Club Training Thursday 29th February

The aim of Thursday's session is to keep the legs sharp without introducing fatigue before the Scally Relays on Saturday. The overall distance is therefore short. Don't get greedy by doing more. Better to do a short run like this on Thursday and another, even shorter run with strides on Friday than to do one longer run on Thursday and a rest day on Friday.

The run is Club, Queensway to KFC, West Mains Rd, Lidl, Churchill Avenue, Club. Within your packs, introduce 6 x approx 100m strides. In each case, gradually accelerate to 5k pace over the first 50m and then hold that pace for the second 50m. Do not sprint; do not strain!

See you Saturday.

Alan

Club Training Monday 26th February

Monday's session is a sharpener before the Allan Scally Road Relays this coming Saturday. The session is at Langlands Place with the usual gentle warm-up via Strathaven Road and around by Sainsburys. Then the session is 20 x 200m at 5k pace (or slightly faster with a 200m jog recovery (carry the recovery on in the same direction as the rep to the end of the straight). Aim to be running fast and smooth with the stride and effort you will use in the 5k, so definitely do not sprint the 200's! If you are huffing and puffing after each 200m, then you are going too fast!

The cool down is the same as the warm up in reverse.

Alan

NATIONAL 6 & 4 STAGE RELAY

This years national road relays will again be held in Livingston on Saturday 23rd March

Various categories are Sen women and W40 teams 4 stages, W50 3 stages, Sen men and M40 6 stages, M50 4 stages

There is no reason why we cant enter many teams in this premier event.

For those new to this its alternate legs of 3.15m and 5.8m.

Entrants must be current members of Scottish Athletics both at time of entry and race date.

Cost is £5 each and i need names by Tuesday 5th March.

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

                                    

NATIONAL XC Final instructions

 We have the following running tomorrow in Falkirk

U/17 K Wheeler race starting at 12.15  Number has to be picked up before 11.45 at registration tent in case im not there in time collect the number yourself.

Ladies race 12.55  J Pechlof, A Lessells, L Buchanan and F Ferguson. I will collect the numbers but try to be there by noon.

Mens race 14.30  R Couper, A Derrick, J Grant, K Leinster, J Mearns, S Phimister, K McPhillips, J Stewart and A Buchanan. I will collect the numbers and you should arrive by 13.30 but try to come and support our earlier runners.

If anyone is no longer making the event please let me know so im not collecting the number.

Russell

THE 53rd ALLAN SCALLY ROAD RELAY

 The Scally road relay will take place on Saturday 2nd March at noon.

Entry is £9 per head and we will enter incomplete teams if needed so everyone that wants to gets a run.

Lets see if we can get lots out for this as its a fast 5k route in Glasgow Green and its also a Grand Prix event.

Must be at least 15 years old on 31/08/2023

I need names by Monday 26th Feb so dont delay or forget and get your names down.

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

Club Training Thursday 22nd February

Thursday's session is a pre-race run ahead of the National XC on Saturday. Therefore, keeping the legs fresh is the main objective of the run. The route is as straightforward as it gets for EK: Kingsway to Whirlies, East Mains, West Mains and Queensway back to the club.

On the downhill sections starting from the Kingsway fit in 4 x 1 minute at 10k pace with 2 minutes jog in between (this should mean that all of these downhill efforts are completed on the Kingsway and East Mains Rd). The rest of the run should be easy, conversational.

Alan 

Grand Prix Half Marathon - Loch Leven Half

After some consideration of the limited number of half marathons available within near vicinity of the central belt and consultation with the committee, the Harriers are set to return to the Loch Leven Half Marathon on 12th May for another race in our Grand Prix series. This event proved popular when the Harriers did it some years ago and ticks a number of boxes:

• on closed roads on a scenic route
• organised by a club like ourselves
• still has over 200 places available
• in a natural gap in our GP calendar a few weeks before Land O'Burns and the week before the West Highland Way Relay
• a good few months away so time to train for it.

Entries are open on Entry Central here: https://www.entrycentral.com/lochlevenhalfmarathon

Lets get a good turnout from the club and make a good day out (hopefully not running for the day though!)

Alan

Club Training Monday 19th February

Monday's session is another 5k specific session in preparation for the Allan Scally where I hope we will have our usual, massive representation from Calderglen Harriers young and old. The session is the same as from a few weeks ago:

6 x 800m at 5k pace with recovery dependent on the 5k time appropriate to the majority of your pack members (2 mins for  packs running 5k in 22 mins or faster, 2:30 for 22 to 26min 5k packs, 3:00 for 26 mins +). As always, very precise and consistent pacing is the main aim of this session.

