the event is vital. If the event is to go ahead, it would presumably be around its normal date towards the end of January which means a recce has to be carried out fairly soon. If nothing else, the recce is a fun "day" of running in the hills.

There are 6 per team; two of the legs are solo legs and the 2 more extreme legs are to be run in pairs. We have often had multiple teams in the event. The legs proposed for 2022 are similar to those used in 2020, the last time the event was held, all starting and finishing in a field in Falkland House estate. All of the legs are quite extreme in terms of climbing and/or terrain and there are no marked routes between the check points. The distances of the legs are about 10k, 12k, 10k and 10k, although there are various routes possible between the check points. The checkpoints on each leg have to be visited in a set order in legs 1 to 3 but leg for leg 4 the checkpoints can be visited in any order. The maps are here. We definitely do not run every part of every leg during the recce but a considerable distance can be accumulated.

It is probably a good idea to do a pre-recce of most of the legs fairly soon and then do the formal recce with confirmed team members nearer the time of the event, where each person would recce the leg they would actually be running in the race, aided by one of the experienced runners who had done the pre-recce. Even if it turns out you can't do the race, the recce is a good day out and you could help show others the way during the final recce where we will need at least 4 "leaders" to take the actual runners on a recce of their assigned leg.

I would suggest a pre-recce during the holiday period Wednesday 29th December,  Monday 3rd Jan, Tuesday 4th Jan or Wednesday 5th Jan. The final recce date options will be announced when we actually have a date for the race.

Leave your name here if you are available for the pre-recce and select all dates that you could manage. If none of the dates suit, please put dates you could manage in the "Other Info" box and we will see if we can come up with a solution. Note that the recce is a fairly long day out. Names for recce are here.

Alan

Club Training Monday 10th January

The hill rep progression continues on Monday. The session is 10 x Avondale to the post box at 5km effort, keeping the same pace (but less effort) on the run down recovery. The forecast shows that the weather turns milder (and wet) throughout tomorrow, so ice should not be a problem but do be careful until you are absolutely sure the course is ice-free. Warm up via the usual route to the NEL roundabout, down to Lidl and then around to Avondale, starting the reps on the wide pavement and staying on the pavement until around the corner with a clear view of the road and any traffic ahead.

The aim is to finish the session in a controlled way, and not to save it for a big sprint on the last rep. After 10 reps, you should feel that you could do a few more and have not run yourself into the ground.

Alan

MEMBERSHIP FEES 2022

 Membership fees this year will be kept the same as last year and are as follows. This includes both Sports Club and Harriers fees.

·         FAMILY -  £194.00 - Includes 2 Adults & all children age 6 to under 18 years.

 

·         ORDINARY/ SOCIAL - £130.00  - Open to individual adults 21 year and over (but under National Pension Age).

 

·         INTERMEDIATE - £90.00  - Open to individuals aged 18 and under 21 years.

 

·         JUNIOR - £62.00  - Open to all youngsters age 6 but under 18 years.

 

·         RETIRED FAMILY - £114.00 - As Family (above), but applicable where both adults are over National  Pension Age *

 

·         RETIRED ORDINARY - £90.00 - As Ordinary (above), but applicable to those over National Pension Age *

Payments should start in January and monthly thereafter for those paying in instalments

MASTERS XC CHAMPIONSHIP

 The Masters xc championship will be held in Aberdeen on the 5th February.

This race is for over 40s only and is 6k for Ladies and M65+, and 8k for Men 40+.

Start times are 12.30 for Ladies and 13.15 for Men.

Cost is £8

If you want entered leave your name in the future events list (link at top of the page) by Tuesday 18th Jan

Club Training Thursday 6th January

 Thursday's session is a steady run with a middle 10-minutes stepping up to threshold effort. This is an effort where it would be possible to speak only a few words between breaths or the effort that could be sustained in a race for 45 minutes to an hour. Recent research suggests that for runners who are relative beginners, the threshold effort may in fact be more like a 5k effort so more like the effort that could be sustained for  about 30 minutes in a race. This might be suitable for those who have not really progressed on to to racing beyond 5k yet.

The route is down the Queensway to the Holiday Inn then along the bypass to Morrisons and turn right through Stewartfield to the back alley which comes out on West Mains Rd. From West Mains Rd, carry on to Lidl and then back up Churchill Avenue to the club. Start the 10 minute effort at the Holiday Inn.

Alan

(Note for those looking for another quality session, this Saturday is the next in the series of Glasgow AAA cross country sessions. This one is at Nether Pollok Park - have a look at my session from about a month or so ago on Strava to see exactly where it is. The session starts at 10:30 sharp and you should be well warmed up ready to start at that time. I usually park around Maxwell Park and run down to the session as my warm-up, getting changed into my spikes or whatever when I arrive. All standards are represented there).

Club Training Monday 3rd January

The first session of the year is at Brancumhall and is as follows:

2 sides at 5k effort, 1 side jog recovery where a lap of Brancumhall has 4 sides in total. Do this until you have done 8 repetitions. 

The total effort distance is less than 5k, so the aim should be to finish the session feeling comfortable and as if you could do more reps at that pace. As with all sessions, the aim is to be controlled and consistent and not to run yourselves into the ground.

(Note this is the start of the 3-month trial period for training starting at 7pm rather than 7:30 as agreed at the AGM. The training registration list will close automatically at 18:00 rather than 18:30 and packs will be published before 18:15).

Alan

Latest Batch of Race Entries for 2022

Happy New Year. Although there is uncertainty over all events due to current covid restrictions, not least limiting events to 500 people, all the following events are on the race calendars and this is your opportunity to get the date in your diary and to put your name down to represent your Club.

Most of the events are championship events and hence require an up to date Scottish Athletics Membership with your "First Claim Club" identified as Calderglen Harriers. Scottish Athletic memberships are available at this link. Note that for all those who have never been a member of Scottish Athletics, not only does this give you access to these club only championship events but it also gives you a £2 discount on the entry fee of all UK races which have a valid race permit.

The events coming up are:

29 Jan	Devil's Burdens Hill Relay (Provisional TBC)
tbc	SVHC Road Relay (Strathclyde Park) TBC
05 Feb	Scottish Masters XC National Championships (Aberdeen)
12 Feb	Lanarkshire XC Championships (Strathaven) - GP
26 Feb	National XC Championships (Falkirk) - GP
05 Mar	Allan Scally 4 x 5km Road Relay (Glasgow Green)- GP
26 Mar	National 6/4 Stage Road Relays (Livingston)

Forms for each event to indicate your availability are at this link. The link is also available at the top of the blog screen as "Entries for Future Events". We will post a more detailed Blog post specific to each event when final details become available.

Your club needs you, so please check your calendars and lets get as many names as possible down.

Alan