Club Training Thursday 19th December

Thursday's session is a hill threshold session at Lickprivick. Take the Murray route to the bottom of Lickprivick as the warm up. Then do 4 x 3 mins up Lickprivick at threshold, jogging down to recover followed by 2 x 2 mins up Lickprivick with a jog down recovery. After the last rep, continue up and over at water tower and back to the club via the Murray again. The efforts should have the usual threshold feeling i.e. two or three word sustainable effort and are definitely not running to exhaustion on each rep.

Alan

Harriers Festive Handicap

Fifteen Harriers donned the fancy dress this morning to compete in the Harriers' annual festive handicap over a distance of 4 miles. Each Harrier was assigned a time handicap and were set off individually with the intention that everyone should finish the five lap course at almost the same time if the handicapper has done a good job. First off today was Andy Henderson, a founding member of the Harriers 40 years ago, still running strong at 70 years old and who was ably assisted and accompanied on his run by Jim Mearns. Last off was Kai Wheeler, one of the youngest members now running for the senior Harriers and a long-term member of our junior section. 

With enthusiastic cheering from the supporting Harriers, the handicap gradually unwound with each passing lap. By the last lap, all the runners were on the same lap and we waited expectantly to see who would appear in the lead. And it was first timer at the handicap, Claire McSorley, who came flying through into the lead on the very last part of the last lap crossing the line without needing to use her witch's broom, in 29:45. A few seconds later Andy and Jim finished in 44:50 in what qualifies as a close finish by handicap standards!

Fastest time of the day went to Kai Wheeler in an impressive 24:55, especially as Kai had been competing on a very tough course in the West XC League at Linn Park the day before. Second and third were separated by only 2 seconds with Stephen Phimister just pipping last year's winner, junior Harrier, Francis Santangeli in 27:15 and 27:17 respectively.

Fastest lady was Rachel McPhillips in 27:51, the first of three from the McPhillips family competing. Second fastest was handicap winner Claire McSorley in an excellent 29:45, despite battling with a costume that was not well suited to the blustery conditions. Club president, Alison Lessells was third fastest in 32:21, a very strong run following a fine run in the West XC League the day before.

Thanks to all who participated and supported the event and to John McIntyre for taking many, many photos which will appear in the EK News sometime in the coming weeks.

Full results (scratch times) are here.

Alan

(a West XC League report will follow when the official league results are updated and published, which should be in the next few days).

Club Training Monday 16th December

With so many racing on either one or both days at the weekend, Monday's session should be taken very easy by those who were racing. The session is at Langlands Place and is 12 x 400m at 10k pace with a 1 minute stand or jog-on-the-spot recovery. For those who were racing, particularly the handicap on Sunday, drop the pace by 2 or 3 seconds per 400m compared to your 10k pace. This should make a huge difference as to how difficult the reps seem. All you you should be doing is striding out at a fast but relaxed pace, feeling light on your feet. For those who were not racing at the weekend, then aim for your usual 10k pace. Irrespective of whether you are doing the reps at slower than 10k or at 10k pace, try to be disciplined and finish all the reps in the same time.

Alan 

Xmas Handicap

 Just a reminder of the Xmas handicap tomorrow.

Starts at 11 (or group photo at 11).

Alan will determine starting order and handicap.

It’s fancy dress. And it’s bring a prize to receive a prize. Round about a fiver. We’ll do the results in the lounge straight afterwards for those who need to get away and then those who want can stay for a coffe/chat afterwards.

Club Training Thursday 12th December

Thursday's session is a medium length run to be taken at an easy pace ahead of Saturday's race. The route is all the way down the Queensway, crossing to the left side at the underpass just before the petrol stations. Carry on beyond McDonalds and then turn left into the factories onto the 4-hills route. From there, complete the last part of the 4-hills course (Dunedin and Lickprivick in particular) and back to the club. This is just some basic aerobic base training, which should form the bulk of everyone's weekly mileage.

Alan

West District Team Selection for Charlotte!

As a well deserved reward for her brilliant performances and boundless enthusiasm in the cross-country season so far, Charlotte Buchanan has been selected to represent the West District at the Inter-District Cross Country Championship at Alexandra Park, Dennistoun on 11th January 2025. It would be great to have as many Harriers along as possible to cheer Charlotte on in her race. It is many years since a Harrier of any age was selected to represent the West District. I am sure you will join me in congratulating one of our most promising juniors on this achievement. 

The event is at the same venue we have used for West District XC Relays a couple of times in recent years: Alexandra Park, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow, G31 2ER.

In addition to the various age-group races in the district championships, this event also hosts the Scottish round of the British Athletics Cross Challenge, so there will be plenty of high quality racing to watch throughout the day. As if that was not enough, there is also an open race for seniors and masters over 8km which will be nice preparation for the National XC. Entry details are available on the Scottish Athletics web site here: https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/cross-challenge-24

The entry fee is £10.00. The process to enter is a bit convoluted. After clicking the above link, log in to your Scottish Athletics account on the Scottish Athletics web site that is displayed. Then navigate to the Scottish Athletics fixture calendar here, browse the list to the 11th January and then to the right of the event name, there is an Enter Now link. Click that and it should be obvious from there on.

Alan

Club Training Monday 9th December - Brancumhall

Monday's Brancumhall session is a threshold session. The effort level should be at the normal 2 or 3 word pace equivalent to the effort level you could maintain for about an hour non-stop. However, the reps are somewhat shorter than 1-hour. The session is 4 x 2 laps at threshold with a 2 minute jog recovery. Apart from the first rep, each rep starts/finishes where ever you are after 2 minutes of jogging. This session will total approximately 4 miles of reps.

Alan

West Cross Country League - Linn Park - Sat 14th December

The next race in the Grand Prix is the West Cross Country League in Linn Park on Saturday 14th December. Lets put our cross country training to good use and get as many racing as possible. The league is a team event so every member competing counts. There are 4 to count for the senior teams and 3 to count for the masters team, however teams without a full quota receive penalty points of the total number of finishers plus an extra 10 points, so having a lot of runners is beneficial as it will ensure we don't receive penalty points and also push more penalty points onto other teams. The males and females run together in a straight race so there's not a lot of hanging about, however the juniors would also appreciate the support if you can make it along earlier. No pre-entry for this race just turn up and run on the day - though it would be beneficial to know who is all intending to run so could you let Russell know - he'll be wanting to know about jokers for the grand prix but more importantly he will have the numbers we are required to wear for the race.

Race times are as follows:

U11 Girls - 11:30 - 1k
U11 Boys - 11:45 - 1k
U13 Girls - 12:00 - 2k
U13 Boys - 12:20 - 2k
U15 Combined boys/girls - 12:40 - 2.9k
U17 Combined boys/girls - 13:00 - 3.8k
U20/Senior/Masters Combined Men/Ladies - 13:30 - 5.7k

The course map and further details can be viewed here: https://westleague.org.uk/events/linn-park/

Start/finish and club tent area is in the area circled in red below. The parking is in Linn Park Car Park - the P at the top right of the map, G44 5EQ, off Simshill Road and is a 10 minute walk/5minute jog down to the start/finish area.

Club Training Thursday 5th December - 7pm pre-AGM Easy Run

Thursday's session starts at 7pm at the Sports Club to allow us to be back in time for the Harriers' AGM after the run.

The session is a short, easy run. From the club, head straight down to the Whirlies on the right side of the Kingsway. At the Whirlies, turn right up the hill to Calderwood Square and then left down Maxwelton Avenue. Follow this all the way down past Brancumhall playing fields, onto St Leonards Rd, up High Common Rd, cutting through Mull and back to the club on the lane beside Collonsay field.

