Week 14 Last long run

Location: Centennial Park

Time: 8 a.m. Saturday or Sunday

Workout: Conversational endurance running.

Novice: 12 miles!  One lap of the park + first 8 miles of the course + back to Centennial via Blakemore and Natchez Trace

Intermediate/Advanced: 14 miles.  One lap of the park + first 10.5ish miles of the course + back to Centennial via Charlotte

The pace for this run should be 1.5 - 2.5 minutes per mile slower than your 5k pace.  (You should be at least 30 seconds slower per mile than your goal pace.)

Mark Your Calendars!

More information will be forthcoming, but our annual post-race party is scheduled for April 27, 7 p.m. at the East Centric pavilion.  We'll have food, beer and live music.  Plan on coming because everyone is welcome, even if you didn't run the race!

Shirts

If you want an East Nasty shirt, the very last day to order is Sunday, April 7.  Information is here.

Route #2

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

Round the Lake.  Run #2.

Being Good Neighbors

Every so often I think  it is important to remind everyone that running with 220 people is different than running with 5.  And as the days are getting longer and the weather getting nicer, we're going to have bigger crowds.  So keep these things in mind:

(1) Run on the sidewalk, or if that is not possible, on one side of the street.  Do not run more than 2 abreast.

(2) Cross at intersections.  You need to realize that the people behind you will probably follow whatever you do, so if you sprint in front of a passing car, the person behind you might as well!

(3) Speaking of intersections... pause a moment to let cars pass.  Even if you have the right-of-way, but courteous, stop and let a car go through an intersection.  Remember, there is not just one of you...

(4) Bring a change of clothes and enjoy a Wednesday night out in East Nashville!

Pint Night

This week NRC is hosting their monthly pint night.  ALSO, they will have sample sizes of the East Nasty gear to try on before you order.   Remember, if you want a shirt/singlet you must pre-order.  Here is the information about ordering.

Thursday Workout

6 p.m. Thursday April 4.  11th and Holly.

Track Workout.  4 x 1200 meters at 5k race pace, with 400 meter slow jog between repeats.  One reminder: it's pretty much impossible to do a track workout without a stopwatch.  In fact, when you're on the track, I think that a stopwatch is even better than a Garmin.  Bottom line, bring something so that you can time yourself.

ENFL

Mark

First let's talk about shirts!

We get all kinds of questions about how to get East Nasty gear.  We do usually do three shirts a year: a technical shirt in the spring, a cotton t-shirt around tomato festival, and something in the fall/winter (i.e. long sleeve Lululemon shirt, hoody, etc...)

This spring we are doing Pearl Izumi shirts/singlets.   You do not need to be running the 1/2 marathon to order a shirt as they will not be race specific.   Men have the option of a sleeveless shirt, or a short sleeve shirt.  Women have the option of a singlet or a short sleeve shirt.   Here are more details.

1/2 & Full Marathon Training, March 30/31

Location: Centennial Park

Date/Time: Saturday, March 30 or Sunday March 31 8 a.m. both days

There are several things going on Saturday.

Injury Screening.  This Saturday will be a free injury screening by Leah Sawyer of Results Physiotherapy.  She will be around after the run, and may even make an appearance at the ....

Saturday brunch!  This will be our first ever Saturday morning pot-luck brunch.  Here's how it works: you run, and then you come to brunch. Easy stuff.   Our gracious hosts are Emily Mitchell and Loran Shallenberger who live at 1112 Gartland in East Nashville.    Everyone is welcome, but this only works if you bring something, even if it's just orange juice.  Please sign up for something here and join us on Saturday!

The workout.

This week is our last structured workout.  After this weekend, the rest of the weekend runs will be conversational endurance runs.  Our goal this week is to run 6 or 8 miles at 1 minute per mile slower than your 5k pace, or at your goal pace...which ever one is slower.

This is an important workout for three reasons. (1) It answers the question: are you ready.   (2) This is our first run on the course at a pace close to race effort.  (Going up Demonbreun feels different when you are jogging rather than when you are racing.)  This is a very different course than Tom King for example.   Almost none of this course is flat, so you pace is going to vary a bunch.  On this course you cannot be a slave to the Garmin.  For example, if you want to average 8 minutes per mile, most of the time you will not be running exactly at that pace.  Down the hills you'll run a little bit faster and up the hills you'll be going slower.    (3) It is just a good workout.

