WEST DISTRICT XC ( STRATHAVEN )

 This Saturday is the West District XC championship.

Please look at the following race times and whos running. Anyone who can no longer run if you can let us know as Andrew and Lorraine will pick up the Junior numbers and Russell will pick up the Senior numbers. Please be there at least 30 mins before the race start time.

U/13 boys   11.45    Gavin Boyd

U/15 girls    12.00    Holly Lloyd

U/15 boys    12.20   Jack Flannigan

U/17 Men     12.40   Kai Wheeler

U/17 Women  12.45   Anna Lindsay

Senior Women   13.40  J Pechlof,  A Lessells,  J Thomson,  L Buchanan

Senior Men    14.30     J Stewart,  R Couper,  A Buchanan, A Derrick,  G Ferguson,  K McPhillips,  J Mearns  

Club Training Thursday 30th November

This is a threshold Thursday in contrast to the shorter, faster reps on Monday. Ice could be an issue tonight so do be careful. The session is at Carron Place, lapping in an anti clockwise direction. Do 5 x 6 mins at threshold with a 2 minute jog recovery, starting each rep wherever the recovery jog finishes.

Warm up via Crooked Lum, Kelvin, etc and cool down via Greenhills Rd and Strathaven Rd. 

Alan 

Club Training Monday 27th November

To re-awaken the legs and lungs after a few weeks of tapering, racing and recovery, Monday's session is 400's at Langlands Place. The session is:

2 sets of 6 x 400m at 5k pace. 1 minute standstill recovery between reps and 400m jog between sets. Warm up and cool down as per usual via Strathaven Rd and around by Sainsburys.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 23rd November

 Continuing the recovery week theme following Brampton, Thursday's run is an easy run. Please don't push the pace beyond conversational. The route is Queensway to the Holiday Inn, along the Stewartfield bypass as far as Morrisons, then turn in to Stewartfield Crescent as far as Stewartfield Rd. Take the back path parallel to Stewartfield Rd to West Mains Rd and back to the club via Lidl and Churchill Avenue.

On Monday, we return to reps at Langlands Place.

Alan

Club Training Monday 20th November

Given the great turnout from the club at Brampton, Monday's run is a short, post-race recovery run rather than Brancumhall. This should be an easy, conversational run from start to finish. The route is via Mull to High Common Rd and then around to St Leonards (same as the Brancumhall warm-up), however, carry on past Brancumhall and then turn right onto Tewkesbury Rd. Follow Tewkesbury all the way around and back onto Maxwelton Rd and up to Calderwood Square. At Calderwood Square, turn left (to avoid the road works at the Whirlies) and run back to the club via the John Wright.

Alan

Club Training - Thursday 16th November

Thursday's run is a pre-Brampton easy run with strides. The route is The Queensway to the Arnold Clark roundabout (crossing over to the left side at the underpass before the petrol station). Turn left and left again at the mini roundabout onto Westwood Rd. Carry straight through to the Murray and on to the Crooked Lum and back to the club. On flat or slightly downhill bits of the course, pick up the pace for 6 x approx 20 seconds of strides. Space these 6 strides well out. Decide within your pack where to start and stop each rep. This run is very roughly 10 - 11km.

Alan

West XC League Race # 1 - Kilmarnock

 For anyone not going to Brampton and who fancies a cross country race. The first west district league event is on Saturday at Kilmarnock. Details can be found at this link

2023/24 Event #1: Kilmarnock - West District League westleague.org.uk

There is no need to register-just turn up and run but you must make sure that you have a number. There are juniors from the club going and Andy Buchanan will be there with the club numbers so let him know if you intend on being there. Lastly if you do run let Russell know and the finish order if there are others from the club in your race as this is required for the full results. Costs are £3 which the club is billed for afterwards so you can pay Russell afterwards.

Last year was the first year of the West XC League and the club scored very well in races 2 and 3 but finished well down the league table at the end of the series due to not having any participation in Race #1 (which also clashed with Brampton weekend). Therefore, the more non-injured, non-ill runners across the age groups we can get participating in race #1 the better. Incomplete teams or non-existent teams pick up penalty points which is what scuppered us last year. Everyone who runs helps the club!

