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.

Calderglen Harriers 40th Anniversary Photo Album

An album has been created to collect photos capturing the Harriers in all the things we do and have done in the period since the 25th anniversary album was released (see the Calderglen 25 Archive link in the menu to the left of the blog for all the early stuff).

The 40th Anniversary Album is here and is also available via the Calderglen 40 Archive link in the menu on the left. Please feel free to join the album and add photos of the Harriers. I have added a few to get started and shall gradually add more from the 100's I have. For future reference, when you add a photo, could you please click the info button and fill in the description with where it is, what the event is and who is in the photo.

Alan

Calderglen Harriers 40th Anniversary Ceilidh

 

We would like to invite all current and former members plus partners to a ceilidh to celebrate our 40th anniversary on Saturday 26th October at 7pm. Please pass this info on to former harriers you are still in touch with.

Please RSVP to calderglenharriers@outlook.com

Club Training Monday 2nd September

Continuing the contrast between strength/speed and endurance in this current, pre-race season block of training, Monday's session is a threshold session of relatively short reps (for threshold at least). The session is 4 x 6 minutes at threshold. Remember that irrespective of whether we are doing 4 x 6, 2 x 12 or 1 x 24 minutes at threshold, the effort level and hence pace is the same. So please do not be tempted to run 6 minute reps as fast as you can and do hold the pace/effort back to comfortably hard. Threshold should be 2 or 3 word talking effort level or a level you could keep going for about 1 hour in a race, so 4 x 6 minutes should be very much under control. The recovery after each 6 minute rep is a 2 minute jog. This session will be around the Sainsburys loop in a clockwise direction, starting the first rep just past Sainsdbury's entrance gate as usual. Moderate the pace on the uphill and downhills to keep the effort level constant.

Finally, remember that Thursday is the September Auldhouse 5k, the final one of the year. Attendance at the time trials has been excellent this year, so lets keep the trend going for the final one. This final one starts/finishes in Auldhouse, mainly so that I can stand under a lamp post to see the timing/results!

Alan

TTC Menu Choices

Hi All

Everyone who is registered for the TTC has been sent an e-mail with the Lade Inn menu choice form for the Friday and Saturday dinners. However, a few of the messages bounced back as they were suspected of being spam, so I am repeating the message here just in case you didn't get the e-mail.

Dear TTC participants

It is once more that time to make one of the biggest decisions of the TTC Training Camp; what to have for dinner. For those who have been before, there will be a sense of familiarity with the menu and you may already know what your choices are. However, could everyone please fill in this form with your menu choices as soon as possible and certainly before the end of Sunday 15th September. Due to our very large group, I have to compile the menu choices and get them to the Lade Inn several days in advance.

The menu containing more details is here: Lade Inn menu.

Remember that your TTC entry fee includes two courses which can either be a a starter and main or a main and dessert. Select "none" for the course you are not taking. You can also select three courses on either or both nights (I am) and Russell will collect the extra money for that on the night of each meal. Finally, there is an option at the end of the form to receive an e-mail of your menu choices. I will have a list of all the choices made with me on the night of each meal too.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 29th August

A rather predictable progression of this hill training block for Thursday's session. However, it is building these sessions over weeks and months that makes the difference to fitness; a one-off session does very little except establish some muscle soreness the day after. Keep subjecting the muscles to that stress over a number of weeks and months and they adapt and become stronger. 

So, same warm-up via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys to the bottom of the hill at Langlands and then 10 x 50 seconds hill reps, jog down recovery. The extra 10 seconds will be tough but do try to maintain the same pace and the same running form as established over the shorter distances in the past two weeks. Given the amount of traffic there was on that hill last week and given that it will be darker, wear something bright coloured and keep your head up looking for on coming traffic during each rep. Cool down is the reverse of the warm-up.

Do the stretching after the session.

