Welcome to Biggest Week of the Year for East Nasty!

It is East Nashville Tomato Fest week, which of course includes the East Nashville Tomato 5K this Saturday at 7:30am. There are going to be several opportunities on Saturday for you to participate and volunteer. Come be a part of our favorite week of the year! This is a long post - but contains everything you need to know about  this week. Please read the whole thing!

The Route - Wednesday Aug 8th

First things first – the route this Wednesday will be the East Tomato 5k race course. Here is a map. Many of us will be running in the race so we will get in a practice run on the course. We will be joined Wednesday night by our Potato-to-Tomato 5K Training Group that has been meeting 3 days a week all summer in Shelby Park. Please be sure to introduce yourself to these runners, congratulate and welcome them to the big East Nasty family as they have all trained very hard for the race this weekend.

The groups will start at different times tomorrow night but needless to say we will have a large group of runners out on the roads. It is very important to obey the rules of the road. Run on the sidewalk or on the left side of the street, do NOT run more than 2 people across and do NOT run out into the road in front of oncoming traffic. This is a very fun night and a big week for East Nasty – please do not ruin it for others by running in the middle of the road or jumping out in front of traffic and getting us into trouble with the police.

Our morning run meets at 5:50am and starts promptly at 6am. The evening run meets at 6pm. Both runs meet at our usual spot - the corner of 11th & Holly in front of the yellow ArtEmbrace house.

How can I participate on Saturday Aug 11th?

There are several different ways to be a part of East Nasty’s homecoming event this Saturday:

1) Run in the East Tomato 5k race. The race starts at 7:30am just off of the 5 Points intersection and there will be East Nasties all over the place. All we ask is that you wear an East Nasty shirt during the race. See more on shirts below. The Potato-to-Tomato Group will meet at out normal Wednesday night meeting spot ( 11th & Holly ) at 7:00 am for a warmup and then head down to the start of the race together.

2) Volunteer at the race. Our good friends at Fleet Feet Sports are sponsoring a water stop at mile 2 on the race course and our peeps at Nashville Running Company are helping out at the finish line. If you're not running in the race, we need some East Nasty volunteers to help them pass out water, help on the race course, and cheer on the runners. Contact Amanda (amanda@eastnastyforlife.com) or Drew (drew@eastnastyforlife.com) to volunteer. We need you!

3) Work the East Nasty 'water tent booth' during the East Tomato Fest. From 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday. East Nasty will have a tent set up right in front of 3 Crow Bar and we will be serving free water to anyone who is thirsty during the Tomato Festival. It is our way of giving back to the community as a thanks for letting us run on the neighborhood streets. We need volunteers to work a 2 hour shift. The volunteers will be passing out water, selling shirts, refilling coolers, getting ice, and spreading the East Nasty cheer. SIGN UP FOR A SHIFT HERE. Be sure to wear an East Nasty shirt. Contact Sarah Shearer for more details: sarahkshearer@gmail.com

4) Come and hang out. Even if you can not run in the race or volunteer please still try to come out to the Tomato Fest for a bit and spend some time with your running buddies. There will be live music, contests, art, parades, food and drink, free water and all things tomato all day long. Again all we ask is that you wear one of your East Nasty shirts with pride.

Speaking of Shirts...

We have 2 new shirts now available for you guys.

1) The 2012 Tomato tech shirt is now available for purchase for $20 at Nashville Running Company. These are high quality Pearl Izumi white tech shirts with our logo and Tomato 5K art in red.

2) Our 2012 cotton tri-blend t-shirt will be available for purchase for $20 at our Tomato Fest booth on Saturday. This years shirt is green, super soft, and comes in both men's and women's sizes. We will have a preview of them at the run on Wednesday evening. (We may have the shirts available for sale on Friday evening somewhere in 5 Points - if so, we will announce that here and on our Facebook page.)

A very exciting and fun week for East Nasty indeed. Please see Mark Miller, Drew Jones, Amanda Tungett, Sarah Shearer, or Duane Stephenson with any questions you have regarding this weekend. We will all be there at the Wednesday night run.

Hope to see all of you this week out there in Full Force  — EAST NASTY FOR LIFE – Yahhhhhhhhh  !!!!!

Drew (and Duane)

Tempo #2

Sunday 2/26 - We are back at Shelby Park.  9 a.m.

First of all, last week's long run was epic.  This week we are back at Shelby.