Novice: Run 1 - 2 laps of the park.  Run 6 miles on pace (First 4 miles of the course, then right on wedgewood, right on Natchez Trace - back to our meeting location in the park.)  Slowly jog an additional lap of the park to cool down. 8 - 9 miles total.

Intermediate/Advanced: Run 1 - 2  laps of the park.  Run 8 miles on pace: (first 8 miles of the course. The 8 mile mark is right about 14th and Wedgewood), jog back to Centennial. 11 - 12 miles total.

See you this weekend!

Mark

2013 Spring Race Shirts Our Spring 2013 race shirts are now available for pre-order in our online store! Order at: eastnasty.storenvy.com

Please read these details carefully:

We have a short sleeve and a singlet option available for women, and a short sleeve and sleeveless option for men. These shirts will have our East Nasty logo on the front and a new East Nasty design on the back (were still working on that). They will not have Country Music Race specific art.

Last day to order is April 7th. If you dont order by then you will miss out – so order ASAP! Orders will be ready to pick up around April 19th. You will be able to pick them up at one of our East Nasty runs or at the Nashville Running Company store in east Nashville. We will let you know when they are ready and give more detailed info then. You MUST select the PICKUP-NO SHIPPING option during checkout to get your shirt in time for the Country Music Half/Full Marathon race on April 27th. There will not be enough time to ship these before the race.  *If you are out of town or dont need your order for the race, then select regular shipping and we will get it to you in the beginning of May. But if you’re local, we would prefer you just to pick it up. You can stop by Nashville Running Company anytime they are open to try these shirts on to find your correct size. (Note: they are closed on Sundays so dont wait until the last minute.)

If you have any questions, contact Duane at: duane@eastnastyforlife.com

The Run

We're starting over.  (There are 12 different routes that we run in order, we did #12 last week)  Run #1: One Hilly 5k.

Wednesday, March 27.  6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly.  (If you are a run/walker, be sure to check the Lasty Nasty facebook page to see when they are starting.  They usually leave 10-15 minutes before the main group.

That a moment to check out the route.  Of all our runs through Shelby Park, notice that this is the only one where we stay on the "inside" of the lake.

Cup volunteers!

It's time to volunteer to clean the cups!    This is a great way that you can help us out on Wednesday nights, and it's easy:  take the cups home, wash them (really sterilize them) and bring them back the next week.   I'm doing them this week, and my goal is to have every Wednesday covered all through the end of June.   Click here to sign up for a week.

Why do we wash cups you ask?  When we first started, we would go through 150+ disposable cups every week. In an effort to produce less waste, we went to reusable plastic ones.  This means a little more effort on our part, but less garbage every week...

Thursday night workouts

6 p.m. March 28 at the corner of 11th and Holly.

Back to the track.  5 x 1000 meters (2.5 laps) at your 5k pace, with a 400 meter (1 lap) easy jog between repeats.  Everyone is welcome.  All you need is a pretty good idea of your 5k race pace and a watch!

Please Read!

There is a minor change in our meeting location for Saturday, March 23.  We are going to meet by the McDonald's right at the edge of Centennial Park.  Also, do not try to park in the Park.  You will need to find street parking somewhere nearby. 

Saturday March 23 / Sunday March 24

Location: Centennial Park

Time: 8 a.m.

Workout:  Long slow endurance.  Conversational running, 1:30 - 2:30 minutes per mile slower than 5k pace.  We will be running on the 1/2 marathon course, so you need to know the course.  Go to the race website and learn the course!  There will be gatorade at 17th and Wedgewood (mile 4-ish, and 8-ish), but you may need to consider carrying water with you as you run.  Take with your pace group leaders for advice.

Novice:  10 miles.  Run the first 8 + miles of the course.   Continue straight on Wedgewood to Blakemore, turn right on Natchez Trace back to the park.

