Harriers Training!

Probably a first for the blog, photos of the Harriers training and enjoying themselves too!

The weather was not great last night with persistent drizzle but the session was still high quality. 8 x 2 mins at 5k effort with 2 mins jog recovery and a long warm up and cool down. Most covered a distance somewhere between 10 and 12 miles depending on how far you got on each rep an which "short cut" back to the club was taken.

A very hilly course around the back roads of Auldhouse was no problem for the large pack of about 20 Harriers. I am sure everyone was thrilled that the first four reps were uphill and the next two were into a strong wind. However, the last two were downhill.

Thanks to (the unfortunately injured) Russell for the photos which you can view here.
Alan

A last minute opportunity

A very last minute opporchancity - Gerry has had to drop out so if anyone else fancies a run out on Saturday please contact me. 
Stop Press - Sandy Hayden has stepped into the breach, thank you.
 
Clyde Stride Ultra Marathon Relay

I have a team relay entry for this Saturday's Clyde Stride but we have been beset with problems - I'm still injured, Ruth is (understandably) exhausted and Michael is otherwise engaged. We are down to two runners when four are required so I wondered if a couple of other harriers would like to take part.

The relay consists of four legs covering the forty miles from Partick to New Lanark along the Clyde Walkway, starting at 09:00. Legs as follows;

leg one	Partick Station	C'lang Bridge	10 miles	Flat/Town
leg two	C'lang Bridge	Strathclyde Park	8 miles	Flattish/Rural
leg three	Strathclyde Park	Mauldslie Bridge	10 miles	Undulating/Rural
leg four	Mauldslie Bridge	New Lanark	12 miles	Undulating+/Rural

It's not going to be a Calderglen harriers team as such (no club vests involved) but I'd like it to comprise my clubmates before anyone else. Cost is £13 per leg. Almost forgot to mention Gerry Mullen and Gordon McInally are the two runners still standing!

If you fancy it please pm me on facebook, phone/text me if you know my number or leave a comment below. Speed is of the essence as Lee the RD has extended her time limits for team details just for me (and you know you don't want to get Race Directors angry) so contact me asap - I only have until tomorrow lunchtime.

Davie

PS for more information see Entry Central and the Race website
https://www.entrycentral.com/Clyde-Stride-Ultra
http://clydestride.webnode.com/

ToF Day 5 - 7k Trail Race, Falkland Estate, Strathmiglo

Today was day 5 and the last one. As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end! I was partly glad, but sorry to stop being part of a great event which although the races are not that long, they take upmost of your day either going over the previous race, looking at all the photos, comments and worrying about the next race.

We are on very familiar territory again today as it's Strathmiglo to Falkland, up a few hills (fire breaks really between the trees) and back again. I think it was very similar to the National Trails Championships. It was the same warm up for everyone, up the tar path past the cabbage
field, keep going for 1 mile until the forest starts.

Joanne ran very consistent and was in with the faster girls all the way and finished 34 dead (her time, not her). I was bringing up the rear in 41.43.

Final standings were: Maya stone 1:56:23, Claire Houston +1:15, Kristin Lowrie +3:11, Elaine Ormand +4:21, Jennifer Cruikshank, +6:37, Louise Andrew +8:44 and Joanne +8:46

The final bit on analysis was the finishing positions in the races. Someone had already commented earlier that their position were much lower than previous years. The reason for that was due to the fact that there's more quality field this year.

Joanne's finishing positions - 30/39/42/37/36 final 35 - best event was the beach and worst 1 mile (even with a 5.54) However, against other females 5/7/8/7/7 final 7th
Me 87/86/68/88/83 final 81 - best event 1 mile!!

That's me over and out. Need to rest my legs, so I'll see you in a week or so!!

George

ToF Day 4 - Glenrothes 5k Road Race

Legs are well and truly gubbed from East Lomond hill race on Thursday. I know it's the same for everyone and it's only a 5k for god sake. So, hey-ho, better just get on and stop moaning. After finding out which direction we were going, it was off for a warm up and try to get the
legs firing. The course was an out and back, starts on an incline and there's a few undulating bits along the way. All on a tar cycle path which weaves along the outskirts of houses and several under paths. I just wanted to get round as out of contention for anything. Joanne on the other hand was under pressure about getting caught. The time gap between the ones in front of her had grown, but there was a group tightly bunched behind, and no-one wants to surrender places without a
fight.