Alan

West District Cross-Country Championships - Erskine

A huge increase in air temperature to the mid teens turned Saturday's West District XC at Barwood Park, Erskine into a very pleasant, vest and shorts event, a situation that had seemed unlikely in the sub-zero temperatures over the preceding few days. The main weather related problem was the gusty wind which lifted the Harrier's tent several feet into the air and blew it over, breaking one of the roof struts. This gave a new meaning to the definition of the club anchor runner as we had to leave someone sitting in the tent to keep it on the ground (we were not the only club with tent problems on the day though).

This rapid thaw also turned parts of what might have been quite a firm parkland course into a quagmire, particularly for the senior races. Our junior Harriers were racing over 2.2km in the first races of the day and both our representatives performed brilliantly in the U/13 events (note that all race distances were well short of the published distances; nobody was complaining!). Charlotte Buchanan challenged hard and finished 12th in 09:08 in a blanket finish with only 2 seconds covering 9th to 12th and separated by around 19 seconds from the winner. There were 88 in this race; a very impressive field. Hamish Anderson ran 8:51 in the U/13 boys race to finish in 19th position out of 53 finishers in another tight finish. Hamish thoroughly enjoyed this challenging one lap course which was very like the terrain we train on in EK.

Much later in the day, it was the turn of the senior and masters women to run three laps of the course which by now was becoming quite churned up in parts. The advertised distance was 7.5km but the reality is that the course was much shorter with the total distance being about 6.7km on the GPS, which is probably a slight underestimate due to GPS inaccuracies on the several tight, 180 degree turns. Frances Ferguson and Lorraine Buchanan were representing the Harriers in a field of 135. Despite tired legs from the Cyprus 4-day Challenge less than a week before and some significant injuries sustained there (and the "Brampton Cold"), Frances was our top age-group performer on the day, running very strongly to finish as first F60 in a time of 34:20. Lorraine has had a strong cross-country season so far, getting stronger with every race and finished this one in a time of 44:18.

Finally the senior and masters men took to the same 3 lap course as the women. A field of 238 charged down the wind assisted downhill start straight to a very tight right turn around a tree. The course then headed into a low lying wooded area with more slippery turns around trees to take us towards the furthest away corner of the course via a boggy stretch leading to a very steep, muddy bank (think Brancumhall bank height x 4) and along the edge of some football pitches to another 180 degree turn around a tree. After following the edge of a football pitch (the Brancumhall training is relevant after all) we turned right and followed a hedge line down into another wooded area, descending again before turning around some trees and proceeding back up a leafy hill to the start/finish area which we ran past and down a long straight before another inevitable 180 degree turn and an uphill, into the wind straight of about 150m length to the end of the lap.

Despite tired legs from Cyprus and still suffering with the "Brampton Cold", having recently solved my long-term right hamstring and siatica problem, I was able to move quite nicely through the field on the downhill and flat sections but the drained legs were struggling on every uphill or headwind section where I was dropping the odd place here and there. Overall, I ran quite well to finish in 28:57 and 5th M55. Next home was Andrew Buchanan in 29:47, who was struggling a bit today, no doubt due to having been on his feet for many hours setting up for the junior races. Jason Grant was another to suffer from the "Brampton Cold" but still ran well to finish in 32:18. Scott Hair is improving noticeably with every race and really enjoyed this course, making a steady start to learn the lap and then building on the final two laps to finish in 34:51. Kenny Leinster has participated in all of the cross-country races this season but also contracted the "Brampton Cold" and was feeling quite rough. So perhaps he was a little down on his Brampton form and finished in 36:47. Finally Russell Couper leaped to the lead of the GP with a finishing time of 41:24.

Well done to all the Harriers who participated, particularly Andy, Lorraine and Frances who were there from 10am for the juniors and then running themselves mid-afternoon.

Alan

Club Training - Monday 2nd December - GO DIRECT TO LANGLANDS PLACE. DO NOT GO TO SPORTS CLUB!

Monday's session is 400's at Langlands Place. Due to the Scottish Cup match between EK and Falkirk on Monday evening and the BBC TV crew using the Sports Club for their vans, etc, do not go anywhere near the Sports Club. If you are driving, please go direct to Langlands Place and park off the road in one of the industrial unit car parks so that we are not dodging in and out of parked cars when doing the reps.

This weeks session drops the pace to 10k pace and the recoveries are also shortened. The session is 12 x 400m at 10k pace with a 30 second jog on the spot/stand recovery. We will be building on this session in the coming months, occasionally reintroducing 5k reps to keep in touch with that faster pace. Aim for consistent times on each rep. Ideally, you won't end this session on your knees and it will be comfortable as we will be building the number of reps significantly in the coming months.

After the session, cool down with a lap of the Sainsburys loop.

Thursday's session will be a short, early run due to the Harriers' AGM.

Alan

WEST DISTRICT XC (BARWOOD PARK ERSKINE)

 Saturday sees the next event in the xc season at Barwood Park in Erskine

Junior races start at 11.30 with our senior Ladies at 13.40 and Men at 14.30

For the Ladies we have L Buchanan, F Ferguson, J Pechlof and A Lessells

For the Men A Derrick, R Couper, K Leinster, S Hair, J Grant, J Stewart and A Buchanan 

Andy and Lorraine will tie up with the juniors running. C Buchanan U13G, H Anderson U13B, K Wheeler U20M.

Can i ask the seniors to be there for 13.00 for the Ladies and 13.40 for the Men

I will pick up the senior numbers and will be at the tent.

Russell

Club Training Thursday 28th November

Thursday's session is a pre race run with strides. The route is from the club to the Whirlies via Kingsway. Then East Mains Rd down to the Railway station. Through to Lidl, up Churchill Avenue and back to the club. From the Kingsway petrol station, fit in 6 x approx 100m gradual acceleration to 10k pace on downhill or flat parts of the route. Decide within your pack where and when each fast section starts/stops. Otherwise, it is an easy run.

Alan 

Cyprus Challenge

Congratulations to coach Alan Derrick & Frances Ferguson who both went over to Cyprus to compete in the Cyprus 4 day challenge, consisting of a 6k TT, 11k hill race, half marathon and 10k. 

Both finished 1st in their age category in the 10k race and in the overall challenge. Looking forward to hearing all about it when they’re back I hope Geo’s been building a trophy cabinet for all Frances’s trophies 😊

Club Training Monday 25th November - Brancumhall

Monday's Brancumhall session is a threshold consisting of 6 x 1 lap at threshold pace with a 1 minute jog after each lap (so each subsequent lap starts/finishes where the jog recovery ended). This is not "as fast as you can go for 1 lap" session but is to be at threshold effort which means it would be a sustainable pace even without the recovery. It should feel like the level of effort you would feel if actually doing a 10k or so cross-country race, particularly early on in the race.

As per usual, bring road shoes to the club and some kind "sole" will transport your off-road shoes to Brancumhall for you. Be very careful on the pavements if it is icy. If there is snow, then move the session to the golf course, in which case the lap would instead be on the uphill/downhill circuit we use around the line of trees and do each effort as a 4 minute effort with a 1 minute jog.

