TTC - Not this year

I've been trying for a few months to get the TTC arranged for September this year. The accommodation has been the problem. As the Dreadnought Hotel was up for sale, I had to wait until early June for the sale to go through and for the new owners (Caledonian Travel, a bus tour company) to start taking bookings. Initial information looked promising as the sale did complete and refurbishment has started with the hotel planning to reopen at the end of July. However, when I made contact with the booking office, although they did have rooms for our planned weekend (12th to 14th September) they would only take 3-night bookings (Friday to Monday). So that was a non-starter. I've spent the last few weeks exploring alternative accommodation but there is nothing available (I do have a few options for 2026 though). So there is no TTC this year unfortunately.

We will instead do a TTC long run in the Trossachs on Sunday 14th September in packs, followed by a lunch. Details to follow nearer the time.

Alan

Club Training Monday 23rd June - Chatelherault

Monday's session is the normal lap of Chatelherault as an easyish run. The ups and downs of Chatelherault are such that even on an easy run there are huge strength and fitness benefits. Aerobic fitness gains come from time spent training in the aerobic zones and not from distance run in the aerobic zones. So spending 5 or 10 minutes longer running slower on a lap of Chatelherault has more aerobic benefit than pushing hard to run a faster (and shorter duration) lap.

Register for training as per normal, selecting "training venue" if going direct to Chatelherault or "EKSC" if meeting at the Sports Club first.

Alan

Trail Race Roles- Final List

 Plese see the document at the following link for the final allocation of roles for the Trail Race this Friday:

Trail Race Roles - Final Version

If there are any questions or any call-offs, please let Jim Mearns know as soon as possible.

Club Training Thursday 19th June - Vertical Mile

Thursday's session is the final race in the Grand Prix. Please register as usual for training. The route to the bottom of Auchentibber is via Newhousemills Rd, turning left onto the back roads to Auchentibber. Eddie will be doing the timing, so please pay attention to any instructions given by Eddie.

Could last year's male and female trophy winners please remember to bring them to the club if not already returned as we do the VM presentations after the event. 

Have a great run. Alan

Club Training Monday 16th June

For Monday's session, let's do a gentle recovery run down the glen until it comes out on the express way and then climb back up on the back roads (through the overgrown section of the old tarmac road initially) to Newhousemills Rd and back into the glen at the narrow bridge. I will make sure that every pack has an experienced Harrier who knows the route back. Take extreme care on the road sections and run in single file on the right hand side of the road facing any traffic on Newhousemills Rd. This will at least show the reverse of part of the road route to the start of the Vertical Mile which we will be at on Thursday.

On Thursday I will be out of the country with work in a different time zone, so may not manage to update the packs. However, Eddie is timing the Vertical Mile and will look after you.

Alan

Dechmont Law 10k Trail Race

After a gap of a few years, the Harriers returned to Livingston for the Dechmont Law Trail races; the 10k race being race 15 of the Harriers Grand Prix and Kai Wheeler competing in the 6k race. The course was the original course that we have run on many times before but an element of disorientation was introduced by the fact that the car parking was a couple of km away rather than the usual school at the foot of Dechmont Law. This provided a very good warm up though!

After collecting our numbers and timing chips and a some more warm ups and photos, it was soon time to line up for the uphill start, but not before a personal trainer had taken us all through a dynamic warm up. Then we were off. I dropped in behind a tall guy as we climbed off the grass and onto the gravel trail, so I couldn't really see how many were ahead but I knew my limits. As the climb steepened slightly, I passed the tall guy and pulled away, and that was it for the rest of the race, sitting 50m to 100m behind the young guy ahead and having nobody near me behind! After about 800m we descended into the woods and the first of the very muddy and slippery sections of the course. I had decided to wear my usual road shoes and was slipping and sliding a bit but felt more comfortable with them than I would have in trail shoes which I have hardly worn for a year. As we descended through the woods, we discovered that the green aliens were out in force, cheering enthusiastically at several points on this short loop. After a few km we emerged from the woods and repeated the initial climb before descending again into the woods onto the big loop. This descended down to the M8 and was generally quite good underfoot until the section parallel to the M8 which was an absolute quagmire. The 5km mark was at about the point where we passed through a tunnel under the M8 and a drinks station was a few hundred metres later on the other side. This was the lowest point of the course and that meant a gradual climb for the final 4km or so. This was also an extremely muddy section but perfectly runnable. The steepest climb on the course was when we crossed back over the M8 on a pedestrian bridge at about the 8km mark and I just about ground to a halt crossing that. From there we climbed back gently along trails. Just before we entered the woods for the final time, Kai's mum and dad were spectating and shouted that I was fourth, which was a surprise as I thought there were at least a handful in front of me. Briefly I wondered if I could close the gap on the young guy 50m ahead and get on the podium. However, as we descended again into the woods he stretched away on the downhill. When we turned at the aliens and climbed back towards the finish, I was closing again but there was not enough uphill left as we emerged on the trail at the point we had first entered the woods. The final 400m started with the end of the climb to the high point of the course and then a nice final 300m descent to the finish on the grass.

