Reminder that membership fees are now overdue- if  you run regularly with the club and more importantly if you are entering official races/runs as  a Harmeny club member then you must be a paid up member of the club, please complete a membership form and give to Norma along with the fees  asap.

Annual Membership fees for 20010/11: £22

Membership Form: An updated membership form (Word Document) for the new membership year 10/11 can now be downloaded from the club website

Rigg race 2011 23 May 7pm Malleny Park

Permissions for rigg race 2011 are   underway so we need plenty volunteers  to help organise this – please get in touch with Frank Tooley to offer to help.

twitter

we are now on twitter for those of you who tweet! 

For SMS texts ‘follower’ to 86444.

Online - http://twitter.com/#!/Pentlandrunners

You can leave messages without having to log on to twitter personally.

If you need to  advice please ask either Norma or someone who knows about twitter as neither I nor Bob are very knowledgable!!

Club trip to Marrakesh - good luck to everyone running - and supporting - in Marrakesh, there are 21 Harmeny runners going to either run the half or full marathon on 30th Jan.

x-country

Anyone wanting to enter the last two Xc of the season first the Masters at Kirkcaldy 5th feb and the Nationals at Falkirk 19th feb
email tom  at tomhwhite@hotmail.com

Warm-ups & warm-downs

David mentioned that there wasn’t very much on warming up / warming down in the jogleader course he recently attended, and asked if we could jot down some (personal) thoughts and some routines. … quite appropriate for the weather we’re now facing.

“Why warmup? For the same reason you wouldn’t start your car on a freezing day and rev it up to 60mph: our body, like a car is a bit more efficient, and risks less damage, when everything has warmed up to its operational temperature.

General rules of thumb (Common Sense):

1 The shorter and harder you’re going to run, the more important a warm-up is. A sprinter will do a much longer and more intense warm-up than an endurance runner.

2 Progressive: Start gentle and build up

3 The one “no-no”: No stretching when cold!

4 If you’re aiming for a good time in a race, do a proper warm-up so your body is warmed up to race pace from the vary start.

Hard sessions / races: Regular (& even irregular) trackies will be aware we do a 4-lap (1600m) warm-up that lasts about 9-12 mins, but similar principles can be adapted to any level, including beginners.

Lap (or phase) 1:       Easy paced slow jog.            For beginners this could be a brisk walk & short (10s) jogs

Lap 2:             Whole body: eg Side steps, introducing arm swings and crossover steps for the fitter ones

Lap 3:              Drills:             eg heel flicks, high knee lifts, running backward, “Ski-pole bounces” and dynamic walking stretches: eg high knee lifts, Lunges,

Lap 4: Introduce pace: 3 or 4 x 20-25m”stretching out” reps at pace (but NOT sprinting unless you’re a sprinter!), with easy jog between.

(This is by no means an exhaustive list, and most runners or coaches will have their own favourites)

We should be slightly breathless and much warmer when we’re finished, and will be onto our second wind before the race or training session begins. We can also discard those extra layers of clothing before we start rather than carry them all the way round.

For a long, comfortably paced training run, you can often treat the first kilometre or two as your warm-up. It’s worth stopping after 10 minutes or so, especially with a mixed ability group of less experienced runners and doing some easy stretches (it can get everyone together again). I use a top- down routine:

> Relax you’re shoulders and roll gently in forward circles, then backward circles a couple of times

> Arms: Rotate each arm slowly forwards slowly and then backwards slowly.

> Middle / core: Hands on hips and rotate the hips in a circular movement, then reverse the direction

> Legs: some hopping or skipping or some squats or lunges

By this time everyone should have got their breath back and chatting away, ready to run.

Warm-downs

On a long, steady paced run your muscles will be operating within a relatively limited range, so it is worth doing a stretching routine at the end of a run to maintain long-term flexibility.

> Keep walking for a minute or 2

Include some of the stretches above, and consider including:

>   side lunges (feet slightly wider than shoulder width and bend to one side until there is a slight stretch on the inside of the opposite leg);

>   hold one leg just above the ankle and pull up it up behind you, standing as upright as possible (you may need to use you free arm and a nearby wall for support).

> Roll gently forwards to let your arms nearly touch the ground, unroll slowly using your core muscles ( not your back) until you’re looking at the clouds / blue sky with your hands in the small of your back.

The muscles being stretched should be as relaxed as possible. (Again, not an exhaustive list)

After a hard, fast (speed) session,  muscles will have been stretched beyond their normal working limits, so I tend to prefer a slow warm-down jog to get the lactic acid out, and only some very light stretching (optional) at the end.”