Alan

Club Training - Monday 26th August

Monday's session takes us back to speed endurance in contrast to the strength/power hill rep session. Taking our step-down session from the past month or two and rearranging the order of the reps, we end up with another variation on the step-down session. This time we are doing 3 x 3 minutes at 5k pace/effort with a 3 minute jog recovery followed by 3 x 2 minutes at slightly faster than 5k pace with a 2 minute jog recovery and finishing with 3 x 1 minutes at approximately 3k race pace with 1 minute jog recoveries. Regroup into your packs during the jog recoveries. So the sequence is (rep/rest) 3/3, 3/3, 3/3, 2/2, 2/2, 2/2, 1/1, 1/1, 1/1.

Daylight will be a problem, particularly if the weather is unfavourable. However we will try this route: Strathaven Rd round by Sainsburys to the Langlands Club House junction. Start the reps there, heading past the clubhouse to Auldhouse. Go straight through Auldhouse cross and turn right to go past the kennels. Follow Shields Rd all the way back to the fingerposts and Greenhills Rd, return towards Strathaven Rd on Greenhills Rd. In the unlikely event that there is not enough road left on that route to complete the session, turn down into the Sainsburys loop and complete that in an anti-clockwise direction to finish the session.

By stepping down the distance of each set of reps, there is a better chance of the quality of the reps being maintained and hence a greater training effect is achieved from the session.

Alan

40th Anniversary Interviews - Alan Derrick

 As part of celebrating Calderglen Harriers 40th anniversary year, we are conducting some interviews with various members. First to be interviewed is club coach Alan Derrick. Watch it here.

Club Training Thursday 22nd August

Thursday's session builds upon last week's hill reps which were intended as an introductory hill session to get the muscles used to the speed and load involved. For this week, we extend the session slightly to 10 x 40 seconds up the same hill at the same level of effort. This is strength endurance development, holding on to the same form for slightly longer than last week.

Given the atrocious weather and darkness, the warm-up and cool-down are the direct route via Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys.

Alan

Live it for Lee Triathlon

 

The 4 hardcore harriers doing the full triathlon

Saturday morning was the day of the Live it for Lee triathlon, a fun triathlon that Jim Holmes organises with his sister to raise money for the Live it for Lee/Blood Cancer charity.

Once again Jim, Elizabeth-Anne and her team did a fantastic job of organising this event.

We had 4 harriers entered to do the full event and several more making up relay teams. Julia Pechlof was concentrating on her marathon training this weekend and the 50 mile round Strathaven cycle on the Sunday so had entered her body double – identical twin sister Luca  instead.

The triathlon started with a 750m swim which is 42 lengths of the Crutherland Pool. As with the laid back nature of this event, you get in the pool when suits you and time yourself for the 42 lengths. Jim Holmes who was forming part of the relay team ‘The Young Pretenders’ was first out the pool in a time of 13:26. Julia Whittle, who had entered the full event was enjoying the swim so much she did a couple of extra lengths and wasn’t far behind Jim Holmes after taking the time off for the extra 2 lengths with a time of 13:42. Julias sister Luca had a great swim at 16:05 as did her Partner Ciaran who finished in 14:11. Andy Buchanan our sole male harrier to do the full event swam a brilliant 16:33. Lisa Greer and Alison Lessells were the other harriers taking on the full event and their times were 19:18 and 23:10 respectively. Jim Mearns’ daughter Emma was forming part of Kennys relay team and she swam a fantastic 19:56. Billy Buchanan forming part of the ‘Supersonic Seventies’ team swimming 21:00. The waiting relay members did a brilliant job of cheering us all on from the sidelines.

Supersonic Seventies

After everyone had gotten changed and got their bikes we cycled from the Crutherland across the road to the road where we sometimes start our harriers training efforts from. The cycle leg is approximately 23.6km and follows this road round up the hill and then on to Leaburn road, turn left to go up toward the wind farm where we had Emma and Jim Mearns doing a fantastic job of cheering everyone on and directing them along the road past the fishery, then towards Auldhouse and past Langlands and Park farm to do the same loop again and after the 2^nd loop you head back to where you start.