Intermediate: 13 miles.  Run the first 10+ miles of the course through the Gulch.  Turn right left (whoops) on Charlotte, run up to 25th.  Turn left on 25th into Centennial Park.

Advanced: 16 miles.  Run the entire 1/2 marathon course.  Make a u-turn at LP field and run back to Centennial Park via Church street.    (Over Woodland street bridge onto Union.  Turn left on 5th, turn right on church.)

If you look at the training plan, intermediate runners will do this weekend's 13 mile run and a 14 mile run in two weeks.  Advanced runners did 14 last week, they will do 16 this week, and 14 two weeks from now.  Why?  Most intermediate/advanced runners are looking to run well, and not just finish.   Which is great!  I'm excited when people move from "I just want to finish" to "I want to run fast!"   But in order to run well at a half marathon, the distance cannot be an issue.  Completing 13.1 miles should not be intimidating.  That is (one of the reasons) why we do runs that are longer than the race distance.   After the next three weekend runs, you should feel very confident in your ability to finish 13.1 miles.  Once the distance is no longer intimidating, you can focus on hitting a specific time goal.

Looking ahead

Next Saturday we will have our first Saturday morning brunch.   Stay tuned for more details, and plan on joining us for a post-run brunch.

Also, next Saturday (March 30) we will have our final injury screening.  Leah Sawyer, our physical therapist/1:45 pace leader who is on injured reserve herself, will be around next week to give advice on those inevitable aches and pains.

Post-race party.   Plan on joining East Nasty for our annual post-race party extravaganza.  It will be a great time!   Once again, more details later, but leave the evening of April 27th open!

The Nasty

Four times a year, our 12 route pattern cycles back to our signature run: The Nasty.

It's just about 6 miles, with just about 7 hills (or 8...or 9....)   It's tough.  But if when you finish this run, you become a true East Nasty, complete with your own sticker.

Wednesday, 6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly in East Nashville.

Thursday Workouts

This week we start our finishing work for the 1/2 marathon in April: track intervals.   Two quick notes:  (1) the next four weeks the workouts will be run at your 5k race pace, so you need to know that or have a good estimate.  (2) start bringing the shoes that you plan on wearing for the race.  What?  This might not mean anything to many people, but if you wear racing flats or lightweight trainers when you race, you should be doing your workouts in those shoes.

Which begs the question: Should I wear racing flats and will they make me faster?  You need to decide if you want to spend the money, and if your bio-mechanics can handle the almost complete lack of support and cushioning of racing flats, but they will absolutely, positively make you faster.  (Unless you already wear minimalist shoes, then you are already (basically) wearing racing flats...)

Here is a brief article that points out some things to consider...  Send me (Mark) an email if you have any questions, or contact the great folks at NRC or Fleet Feet Sports.

Week 11

Saturday March 16 / Sunday March 17

Location: Centennial Park.

Time: 8 a.m. for Half-marathoners & marathoners.

Workout:

Novice: 8 miles.  Just miles.  Run at a pace that is 1:30 to 2:30 slower per mile than your 5k pace.

Intermediate: 11 miles.  Fast Finish.   8 miles at your easy pace - speed up last 3 miles.  How fast?  Your last three miles should be about 1 minute per mile slower than your 5k pace.  So not really "fast" just "faster".

Advanced: 14 miles. Fast Finish.  11 miles at easy pace - speed up last 3 miles.  (see above)

Routes:

All of us are running on the 1/2 marathon course.  Here is a link to where you can find the printable course map.   (Go down to course information.)

8 miles:  First 5 miles of the course.  Left at Elmwood.  Left on 12th.  Left on Wedgewood.  Stay on Wedgewood (it becomes Blakemore).  Right on Natchez Trace.  Cross West End into Centennial Park.

11 miles: First 8+ miles of the course.  Back to the park via Blakemore and Natchez Trace (read above) + one lap of park.

14 miles: First 10+ miles of the course.  Left on Charlotte.  Turn on 25th.  One lap of park.

Shoe Drive

This is the week to bring your old running shoes.  We use these shoes to outfit local high schools, AAU track teams, and even some of your fellow East Nasties.   100% of these shoes find their way back into our local running community.