Alan

L.A.A.A ROAD RELAY (DRUMPELLIER PARK)

 This weekends event is CANCELLED

Club Training Thursday 21st November

Thursday's session is a light repetition session at Langlands Place to fire the muscles up ahead of the Lanarkshire Road Relays in which many from the club are competing. Take the usual route to/from Langlands Place via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys. Thereafter, the session is 8 x 400m at 5k pace with a 1 minute stand/jog around recovery. For those who have not done a Langlands Place session before, the road is 400m long and therefore each rep is the full length of the road, which is a dead end. The objective with the session is to do every rep in exactly the same time and definitely not to sprint the last repetition. The table below gives the 400m time for a range of 5k race paces.

Alan

Brampton Video

The video below popped up in my YouTube feed. It covers the finishers in the first 6 or 7 minutes. Jordan passes through at about 5:50 into the video. Jim, Billy and myself feature for all 7 minutes as, unbeknownst to us, we were standing in front of the camera! All 4 parts of the video now added.

Alan
 

Club Training Monday 18th November

Not surprisingly, Monday is an easy, post-race run. The aim is to get the muscles working gently on a short, relaxed run and then have a good stretch back at the club when the muscles are warm to ease out any tightness from today's race.

The route is the Queensway to KFC, turn right down West Mains Rd to the railway station and then on to Lidl. Go around the back of Lidl and up Avondale and back to the club. Do the full club stretch set on return to the club.

Alan

Brampton 2024 Photos

Well done all the Harriers who ran and supported today. Everyone ran brilliantly and there were many PB's. A full report will follow later. In the meantime, here are the photos from before, during and after the race.

Alan

Calderglen Harriers Brampton Times - 40 years in the making!

The link below is a spreadsheet of the official Brampton times for all the Harriers (and those on the Harriers' bus) since 1984 (it does not contain times that Harriers may have recorded at Brampton prior to the formation of Calderglen Harriers). If viewing on a phone, turn your screen to landscape mode!

http://www.calderglenharriers.org.uk/Brampton_2023.htm

Alan

ps there is a problem with the "Records" page. It isn't updating in the web view, so see this link for the content of the records page: Brampton Records

Brampton Final instructions

 The bus leaves at 7am sharp on Sunday morning. Dont be late.

Bring something to eat and drink on the bus as we wont have time to stop anywhere.

Race starts at 10am and you will have time at the finish to rehydrate in the Turf.

We will head to Moffat mid afternoon for dinner and be back in EK for 8pm

Remember a pound for the sweep and money for your dinner.

DONT FORGET YOUR RACE NUMBER

Club Training Thursday 14th November

Thursday's session is a pre-Brampton easy run with a handful of short, fast uphill strides to activate the muscles without fatiguing them. This gives Super-compensation come race day by adding extra spring to the step. 

The route is an easy run to Carron  Place via Strathaven Rd and Greenhills Rd. From there, jog a lap and a half lap to the bottom of the downhill section on the far side of the lap. Then do 5 x 10 sec fast strides back up the hill with a jog back down. Cool down with one complete easy lap and then back to the club. 

Alan 

Club Training Monday 11th November - Brancumhall

This week is a pre-race week ahead of Brampton to Carlisle. All the sessions will be easy sessions with shorter strides/reps just to keep the legs spinning over without creating deep fatigue. Monday's Brancumhall session is the usual easy run to/from Brancumhall and the session is 6 easy laps with strides down the home straight to end each lap. i.e. 3 easy sides of the quadrangle and then pick it up for the final side of the lap back to the start. This is a continuous session, so don't stop at the end of each lap. The pick-ups should be a gradual acceleration to fast, relaxed running (i.e. faster than 5k pace but not sprinting) focusing on good running style. Doing these fast strides on grass will be easier on the muscles than doing them on the roads, which all helps arrive at Brampton with fresh legs.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 7th November

Thursday's session continues the Brampton build with an easy run interspersed with uphill efforts at 10 mile race pace on the 4 hills, as we did a few weeks ago. This means the easy sections need to be sufficiently easy that there is a definite step-up in effort when each hill is reached. 10-mile race effort should feel like a threshold session, which means that we are not using a pace target this time but rather running to feel. That feeling should be comfortably hard, two to three word talking pace as is usual. This is a level of effort that you need to keep in mind for Brampton.

(For those coming to Callander on Sunday, the session will be the final Brampton-specific session and will be on the road/tarmac throughout).

Alan

Festive dates for the diary

Dates to remember for the Xmas season.

Xmas Handicap race - Sunday 15th December (fancy dress fun handicap race). Get thinking of your costume. Further details closer to the time.

Pub Run - Friday 27th December (usually one of the most popular training nights). Again full details closer to the time.

Night out - Saturday 11th January. Meal in Carrigans. All welcome. Menu and price to follow.

LAAA ROAD RELAYS

The Lanarkshire road relays are back after a short hiatus and will be held in Drumpellier park on Saturday 23rd November

U/11 1.2k per leg, U/13 2k per leg and U/15 2.4k per leg. U/17 is a straight race and will be run along with the 1st leg of the senior race. U/20 will race with the seniors over 4k.

3 legs for all relay races except senior men which is 4

We want to and should be able to get huge participation from our membership with this being a local race so with this in mind we shall cover the entry fee.

First race starts at 11.30 with the final senior race at 13.30

This is pre-entry so i need names by Tuesday 5th November

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

Club Training Monday 3rd November

Monday's session is at the Sainsbury's Loop and consists of 6 x 1 mile at target 10 mile pace. Warm up via Strathaven Rd and around past the main gate. Keep going past the main gate until you reach the T-junction. The first rep starts at this junction and heads up the long downhill/uphill straight, past Langlands Place and up to Greenhills Rd, turn right and follow the Sainsbury's Loop until you have covered 1 mile (1600m). This should be in the vicinity of the roundabout at the truck entrance into Sainsburys. The recovery is then a jog onwards to the junction where the first rep started. The second rep and all other reps start here.

Aim for consistency of time on each rep. Each rep has an approximately equal amount of uphill and downhill, so a slower pace on the uphill should be compensated by a slightly faster pace on the downhill such that the overall time for each rep is your target average mile time for Brampton. Now is the time to find out if that target is achievable!

Alan

Callander Run

REMEMBER, REMEMBER, THE 10TH OF NOVEMBER is the day we are going to Callander for a pre Brampton run. The plan is to meet at Tullipan Crescent behind the Dreadnought hotel at 10am. We will go for a run suitable for all and go for something to eat in Callander. Bring road shoes as we won’t be going off road, (unless you are with Eddie).

Kenny

CALDERGLEN HARRIERS AGM 2024

 This years AGM will be held on Thursday 5th 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 21st 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

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC

 Final instructions for Saturday. Ladies start at 13.30 and Men at 14.00.

I will pick up the numbers and distribute.

With it just being a short time between races and no juniors running it was decided not to take the tent.

Please be there in plenty time to warm up and support Lorraine in the Ladies race.

Club Training Thursday 31st October

It's a threshold Thursday this week. The session is 3 x 9 minutes at threshold with a 3 minute jog recovery on the Stewartfield loop. It is particularly important to keep the effort level under control when the reps are as long as this. The effort level should just be on the verge of uncomfortable, so 2 or 3 word answer pace once you get a few minutes into the rep and your heart rate has stabilised. This is a constant effort session which means that the pace will vary depending on whether you are going uphill, flat or downhill. This should feel very like Brampton race effort.

Warm-up and cool down via the direct route from the club to the Stewartfield Loop i.e. Churchill Avenue to Lidl, past the railway station and Kirktonholme and then turn right at the roundabout into Stewartfield and up the hill via the pedestrian lane to the loop. Do the loop in a clockwise direction i.e. heading towards Morrisons first.

For those doing the National 4km XC on Saturday, do only 1 rep and then come back to the club.

