1/2 Marathon Training

Sunday, April 1: Shelby Park 8 a.m.

We are about a month away from the 1/2 marathon, and our run this week is an extremely important one: 6-8 miles at goal 1/2 marathon pace.   This run is a very specific race-simulation type workout, and it will help you go into the race with a realistic goal.   For example, if on Sunday you have trouble running 6 miles at 9-minute pace, then you certainly won't be able to run 13.1 miles at 9-minute pace in a month!  Conversely, if 8 minute miles feel comfortable for 8 miles, then you are probably right on track for a 1:45 half-marathon.

This run will be back at Shelby Park.  We're meeting at 8 a.m.  Once again, we'll be running the 3 mile (actually 4.9 kilometer) loop through the park.

Novice: 10 minutes easy + 6 miles @ goal pace + 10 minutes easy

Intermediate: 15 minutes easy + 7 miles @ goal pace + 10 minutes easy

Advanced: 2 miles easy + 8 miles @ goal pace + 2 miles easy

* Note: the 3-mile"ish" loop is probably about 80 meters longer than 3 miles.   So for every lap subtract 20 - 40 seconds (depending on pace) to get your 3-mile time.

Brunch

Brunch is back on for this week!  Allison Miles lives on the East Side over by KIPP Academy Nashville.  Here is more information, including her address, but more importantly a place for you to sign up for something to bring!  (Love those waffles!)

See you on Sunday!

Mark

Back to the Start

This Wednesday we are back to Run #1.  An easy 5k that goes down Shelby, through the park, and comes back up Holly.  5 turns total.  We meet at 6 p.m at the corner of 11th and Holly in East Nashville.

Being Good Neighbors

99% of the time we need to run on the sidewalk where they are available.  But as we get into the warmer months and our neighbors become more active there are certainly some situations where we can veer off the sidewalk.  Use your best judgement, but please be courteous when you see people walking on the sidewalk - especially families.

Thursday Tempo Workout

This week we are running tempo miles.  You can run an entire mile or you can run for a particular amount of time, if it takes you longer than 6 minutes to run a mile.

Advanced:  6 x (1 mile or 6 minutes T / 1 minute rest)

Intermediate: 5 x (1 mile or 6 minutes T / 1 minute rest)

Novice: 5 x (5 minutes T / 1 minute rest)

We meet on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly.

Brunch On Sunday

Brunch is back this Sunday! All are welcome - but, please sign up here to bring something and get details if you are planning to come.

See you tonight. -Mark

Earn your stripes!

Every 12 weeks, we cycle back to run #12, The Nasty.  It's our 6-mile trademark run, where completion = entrance into an exclusive club....well, not really "exclusive" but you do get a bumper sticker.  There is a shorter option, (alas, no sticker) so please join us even if you don't have 6 miles in you.  This is a longer route, and the pace groups get strung out - so make sure that you have looked over the map before you come.  In fact, print it out if you don't know your way around the East Side.  Just to sweeten the deal this week, we've ordered up perfect weather and we have a couple of special additions

A New Sticker

There is a ton of graphic design talent in our group, and their collective brains have come up with some great stuff for the spring.   One thing is a new bumper sticker...be there Wednesday night to find our more details...

First round is on the Competitor Group

Post run plan on heading down to 3 Crow. Why?  Well, in addition to the normal reasons of building community and getting to know some fellow endurance athletes, the folks who put on the rock'n'roll marathon series want to buy us a round.  Bring a change of clothes and enjoy a great spring evening together!

Cups

We need cup washers!   Please sign up.

Thursday Tempo

Our Thursday workouts continue with more tempo running.  These next two weeks are our toughest tempo runs.  Remember to keep your effort level in the prescribed levels...

Advanced: 2 x 20 minute tempo (5 min slow jog) 85% max heart rate.

Intermediate: 3 x 10 minute tempo (2 min slow jog) 85% max heart rate.

Novice: 20 min tempo 90% max heart rate

Thursday - 6 p.m. corner of 11th and Holly.

See you on Wednesday. - Mark

Wednesday 3/14 - Π Day Run

March 14th (3/14) is Pi Day - so we should probably run 3.14 miles.  But instead we're going 4.4 miles as we run Route #11: Churches.  This route takes us by some beautiful architecture, so now that we have some more light for our runs (yay!) be sure to slow down to take a look  - especially Tulip Street Methodist church at 6th and Russell. Also, this is a figure 8 loop, so beginners could cut this run short.

6p.m. Wednesday at the corner of 11th and Holly.