1) We don't want your lawn mowing shoes, we need running shoes that have some life left.

2) If you are going to bring some shoes on Wednesday, take a moment to throw them in the washing machine, and let them air dry before Wednesday.

3) Our stock of mens shoes is low.  Especially in the size 11 - 13 range.

Wednesday night run

Wednesday, March 13.  6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly.

We're on run #11.   Churches.

You'll notice that Meg Willoughby's map highlights the 11 churches we pass on this figure 8 course.  Take a minute to learn this course so that you can enjoy the architecture while you're out there!

Thursday Workout

Thursday, March 14.  6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly.

This week we are heading back to Shelby Park for a 3 or 6 mile progressive run.  This week we are going to run the first 3 miles at 1 minute per mile slower than 5k pace, and the last 3 miles at 50 seconds slower than 5k pace.  Progressive runs are helpful because this is exactly how you should race a 1/2 or Full marathon.  A lot of people go out fast to give themselves "a buffer" for their goal pace.  Bad bad idea.  You want to be able to finish a half marathon stronger/faster than you started.   The way that you do that is you start out under control...

See you this week!

ENFL

Mark

Looks like the weather will be great, so get ready for a big running weekend!

Full & Half Marathon Training

Even with the Tom King races this weekend, we will be meeting both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

Three big notes:

1) Marathon training starts at 7:30 a.m. and half marathon training starts at 8 a.m.

2) We are moving locations.  We will meet at Centennial Park for the next 5 weeks.

3) Daylight savings time starts on Saturday night.  Spring forward and don't show up an hour late!

Marathoners are having a big weekend.  17 or 20 miles.  Half marathoners are having a down week.  6, 8 or 10 miles on the race course at an easy pace.

Tom King Water Stop

Saturday morning, we have our annual Tom King water stop.  Join us any time between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. at 5th and Davidson.  This is a very busy water stop, so we really need 10 - 20 volunteers to make it work.   Come by for an hour, or just 10 minutes...just come by!   The specific location is pretty obvious: get off at Shelby, turn right (toward the park), then turn right on 5th.  You will see/hear our water stop on Davidson underneath the interstate.

Shoes

Just another reminder about our shoe drive on March 13.  Please take a moment this weekend to wash your shoes, and bring them on Wednesday.  Thanks!

Shoes

Two or three times a year, East Nasty collects your old running shoes and finds them new homes.   Local runners, local high schools and AAU track clubs have all benefited from your old running shoes.   Over the last three years we've given away hundreds of shoes, that go right into our local running community.  This spring we've gotten more requests than we can fill, so we need your help.

We are having our next shoe drive on March 13.

If you have any old running shoes (that have some life left in them) please take time this week to clean/wash them (washing machine is fine) and bring them on the 13th.  

Tom King Water Stop

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

 Hello there - for the past 5 years East Nasty has hosted the water stop for the Tom King 5k and 1/2 marathon race that is coming up this Saturday.  Again this year, we have the best water stop position on the course, (We are at the mile 1 and 12 mark for the 1/2 marathon and we are at the turnaround for the 5k race) but we need volunteers to fill up water cups and hand out water to the runners.  Everything will be provided - the water, the cups, the tables, the Drew Jones experience in full force and the music.  We need as many people as possible to be there to help out.

 This year the race will be run a little differently. The 1/2 marathon will start at 7:30 and the 5k will start 15 minutes later at 7:45. In years past the 5k has always run first but not this year. So we need people there between 7:15 - 7:30 am to start filling up cups with water and be ready to pass out cups to the runners from about 7:40 on. The 1/2 marathon is an out and back course so we will need people throughout the morning. You of course do not have to stay there the entire time but this is a big race with lots of runners so we will need dozens of volunteers.

 As you know East Nasty is a totally free running club. Everything we offer and everything we do is free and open to anyone who wants to join us. The Tom King water stop is a yearly tradition for us and a great way to give back to the running community...and it's fun!

 Our water stop is at the corner or 5th and Davidson. There will be plenty of places to park and the weather is supposed to be beautiful. Hope to see tons of East Nasties out there this Saturday morning either running in the race or helping us cheer them on.