I finished 4th overall and first M60 in a time of 42:46, about as close as I am likely to get to an overall podium finish these days! The last time I did this in 2016 I was almost 4 minutes faster and the year before that I was almost 5 minutes faster, however, these were the worst underfoot conditions I have done this race in so it wasn't just age slowing me down. Next Harrier to finish was Jason Grant in 46:04. However this had been quite a close battle in the middle of the race between Jason, Julie Beveridge and Stephen Phimister. At the water station at the 5.5km mark, Stephen had twisted his ankle in a deep puddle and even stopped briefly at which point Jason stretched away. By the finish, Julie had opened a small gap on Stephen, finishing in 46:59 and 3rd F40 with Stephen limping home in 47:04 and heading straight for the physio's bench where an ice pack was attached to his ankle. Stephen and I had had a pre-race conversation about which shoes to wear; road or trail. I had said that road shoes would do me and Stephen had gone the same route. What I didn't realise was that Stephen had gone the road "racing" (semi-cheat) shoe route which was a poor choice given the lack of stability of these shoes and most likely explains the twisted ankle. Oh well, the coach's fault apparently for poor shoe advice!

Craig Ferguson had already been at his work that morning but that didn't stop him finding the strength to power all the way to the line in 55:46. Gordon McInally continues to get over his toe operation and confirmed that the toe was the least of his concerns on that course, finishing next in 57:47. Richard Lawton had a strong finish and crossed the line in 58:57. Frances Ferguson was "just taking it easy" due to the on-going injury but enjoyed being out again in the Harriers' vest finishing in 60:20. Russell Couper found it difficult from the moment the race started but as usual carried on regardless to finish in 69:02.

Meanwhile the 6km race had started shortly after the 10km race. Kai had finished 2nd in the 6km race last year but found that Lothian Road Runners, the organising club, had some speedy individuals out this year. Kai finished a very respectable 5th position, 2nd under 20, in a time of 27:29. Not only was Kai running, but he was also off getting some practice in with his very fancy new camera before next weekends WHW Race where Kai will be on a mission to get photographs of every single competitor.

Thanks to Jim Mearns for the support on the course and for distributing flyers for our own trail races. As was pointed out, given the state of some folk when they crossed the line and dropped to their knees, perhaps the last thing they wanted was a flyer for another tough trail race but as far as I know, nobody told Jim where to put his flyers.

Now we move on to the final race of the Grand Prix series, the Vertical Mile, this coming Thursday.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 12th June

Thursday's session is an easy run with fast strides, given that the last week or so has been full of hard efforts and races for many in the club and this weekend sees many of us at another hard race, Dechmont Law.

The route is out through the glen to Langlands and then up to Leaburn Rd via Park Farm. Turn right onto Leaburn Rd and follow that along until it veers to the right, steeply downhill to Auldhouse Rd. Turn right on Auldhouse Rd and then left past the Kennels and on to Shields Rd. Turn right on Greenhills Rd and back to the club.

The extended, easy warm-up is all the way to the Kennels. From that point all the way along Shields Rd, do 6 x 10 seconds very fast running. After each of these, jog easy for 3 minutes. Run very fast but stay relaxed without straining. If you start to strain, you are trying too hard; ease it back a little until you feel smooth and in control. The idea of fast strides is to remind the nervous system how to fire the muscles quickly without the muscles fighting against each other because the timing of the opposing muscles firing is not quite right. Being able to run very fast in a relaxed way adds power and efficiency to your much slower race pace as well as training the ability to pick up the pace briefly at the beginning or end of a race.

Alan