Can you believe that it is 2009?  Crazy.  That's all I have to say about that. This Sunday is out first official East Nasty 1/2 marathon training session.  We meet at 9:00 am every Sunday at a variety of locations.  This week is at Shelby Park, under the train bridge.   I will remind you each week where we are meeting, but look at the bottom of this blog:  I have links to the three training plans.  Each of the plans tells you where we will be meeting each Sunday morning...

Watch the weather channel and be prepared to run rain or shine.   Bring a change of clothes to get warm and dry after the run, and bring some $$ to grab some coffee after the run.  After we finish, we usually head over to a local coffee shop to grab a bagel and a cup of joe.  This week we are going to invade Ugly Mugs (across from Rosepepper) where fellow East Nasty Dave Coleman brews some fantastic espresso drinks.

I have no idea what the weather will be like, but I'm sure it will be cold for at least one of our Sunday runs, so here are a couple of cold weather tips:

1) Your lungs will not freeze..this is a myth, but cold air is very dry -  you may not feel dehydrated but you are.  So be sure that you are drinking lots of fluids.

2) Dress as if you are going for a walk in weather that is 15-20 degrees warmer than the current temp.  So if it is 40 degrees, dress as if you were going to a walk in 60 degree weather.

3) Wind can make things seem really cold. If it is cold and windy, wear a light weight windbreaker and you'll be nice and toasty.

4) Keep your head and hands warm.  

5) Bring dry clothes to change in to after your run, and change ASAP.  I always keep a fresh pair of socks, and a towel in my car; and on Sunday mornings, I bring a complete change of clothes, (especially because we usually head over to a coffee shop after our run.)

6) If your shoes get wet, take the insoles out, and cram them full of newspaper.  (I am always excited when people get to take advantage of this little trick because it's amazing!  It works incredibly well.)

7) Always bring some sort of fluid for after the run. Water, gatorade, whatever...just drink a good 16-32 ounces of fluids immediately after you run.

I'm sure I'll have lots more tips over the next couple of months.  See you this Sunday!

Mark

Nasties - The shirts are in!  If you ordered a long-sleeve East Nasty t-shirt, they have arrived. You can pick up the shirt at Fleet Feet - or -  you will have to wait until our first Wednesday night run in January to pick them up.  They're $25.

Winter speed sessions:  If track workouts seem intimidating, or if you need a group to keep you accountable, then try winter speed sessions through Fleet Feet. (Coached by yours truly)  They are $50, meet on Tuesdays (mornings or evenings) from January 27 - April 14  and will improve your running by leaps and bounds!    If you are new to track workouts, this is a great way to learn how to do them.  More questions, shoot me an email, or read below. 

http://www.fleetfeetnashville.com/training-programs-0

Stay running over the holidays, be prepared to start on January 4th with a 40, 50 or 60 minute run.  

See you in a couple of weeks!

Mark

Nasties -  This will be our last organized run of 2008!   So for our final run of the year we will repeat our most popular run: the walking bridge.  This run takes us over the walking bridge through downtown and back on Woodland.   (This is a good one for those of us who are directionally challenged...)

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/tn/nashville/258946690351

Details:

Wednesday, 6:00pm, 11th and Holly.  

Be there to proactively work off some of those holiday cookies!

Mark

Our kick-off meeting went great yesterday.  It looks like we will have a good mix of Novice, Intermediate and Advanced runners.  There are even a couple of run/walkers who are going to join the East Nasty crew! If you did not get a training plan, they are posted here - (you can print them using your browser's print function):

Advanced:  http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbh8mj9_23hmkw66cm

Intermediate: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbh8mj9_24cjh43dsd

Novice:  http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbh8mj9_25dpk6g2gn

(Thanks Polly for posting these!)

NOTE:  The 1/2 marathon is expensive this year, and come January 1 it gets even more expansive!  Right now it's $80.  January 1 it goes to $90 and at the expo it's $125.  Sign up soon!

http://www.cmmarathon.com

PS  You'll notice there are some categories at the bottom of this web site.  I will categorize all of these in the 1/2 marathon category - and all the Wednesday night runs will be their own category.

Nasties - First - Thanks for a great party last night!    Food was fantastic.  Drew even brought his world famous buckeyes - which use such rare ingredients and take so long to make that he could only bring 4.   Thanks again to Ann for opening her home!

Second - A group of us will be training for the 1/2 marathon together.  It's free! I have three training schedules (novice, intermediate and advanced) and we meet every Sunday morning at 9am at various locations to complete our long runs.

The training officially begins on January 4th, under the train bridge in Shelby Park, but this Sunday at 9am we are going to meet together for a run (4.38 miles or shorter if you want) and then I will hand out the training schedules and the training logs.  (My running log is the closest thing to a journal that I have ever had...)  This week, and this week only, we will meet at my house - 314 S. 17th street, East Nashville.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/tn/nashville/457176704967

(I am going to try and post the training schedules here...I haven't quite figured out if I can or not...so I will have hard copies available the Sunday.)

It's Christmas in East Nashville, and this Wednesday night we'll do a Christmas lights run.  This route winds around the Lockeland Springs area - down Eastland and ends with the grand finale on the 1400 block of Forrest.  (You'll see...) http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/tn/nashville/584173733567

Stick around for the post-run Christmas party at Ann Butterworth's.  205 S. 12th street.

See you on Wednesday.

So East Nasty is entering the world of blogging.  I think that it will be easier (and perhaps more fun) for me to post our weekly running information here than to send out an email every week.   With that in mind, I am going to blog every week, and send you guys the link to the blog.  (So maybe I'm doing the exact same amount of work...but I am learning something new and this will give you guys an opportunity to comment about the fantastic training routes that I have been creating.) Be patient as I learn to navigate my way through wordpress.  I have some pretty exciting things in mind...