Alan

WEST DISTRICT XC CHAMPIONSHIP

The West District xc championship will take place on Saturday 30th November at Erskine.

Distances range from 3.2k for U/13s to 7.5k for seniors.

First race off at 11.30 with the senior ladies at 13.40 and senior men at 14.30.

Cost is £7.50 for u/17 and lower and £9 for the rest.

Make sure your SA number is up to date at time of entry for both the entry date and race date (if it runs out in between the system won't allow the entry).

I need names by Tuesday 12th November.

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

Club Training Monday 28th October - Brancumhall

Monday's session at Brancumhall extends our previous sessions slightly. This time we are doing 6 x 1 lap (each lap is approximately 800m) at 4k/5k effort with a 90 second stand/jog about recovery (often jogging back and forward aids recovery more than just standing still). The session works on developing speed endurance which will be useful in all the races we have coming up in the winter season, whether it is holding on for the entirety of a 4k/5k road or XC race or making a long push for the finish on a 10k or even Brampton. Although it is nice to have a fast, sprint finish, more places will be made up (or not lost) if a long, sustained burst for the finish can be held for the last 3km or so.

Alan

Harriers' 40th Anniversary Ceilidh - Thankyou

Congratulations and thank you to Alison and the Harriers' committee for organising such a fitting celebration of the first 40 years of Calderglen Harriers. It was wonderful to be able to catch-up with several of the original Harriers, some of whom I had not seen for 30 years or more. Without exception, everyone I spoke to reiterated that their memories of the Harries were of some of the best experiences of their lives.

Long may this sentiment continue with our current and future members!

Alan

Palma Marathon 2024

The plan to run a marathon was hatched while “re-hydrating” in a sunny beer garden following the Dunoon 10k. As many of you will know the marathon distance hasn’t been a burning desire for me but following an off-the-cuff Edinburgh Marathon in May I thought doing one that I had actually trained for might be an adventure. With Frances also surprisingly feeling the need to “re-hydrate” on the Prosecco the plan developed into a short-break marathon and Palma seemed to fit the bill. Much further on in the evening when we were fully re-hydrated (!) we also decided to take 3 pensioners with us. The scars of the marathon heal much quicker than other scars and there will be no more mention of that latter decision, just to say the pensioner airport experience isn’t one I want to go through again.

So my training plan was hatched, one based on increasing my modest weekly mileage but not one that would consume my entire life. The target was 3hr30, or just inside to get an Age Group Bronze time. In fact after a bit of planning ahead (something that I rarely do) I realised that I would be running the Great Scottish Run Half, Palma Marathon, and Brampton 10-miler in the space of about 6 weeks. 3 age group times could be the target.

I actually enjoyed my relaxed approach to a marathon training schedule and it was really only the 10k-Tuesday that I struggled to be motivated for. The GSR turned out to be a good run and I should maybe have thought about holding something back but when it’s all going swimmingly you tend to just go with the flow. A 1hr30 was well inside the bronze time so the first target was ticked off. Now to Palma. 

We flew out on the Saturday for a Sunday race. I’ve ran the Half Marathon version of this event back in 2011, interestingly in 1hr31 at a time when I was probably running faster times at that distance. (Note the suggestion the course isn’t fast - I’m getting the excuses in early)

There are 8000 runners over the M, HM and 9k (apparently they reduced from 10k to take out a hill, but have returned to 10k for next year). It is really a Half Marathon event as only 1000 people were doing the full distance.

The morning started well as the hotel put on a runners breakfast. I had been told not to bother booking a taxi as they will only take a few minutes. When it took them a few minutes just to answer the phone I feared the worst. No taxis. Not to worry there’s a bus stop at the bottom of the road. Everyone had the same idea - rammed ! Bus after bus passed full up. “Completo” on the front of the bus was not what I wanted. My stress levels were through the roof. 40 minutes before the start of the race and I’m still in the resort. I contemplated hiring a bike just as a bus pulled up and opened its doors to let somebody off. I threw my bag at Frances and dived on, whipping off my warm up top and launching that as well just as the doors closed. So that was me, dressed in running kit, no money, no phone, no sunglasses, no hat as I waved at Frances and the bus pulled away. I did have 6 gels and a handful of salt tablets though. It was a nose-to-nose bus journey but I made it to the race with 20 minutes to go. I wouldn’t recommend such a stressful pre-race plan but it turned out pretty good. No queueing for bag drop etc, just a light warm up and into the pen. I should have said that the race was an 08:00hrs start which coincides with sunrise, so it was still dark as I headed for the pen. A nice social pen and a good atmosphere. I struck up a conversation with an Italian group who said it would get warm very quickly (at this point it’s still not fully light). I had a sort of game plan but decided to try and bank some time early on. The course is 2 loops. The first 11k is flat and very exposed to the sun. The second part of loop 1 is through the old town which offers some shade but is much more undulating. 

So off we went, the usual chaos at the start but settled down ok. The first of the turning points at 5k and I could see I was well behind the 4hr pacer. Why have starting pens then not put the pacers in them ?

After 5k I was on pace but now running direct into a low sun. Luckily Frances had made it through and I was able to retrieve my cap. My first gel at 10k/50mins then every 6k/30mins. I also took salt tablets at roughly the same rate. The plan was to try and keep roughly on 5min/km pace through the undulating old town section. At least it offered shade although the cobbled streets had their challenges. Hundreds of years of traffic had virtually polished the cobbles to a gloss finish. As we approached a sharp left-hander the guy on my inside lost his footing and took me out at shin height - a straight red without the need for VAR intervention ! Down I went, rolled a couple of times and back on my feet. A bit battered but all in one piece.

Aside from being assaulted everything was going to plan and I was still running comfortably and within both the pace and heart rate target.

The first loop had been busy but I was passing people. As the HM people were heading to their finish and the marathoners branched off for loop 2 it suddenly got very quiet. There was nobody in front or behind me for 20m. I had a bit of a mental dip at 21k which was just the contrast of it now being so quiet. The plan was to get inside target pace for the next 10k although by this point the heat was well into the 20’s. At 30k I was working but well inside target time. The hill at 34k was the first of the pace dips. At another quiet section I missed a turn in the alleyways but luckily the guy behind shouted before I went too far off course. A few splits were up and down depending on the elevation but at 37k I was burst. It should only have been a Parkrun home but even my last gel wasn’t making any difference.

Another few hills but the last 2k should have been more runnable. Even the closing 200m from 42k seemed like a drag.

I finished with a chip time of 3:30:58, a PB of some 15 mins but not the bronze age group time that I wanted.

The post race event area was great with everyone sitting about in the sun. I met up with the family and relaxed with a beer.

So what went right and wrong? Pretty much most things went well. At 37k I was on pace for 3hr28 but managed to lose 3 mins over the last 5k. I have a list of excuses at the ready.  Was it the undulating old town, the cobbled streets, the heat, running too hard at GSR? Maybe all of those in part. In reality probably my relaxed approach to marathon training and a lack of miles might have had something to do with it … !

Thoughts of the event ? Friendly and well organised. Not a mega event so less chaos but a really good one to combine with a short break. It’s probably more of a Half Marathon event as that’s what the majority of people do.

Will I do another marathon? The age group time is an itch that needs scratching but not sure I have the time or dedication that the training requires. I enjoyed the training block through the summer that you get with an Autumn marathon but any future attempt would have to be on my terms and not sure that’s compatible with my ambition ! 