The young pretenders team had drafted in Seonaid Morton to do their cycling leg as unfortunately Julie Thomson had to pull out with a sore back. Before the start we were in no doubt who was going to be first back from the cycle and it proved to be the case with Seonaid first back in 47:43. Next in was Gerry Connelly who was part of Emma and Kennys team, in 51:46, Andy Buchanan was pretty close behind in 52:15, then there was a bit of a gap to the next harrier Bill Sturrock part of the Supersonic Seventies team who finished in 60;32. Bill was pleased to get round after crashing out on this course last year. Alison Lessells was next harrier back in 63:54, followed by Julia Whittle in 72:45 and Lisa Greer in 77:43.

Next we were on to the running leg. This was an out and back with everyone running along the road then turning right at the top of the hill to the turning point and back again, however we were all agreed that the car marking the turning point was parked in one layby further up the road than last year meaning the run was about 5.6k instead of 5k. We had Lorraine and Charlotte Buchanan as marshals at the turning point cheering us on up the hill, which was very welcome when your legs were feeling like a mixture of lead and jelly at the same time.

Eddie Reid took over from Seonaid to run strongly on this hilly course to finish in 23:33, with the young pretenders taking the relay title. Andrew Buchanan was next back with a strong run finishing in 25:40 (including transition time) to take the individual male title.

Kenny Leinster was next harrier home, after taking over from Gerry finishing in 29:40. Alison Lessells was next harrier home to take the female title, overtaking David Searil in the final few metres to finish in 27:26 (including transition time).  Much to everyone’s disappointment I did remember to take my helmet off this year before starting the run! David Searil was close behind finishing in 30:50. Julia Whittle was next harrier back with a run (plus transition) time of 31:55 and then Lisa Greer with a run plus transition time of 36:39.

After the event we headed back to the Crutherland to get showered/changed and have lunch (included in the entry) and attend the prizeging and raffle.

If anyone fancies doing a triathlon then I would definitely recommend giving this a go next year as it is a fun, friendly event with your entry fee raising money for a great cause.

Full results are in the photo below:

Event Results

Club Training Monday 19th August - Chatelherault

This is the final Harriers' Chatelherault session for this year. However, the benefits remain unchanged. Chatelherault is a wonderful session for building strength whilst running easy, if that does not seem a contradiction. For this final session, we are back to basics with an easy lap; no change of effort half way through, just easy and conversational all the way round in your packs. The only target I would set is try to run further up the log jam than you have managed so far; one more flight of steps or holding better form to the top if you already run all the way up. Each of you set your own target for improvement. Take it nice and easy for the few minutes after the top so that the heart rate comes back down.

I'll probably make it through tomorrow too.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 15th August

It is important that the sessions we do each week contrast with each other i.e. the Monday and Thursday sessions should each be challenging a different aspect of fitness. Whereas Monday (and the coming weeks) focused on long reps at threshold effort, the Thursday session is looking to develop power and speed as we head towards the short relay season on road and country. The starter session this week is 10 x 30 seconds hill reps at a hard effort but not sprinting. i.e. try to use your normal running style for say a 5k race on the flat but focus on maintaining that same style despite the fact you are going up a steep hill. That means you are overloading precisely those muscle combinations you would use if running at race pace on the flat but with extra load from going up hill. You'll be wondering what the hill is. Well it's our usual fading daylight hill at Langlands. Warm up via the glen. Cool down via Sainsburys and back to Strathaven Rd.

After a rep session such as this, it is particularly important that everyone stretches after the session as the muscles will tighten considerably after a running strength and speed session such as this. So gather together with Eddie in the club and do the stretches afterwards.

Alan

Live it for Lee Triathlon

 Just a reminder with the Live it for Lee triathlon being on Saturday that entry money can be paid via Julia Whittle’s just giving page. https://www.justgiving.com/page/julia-whittle-1722932054090?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fjulia-whittle-1722932054090&utm_source=whatsapp&utm_campaign=pfp-whatsapp

As Microsoft will double any money that Julia raises please don’t mention that its race entry or mention names other than Julia’s as Microsoft won’t match these donations, just simply put good luck or great cause or something about the work the charity does 😀

Club Training - Monday 12th August

For Monday's session we are easing the pace back to threshold, however this time we will do the threshold session on the basis of distance rather than time. The session is 4 x 2km with a jog recovery equal to 3 minutes for those packs completing the 2k in less than 9 minutes and 4 minutes recovery for those packs completing the 2k rep in greater than 9 minutes. Be a bit flexible interpreting these instructions, e.g. if most in the pack are less than 9 minutes and a few are 09:10 to 09:15, then take this as a sub-9 minute pack with a 3 minute jog recovery.