The race is off and I'm plodding away and actually started to feel ok after a mile...maybe should have had a better warm up? Too late now! Managed to run steady in 24.28 and produced a wee sprint finish from somewhere at the end.

As I was heading to the turning point Joanne past me in the opposite direction and looked to be working hard. Joanne's time was 20.05...first 2 ladies under 19mins, and next 3 under 20mins, so some quality in the field. As we go into the last race the standings are: Maya Stone 1:25:37, Claire Houston +22 sec, Kristin Lowrie +1:39, Elaine Ormand +2:10, Jennifer Cruikshank, +2:42, Joanne +5:32, Louise Andrew +5:41.

Last day tomorrow, 7k in the Strathmiglo trails. I'll be glad to get it over with, but also know from past experience come Monday, I'll be craving for a race!?!

George

ToF Day 3 - Kircaldy 1 Mile TT

Just what you need after coming off East Lomond, sore quads all around. However, it's the same for everyone who raced and don't think it's a night for PB's.

The first decision was where to park? We decided the start would be best as it will allow us to run the course, turn and run back. There were markers every quarter mile, so you could keep track of your pace. Me, I was running naked as I never managed to pick up a battery for the timex. Maybe a good thing! On the way back to the start, Joanne wanted to do something called "bursts"... not for me as my start time was about 20 minutes behind her. Before too long Joanne was off with 2 evenly matched runners, the bloke shot off and was gone, leaving the 2 girls to battle it out all the way, they finished 1 sec apart...Joanne on 5.54. Joanne had never ran a flat mile before so it was a PB whatever happened.

My turn, 2 blokes and me. We're off and the bloke with the Fife vest is away, that leaves me in the middle with the other runner behind. It was tough going and I was just running my own race. It seemed to get easier about half way, then I realize that it was because the guy from Fife was actually slowing and I was maintaining the same gap, I seized my opportunity and moved past him. Managed to chase a few others down and finished 6.22.

They are supposed to be considering moving the Ravencraig 1 mile series here, so it would be good to go back with fresh legs and give it another try.

George

July Auldhouse 5k Time Trial

Fourteen Harriers enjoyed probably the best conditions of the year so far for the July edition of the Auldhouse 5k Time Trial. This was already a tough week with the Vertical Mile on Monday. However, that did not prevent Andrew J Buchanan from not only setting his course best but also a 5k personal best, starting last and finishing first in a time of 17:48, a whopping 40 seconds faster than he has run on this particular course.

Fastest lady was Julie Beveridge just missing her course best by 3 seconds to finish in 19:50. Andy Henderson set a season's best of 22:20, having recovered well from the Vertical Mile. Stuart Waugh would have had a season's best but for the fact that he met two tractors passing each other blocking his path and requiring him to stop for a good 10 seconds. Stuart recorded a time of 22:23, just 1 second outside his season's best. Sharon Gregg and Holly Rankine were both doing the time trial for the first time and set excellent benchmark times of 22:59 and 26:05 respectively.

Full results of the July TT are here and all the previous results can be accessed from the Auldhouse Summary menu on the left.

Only two Auldhouse TT's left this year. Let's see what another month of training can do.
Alan

ToF Day 2 - East Lomond

The old favourite! Claimed to be 6k? The route was roughly the same at the Devils Burdens 4th leg. However, you started at the duck pond which meant you were climbing straight away. Plus, the finish was much better as we went down a kinda path instead of over the long grass heading for the trees. This gets you down much faster. Finally going left at the bottom and winding round to the finish in the woods.

My watch chucked it before the race which was an omen to what lay ahead. It was horrible climbing up Maspieden and I was out of my depth. It's fine doing short hill races which are a bit stop start, but its good consistent training nights that make the difference. 46.08 for my efforts.

The finishing places in the ladies race were all over the place. 7th on the beach was first here, 2nd on the beach was 8th here and so on. Joanne managed to run consistently with 38.02 and now sits 6th overall. It's the mile race tomorrow, off in 2's at 30 sec intervals. Followed by a 5k road on Saturday, so it's back to the speed merchants!

George