Take the usual route to the session at Langlands Place (each rep is out and back along Langlands Place) following the Strathaven Rd and around by Sainsburys to Langlands Place.

Thursday's session will be a relatively short pre-race run with strides given the National XC on Saturday.

Alan

West District xc League Race 3 – Barwood Park, Erskine

Saturday 10th February 2024 was the final West District League cross country hosted by Kilbarchan AAC.  The Harriers had 13 athletes racing on the day.  What was really inspiring was that we had 6 of our Juniors competing again.   The underfoot conditions and the weather were kind to the early runners.  

First race on the schedule was the u/11 girls. Charlotte Buchanan had a strong race taking the lead early on and came up the final hill in second place looking strong.  Charlotte pushed herself to the limit but just could not close the gap.  She held on to second place and finished in an impressive time of 4:19.  Next to cross the line was Sophie Lewandoski who finished in a time of 5:12 closely followed by Jessica Prior in a time of 5:56.  The girls finished 7th team overall.  Harry Bell was our only u/11 boy running.  This was Harry’s second cross country and his finishing time was 4:53. Harry did say that this was one of the toughest races he’s done!   Next age category run was the u/13 boys.  This time it was Harry’s brother Callum who was facing the mud and hills in his second cross country race too.  Seeing the finish line at the top of the final climb Callum put in a last push to the end and finished in a time of 10:56.   Finally, it was the turn of Kai Wheeler in the u/17 race.  Kai is experienced in these types of races, running a strong and steady paced race to finish in a time of 19:24. 

Now it was the turn of the senior Harriers, 3 large laps around Barwood Park.  The course was now churned up and looking a lot more boggy.   The weather wasn’t too bad for the start however it was beginning to get a lot colder.  We all made our way to the start line and at 1.30pm the gun went off… Alison and I just about had a heart attack!  This was my first xc race since coming back from injury so decided to keep an eye on my pace.  Tried to keep it steady after the first lap as I had gone off too fast at the beginning.  I soon settled down and ploughed my way through the mud.   

Jordan Stewart was first Harrier home in a time of 25:58 putting in a really strong performance.  Stephen Phimister finished in a time of 30:10 closely followed by Alison Lessells in a time of 32:59.   George Ferguson, Frances Ferguson and Gordon McInally were grouped together on the first lap with Geo acting as pacemaker.  However, halfway round the second lap Geo pulled away and Frances and Gordon were left behind.  Geo finished strong in time of 35:17 (beating Frances again!) Frances finished in 36:10 with Gordon finishing 7 seconds behind, 36:17.  We all remained at the finish line to cheer on Russell who crossed the line in 41:54.  

Thank you to all the parents and coaches for their support and photographs on the day.

Frances

Club Training Thursday 15th February

Here is hoping (but not expecting) better luck with the weather for Thursday. This is a slight progression from two weeks ago and hence is intended to induce fatigue before embarking on the main, threshold part of the session. The session is at Langlands Place and the Langlands loop. One extra threshold effort has been added, so the session is:

4 x 400m at 10k pace, 30 sec recoveries + 4 x 6 mins at threshold with 2 mins jog recovery. The 400's are on the Langlands Place straight and the 6 min reps are in a clockwise direction around the Sainsburys loop.

The session should be very controlled. Do not finish the session on your knees (if you do, then you have gone beyond threshold). Be in complete control of the threshold effort (2 or 3 word effort). The pace will vary depending on conditions but the effort should remain the same (constant level of breathing after the initial minute or so, constant heart rate). Listen to your body and be in control!

Alan

Club Training Monday 12th February - Brancumhall

Monday's session is the final, hard National XC-specific session (in fact, the last Brancumhall session of this season). This session is a race-specific session. The session is 5 x 2 laps at 10k race effort with the recoveries according to 5k times as we have been using in recent months (2 mins for  packs running 5k in 22 mins or faster, 2:30 for 22 to 26min 5k packs, 3:00 for 26 mins +). The recovery is a jog, continuing in the same direction and each rep starts/finishes wherever the recovery jog finishes on the lap. So effectively, this session is 5 x approximately 1 mile at race pace.

Alan

CALLANDER RUN

Note that for those looking for a run longer than 10 miles for marathon training, as the planned route is on the railway line and is out and back, the distance can be extended to whatever is required to 20 miles or more for those that need it.

Alan  

We are planning a run from Callander on the 17th February at 10.am. We will park on the road at the start of the Callander Crags on Tullipan Crescent. Plan to run about 10 slow miles. It will be good preparation for the National XC the following week . Everyone welcome, the more the better.

