Club Training Monday 5th October - Brancumhall

Monday's session at Brancumhall is a bit of a recovery session for those who were racing so well at the GSR and for those who were not racing, it is a light threshold session. The threshold session is 8 x 2 minutes with a 40 second jog recovery. This should feel like an easy run with slight accelerations for 2 minutes and then easing back slightly to easy for 40 seconds.

For those who were racing, do the same circuit but without the increase to threshold, so just easy laps. The soft ground should be easy on the legs.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 1st October

Thursday's session is a pre-race run for those that are racing at the weekend. For those runners, there is a cut-off on the route. For those not racing, don't take the cut-off and continue on the longer run as our Brampton preparation continues.

The route is down the Queensway to McDonalds. Those who are racing at the weekend, turn onto West Mains Rd and return to the club via the railway station, Lidl and Churchill Avenue. Fit in 6 x 10 seconds approx strides out to race pace (depending on which race you are doing). For those not racing, continue on down the Queensway to the Holiday Inn, turn right and follow the by-pass to Morrisons and then Stewartfield Way and the lane parallel to Stewartfield Rd down to West Mains Rd. Then back to the club via the railway station, Lidl and Churchill Avenue.

This should be an easy paced run.

Alan

Club Training Monday 28th September

Monday's session is another basic speed endurance session at Langlands Place. It is 8 x 400m at 5k pace with a 1 minute jog around/stand recovery. These sessions at Landlands Place with variations and progressions will feature regularly through the winter months. As always, aim for consistent times. Try to stay within about 1 second difference in time for each rep. A reminder of 5k pace over 400m:

For this session, aim for your recent (within the past couple of months) 5k pace. It should feel quite easy, particularly for those racing this coming weekend where the objective is to get the legs spinning without introducing fatigue.

Alan

NATIONAL XC RELAYS

 This years National XC relays will be held in Cumbernauld as per previous years on 24th Oct

The junior races will be a mix of u/14, u/16, u/18 in that order although they can step up one age group

U/20, seniors and masters will run together in the same teams

Young females @ noon (3 x 2.5k legs), Young males @ 12.40pm  (3 x 2.5k legs)

Ladies @ 13.10 (4 x 4k  legs)(3 x 4k for W40 + W50) and Men @ 14.40 (4 x 4k  legs)

Cost is £24 for a junior team and £9.00 for u/20, senior and masters per head. 

Payment should be made at the same time as adding your name.

If you want to race i need names by Tuesday 6th Oct

Please make sure your SA number is valid on the 6th Oct and race day 24th Oct. The system does not allow entry if not.

Please register your name HERE.  Those registered are listed HERE.

Club Training Thursday 24th September

Continuing with the theme of consolidating endurance by maintaining mileage during the club sessions, tonight's session is a longish steady run but without so many hills as last week. The route is Down the Kingsway to Kingsgate. Along the Stewartfield by-pass as far as the roundabout at the loch. Turn left and climb through Stewartfield. Continue to the mini roundabout at Stewartfield Rd, turn left and follow the pedestrian lane parallel to Stewartfield Rd down to West Mains Rd. Back to the club via Lidl, Avondale and the NEL roundabout.

Take it very easy as far as the Whirlies. Be very careful crossing the road at the Whirlies and the next roundabout. Pick up the pace to steady once you are through that second roundabout (B&Q) and keep it steady (approaching half marathon effort) until the top of Avondale.

Note that the training registration form registers names for the next session from 9pm on the preceding club training night. i.e. Registration for Thursday's session automatically opens at 9pm on Monday and registration for Monday's session opens at 9pm on Thursday. So you don't have to wait until I post this to decide if you are coming to training.................. If I am held up working late, I may not have time to post the session until the morning of the training but the form is still open.

Alan

Club Training Monday 21st September - Brancumhall

Monday's session is the fist cross-country session of this season at Brancumhall. For those new to this, the session is on the grass around the perimeter of Brancumhall football pitches. There is one small bank to run up on the lap but otherwise the loop is flat. The underfoot conditions range from firm to soft, depending on the weather. At this stage of the year, I expect the conditions to be reasonably firm, therefore a trail shoe should be fine, although if you have cross-country spikes, now is the time to get used to them. The streetlights cast light around the periphery of the pitches and you will find that your eyes soon adjust to the conditions.  One Harrier is usually kind enough to take all of the off-road shoes down to Brancumhall in their car, everyone else running there in their usual road shoes.

The session is similar to last week's Carron Place session i.e. threshold:

6 x 1 lap (approx 800m) at threshold with 2 minutes jog recovery. During the recovery, jog on round the lap and each subsequent rep starts/finishes wherever you are on the lap after the 2 minute recovery. As always, consistency is the name of the game and as this is threshold, nobody should be bent over double after any of the reps.

Alan

Club Training Thursday 17th September

As we enter the winter season of building endurance and strength, it is never too early for a Harriers' traditional route, the 4 hills. So that is what it is tonight. This is between 9 and 10 miles but feels tougher due to the (at least) 4 hills. Start off easy until reaching East Mains Rd (immediately after Market Hill) and then for every subsequent hill pick up the effort on the uphill part to a steady effort, easing back at the top of the hill. There are more than 4 hills on the route ranging from short, sharp hills (Dunedin) to longer drags (Lickprivick). Keep the effort the same irrespective of the length of the hill. This means not going too hard on the shorter hills. There are obvious cut-off's for those who are not ready for approximately 10 miles, specifically when reaching the Queensway, taking the direct route back to the club from there cuts off a few miles and hills.

Alan