NCAA Bracket

Join the East Nasty NCAA bracket challenge.  $1.  Winner take all, last place gets their money back.  Play in games don't count.  First round picks get 1 point, then each round the points double.  We understand that the play in games won't be finished by tomorrow night, but I don't think any of those teams are getting past the first round anywhere...   So fill out a bracket, and give it and $1 to Drew Jones on Wednesday night.

Thursday Night Workout

Last Thursday, 5 souls braved the rain to do hill repeats.   To those people - you are champions.  This week we are going back to tempo running.   We meet at 11th and Holly at 6 p.m.

Advanced - 35 minutes tempo running.  85% max heart rate.  45 seconds per mile slower than 5k pace.

Intermediate - 25 minutes tempo.  85% max heart rate.  40 seconds per mile slower than 5k pace.

Novice - 20 minutes tempo.  90% max heart rate. 25-30 seconds per mile slower than 5k pace.

See you Wednesday!

Mark

Here's the story that NewsChannel5 did on East Nasty last night (March 7, 2012) East Nasty story on NewsChannel5

Shout outs to everyone (including board members Drew Jones, Rod Jones, Heidi Huerta and JP Cowan) who represented the group so well.

ENFL!

Wednesday Night Run

This Wednesday is Route #10: Benji. This is one of the routes where we cross Eastland ...twice. Both times are going to be at the busy corner of 14th and Eastland - make sure that you cross with care at the intersection. You want to run against traffic on Eastland, so be sure to cross the street at 14th before turning right onto Eastland so you can run on the other side. As always, we meet at the corner of 11th and Holly at 6 p.m.  (Be excited: more light starting next week!

Afterwards, Nashville Running Company is once again hosting their monthly Pint Night. Stop by the store after the run for some complimentary Yazoo brew.

Also, this week is the last week that we have someone signed up to clean the cups. Here is the volunteer sheet - please sign up to take a week!

Extra Mileage on Wednesday Nights

A decent percentage of runners on Wednesday nights run more than the designated route. Many people run 2 extra miles at 5:40ish, while some add two miles after they finish the route. Either way, if you are looking to add-on some additional miles, show up and let people know! Similarly, if you are one of those people who run extra miles before or after, announce it to the group and invite new folks to join in.

Thursday Night Workout

Long hills week #2. These workouts are hard, but give you amazing returns on your efforts. Meet Thursday, at the corner of 11th and Holly at 6 p.m. If you can run 5 miles, we will scale the workout to your ability!

Tom King Weekend

If you are running in the Tom King - good luck! If you are not running, you need to be at the East Nasty water stop. Since the course is an out and back, our water stop is both the first and the last water station. (Mile 1 and Mile 12)  We are located right under the interstate on Davidson. Here is how you get there from the interstate: get off on Shelby Ave, turn right on 5th, drive to Davidson, park. Get out of your car, walk to Davidson and turn right. You should see/hear us from there. We need people in two shifts: between 7 and 8:30. Then between 9 and 11.

In all seriousness, putting on races is difficult and this is one way that we can give back to the running community that has influenced so many of our lives. Please make an effort to come out and join us. It really is a lot of fun. If you have any questions, email Drew Jones at rdrewjones@hotmail.com.

Note: the 1/2 marathon is sold out, so let's get out there and have a great water stop!

See you on Wednesday.

Mark

Wednesday Leap Day Run

We won't have another leap year day on a Wednesday for about 28 more years!   So come join us at the usual place, the usual time.  6 p.m. at the corner of 11th & Holly in East Nashville.  This week we will be running Route #9: LP Field.

Thursday Night Workout

We are taking a 2 week break from our tempo running to do long hills!   We will be running down to Shelby Park and up Sevier hill.  The hill is about 1/2 mile, and should take people between 3 and 5 minutes to complete, then we will jog back down to recover.  We will do either 6 repetitions or 20 minutes of hill climbing - whichever comes first. Meet up as usual at 6 p.m. at 11th & Holly.

Tom King Water Stop on Saturday March 10th

For the past 4 years East Nasty has worked the water stop for the Tom King 5k & 1/2 Marathon - the best water stop any race has ever seen. The Tom King is on March 10th this year and we are in charge of the same water stop again this year. The 5k is at 7:30 and the 1/2 marathon is at 8:00. We will be stationed on Davidson underneath the interstate which is the turn around on the 5k course and the 1 mile / 12 mile mark for the 1/2 marathon. It is a great location to be at and all we need  is as many East Nasties as possible to be out there to hand out water and cheer on your fellow runners. The water, the cups and the music will all be provided so just show up with your favorite east nasty shirt on and ready to volunteer. This is really a fun event to be a part of and is one of the few times during the year that we ask you to give back. You can come and leave whenever you like but please plan on joining us out there. You can talk to Drew if you have any specific questions about the race and or water stop.