Hasta luego

Stephen

Club Training Thursday 24th October

Thursday's session is the 4-hills in fartlek format with each uphill section being at an increased pace. Whenever your pack reaches an uphill section, pick up the effort to 10 mile race effort. There will be some short, sharp hills (e.g. Market Hill) and some long, sustained effort hills (e.g. Lickprivick). This session is mainly about strength but is an unstructured rather than structured hill rep session. For those doing Brampton, there are sections of that course where it is good to know you have the strength to maintain your effort up the hill whilst others around struggle. Sessions like this therefore give you a psychological as well as physical advantage.

Alan

40th Anniversary Videos - Chas and Colin

As these videos are proving very popular, we are continuing to add more every few weeks to capture as wide a range of the Harriers' membership as possible. This week we have two videos. Chas Steven and Colin Banks. Enjoy!

A playlist of all the interview videos is at this link.

Club Training Monday 21st October

Monday could be a little bit of a battle against the wind and rain. However, it is a threshold session which is effort rather than pace specific, so this means that it does not matter if the wind is holding your pace back, just run to the threshold level of effort (2 or 3 word pace; comfortably hard; sustainable for an hour when fresh in a race situation).

The session is 5 x 6 minutes at threshold with a 2 minute jog recovery. Use the Carron Place circuit which should be a little bit sheltered but do be careful of fallen branches on the pavement section linking the entrance and exit to Carron Place. The warm up and cool down is via Strathaven Road and Greenhills Rd.

Alan

Grand Prix Updated after Race 3

Surprisingly fine conditions greeted the Harriers from the junior age groups upwards at the National Cross Country Relays at Cumbernauld yesterday. A full race report covering all the ages will follow. However it was particularly encouraging to see several of the seniors competing in their first ever cross country race and really enjoying it. The event highlighted that these "championship" events are for all abilities, not just for the elites as is the case in many other sports and this is yet another unique feature of our sport; we can all stand on the line and be running on the same course at the same time as national champions, Olympians and other elite athletes and be inspired by the experience. Everyone of us started off somewhere on the very wide spectrum of running ability and these events have a place for all of us.

Anyway, I have fixed the problem with the web site and the Grand Prix Home link in the menu to the left of the blog will now take you to the web page with the links to the updated league tables for the Harriers' Grand Prix and Club Championship. This is already looking like a competitive season although the leagues only work if we have good levels of participation from many members, so please do sign-up for the grand prix events if you can.

Alan

Further Grand Prix Race Dates

A few more team events have been added to the Grand Prix. I emphasise the word "team" as the unique opportunity a running club gives us all is the ability to contribute to a team effort and as always, I encourage as many as possible to enter and represent your club and the volunteer associations who organise these events. Furthermore, all the races are pretty local. The additional races are:

23rd November - Lanarkshire AA Road Relays (Drumpellier Park, Coatbridge)

14th December - West Cross Country League Race  1 of 2 (Linn Park)

25th January - West Cross Country League Race 2 of 2 (Strathaven)

Entry details for each of these races will be posted in due course on the blog. All of these events cover the full range of age groups from juniors upwards and we would like to flood the field with Calderglen Harriers as we have regularly done in the past.

The list of GP races so far is here.

Alan

Grand Prix and Club Championship 2024 - 2025

We are already two races in to the Harriers' GP season and race 3 is at Cumbernauld tomorrow. Until I resolve a problem with the web site, here are temporary links to the Grand Prix and Club Championship standings so far:

Grand Prix Women

Club Championship Women

Grand Prix Men

Club Championship Men

Each person had either 1 or 2 jokers at the start of the season. Those with 2 jokers are those who were in training packs 8, 9 or 10 at the start of the season. Everyone else started the season with 1 joker.

The GP rules, what effect jokers have and so on are described in this post from last year. However, if you have any questions, ask me or Russell.

Alan

NATIONAL XC RELAY TEAMS

 These are the teams for Saturday. I need Ladies there for 12.30 and men for 13.50

Teams as follows 

Junior Girls  leg 1  C Buchanan,  leg 2   J Prior,  leg 3   A Creasey   Race starts at 12.00

F40     leg 1   A Lessells,  leg 2  L Buchanan    leg 3  F Ferguson   there is no leg 4  Start 13.20

M Sen A   leg 1  J Grant  2   A Derrick  3  A Buchanan   4   K Wheeler     Start 14.45

M Sen B  leg 1  K Leinster   2  S Hair  3  I Maclean    4   R Couper

Russell

Club Training Thursday 17th October

 Thursday's run is a pre-race run ahead of the National XC Relays at Cumbernauld. The route is Strathaven Rd to Greenhills Rd, down Lickprivick and back to the club via The Murray. This should be at an easy pace but not a plod. Within your packs choose 6 flat or slightly downhill stretches of about 100m to pick up the pace in a gradual acceleration to 4k race pace.

Alan

Glasgow Uni 5 Mile Race

Saturday saw the 2nd race in the Grand Prix series and a good turnout of harriers taking part in the Glasgow Uni 5mile road race. The weather gods were certainly smiling down on us as the pouring rain stopped about half an hour before the start of the race to allow us to get warmed up in the dry, and the skies were blue for the start of the race. The race consists of 2 laps starting and finishing at Garscube sports complex and is a hilly 5 miles with not a lot of flat - it’s either uphill or downhill, the good part is the last kilometre is all downhill. Andrew Buchanan is seeing the benefit of managing consistent training again and was first harrier home in 31:59,

Jason Grant also ran very well and was second harrier back in 33:09. Sileshi Tesema had been feeling some tightness in his calf so had to ease off in sections finished not far behind in 33:22. Julie Beveridge was first female harrier finishing in a time of 34:22. Julie also finished 2nd female vet.

Well done Julie. There was a couple of minutes until the next harrier Alison Lessells who ran steadily to finish in 37:29. Alison had been expecting Jim Mearns to overtake her on each hill she ran up so was surprised to see him cheering her on from the sidelines at the final corner. Unfortunately Jim had to pull up injured just before the start of the 2nd lap and declared he’s never entering this race again as it’s the 2nd time he’s DNF’ed it with Russell claiming his scalp… Robert Gibson and George Ferguson were closely matched, with Robert finishing ahead in 41:19 and Geo closely behind in 41:41.

Richard Lawton also had a strong run finishing in 43:01. Russell Couper ran a steady race to finish in 48:34 with Lorraine Buchanan about a minute behind in 49:40. Lorraine was cheered to the finish and managed to pip the lady from Wee County Harriers that she was racing up the finishing straight on the line. Well done Lorraine. Thanks to Morgan, Susan Grant and especially Heidi who had the loudest cheers for us all for the support on the day.

Club Training Monday 14th October - Brancumhall

Continuing to focus on sessions specific to shorter race-pace on the XC sessions, Monday is 5 x 1 lap at 5k race effort with a 90 seconds stand/jog in circles recovery (so each rep starts at the same place). If underfoot conditions are softer than previous weeks, then the pace may be slower for the same level of effort.

Alan

Club Training - Thursday 10th October

Thursday's session is a light session to get the legs spinning over pre-race (GU 5 mile road race). The session is at Langlands Place with the usual warm-up via Strathaven Road and Sainsburys. The session is then 16 x 200m (i.e half of Langlands Place) at 5k pace with a 200m jog recovery (i.e continue jogging on to the end of Langlands Place and turn around to start the next rep). Try to remain consistent on every rep and relax with good running style (tall posture, high knees, light, consistent foot strike, elbows at 90 degrees and arms sweeping gently past the hips). Cool down via Greenhills Rd and Strathaven Rd.

