July 14

One month away... August 14, Tomato Fest 5k.  Sign up, get ready, be there...

Speaking of 5k races...there has been a surge in long distance races, and I think that it is partly a bad thing. It seems strange that a lover of endurance races such as myself would have a negative view of long distance races.  But recently it seems that a marathon or a half-marathon or even an Ironman is often a new athletes' introduction to racing. Long races are great accomplishments, and are usually extremely fun events - but they are also exhausting, often cause injury and very time consuming if you train properly.

So I encourage you to learn to enjoy shorter races.  The ones where you recover after 2 days rather than after 2 weeks. Where your weekend long run is 8-10 miles instead of 18-20.  Why not try and run a fast 5k, as opposed to another marathon?  Read this article from Running Times for more thoughts on the matter...

Run #3

Check out run #3.  The first 1.25 miles of the run is identical to run #1.  But then it changes: you run all the way down Franklin and turn left on Scott Ave.

Potato to Tomato

Our couch-to-5kers are in their 4th week of training.  We all know how difficult it can be to maintain motivation during those middle weeks of a training regimen (think: mile 2 of a 5k, or miles 6-10 of a half marathon).  Take a moment tomorrow to encourage them in their journey!  Who knows, maybe they'll become full time East Nasties at the end of the program...

Sunday Trail Runs

Trail runs continue this Sunday, 8 a.m.  at Percy Warner park.  Be there for 4.2 or 9.2 miles.

Mark