The main aim of the club is to develop the abilities of all its members. To achieve this, we run two coached training sessions per week, on Monday and Wednesday evenings, with our base being situated at the home of Clydesdale Cricket Club in the south-side of Glasgow (See the front page for this weeks meeting venues). All members of the Club follow the same training plan with 3 main pace groups that are interchangeable according to fitness or need. Training in one group allows you to run with people closer to your own ability, but with runners ahead to work with as you improve.
Running Training
We try to ensure that our training sessions are varied and effective, with the sessions organised around a training formulated by Robert Hawkins (Scottish Athletics National Endurance Manager – Olympic Pathway) in conjunction with our coaches. The overall objective of these coached sessions is to improve the speed, endurance and strength of our runners.
Typical of the sessions we organise are:
- short reps focusing on speed (200m to 400m reps or ‘pyramids’)
- fartlek sessions
- 600m to 2 mile reps (or time equivalent), building speed endurance
- hill sessions
- tempo runs
- drills
Training sessions (see front page for this week’s training sessions and locations):
- Monday 6.30 pm
- Wednesday 6.30 pm
Arriving
It is recommended that you arrive at least 10 minutes before training is due to commence to allow for registration and announcements. Our Monday sessions are held on the nearby Hutchesons Grammar School track which provides a safe, flat and well-lit environment throughout the year. Wednesday sessions are held in our local parks (Pollok, Bellahouston and Maxwell) during summer whilst in the darker, winter months we utilise a number of local road routes, generally in West Pollokshields and its environs. Our sessions and routes are risk assessed for safety.
There are also regular informal training runs (mainly on Fridays and Saturdays) with groups meeting for road runs, cross country and hill runs. As with the regular training sessions, runners can run with others of their own ability. There’s almost always a good turnout of runners and volunteers at the many free parkrun events in and around Glasgow on Saturday mornings.
For more information about joining, and what to expect, see the Join Us! page.
Racing
As a member of the Club you’ll always have the opportunity to participate by running in lots of different events, should you wish. We encourage our runners to participate in races, no matter what their level or ability, with the emphasis on fun and camaraderie. While it’s always satisfying to see our runners taking prizes at local, regional, district and national events, it’s equally satisfying to see a huge number of purple vests at races! Events such as the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon, the Tom Scott 10 Miler, Babcock 10k Series and Alan Scally 5k Road Relays regularly attract big turnouts from the Club.
Runners from the Club take part in a huge range of events including running in cross country relays, hill races, 10k / 5k races, road relays, duathlons and marathons among others. Whatever your running speciality you’re likely to find at least one kindred spirit at the Club. Even if you have never raced in your life why not give it a try? It’s hard work but always great fun!