Kenny

Club Training Thursday 7th February

Thursday's run is an easy run but reasonably long. The route is dependent on the weather/underfoot conditions. If it is snow/ice free, then the run is Queensway to Holiday Inn, Stewartfield bypass to Kingsgate and Kingsway back to the club. If it is snowy, then it is 3 x full laps of the Golf Course. The effort level should be easy and fully aerobic. As a guide, for the many who are familiar with marathon target pace, this will be slower than that pace. For those not familiar with marathon pace, take your lead from those in your pack who are!

Be careful of the conditions are dicy. 

Alan 

WEST LEAGUE XC (ERSKINE)

 This Saturday we have the final race in the West League.

No pre entry but £3 per head to run.

We need as many Harriers out as possible.

Seniors race starts at 13.30 and is 7.2k

Please let Russell know if your coming along so ive got a number for you

Juniors start from 11.30 and Andrew and Lorraine will keep you up to date with start times.

Club Training Monday 5th February

Monday's session is a pretty hard one as we continue to build towards another batch of races (Thursday will be an easy run though, given the West XC on Saturday).

The session is at Langlands Place, so take the usual route to and from the session using Strathaven Rd and Sainsburys main gate. Then, do the following:

6 x 800m (out and back on Langlands Place) at 5k effort with recoveries according to packs (2 mins for  packs running 5k in 22 mins or faster, 2:30 for 22 to 26min 5k packs, 3:00 for 26 mins +). Be accurate with your pacing/effort as this is a session where the wheels could fall off if the pace is too fast.

Alan

Strathclyde parkrun Calderglen Takeover 2024 - choose your dates

Following the success of last year's first time takeover of the Strathclyde parkrun by the Harriers, we have decided to try the same again this year. What is the parkrun takeover? This is an opportunity for a club to take over all the volunteer roles for the parkrun for one weekend (with the assistance of the regular race director to keep us right), providing good publicity for the club and putting something back into the sport. Julie Beveridge is once again taking the initiative to get us involved and the first step in the process is to find out to choose the most suitable weekend. To make this a success for us we will need members to come forward and volunteer. At this point in time we need to choose a Saturday that will suit the majority of our members. We have selected dates for April/May/June as hopefully the weather is better but it is before the summer holidays start.

The dates (all Saturdays of course) are listed in this form. Please select as many days as you could make and we will pick the most popular one. Live Poll results are as follows:

Once we have a confirmed date, we will have another survey to determine roles.

Note that the 18th of May is not on the list as this is the club's West Highland Way weekend.

SVHC Road Relays Race Report

Sunday 28th January was the SVHC vets relay (for runners of age 35 or over). It was a different route from normal as North Lanarkshire Council had not given the go ahead to race organisers to allow the full loop of the loch. This meant that the course was out and back similar to the parkrun route but with the start/finish point at the side path close to the Watersport Centre, giving a distance of approximately 6.3k. It was dry and relatively mild at least but as is quite often the case at Strathclyde Park it was windy, meaning the last couple of km were tough going into a strong head wind.

We had a total of 3 complete teams today. The men's V50 team comprised Davy Watt, Martin Howell, Stephen Phimister and Geo Ferguson. Davy led off on the first leg and had a strong run despite the fact his achilles had been bothering him in the weeks leading up to the race, finishing in 23:44 and handing the team over in 5th place, Martin Howell then took over and finished well in a time of 27:27, despite work getting in the way of training lately. Stephen Phimister took over, running strongly and making up a few places to bring the team back up from 8th to 6th place finishing in 26:40. Geo Ferguson was on the lonely last leg and brought the team home in 8th place in a time of 30:40 (pleased to beat Frances' time!)  

Kevin McPhilips led the men's V35 team off and had a strong run, chasing Alison all the way finishing in 28:50, Kenny Leinster was next up and just getting back from injury was happy enough with his time of 31:20, I'm sure he'll be getting faster with a block of consistent training. Robert Gibson was next and his race fitness paid off with him finishing in a time of 29:32, Russell Couper was last leg and ran steadily to finish in a time of 36:56. 

The ladies' team had Alison Lessells starting off on first leg, running steadily and making sure she
finished in front of Kevin to hand over in 12th place in a time of 28:30, Claire McSorley was next up and ran well, making up a place to hand over in 11th in a time of 30:34, Frances Ferguson was last leg for the ladies and maintained the 11th place position finishing in a time of 32:17.

Well done everyone who ran and thanks to Gordon, Marion, Jim Holmes and Julia Whittle who all came down to support and take photos. All the photos are here.

Full results are here: here.

Alison