Alan

NATIONAL SHORT COURSE XC (KIRKCALDY)

 This year the National short course XC will be held at Kirkcaldy High School on Sat 2nd November.

This is 4k the same as the relays but instead a straight race with a mass start.

Ladies start at 13.30 and Men at 14.00.

Cost is £9.50 per head and should be paid in advance for adult races.

Cost of junior races is £8.00 per head

U/15 girls and boys compete over 2k with races starting at noon

U/17 girls and boys compete over 3k with races starting at 12.40

Please make sure your SA number is up to date.

I need names by Tuesday 15th Oct

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

Club Training Monday 7th October

Monday's run is a fairly long easy post-race run. If you were racing the half marathon, keep the pace on this very easy and conversational. For those who were running the shorter races over the weekend, this run is to build endurance in preparation for the increasing distance of races we have coming up, culminating in Brampton. The route is Queensway to the Holiday Inn, Stewartfield bypass to Morrisons and then onto Stewartfield Crescent as far as Stewartfield Rd. Follow the lane parallel to Stewartfield Rd to West Mains Rd, then through the village to Lidls, up Avondale and back to the club.

Thursday's session will be short, quick reps at Langlands Place.

Alan

WHERE HAVE ALL THE PUDDLES GONE

 Today was the West District xc relays in Kilmarnock. The event was poorly attended with it being the same weekend as the Great Scottish run. Ive never seen this venue so dry even a part of the course known as the swamp which explains what it is was bone dry with not even any softness in the ground. Never the less we had some fine performances particularly from some of our juniors. First race up was the girls race for a 3 leg relay of u/13, u/15, u17 First up was Charlotte Buchanan and in an incomplete team Jessica Prior with Charlotte running 11.21 and putting the team in 6th place and Jessica running 13.41. Next up was Sophie Lewandowski running 12.19 followed by Aimee Creasy running 13.51 for a final placing of 29th. Onto the next event and the boys this time with one complete team running for us. Off on leg 1 was Hamish Anderson running 10.20 also putting the boys into an early 6th place. On the 2nd leg we had Gavin Boyd looking to further his experience of racing xc with a fine performance of 13.20 and onto the final leg with Francis Santangeli running 10.46 and bringing the team home in 23rd place.

Onto the Ladies race and we had one complete team of 3. On leg one we had Julia Pechlof looking for a wee burst with her legs before next weeks Budapest marathon and finishing with 17.11 handing over to Alison Lessells who matched Julias run with a time of 17.15. Onto leg 3 and Lorraine Buchanan coming back from a bit of a lay off running a time of 23.02 and bringing the team home in 31st.

With the Mens race to finish off the day we had a complete team of 4 and a single leg runner. On leg 1 we had Andrew Buchanan posting a great time of 15.07 with Russell Couper running the single leg in 20.49. Onto leg 2 and we had Kai Wheeler whos been showing great progress in training lately showing what hard work can do by beating his coach with a time of 15.01. Onto leg 3 and we had Jim Mearns returning to the shorter distances with a time of 17.38 handing over to Kenny Leinster putting in his usual strong and steady performance finishing with 18.07 and placing the team 30th.

A good days racing from everyone setting us up for a good Autumn/Winter season.

TEAMS AND RUNNING ORDER FOR WEST DISTRICT XC 5TH OCT

 Please find below the teams and running order for the XC 5th Oct Kilmarnock

Venue is the athletics arena in Kilmarnock

Young females team 104   C Buchanan,   S Lewandowski,  A Creasey

                         team 105    J Prior

Young males    team 205   H Anderson,   G Boyd,   F Santangeli

Senior females   team 265   J Pechlof,   A Lessells,   L Buchanan

Senior males      Team 6    A Buchanan,  K Wheeler,  J Mearns,  K Leinster

                           Team 7   R Couper 

Declarations and number pickup before 10.15 for young females and 11.00 for young males races start at 11.00 and 11.45 for those 2 events

Declaration and number pickup before 12.15 for females and 13.30 for males with races at 13.00 and 14.15 for those 2 events

Andrew and Lorraine will pick up the junior numbers and Russell will pick up the senior numbers

Club Training Thursday 3rd October

Apologies for the delay in posting this; I was very late home from work yesterday.

Thursday's run is a pre-race run given that there are multiple races this weekend (West XCR, GSR 10k and half marathon). As with any pre-race run, this should not be a plod. The idea is to do a short run that won't fatigue you but does keep the muscles firing at the same rhythm as race pace otherwise there is a tendency to feel lethargic on race day as the muscle memory has slightly forgotten how to run smoothly and quickly.

The route is Club, Queensway, MacDonalds, West Mains, Village, Lidl, Avondale, Club. From the Queensway, use the downhill of flat sections onwards to pick up the pace from easy (not a plod!) to your target race pace (which will vary depending on whether it is XCR, 10k or half) for 200m. Fit 6 of those strides into the run and be finished before you arrive at Avondale. Decide within your pack when to start each rep. Don't leave it too late!

Alan

40th Anniversary Videos - a Trilogy of new interviews

The interview team has been busy preparing content for the 40th anniversary. This week we have three new videos representing the Harriers from the very beginning of the club through to our new members. The videos are with:

Frances Ferguson

Gerry Mullen

Júlia Pechlof

Thanks to all for participating so enthusiastically.

Alan

Club Training Monday 30th September - Brancumhall

Another bowling green cross country session this week - totally unheard of at Brancumhall! This one is a threshold session using the usual circuit of the football pitches. The session is 4 x 6 mins at threshold with 2 minutes jog recovery. Each effort should feel sustainable for much longer than 6 minutes (i.e. approaching 1 hour if you were totally fresh) and therefore should be comfortably hard.

As always, some kind person will volunteer to drive your offroad shoes down to Brancumhall.

Alan

BRAMTON TO CARLISLE 10 MILE ROAD RACE

 The Harriers have gone to this event annually since 1986 and some have been to almost every event. We have booked a bus so for those that are new to the club and a change to the schedule from previous years for those who have been before. The bus will leave the Sports club at 7am on Sunday 17th Nov and travel to Brampton. This will get us there in plenty time for warm ups, team photo etc before the race starts at 10.00am. At the finish depending how long we take to run we will have a few hours in Carlisle and time to have a refreshment or two and a good chat about how our runs went. We will then leave for Moffat for a meal and the presentations of our Brampton trophies to our first Lady and Gent and the all important reveal of the sweep winner (please bring £1 cash for the sweep). Back on the bus and back in East Kilbride for about 7pm. Note the earlier times from previous years as the race starts at 10am now.

£20 will secure your place on the bus and should be paid asap. If you opt to pay this direct to the club bank acc then drop Russell a message to say its done and your place is then secure. At this point i dont know what the meal cost will be but probably about £18 and this will be collected on the day.

Guests can come on the bus too so if you know anyone that wants to run then let them know the details.

As this is a long day you probably should bring something to eat on the bus for before the run and after to see you through to our dinner in Moffat

Entries are now only an online option so everyone will have to take care of there own entry. Details are on the sportsoft website and you will have to sign in for a login with sport soft and this link should take you to it  Sportsoft Online Entries  

NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIP

 This years National xc relays will be at Cumbernauld on Saturday 19th October.

Usual format of 4k each, teams of 4 or 3 for W40, W50 and M50

Cost is £7.50 per head and should be paid in advance.

Ladies start at 13.20 and Men at 14.45 

Remember your SA membership must be up to date for the event at time of entry.

I need names by Tuesday 1st October.