Funky Umbrella's Wicked Amazing Super Party

Our good friend Kevin Kaz is having his second annual (hopefully annual) party this Friday night, March 2nd at 9pm at 3rd & Lindsley.

Here are some details from Kevin: Friday, March 2nd at 9pm at 3rd & Lindsley. 3 bands - Ryan Cavanaugh, Captain Midnight, Sky Hi. The format is the same as last year. 1st band is loaded with musical talent. Make it an early night if you have a long run in the morning. 2nd band is a wild card. A little different, but rocking. 3rd band is all about party time. For those that want to stay up late and boogie down. Our own Jones brothers will be emceeing the evening. Here's a link to the Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/events/287067768022627/

New Orleans Half & Full Marathon

Be sure to wish good luck to all the Nasties heading down this weekend to run in the New Orleans Mardi Gras Half and Full Marathons! Let the good times run! ENFL!

Wednesday Night Run

The days are getting longer, the weather looks nice and warm - there is not a better way to spend Wednesday night than joining us for Run #8: Rick's Market (Coldest Beer in Town).   6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly in East Nashville.   And please: learn the route and volunteer to lead a group!

Thursday Night Tempo

A lot of us are already beginning to feel the benefits of the Thursday night workouts.  So if you are looking to run the half marathon, or if you just want to run in a faster group on Wednesdays, come join us Thursday.  Same time, same place as Wednesday - although we do start on time on Thursdays :)

Novice: 20 minute tempo, Intermediate: 25 minute tempo, Advanced: 30 minute tempo.

Spring Half-Marathon / Marathon Shirt

Ordering for our Spring 2012 race shirts (full marathon, half marathon, & plain) will close after Wednesday night!  You can get more info and order yours online over on the Shop page. These are the shirts that East Nasty will be wearing for the Country Music Half/Full and all other spring races. You can head over to Nashville Running Company to try one on to find the size that fits you best. Place your order today before you forget and miss out!

See you Wednesday night. -Mark

Wednesday Night Run

February 15, 6p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly we will run Route #7: Little Hollywood.  This week we cut back on the distance (3.2 miles) and run through a great part of East Nashville.  Make sure that you check out the houses as we run down Ordway toward the golf course.  Also check out the map and please volunteer to be a pace leader.

Shirts

Our Spring race shirts are ready to order!  Click the Shop tab above for more info and to order online. Lee and the NRC crew have invited us down to their store after the run to (a) finish the beer from their grand opening, and (b) try on the shirt in a warm, dry place. You can also head over to NRC at any time they are open this week to try on the shirts to get your size right before you order online. Shirts will be available for order through NEXT Wednesday the 22nd. Get your order in before then! Also coming soon: new casual 50/50 shirts for men and women, and probably Lululemon tanks for women. Stay tuned.

Thursday

We're got a couple of things going on Thursday:

(1) Thursday workouts.  6 p.m. at 11th and Holly.  This week we continue our tempo workouts with a steady state tempo run.  Novice and Intermediate will run 20 minutes, while the advanced will run 25 minutes.    The bulk of this run should be done at about 90% of your max heart rate - or about 30 seconds slower per mile than your 5k race pace.  Depending on fitness, the total mileage should be between 5.5 and 8 miles.

(2) NRC is hosting their first movie night.  They are going to show the movie "Unbreakable: The Western States 100" . Even though I know what happens, the movie still looks pretty sweet. The movie will start at 7:30, and if you don't feel like doing a tempo run with us, NRC will have an easy run from their place at 6:00.

See you Wednesday! -Mark

In this post: Wednesday night run, being a good neighbor, want to run Chicago? Too Bad and Thursday night tempos.

Wednesday Night Run

Our run this week is Route #6: Riverside - about 4.5 miles. We cross through Shelby Park and head up Riverside.  For you East Nashvillians: it's easy to get turned around on this route - so if you live on the east side, please check out the map and volunteer to lead a pace group.  And everyone needs to look at the route sometime before 6 p.m. Wednesday night!

As always, we meet at 6p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly in East Nashville.

Being a Good Neighbor

Reflective gear.  Running with 200+ people on a Wednesday night is fantastic, but we have to operate differently.  This week I want to remind people to wear reflective gear.  Better yet, run with a light.  It keeps us all safer.

Want to run the Chicago Marathon?

Too bad.  It sold out in 6 days.  Yet another reminder (like the Mumford and Sons concerts....) that you need to be on the ball!  Seriously, big marathons are selling out in record time, and Chicago should be on your marathon bucket list.  (If you don't have one...you should create a race bucket list...)  So prepare yourself for 2013, and be sure that your ready when registration opens!