ENFL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Drew Jones

The Run

Wednesday, March 6.  6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly, East Nashville.

Route #10.  I love this run because it takes us across Eastland, but it is our most "technical" route as far as street crossings go, especially at the beginning of the run.   Make sure that you cross intersections at stop signs, specifically 14th and Woodland and Woodland and Eastland.  Your pace leader will be there to help.

Thursday Workout. March 7

Our workout this week is a 5k or 10k steady state run.   Like usual, we'll meet at 11th and Holly at 6 p.m. on Thursday.   We'll jog down to Shelby Park to do one or two 5k loops.  The goal is to drop the pace as the run progresses.  Starting at a pace that is about 1:20 slower per mile than 5k pace, speeding up by about 10 seconds per mile per mile (that was not a typo...), then finishing at a pace that is about 30 seconds per mile slower than 5k pace.  Everyone is welcome to join with us!

Pint Night

First Wednesday of the month means pint night at NRC.  Bring a change of clothes (or not) and head over after the run for a Yazoo with friends.   As always this is a free gift from our friends at Nashville Running Company.

Mark

Hellooo East Nasty!  Last weekend 40+ East Nasties descended upon New Orleans to run the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon & 1/2 Marathon.  We started training in November, matching shirts were procured, flights purchased, body glide amassed in bulk - we were ready.  But was New Orleans ready for us?

The race was on Sunday & most of us arrived on Friday, so we had plenty of time to, um, acquaint ourselves with the Big Easy.

Don't worry, kids, those are waters & Coca Colas.  We Nasties are a hydrated bunch.  Having spent Friday night fully "acquainting" ourselves with the city, we spent the majority of Saturday at the race expo meeting Olympic athletes & making totally serious Road ID bracelets.

Sunday - race day!  The race started at 7am & we had to be in our corral by 6am, so it was an early morning.  Thanks to Duane, we were all in matching green East Nasty shirts, so it was fun to spot each other as we made our way to our respective corrals.  Corral 17, represent!

We had all pretty much accepted that we would be running this race in the rain.  The forecast called for a near 100% chance, but it totally didn't rain!  In fact, conditions were so good that many of us PR-ed:

PR:

Courtney Terrell, 2nd place in age group, 8th OVERALL!

Kevin Christian, 3rd place in age group

Erica Tober, 1:39

Zach Layne, 1:55 (just 55 minutes behind Mo!)

Denise Leaver, 1:56 (21st in her Division!)

Mark Charlton, 1:57

Allison Miles, 1:58 (PR by 29 minutes!)

Katherine Knight Layhew, 2:00

Kayla Burton, 2:01

Matthew McCarthey, 2:07

Kristine Mylls, 2:07

Alicia Palladino, 2:12

Joe Livaudais, 2:21 (PR by 9 minutes!)

Greg Kyle, 2:53 (for the full!)

Rainy Atherton

First Full:

Bree Roy, 3:35

Eric Block, 3:47 (& a stress fracture to boot - ouch!)

Jayson Liddle, 3:56

Justin Curtiss, 4:31

Abiola Oyekamni, 4:55

Polly Alexander

First Half:

Clay Cline

Britney Hoekenschnieder Cline

In news that should shock no one, I didn't PR because I stopped along the course to take pictures.  I mean, that race wasn't going to Instagram itself.

East Nasty made a good showing, but in the end, we couldn't compete with Olympians.  Double Olympic champion Mo Farah outsprinted Ethiopia's Gebre Gebremariam to win the half marathon in 1 hour, 59 seconds, breaking the course record.  To put that in perspective, I was at Mile 5 while Mo was crossing the finish line.  So, yeah.  So close!

As we all made it across the finish line, we met up in City Park to congratulate each other & encourage those still running to finish strong.  I'm guessing, but I'd say about 1 million pictures were taken at City Park, and yes, primarily by me.  You're welcome.

After a few beers, some jambalaya & a nap, East Nasty reconvened at Pat O'Briens to celebrate our awesomeness with over-priced, over-sized, but well deserved hurricanes.

New Orleans, it's been real.  Thanks for an awesome time.  We'll see you again next year!