The warm-up is through the glen to the Crutherland Bridge and then up onto the Strathaven Rd an onwards to our usual corner on the back road where the reps start. Start the first rep at that corner and carry on to the junction with Leaburn Rd. Turn right and follow Leaburn Rd all the way along to the end where it turns right downhill. At the bottom of the hill, turn right and then left past the Kennels on Shields Rd. Follow Shields Rd to Greenhills Rd. Follow Greenhills Rd back to Strathaven Rd and the club. If the route is too short to fit all the reps in, complete the session with a lap of the Christmas Handicap course.

As always, listen to your body and control the effort to be uncomfortable but not on the limit such that the end of the 2km cannot come soon enough. Be aware of the uphills and downhills and adjust your pace accordingly to maintain constant effort.

Finally, join Eddie after the run in the Sports Club for stretching.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 8th August

Thursday's session is focused on race speed endurance as we move towards the winter racing season. It is the step down session again which has the benefit of maintaining quality (pace) as the session progresses by reducing the duration of each rep. This is one of the most effective ways of developing speed endurance without over exerting and hence allows a more rapid recovery to train well again the following day.

The session is 3 set of 3 minutes, 3 minutes jog recovery, 2 minutes, 2 minute jog recovery and 1 minute with 1 minute jog recovery and then straight into the second set. The 3 minute reps should be at 5k race pace/effort, the 2 minute reps slightly faster than 5k pace and the 1 minute reps at 3k race effort/pace. So, to spell it out, it is 

3 minutes on, 3 minutes jog, 2 minutes on, 2 minutes jog, 1 minute on, 1 minute jog, 3 minutes on, 3 minutes jog, 2 minutes on, 2 minutes jog, 1 minute on, 1 minute jog, 3 minutes on, 3 minutes jog, 2 minutes on, 2 minutes jog, 1 minute on, 1 minute jog.

Warm up via Strathaven Rd and Greenhills Rd to the fingerposts. Start the first rep on Shields Rd heading for the Kennels. After the Kennels, turn left and at Auldhouse Cross go straight through heading for Langlands. Continue around the Sainsburys loop in a clockwise direction to finish the session. Do at least one lap of the Sainsburys loop to ensure a good cool down and head back to the club.

Alan

Stretching

A key part of fast recovery from every run and injury prevention is post-run stretching. Running, or indeed any form of repetitive exercise, causes the muscles to contract to generate power and to shorten. The muscles remain shortened after exercise putting tightness into tendon and ligament attachments and increasing the risk of injury the next time the muscle is exercised. To minimise the risk of injury and to make the next run easier, holding long stretches (at least 45 seconds) after a session extends the muscles back to their full, relaxed state. This should be done whilst the muscles are still warm otherwise trying to stretch a cold muscle will most likely also result in strains and injuries.

Prior to the pandemic, we had a rigorous regime of stretching in the sports club hall after every club training session. The stretch master, Eddie Reid, will reintroduce this stretching session after every club session starting from this Thursday. Please gather in the large hall as soon as you get back from the session and be ready to follow Eddie's instructions.

As a reminder, the stretches are all described and demonstrated in this previous blog post recorded in a more exotic location than the Sports Club.

https://calderglen.blogspot.com/2020/04/stretching-harriers-stretch-set.html

Alan

Club Training Monday 5th August - Chatelherault

For Monday's Chatelherault, follow the same pattern as last time i.e, slow and easy for the first half to the top of the log jam and then gradually accelerate through the second half to the finish. The first half is being used to work on strength, the second half on speed endurance. Don't waste the first half by making that a speed endurance section too. The weather isn't looking great, so do be careful and lookout for slippy sections and it may be a little dark so concentrate.

Alan

New Parkrun - Cuningar Loop

 Posting this incase it is of interest to anyone.

