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