Jack Crawford Springburn Cup 10k Race

On Sunday 10th March we had 4 harriers racing at the Jack Crawford Springburn Cup 10k race – Alison Lessells, Kevin McPhilips and his daughters Rachel and Lauren.

I had entered this race about half an hour before entries closed on the Thursday as had decided if I wanted to run a decent 10k time this year it would be good to get a race in early on and give a marker to beat for the rest of the season.

The race started at 9am, in the housing estate across the road from the Leisuredrome in Bishopbriggs where the course goes through the residential area for about a mile or so with a few short sharp hills thrown in before it drops down to the canal and goes out to a turning point round some cones just past the 5k mark and then comes back along the canal finishing just before the bridge near the sport centre.

It was pretty windy on Sunday morning so the good thing about going through the housing estate first was that you were more sheltered from the wind than you were on the canal as it was a headwind for the first 5k and then we had the wind behind us for the way back.

I was aiming to try and run 4:30kms for as long as I could to get close to the 45 minute mark. There were a few kms in the first half above this pace due to the headwind but I realised when I got to about 7k that I was on target to get close to 45 minutes as long as I could keep under 4:30 pace. I got to the finish and was delighted to beat my target time of 45:00 with 44:46. Kevin McPhilips also had a strong race finishing in 45:49 and was also happy with his time but thought he could have went out a bit faster at the start to get closer to 45 minutes. Rachel was next harrier in and had been targeting breaking 50 minutes so was delighted with her new PB of 49:31. Rachel was also first U20 so well done Rachel, Lauren has recently joined the Tuesday night beginners group and she was also delighted with her PB of 65:09, despite suffering from a stitch from about 2k onwards.

Afterwards there was lots of home baking back at the sport centre in exchange for a donation to the Beatson cancer charity. This was a well organised race with chip timing, pretty much a flat course and it was also good value for money – think it was £10 to enter so I would definitely recommend to others.

Alison

Club Training Monday 18th March

Monday's session consolidates the 10k specific session done a week and a half ago at Langlands Place. For those who were racing the half marathon or further at the weekend, just run this as a recovery session, jogging gently back and forward whilst the others are doing the reps.

16 x 400m at slightly faster than 10k pace with 1 minute stand/recovery. The target pace is 10 seconds per km faster than (realistic) target 10k race pace. So for a 40 min 10k (4min/km), aim for 3:50/km pace during the reps, for 50 min 10k, aim for 4:50/km for 60 min 10k, aim for 5:50/km. The 400m splits should be 1:32/rep (40 min 10k); 1:56/rep (50 min 10k); 2:20/rep (60 min 10k). Work out your target rep time before turning up at the session.

Warm-up/Cool-down via the usual route to Langlands Place.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 14th March

Thursday's session is a 10k race-pace specific session. The session is 8 x 1 lap of Carron Place at 10k race pace with a 90 second recovery (standstill/jog). Note that a lap of Carron Place is very close to 1km. Given the ups and downs of the loop, the pace is going to vary throughout the lap. On the uphills the pace will be slower than target pace and on the downhills slightly faster. This should average out over the lap to give the correct average pace per lap. The target times are simple to calculate: for a 35 minute 10k, aim for a lap in about 3:30, for a 40 minute 10k, a lap is about 4:00, for a 50 minute 10k, a lap is about 5:00 minutes and for a 60 minute 10k, the lap is about 6:00 minutes.

Take an easy run to the start via the Murray roundabout and Kelvin Rd. Cool down back to the club via Greenhills Rd and Strathaven Rd.

Alan

Club Training Monday 11th March

Given that a few were racing on Sunday, Monday's session is a medium length easy run. It won't be long before these runs are out in the country but for now we are still in the streets of EK. The route is the 4 Hills, starting off with the Kingsway, Village and Market Hill, East Mains, West Mains, etc. Do make this an easy run and do not push the pace. The slower the pace (within reason), the more aerobic benefit you will get from this run as the run will take longer. The heart and lungs do not know how far you have run, all they know is how long time you have run and it is the time spent training that develops the aerobic system.

For Thursday we are back onto 10k race specific reps.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 7th March

As we head from the winter season into a Spring/Summer period of 10k and half marathon road races, the emphasis of the training is shifting to 10k specific training (half marathon training is not much different, just a slightly longer long training run and holding back a little on the pace during the race).

Thursday's session is at Langlands Place and is as follows:

16 x 400m at slightly faster than 10k pace with 1 minute stand/recovery. The target pace is 10 seconds per km faster than (realistic) target 10k race pace. So for a 40 min 10k (4min/km), aim for 3:50/km pace during the reps, for 50 min 10k, aim for 4:50/km for 60 min 10k, aim for 5:50/km. The 400m splits should be 1:32/rep (40 min 10k); 1:56/rep (50 min 10k); 2:20/rep (60 min 10k). Work out your target rep time before turning up at the session.

Warm-up/Cool-down via the usual route to Langlands Place.

Alan

Club Training Monday 4th March

Monday's session is a longer, threshold effort with an easy start and easy finish. The important thing about this longer effort is that the pace is held back. This needs to be the effort you could maintain for an hour in a race, so it is absolutely not the fastest you could run this single, 30 minute effort. When the effort is over, it should therefore not be necessary to stop, but just slow down to the easy, recovery pace for the remainder of the run. Furthermore, the pace will vary depending on whether going uphill, downhill, into the wind or with a tail wind but the effort should remain consistent (i.e. the breathing and heart rates).

The route is a gentle warm up to the Crooked Lum roundabout, then when you are through the roundabout and onto the Queensway at the town centre, start the 1 x 30 minute effort. The route from there is down the Queensway, West Mains, East Mains, Kingsway, back to the club. Be extremely careful at all road crossings. Where ever you finish the 30 minutes, slow down to a very easy jog back to the club, regrouping into your pack as you do so.

Thursday's session is faster reps in preparation for forthcoming 10k (and further) races. So, don't burst yourself on this session by running it too fast.

Alan

TEAMS FOR ALLAN SCALLY

 The teams for Saturdays race are as follows

Senior Men    Leg 1 J Stewart,   2 K Wheeler,   3 D Searil,   4 R Gibson

M40      Leg 1 A Buchanan,  2 J Grant,   3 G McInally,   4 G Ferguson

M50      Leg 1 S Phimister,   2 J Mearns,   3 G Connelly,   4 A McLellan

M50     Leg 1  R Couper

Ladies    Leg 1 F Ferguson,   2 L Buchanan

Race starts at noon and i will be down at the start by 11.20 with the numbers. Please arrive in plenty of time to allow good warm ups and to support others.

Russell