I'm working closely with the Lanarkshire parkrun ambassador to start a new parkun at Cuningar Loop, a beautiful woodland park in Rutherglen. It’s a great location and we’re making good progress with the key needs to launch the event with the course and permission now in place.

A critical part of us being able to start the parkrun at Cuningar Loop is to have a core team of volunteers in place who will support the delivery and success of the event. The core team roles include Run Director and other volunteer roles who will run and co-ordinate the event each week.

I wanted to reach out to you to ask if you know of anyone in Calderglen Harriers who would be interested in joining the Cuningar Loop core team?  It’s a great opportunity to be involved in a brand new parkrun and all training and support will be given by me and local parkrun teams.

If anyone is interested in joining the core team, they can email me at laurynmartin@outlook.com or give me a call or message on 07477123444.

In addition, in order to start a parkrun, we need to fundraise for vital equipment, such as a defibrillator, which every parkrun must have. The total funding requirement is £4,800. If you or your members are away of any potential funders from your connections, I would be very appreciative if you could let me know.

Thanks very much for reading this and hopefully we’ll see some of your members at Cuningar Loop parkrun in the future!

Club Training Thursday 1st August - Auldhouse TT

Thursday looks like it could be the best conditions of the year so far for the Auldhouse TT, which will be the last daylight one of the year unfortunately. Please register for training as normal as that registration list will form the start list for the timing. See you there.

Alan

Calderglen 40 Photo

 

As part of the harriers 40th celebration we are looking to get a photo of as many members as possible in a 40 arrangement. Kai⁩ has volunteered his photo services. To get as many as possible this photo will take place on Wednesday 7th August after juniors training about 7.45-8pm. We are looking for as many members as possible to come along to take part and feel free to bring a friend! If you could wear black/yellow or club vest/tee shirt that would be great. Cricket training will be on, however they have said we can use some of their pitch so we will try and get the picture taken as quickly as possible to get out of their way.

Thanks.

Club Training Monday 29th July

Monday's session is a Threshold Monday (I know, it's usually Thursday but I've switched them due to Thursday being the final daylight Auldhouse TT of the year and a forecast for possibly the best weather conditions so far this year!).

Remember that threshold sessions only work if there is high volume (i.e. long total duration) and a very close control of the effort. The aim is for the efforts to be no more than comfortably hard with two to three words being possible throughout each rep. The session is 2 x 10 minutes with a 3 minute jog recovery. Do this session starting the first rep from the corner on the back road across from the Crutherland. Therefore the warm-up is through the glen to the Strathaven Rd and then up past the Crutherland. The first rep carries on from the corner to Leaburn Rd. Turn left and then right and climb up to the next junction and turn right. Follow this top road along the cross roads. Go straight through the cross roads and follow the road which turns right and rejoins Leaburn Rd. Turn right on Leaburn Rd and then left and down to Auldhouse Cross. Turn right at Auldhouse Cross and back to the club via Langlands.

(PS - those who were racing on Sunday, do not do this session as a rep session. Instead run it as an easy recovery run and at the point where those doing the first rep turn left on Leaburn Rd, you should turn right and then after Leaburn, turn right again and back to the club via Park Farm).

Alan

Live it for Lee Triathlon

The Live it for Lee charity Triathlon is happening again on Saturday 17th August 2024..

This fun triathlon is ideal if you ever wondered what a triathlon was like, Just ask all those Harriers who did it last year. If you would like to enter get in touch with Jim Holmes who will email you a form. If you don’t have Jim’s contact details then comment below and we will get you a form.

For those that don’t know this is a fun event raising money for charity, so you can do some of it or all of it or do it as a relay. It doesn’t matter if you’re a rubbish swimmer (like me) or haven’t cycled a bike in years it’s all about taking part or trying to win it if you’re competitive 😂

Club Training Thursday 25th July

After a few months of high volume long reps, we step down slightly in total distance this Thursday for some slightly shorter and faster reps. The session is a step down session, the benefit of which is that in the final set, when fatigue is taking hold, the fact that each rep gets shorter allows the speed to be maintained. This has more of a training effect than when pace and form is lost towards the end of a session.