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

Club Training Thursday 26th September

Thursday's session is the return to Avondale in order to keep the power we have been developing in the past few months heading in the right direction. Once again, do 10 x Avondale, starting from the wide pavement and the faster ones going as far as the junction on the right at the top of the hill, where you should immediately turn around and jog back down. When each person meets faster runners coming down, then they turn at that point.

Consistency of effort is the objective and this is not a sprinting session but should be strong, powerful running with a normal running style. The effort level should be somewhere in the 5k to 10k race effort level (but not 5k to 10k race pace as the efforts are uphill). This will also be a good muscle activation for those preparing for GSR and a great strength endurance session for those running at the West XCR.

Alan

GAAA Cross-Country Training Sessions

The dates and venues for the series of group cross-country training sessions have now been published. All of these sessions start at 10:30 sharp so those participating should arrive changed, warmed up and ready to start the first rep at that time. There can be dozens of runners in these sessions and they progress in difficulty through the cross-country season. The sessions are in different parks around Glasgow. The first one is on Saturday 12th October at 10:30 in Bellahouston Park and comprises 4 to 8 x 3 mins with 90 secs recovery (unfortunately, this is the same day as the GU 5-mile road race). All of these sessions have been added to the Harriers events calendar which is visible at the top of the blog. Otherwise, details are here:

https://www.glasgowathletics.org.uk/endurance-sessions

Alan

Grand Prix Races - the first batch

The first batch of Calderglen Grand Prix races are listed here up to the end of 2024. Note that the Glasgow University Road Race is open on Entry Central and is on a different date this year again!!!

For those races that are not Scottish Athletics district or national championships, there are links to the race web sites in the above list.

Alan

Club Training Monday 23rd September

Monday is a post-TTC run to ease the legs out after some bigger than usual miles by many over the weekend. This is therefore a recovery run where the effort level should feel easy whilst trying to deliberately run light on the feet to counteract any natural heaviness in the legs following the weekend. For those with the GSR coming up the week after, this is the last week of big miles, running on tired legs, so you should run the middle section of this run at target half marathon pace to simulate the tired legs you will have in the latter third of the half marathon.

The route is Kingsway to the Whirlies, then East Mains and West Mains Rd to McDonalds and onto the Queensway. After passing the BP station, those on GSR training should pick the pace up to target half marathon pace and keep that going to the Murray roundabout. Then the final section back to the club via Strathaven Rd is easy. The packs will split at BP into those doing GSR and those recovering from TTC. Those recovering, do not give chase!

On Thursday, we will be back onto long hills at Avondale.

Alan

TTC 2024 Photo Album

The link below is an album to which you can add photos from the weekend. Thanks to Geo for getting us started with many photos from Saturday afternoon.

The TTC 2024 Album

Alan

Club Training Thursday 19th September

As many in the club will be at the TTC over the weekend clocking up relatively high miles on successive days, Thursday's run is a relatively short easy run. The route is Strathaven Rd to Greenhills Rd. Follow Greenhills Rd to Greenhills roundabout and then go down Lickprivick and back to the club via the Murray. This is an easy run, which means keeping it under control, maintaining a lowish heart rate/conversational pace.

Alan

TTC 2024 Final Arrangements

With only a few days until the TTC all arrangements are in place. For those who have not been on a TTC before, don't worry! We will look after you.

The Venue

We are booked into the Dreadnought Hotel, Station Rd, Callander FK17 8AN. The hotel stands on the corner of Main St (Leny Rd) and Station Rd and cannot be missed. The hotel car park is around the back of the hotel. Drive past the main door of the hotel (with the two lions either side of the door) and then turn left up the narrow alley up the side of the hotel beside the fire escapes. The car park is quite small and there will be other guests, so if possible share cars and park close together (THREE OF THE  HARRIERS (RUSSELL, BILLY & KENNY) ARE IN ANOTHER HOTEL. THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED SEPARATELY BY E-MAIL).

COVID

This is still about. Anyone with symptoms of COVID and/or has a positive test should follow the usual advice and withdraw. There will be other guests in the hotel, so please be respectful and give others adequate space.

Check-In/Check-out

Check-in is from 1600 until 22:30 at the latest (the hotel is not permanently staffed so do not turn up early. It's only the manager so its a bit limited). I will be providing the hotel manager with the rooming list and he will allocate the rooms. I will be there anyway from about 1600 to sort out any issues. As long as one of each pair is there in time to check-in that should be fine. The critical point this year is that we have not got a late check-out. Check-out on Sunday is strictly 11am, otherwise we will be charged for late check-out. The Sunday runs have been adjusted accordingly to make sure that we are back well before the check-out time to have showers etc.

Rooms

The rooms are twin rooms with TV, tea, coffee and a kettle provided. There is an en-suite bath and/or shower in each room and towels. The hotel is a no-smoking establishment. The rooms are all smoke/fire alarmed. Stating the obvious, nobody should bring cooking or other apparatus (e.g. toasters) into the rooms due to the risk of setting off the alarm/sprinkler system (anyone doing so accidentally will be subject to whichever charges the hotel/fire brigade impose).

Dinner

Thanks to those who responded with their dinner choices. I am still waiting on two to respond (and have messaged separately) as the list needs to collated (which takes time and I now have to squeeze that in in the evenings after work) and forwarded to the Lade Inn well in advance of Friday. Dinner is at 19:30 on Friday and Saturday. The Lade Inn is just over 1 mile from the Dreadnought Hotel and there is a pavement the whole way for those who wish to walk. Otherwise we will share cars to/from the Lade Inn. A printed list of who ordered what will be available on each night if you can't remember.

Breakfast

This is a bit of a severe compromise, (the hotel does not have a kitchen they can give us access to for fridges as the bar/restaurant/kitchen has been leased out to a separate business). The hotel does not do breakfasts. So it is the same arrangements as last year. We will provide basic breakfast goods (croissants, marmalade/jam/spread and some porridge pots to which boiling water can be added). We will distribute this from Eddie's room (room number to be advised). Please bring your own plate and cutlery to Eddie's room to collect your breakfast each morning (we will advise the time that Eddie will be "receiving guests"). Bring your own spoon and knife and anything you may require. Return to your room and take your breakfast there. You can of course bring some additional breakfast goods of your own if you have particular preferences but no toasters as this will set off the fire alarms and sprinklers in the rooms!!!! Given the huge size of the portions at the Lade Inn, nobody should really need more than a light, pre-run top-up at breakfast the following morning before or after running. However, for those back in time from the Saturday morning run, I believe the privately run restaurant (McNabs Bar) which now occupies the hotel bar is open for breakfasts (not included in the TTC costs).

Saturday Lunch

Again, a bit of a compromise. We will give everyone a fiver to get your own meal deal from Tesco, the Coop or to spend in any of Callander's many eateries. This has worked well the past two years and the weather should be good for eating al fresco by the riverside. 

T-shirts and Team Photo

The TTC-shirts will be handed out by Frances first thing on the Saturday morning. We will gather outside the hotel for a team photo, resplendent in the T-shirts at about 0815 on Saturday morning. Please be there on time.

The Runs/Sessions

Yes, we will be doing quite a lot of running! All runs are in packs. There are four packs of different abilities. Based on training/injury status, I have drafted initial packs. The pack leaders will be keeping an eye on how everyone is managing and may recommend individuals move up or down a pack before each run. The most important point is that the packs will stick together and nobody will be left on their own. As some of the runs will be "in the middle of nowhere" nobody should run away from their pack if they think it is too slow as the possibility of getting lost is high and we don't have time or energy to go looking for people. Just wait until the next run and you can move up to a faster pack. For those in Eddie's pack, Eddie hasn't done the recce this year as he is in the USA. "What difference will that make to Eddie's navigation" I here you say! Probably none 😁

Your pack leaders will take you through a stretching session after each run. Please do this as it will help ease you off before the next run/session.