David Syme has compiled a book of stories about runs done in exotic locations, hence the name:

 “Running Away From Home”

The book is published by Diadem Books and has the ISBN: 0978-1-908026-00-2 and costs £6.99.

All royalties from the sale of the book will go to a charity; Tong-Len.  This in Tibetan language means inhaling the suffering of others and exhaling happiness and success to all beings.  It is an appropriate name for the Edinburgh-based charity which helps street children in Northern India.  It was founded by Anna and Gareth Owen who made the brave decision to provide a stable home, love and an education for the street children of Dharamsala.  The project relies entirely on the donations and goodwill of people who care;  we are delighted to contribute to this worthy cause.  Please look at the website www.tong-len.org and consider buying a copy of our book  through www.amazon.co.uk

Frank Tooley,  Paul Houston,   Fiona Syme,  Andrew Syme,  David Syme

PS can recommend  it - a really good read! Anne

Notes from the JogScotland jogleader conference last November

This was the first ever meeting for Jogscotland jogleaders, held in Glasgow with leaders from all over Scotland including  Aviemore, Dumbarton, and Tarbert ( Argyll). Comparing notes about organising JS groups with them they told us that one  problem they have is finding long enough routes in winter as there are not enough street lights to allow 5-6 mile lit runs – both groups have started using  headtorches to lead groups offroad in winter.  There was a totally inspirational talk by Mark Cooper,a  young lad from Edinburgh who had run 50 marathons in 56 days from Amsterdam to barcelona to raise money for Headway the charity for people with brain injuries.  If you ever get a chance to hear him talk do go as  his story is really inspiring.   

Other tips/bits of information were:

Nutrition

an ‘average’ runner   in average weather can run 90mins before needing to  drink water ( so if you’re well hydrated before a run you don’t need to take a water bottle for an hour’s run)

No good scientific evidence for:

Glucosamine helping joints

Compression clothing having any effect

Mbt/fitflops helping lose weight or improve muscle tone

Best food before a long run:

Muesli or porridge

Equally   good is tinned peaches

Beetroot juice good for endurance

Coconut water is apparently going to be the next best thing since sliced bread!

Coffee also good

Many elite athletes eg Paula Radcliffe (apparently)  use flat cocacola/pepsi as their marathon drinks rather than the well known sports drinks

Good recovery nutrition:

Low fat chocolate milk

Bowl of cereal

Recommendation to have some recovery drink/food within 2 hours of a long hard run to help the recovery process

Between 30-50% runners (this may apply to elite/extreme runners rather than most of us who do a couple of runs a week!) are iron  deficient so may need iron supplements

For those hoping to lose some weight, run on an empty stomach early morning.

PS all above tips not necessarily endorsed by editors of this newsletter – only passing on information!!

Details of upcoming runs from other clubs

 Scottish 4K Cross Country Championships to be held in Bellahouston Park on 30 January.  Please pass this, as appropriate, to athletes in your Club.  Closing date for entries is Friday 21st January. A hard copy of the Entry Form will be available on the Scottish Athletics website.

Race results

If we’ve missed any results just let us know and Tom will add them to his list and we’ll give you a mention in the next newsletter – thanks.