The session is 3 set of 3 minutes, 3 minutes jog recovery, 2 minutes, 2 minute jog recovery and 1 minute with 1 minute jog recovery and then straight into the second set. The 3 minute reps should be at 5k race pace/effort, the 2 minute reps slightly faster than 5k pace and the 1 minute reps at 3k race effort/pace.

The route is warm-up through the Glen to Langlands. Start the first rep at the finish line of the Auldhouse 5k and run past Langlands to Auldhouse. Go straight through Auldhouse Cross and turn right onto Shields Rd at the Kennels. Follow Shields Rd back to Greenhills Rd. Turn right and back to the Strathaven Rd and the club.

Do not go crazy on the first set as that will seem very easy. Try to hold back such that you are consistent on all 3 sets.

Alan

Jim Cairney

Jim Cairney - left end of front row - WHW Relay 2001

Sad news to pass on. The funeral of long-term Calderglen Harrier, Jim Cairney, is on Wednesday 7th August at 1pm at South Lanarkshire Crematorium.

Alan

Club Training Monday 22nd July - Chatelherault

Monday's session is a Chatelherault lap. On this occasion, take the first half easy and then, from the top of the log jam, pick it up and gradually accelerate from there to the finish. This is a so-called progression session, which means that that every 5 minutes increase the pace/effort slightly. Work out within your pack when and by how much to increase the pace. The change in pace has to be very gradual otherwise the limit will be hit way too early.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 18th July

In contrast to Monday's long, hard reps, Thursday is an easy to steady long run using the uphills as the steady (i.e. harder effort) and the flat and down hills as more relaxed effort. The harder efforts are just a slight increase in effort to maintain an even pace rather than picking up the pace as you would in a hill rep.

The route starts out Strathaven Rd to Greenhills Rd and then all the way along Greenhills Rd to the fingerposts. Follow the long straight section of Shields Rd. After passing all the houses on your right take the second on the right (i.e. the one after Jackton Rd) and then first left to start the climbing. Keep following this road which eventually turns left onto Auldhouse Rd and follow it all the way back into Auldhouse. Carry on through Auldhouse Cross to Langlands, Sainsburys and finally back on to the Strathaven Rd. This is a  traditional Harriers Summer run route, so good to get it in whilst the nights are light enough. As with most of our Auldhouse runs, the benefit from this route comes from the hills and the strength endurance these sorts of routes develop which make the Harriers very strong runners compared to those in many other clubs.

Alan

Club Training Monday 15th July

Monday's session is a mixture of rep distances with the focus again on 10k pace/effort level. The session is 3 x 2km at 10k pace with a jog recovery of approximately equal to half the rep time. Then when that is finished, 4 x 400m at 10k pace with a 1 minute stand recovery. 

The warm-up is through the glen to the junction at Langlands Club House. The first rep starts at the 5k finish line and the 2k reps follow the Auldhouse 5k route in reverse. When the reverse lap of the Auldhouse 5k is complete, carry on towards Langlands Place such that the 3rd rep is finished within the vicinity of Langlands Place. During the recovery from that final rep, make your way towards the 400m start point on Langlands Place (it doesn't matter which end of Langlands Place you start the 400's). With the shorter reps at the end of this session, the aim is keep the quality high without running yourselves into the ground.

As always, take an average rep time for your pack to work out the recovery time (half the rep time). So, for a 40 minute 10k, that's 8 minutes for 2k and 4 minutes recovery, for a 50 minute 10k, that's 10 minutes for 2k and 5 minutes recovery and for a 60 minute 10k, that 12 minutes for 2k and 6 minutes recovery.

Alan

Pub Run

Just a reminder of pub run instructions for tonight.

Be at club for 5:40pm with kitty money to get your drink order in. Cost is £15 for soft drinks, £25 for alcoholic drinks. Will be leaving club at 6pm. 

Good news is the weather forecast is better than it was for the Xmas edition, the bad news is this means you won’t get to laugh at Eddie in his waterproof trousers.... 