 

The first run is on Friday evening, starting at about 17:30. The pre-run briefings will be outside the hotel or in the foyer. If you are going to be late or won't make the Friday run, please let me know in advance (07867863741).

At about 0830 on Saturday, we will do a medium/long run.

Early Saturday afternoon, we will be doing a conditioning, drills and stretching session in the nearby church hall. Please bring a yoga mat or a thick towel as the wooden floor is hard.

On Saturday afternoon we will do a "fun relay" type speed session on grass if the ground has dried out enough. I will also give a brief talk on training if time allows.

At about 0745 on Sunday, we will set off on the longer run. Note that the runs are not weather dependent!

A more detailed timetable will be announced on the Friday evening.

What to Bring

• Cutlery for breakfasts
• Yoga/exercise mat for the conditioning sessions in the church hall.
• Enough running gear for all the runs and sessions. I don't trust any of the forecasts this Summer, so be prepared for warm and/or wet weather. Bring a running jacket (body cover to counteract wind chill and exposure is the main thing here rather than keeping dry) just in case.
• The runs will be on a mixture of road and forestry trails. Road shoes will be fine for most of the runs. The exception is perhaps the "fun relay" which will be on grass. You may wish to bring studded trail shoes for that although road shoes will also be OK if you don't have trail shoes.
• A bum bag or small running back pack to carry gels, water, your jacket and mobile phone for emergencies. Don't bring a big rucksack as that will only handicap you. Only the Sunday run is long enough to require gels/water to be carried.
• Water bottle/carrier and gels if you think you will need them.
• Sunscreen if the forecast looks favourable.
• Glad rags for the Lade Inn dinners.
• Any medication or special food you require (and please let your room mate know where that medication is just in case they have to fetch it for you).

I have probably forgotten something. If you have any questions, please let me know (w.alan.derrick@gmail.com)

Alan

Club Training Monday 16th September - Brancumhall

As we head into the cross-country season, the Harriers of all ages are starting their cross-country sessions. The juniors were training on Saturday at the Showpark and now it is the turn of the seniors at our regular location at Brancumhall. Cross country is a key part of winter training, building strength (because you get no rebound off the soft ground, all forward motion has to come from muscle strength) which makes us stronger runners on all surfaces, whether it is road, trail, track or cross-country. The surface is also kind on the legs, despite being hard and at least I generally find I have fewer aches and pains the day after a cross-country session than I would after the same session on a firm or hard surface. By the way, Brancumhall is rarely anything but soft for those who have not run there before!

For the logistics of the Brancumhall sessions, ideally you need your normal road shoes to run to and from Brancumhall and something more suitable for soft ground, such as trail shoes, fell shoes or cross-country spikes. Usually someone will put all the off-road shoes in the boot of their car and take them from the Sports Club to Brancumhall.

The session is 5 x 1 lap of Brancumhall at 4k to 5k race effort with a 90 seconds recovery. Each full lap of Brancumhall around the outside of all the pitches is approximately 800m, so this is 5 x 800m. Remember that the pace for each lap is the pace that you could hold for 5 laps continuously. So don't go too fast on each rep. It should feel relatively comfortable to run one lap at a time with a 90 second rest afterwards. The biggest mistake that most of us make is going too fast during reps because we get the benefit of a recovery after each rep. That's not the way to do it. Run under control and feel that when you get to the end of each rep, you could keep going for multiple laps at the same pace.

Alan

40th Anniversary Video - Davy Watt

This is the fourth in the series of videos with Harriers new and old to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Calderglen Harriers. Davy Watt is interviewed in this one. Davy is one of the original members of the Harriers and is the only one to achieve a full Scotland senior international vest at marathon.

 

40th Anniversary Video - Allan McLellan

The third in the series of videos to celebrate Calderglen Harriers' 40th Anniversary is with Allan Mclellan, one of the top performers for the Harriers from the earliest days of the Harriers.

Club Training Thursday 12th September

Sorry for the delay, I'm away with work all week and lost track of the days.

Thursday is a repeat of last week's threshold but on a different loop. 

The session is 4 x 6mins at threshold with 2 minutes jog recovery at the Stewartfield loop. The reps start on Stewartfield Crescent at the junction with Stewartfield Road and proceed in a clockwise direction. Warm up/cool down via West Mains Rd and Stewartfield Rd.

Alan

Performance and PB Awards

 Just a wee reminder about our PB and performance awards. Our season for obtaining PB/performance standards runs in line with our Grand Prix season from 1st October to 30th September so if you have gained PBs or performance standards in 3 separate events during this time then remember to fill in and submit the forms for it which can be found on the left. Or if you’ve got 2 pb’s or performance standards then you’ve still got a couple of weeks left to try and get your 3rd.

Performance standards can also be viewed at the link on left. 

Club Training Monday 9th September

Monday's session is a progression of the hill rep session but using one of our winter hills; Avondale.

The session format is also slightly different. The session is 10 x Avondale from our usual start point on the wide pavement with the fastest Harriers running all the way to the junction into Avondale Place which is the first junction on the right at the top of the hill. On reaching that point, turn around and start jogging down. When the Harriers still running up the hill meet the Harriers jogging down, then they should also turn around and jog down. So only the fastest Harriers go all the way to the top of the hill.

Again, we are aiming for a 4k/5k level of effort. This is a long hill which starts steep and then flattens a bit towards the top, making it possible to maintain a good pace despite tiring legs towards the end of each rep.

The warm-up is Strathaven Rd to the NEL roundabout. Down Churchill Avenue and around Lidl and turning right into Avondale. During the reps, please stay on the pavement on the right hand side until well round the corner as traffic tends to come down that hill  and round that blind corner quite fast.

Thursday's session will be a threshold session again. Next Monday (16th September) will be the first of the Brancumhall XC sessions of the season. See a separate post next weekend for details of that.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 5th September - Auldhouse 5k TT.

Thursday is the final Auldhouse 5k of the year and weather conditions look good (by the standards of this Summer). This one starts and finishes in Auldhouse so needs a slightly different judgement of pace with a hilly second half. Register as normal as this list forms the start list on the timing system. Wear something briggt/reflective as it will be dark by the finish.

See you there. 

Alan 

40th Anniversary Interviews - Kai Wheeler

 In the next of our interview series Richard Lawton has interviewed junior member Kai Wheeler. Kai has been a member with us since 2015 and is also a brilliant photographer. For those that don’t know it was Kai who took the 40 formation photos for us that we are using to promote our 40th anniversary.

WEST DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY RELAYS

Our first cross country outing this year will be the West District relays on 5th Oct. This is also the first race of the 2024/2025 Calderglen Harriers Grand Prix, so a good opportunity to get early points on the board.

For those new to the club please ask at the club for details of these events as there will be a whole host of cross country races coming up over the whole winter season.

The venue is at Ayrshire athletics arena (Kilmarnock).

Ladies over 3 legs and Men over 4 (4k per leg)

Cost is £7 per head

Ladies start at 13.00 and Men at 14.15

I need names by Tuesday 17th September

Please make sure your SA number is up to date both at entry time and for the competition date.

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

We will run partial teams if the numbers do not add up, so don't worry if it looks like there is not enough for a team. Enter anyway and you will get a run.