Club Training Monday 13th November

With less than a week to Brampton, no fitness gains are going to be made at this late stage, however it is possible to decondition or become lethargic through doing too much of a taper leading up to a big race. Therefore, Monday's session is hard enough to keep the muscles, heart and lungs used to working but with reps that are short enough not to induce deep fatigue.

The session is at Langlands Place, so the usual warm-up via Strathaven Rd. Do the following:

20 x 200m at 5k pace with 200m jog recovery. Each rep plus recovery covers the full length of the 400m straight at Langlands Place. Don't force the pace and definitely do not start too fast and fade. Try to feel as though you are holding something back throughout the session.

Thursday will be an easy run.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 9th November

Thursday is the final club 4-hills session prior to Brampton. This time break the route up into the following threshold efforts, starting the first effort at the bottom of Market Hill in the village. Do 6 x 6 minutes at threshold (1 hour race effort or 3-word answer effort level) with 2 minute jog recovery between. Be in control throughout the session. This means running at an effort level which will feel quite comfortable for the first couple of minutes of each effort but will then become uncomfortable for the remaining 4 minutes or so of each effort. The effort/discomfort remains consistent but the pace varies to suit depending on whether running up hill, downhill, into the wind or with a tail wind.

Alan

CALDERGLEN HARRIERS AGM 2023

 This years AGM will be held on 7th December at 8.00pm in East Kilbride Sports Club.

For those that can attend training will be at 7pm that evening for a shorter run to allow you to get changed before the meeting.

Any motions should be made in writing to the Secretary ( Julia Pechlof ) by 23rd November.

Anyone wishing to be part of the comittee (Executive or General) should let it be known and in the case of the Executive will require a nomination. Anyone interested in being part of the comittee going forward please speak with any of the present comittee if you need information about whats involved. This will be for executive and non executive positions.

Please try to attend, this is your club and its important that you attend.

On behalf of your Comittee

Club Training Monday 6th November - Brancumhall

Well done to everyone who raced at Lanark on Saturday in the National 4k XC Championships. By all accounts it was great conditions. Hopefully those conditions persist to Monday's Brancumhall XC session which once again is part of our Brampton progression (and preparation for the future, longer XC's).

The session is 3 x 2 laps (about 1600m) with 2 mins jog recovery followed by 4 x 1 lap with 1 min jog recovery. All reps are at approximately 10k race effort. The gentle warm-up is the usual run to Brancumhall and the cool down is the run back to the club. This whole session not only puts some serious efforts in but is also a long session. It is very important to make the efforts fast enough but to make the warm up, cool down and recoveries very easy otherwise you risk doing too much and burning out. The important thing is that you do enough but not so much that you cannot do some easy miles the day after.

Thursday's run will be a longer run with threshold efforts.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 2nd November

Thursday's run is a longer but easier run given that many are running the 4k XC on Saturday. This early part of the winter season where we have multiple 4k XC relays and races should be considered as an intense period of training in preparation for the longer cross-countries and Brampton. For that  reason, we generally don't cut back on the Thursday session when the Saturday race is around 4k and is a training session in its own right.

The route is Queensway to Holiday Inn, along the Stewartfield by-pass to Kingsgate and back up the Kingsway to the club. Run it relatively easy except for the section from the roundabout at Morrisons to the roundabout at the James Hamilton Heritage Park where the pace should be picked up to 10k race pace. Then run easy back to the club.

Alan

WEST DISTRICT XC CHAMPIONSHIP

This years West District XC championship will take place on Sat 2nd December in Kirkland Park Strathaven.

Ladies start at 13.40 and Men at 14.30 over 7.5k

I need names by Tuesday 14th Nov.

Please make sure your SA number is up to date.

Cost is £8 per head.

If you wish entered please leave your name HERE. Those already registered are listed HERE.