 

Club Training Thursday 11th July

Thursday is a return to a 10k-specific session, focusing on race pace efforts in contrast to the strength session at Chatelherault on Monday. The session is at Langlands Place. Warm up through the glen to Sainsburys and then head up the road to Langlands Place. The session is then 16 x 400m at 10k race pace, or very slightly faster (say 1 second per 400m faster) with a 1 minute standing/walking recovery. The appropriate 400m times for a range of 10k paces are as follows:

Cool down via the Strathaven Rd back to the club.

Alan

Moffat Chase Hill Race

We have been asked to pass on the below details to members:

If you think this would be of interest could you please make your members aware, the race is in this year's Scottish Hill Running 2024 Championship, it was last held in 2006 but has not been put on again for 18 years as it was considered too tough for most runners, so it might be a long time before anyone gets a chance to race this epic route again.

The Moffat Chase hill Race. Approximately 20 miles (6,500ft climbing.)

Sponsored by Annandale Arms Hotel.

 

Hotel Moffat - Annandale Arms Hotel Moffat

Saturday 3^rd August. 12:00pm start.

Event Venue: - The Ram Stature, Marketplace Moffat, Post code DG10 9HL.

The entry fee is £20 with all profits going to Moffat Mountain Rescue Team. Register at Entry Central: https://www.entrycentral.com/

 

The race is run under SHR rules no under 18-year-olds and no dogs. 

Club Training Monday 8th July - Chatelherault

Monday's session is at Chatelherault. However, rather than an easy/steady lap, this week's session is in the form of a fartlek. Warm-up at an easy pace along the left hand side of the gorge, up the steep steps, down and across the first stone bridge, up the narrow path. When this narrow path merges into the wider path after about 25 - 50m, the session starts. On each uphill section, increase the effort to steady to hard until the top of the hill. Decide within your pack what is the top of the hill and regroup to a very easy jog until you reach the next distinct hill. Some of these initial uphills will be only 50m long, others will be a few hundred metres long so the effort/pace will vary considerably. The log jam is one of the hills, so do try your best to run as much of the log jam as you can. There are fewer uphills in the second half but take it easy and use the few hills in the second half to run these hills harder, at something like 10k effort.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 4th July - Auldhouse TT

Time flies and the first Thursday of the month has come round again. Therefore it is the Auldhouse 5k time trial. A 5k effort is a very effective training session if used sparingly (once every 4 or 5 weeks is enough) as it requires good judgement to hold the effort at close to VO2max for the duration of the effort, particularly on the undulating Auldhouse circuit.

Fill in the registration form as normal as this will form the start list for the time trial. Warm-up via the Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys rather than the glen.

See you there.

Alan

Club Training Monday 1st July

With a break from racing every week, we are back into quality sessions with a 10k race focus. Training for 10k provides us with the flexibility to drop down to 5k and step up to 10 mile or half marathon as the sessions aren't much different.

The session is 8 x 1km with a recovery approximately equal to half the rep time. As before, the recoveries will be set within the pack to be a reasonable compromise for all in that pack. The recoveries are therefore:

10k range    Recovery
35 - 40        2:00 minutes
40 - 45        2:15 minutes
45 - 50        2:30 minutes
50 - 55        2:45 minutes
55 - >60      3:00 minutes

Take account of who is in your pack and what their 10k race pace is before choosing the recovery time for your pack. I will try to adjust the packs to be as evenly matched as possible.

This will be done as a continuous session out in the country. Warm-up through the glen to the bridge at the Strathaven Rd and climb up the bank, run out to the Crutherland, cross over and turn into the country road on the right. Gather at the usual 90 degree left hand bend where we often start reps. Start the first rep there. At the junction with Leaburn Rd, turn right along Leaburn Rd, stay on Leaburn Rd all the way to the end where it turns downhill. At the bottom of the hill, turn right and run back into Auldhouse. At Auldhouse Cross, turn left, back past the new houses to the finger posts and then Greenhills Rd. Turn right on Greenhills Rd and back to the club via Strathaven Rd.

It is important to not start too fast so that the quality can be maintained until the end of the session. If in doubt, run slightly slower than 10k pace on the first rep until you are warmed up. The first rep will be slower than 10k pace anyway because of the hilly terrain.

Alan