Promathon 4 Mile 1 Jan 2011                        237 Ran

105    Keiran Morgan                        27.51    

120    Ian Smith                                28.36    

157    Bob Douglas                            31.58    

223    Angela Nicholson                    40.25    

Parkrun 5k 1 Jan                                            131 Ran

33      Colin Barber                            21.10     

37      Keiran Morgan                        21.36    

61      Lucy Marshall                         23.05    

123    Ann Laidlaw                             32.08    

Parkrun 5k 8 Jan                                            75 Ran

23      Keiran Morgan                        22.23    

31      Tom White                              23.23    

32      Ian Smith                                23.35    

47      Nicola Freedman                    25.04    

70      Pauline White                         32.38    

East League / Championship 15 Jan            

Under11 Girls                                                   37 Ran

22      Beth Campbell                         7.41       

23      Beth Wedgwood                     7.51       

35      Megan Mclean                         9.31        4^th team over season

36      Rhianna Mawjee                      10.06    

Under 11 Boys                                                  44 Ran

24      Alex Bates                               7.11       

29      Ben Wilson                              7.30

33      Lucas Johnston                     7:47       5^th team over season

35      Guy Miller                                7.59      

36      Rory Cartlidge                        8.06      

Under 13 Girls                                                 32 Ran

20      Zoe Bates                                11.54     

Under 15 Boys                                                  39 Ran

30      Callum Campbell                      16.23    

Under 15 Girls                                                 45 Ran

31      Alison Broadhurst                  16.22    

45      Alice MacNab                         21.57    

Under 17 Men                                                  23 Ran

20      Sam MacNab                          28.35    

23      Mathew Donaldson                 32.52    

Senior Ladies                                                   123 Ran

71      Fionna Ross                             31.26    

85      Lorna Broadhurst                   33.18     10th Team over season

92      Chris Morgan                          34.01    

93      Lucy Marshall                         34.02    

101     Amanda Pennycott                 34.39    

104    Fiona Donaldson                     35.02    

109    Mo May                                    35.34    

115     Kirsty Stoddart                      37.10    

Senior Men                                                       240 Ran

81      Bill Murphy                              40.38    

145    Alan Kerr                                 45.26     16th Team over season

158    Gary Connelly                          46.09    

163    Darren Cavaroli                      46.29    

168    Paul Thompson                        46.43    

207    Tom White                              49.44    

226    Ian May                                   53.35    

The overall position combining results across all the age groups (U11, U13, U15, U17 and Adults) for the East District Cross Country League were:

Males       12^th team                      

Females    6^th team                         

Parkrun 5k 15 Jan                                           183 Ran

47      Andrew Bates                         22.59    

156    Pauline White                         30.13    

Race Dates  (I’ll get this better updated for next newsletter but here’s a rough list)

Sun 6 Feb Forfar multi terrain – check website for venue

19/02/2011 national x country championships Falkirk  

20/02/2011 RAF Kinloss to RAF Lossiemouth Half Marathon *                        Lossiemouth Community Centre                                                                                          

26/02/2011 Cupar 5 Mile Road Race Cupar, Fife                                                

Sun 20 Feb Kirkintilloch 12.5k  www.kirkintillocholympians.co.uk

Sun   6 March             Arbroath Footers 10 mile Ladies Only race.

Sun   6 March             Lasswade 10 miles

Sun   20 Mar  Alloa Half

Sun   13 March Inverness Half Marathon

Sat   19 March Mighty deerstalker (http://www.themightydeerstalker.com)

Sun   27 Mar  Grangemouth 10k

Sat 2   April Dunbar 10k

Sun10   April Edinburgh half marathon

Sun 10 Apr     Heaven & Hell half marathon (Venue : Stormont Hall, Perth aerodrome, Scone, Perthshire) 

Sun  10 Apr Lochaber Marathon

Sun 10 Apr Gala Harriers 10k and 3k fun run

Sun 17 Apr Edinburgh kilomathon

Sat  23 Apr Balmoral 10k 5k 2.5k and 1.5k

Sat  May Edinburgh to North Berwick road race

Mon 23 May Rigg Race ( Balerno gala)

NB Sun   02 Oct BUPA Edinburgh 10k – later then usual this year

 A copy of the  Provisional Road race event schedule for 2011 is on the club website

The full Scottish Athletics fixture list for the season is at http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk

Hill races/running

I had a look at all the discussions on facebook over the past year- here are most of the hill races/challenges that appeared in case anyone wants to start training for or find out more about one of these – maybe Iain or one of the other keen hill runners might like to add a bit more about hill running for the next newsletter??  Full list of Scottish hill runs see below.

http://www.glenshee9.co.uk/

Allendale challenge

Speyside way ultra marathon

Cateran trail

meall an T and half ben nevis

lairig gru ultra 28 mile

Grampian Mountain Challenge http://gmc.grampoc.com/

 Montane highland fling

2 breweries hill race Saturday 24th September 2011. http://twobreweries.org.uk/

Red moss revolution – round threipmuir and surrounding hills

Scottish Athletics Hill Races for early 2011                                                       

19/03/2011 Chapelgill Congrie Conga Hill Fun Run  Glenholm, Near Broughton, Peebleshire                                        

19/03/2011 Chapelgill Hill Race Glenholm, Near Broughton, Peebleshire            

Or check

http://www.shr.uk.com/Calendar.aspx or speak to Iain Morrice.

Our contacts are (replace AT with @))

Bob & Anne – bob.douglasATharmenyac.org.uk

Norma - normaboneATblueyonder.co.uk

Frank - tooley.frankATgmail.com

Ian May (handicaps) - ianmayATtalktalk.net

Iain Morrice