Thursday Night Workout

After 4 weeks of hill repeats - we are starting our tempo runs.  Tempo runs are the common thread through any training program - from the marathon to the mile, every distance runner should be doing tempo runs.  Tempo runs are "comfortably hard".  Meaning that you should be just on the edge of breathing hard.  That correlates to about 90% of your max heart rate - or about 25-30 seconds per mile slower than your 5k race pace.  Tempo running is usually done by time, and here is our workout this week:

Novice:  4 x (5 minutes tempo / 1 minute jogging)

Intermediate: 2 x (10 minutes tempo / 2 minutes jogging)

Advanced: 3 x (10 minutes tempo / 2 minutes jogging)

We meet on Thursdays at 6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly.   This week we'll be running down to LP field and running laps of the stadium.  I know, I know...boring...but this will keep us all together and in a well lit area.  We'll move to Shelby once the days get longer.  If you run a little bit on the sidewalk, you can create a perfect mile loop around the stadium.  Here is the loop.   The entire workout should be between 5.5 and 8.5 miles - depending on fitness.

- Mark

Just putting in the miles...

After a couple of weeks of structured long runs (a time trial and a tempo run), the next three weeks are just "time on your feet."  We're not even worried about how far you run!  We all just need to run for a designated amount of time.  Also, for a change of venue, and the addition of hills, we are going to be meeting at the Belle Meade entrance to Percy Warner Park (under the stone gates.)  If you have never run out there, this park is amazing, and only about 15 minutes from East Nashville.

Sunday morning, we will have several groups: novice, intermediate and advanced - and trail or road.  Whether you run trails or the road, everyone needs to run at a conversational pace - even if you have to walk some up the hills!  Your heart rate should be about 75%, peaking at 80% of your max on the steep hills.  How does this feel?  Conversational.  This run should be hard because of the duration not because of the intensity.

Workout -

Novice:  70 minutes (probably the 5.8 mile road loop +)

Intermediate: 80 minutes

Advanced: 100 minutes (white and red trails or 11.2 mile loop)

See you at the Percy Warner Stone Gates at 9am on Sunday! Remember, our workouts and locations of those workouts are outlined on our training plan.

Brunch

The best part of Sunday runs!   This week David Canas and family is hosting out in Brentwood.  Here is the information, including the Canas' address.   Please sign up to bring something!    It's important that we all contribute.

-Mark

In this post: Wednesday night route #5, NRC happy hour, Thursday hills and Speed Sessions.

Wednesday Night February 1st

The run this week is Route #5, a 4.3 mile scenic run that takes us across the pedestrian bridge into downtown. Meet us at 6 p.m. at 11th & Holly. We'll need a couple of  new pace leaders. Find us by the water coolers to volunteer.

Post Run

After the run, NRC (Nashville Running Company) is going to host their first monthly post-run happy hour. So plan on heading over there after the run. The store is located in 5 POints at 1105 Woodland Street - right between the new Animal Hospital and the East Nashville Post Office.

Thursday Workouts

Thursday night February 2nd is our last pedestrian hill workout. We'll run 6, 8 or 10 repeats. Meet at 6p.m. at 11th and Holly if you want to join us. Remember, we scale the workout so it can be done by advanced, intermediate or novice runners!

Speed Sessions

Speaking of workouts, if you are looking for some very structured/personalized training, speed sessions is for you. Below is a little more information.

Are you looking to become a faster and more efficient runner?

Winter speed sessions from Fleet Feet Sports is a program designed to do just that. The training sessions will be on Tuesday mornings and Tuesday evenings and will last for 11 weeks. Speed sessions are open to all different levels of runners but as a rule of thumb you should be able to run 3 miles without stopping if you want to take this program. Winter speed sessions are geared towards those who are training for a 1/2 or full marathon but again would benefit any runner who is trying to improve. The workouts will change each week and they typically will last about an hour. The 6:00 am sessions will meet at Christ Presbyterian Academy and the 6:00 pm sessions will meet at Centennial park. You are welcome to come to whichever one best fits your schedule each week. The workouts will consist of a warm up, drills, strides, intervals and cool down each of which will be explained to you. In order to become a faster / better runner you need to teach your body what faster feels like and that is exactly what speed sessions will do. Mark Miller and Drew Jones have been the coaches for the past 5 years and speed sessions has been very successful for a lot of runners. As we tell people each year if you come out and do 11 weeks of speed workouts in a row then it is impossible to not be a better runner at the end.

Click here if you are looking to sign up.

See you Wednesday evening. -Mark