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Gordon

Next Wednesday is the first of our after-dark runs from the Recreation Centre.

I've aired the idea a couple of times recently that all our winter Wednesday runs don't have to be around the same Crieff street route.

Bob tells me that Ochil Hillrunners often run up Dumyat with head torches on midweek evenings, so I don't see why we couldn't run round the Knock, on the main track and with headtorches, at least occasionally as an alternative to the standard route.

I suggest that we try it out, not next week but the following Wednesday, Nov 7th, and see how it goes. What do you think? Question

Hill Fairy · Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 162

Personally i would be happy to go with this idea (knee permitting). My concern however is people turning up without headtorches and hurting themselves in the dark.
It is probably worth having someone who is prepared to go on the usual run in case people turn up unprepared. Another possible solution is for some people to bring along an extra headtorch for those who dont posses one.

Liz · Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Posts: 171

Thanks Gordon i've now learnt another word for use in scrabble (iconoclasm) on the long winter nights to come!

Your suggestion sounds good to me, however, i'll have to make sure i'm fit enough to keep up so i don't get left behind on The Knock path in the dark! It might be a bit spooky( especially on Halloween)!

kaznicholl · Joined: 10 Oct 2007 Posts: 238

Reckon Liz! What a total nightmare that would be! Hope the knee gets better.

Kaz.

ian · Joined: 30 Sep 2007 Posts: 115

I've done a few of these headtorch runs before with other clubs. While they can be good fun, I don't think they offer much benefit in terms of training. You are generally running too slowly, making sure you don't trip, to gain any real benefit. On the other hand a fairly fast 5 or 6 miles can be an excellent session, as long as people are prepared to work quite hard. The headtorch run can however be a good social run.

I think it depends what people want to achieve from these runs. As I'm very rarely able to make it on a Wednesday night, I wouldn't want to push forward a particular point of view. But I wonder if it is worth looking at doing both - say a tempo run on a Wednesday, and a more gentle run with headtorches on a Thursday?

Simon · Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Posts: 36

I would be very much up for running with headtorches but would agree with the hillfairy that not everyone will turn up with them. I would be less concerned with the training benefits as if on completing the route round the knock you wanted a fast run around Crieff under the lights then that is still an option. For me personally the wed run around the streets with no variation week after week can become a bit monotonous so any change would be welcome. Myself and Phil did many runs last year with headtorches and found that it was quite possible to run most of the routes we would run in the daylight. ( so wed night up Ben Chonzie !!!! )