During the course of our 1/2 marathon / marathon training, we have several different types of runs.  Of course there are those standard, obligatory (and important) steady state long runs.  That is where you just start slowly, and build into a steady pace that is about 1:30 to 2:30 minutes slower per mile than your 3 mile time trial pace.

Interspersed in these long runs we have 4 structured tempo runs.  We still run a fairly long distance, but for periods of time, we will run at or above our goal 1/2 marathon pace.  (Tempo pace, which is 85-90% max heart rate, or between 20 and 45 seconds slower per mile than 3 mile TT pace.)  This week is one of those workouts...  The first 2 parts of the workout are the same for everyone the bold part is different:

Novice (80 min total): 15 minutes easy + 5 x (5 min Tempo + 1 min easy) + 20 min easy + 5 min tempo + 10 min easy

Intermediate (90 min total): 15 minutes easy + 5 x (5 min Tempo + 1 min easy) + 25 min easy + 10 min tempo + 10 min easy

Advanced (105 min total): 15 minutes easy + 5 x (5 min Tempo + 1 min easy) + 35 min easy + 15 min tempo + 10 min easy

Note: You need feedback for these types of run.  Types of feedback include heart rate, pace and perceived effort level.  During the "tempo" portions of your runs, your heart should be between 85 and 90% of your maximum.  Your pace should be around 20-30 seconds per mile slower than your 3-mile time trial pace.   (If you don't have a GPS watch, I am going to mark the quarter miles on the 3-mile Shelby Loop.)  Finally, your breathing should never be auditory.  i.e. If you can hear yourself breathing, you are going too hard.

Calling All Parents...

Part of our mission at East Nasty is to support local businesses...because we love East Nashville and want to make it a great place to live and run.   Well a couple of East Nasties have gotten together to open a new baby & children's consignment store!  You'll learn more about Amanda Silvera and Casey Sloss soon, but their new store (called "Cheep Cheap") has their grand opening this Saturday from 10-4.  Cheep Cheap is located in the Porter Road East complex, 711 Porter Rd.

See you on Sunday !

Mark

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

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

1/2 Marathon Training - Shelby Park 9 a.m.

This week we will still be meeting at Shelby Park outside of the nature center. (Which is a good reminder to download the training schedule.  It has all the workouts outlined of course, but it also lists our Sunday morning meeting locations.)

This week's workout is not completely straight forward, so please take a moment to read below.

Last week we ran a 3-mile time trial. Time trials / races are essential workouts because that pace is a benchmark that will determine our training paces. To begin, divide your three mile time by three to get your mile per pace, and we'll go from there. (As I explain the workout, I am going to use a hypothetical intermediate runner, "Bob", who ran 23:00 for the time trial last week.  Which is 7:40 per mile.)

The run is split into three parts: the warm-up, the workout, and the extra mileage. The first two parts will be the same for everybody (run at different paces of course), the last part will be different for the novice, intermediate and advanced groups.

We will run at two paces this week: our long/easy pace and tempo pace.

Our long run pace is 1:30 - 2:30 minutes per mile slower than our time trial pace. That pace for Bob would be 9:10 - 10:10. In terms of heart rate, that pace is under 75% of your max heart rate. (Another good estimate is 180 - your age.) Tempo pace is 20-45 seconds per mile slower than your time trial pace. In terms of heart rate, tempo pace is between 88-92% of your max.   Since we are doing tempo intervals rather than a steady state run, our tempo pace will be on the faster end of that range: 20-25 seconds slower than our 3-mile pace or about 90% max HR.

Part 1 - the warm-up  (everyone) 20 minutes at about 2 - 2:30 minutes slower per mile than their 3-mile pace.

Bob would start at 10:10 pace and speed up to 9:40 pace during the warm up.

Part 2 - The workout  (everyone) 5 x (5 minutes tempo pace +  1 minute easy)  - 30 minutes total.

Bob would run 5 minutes at 8:00 - 8:05  pace, then jog easy for 1 minute. He would do this sequence  five times.

Part 3 - Extra mileage novice adds 20 minutes, intermediate 30 minutes and advanced will add 45 minutes. This pace should be about 1:30 slower than 3-mile pace.

Bob would run at 9:10 pace for 30 minutes.

We're also going to move off the greenway, and run 5k loops of the park. Why? To prepare for the race by adding a little bit of rolling terrain. (The Country Music 1/2 marathon is hilly, the greenway is not...) Here is the loop that we will use. I am going to try and mark the miles on the ground tomorrow - no promises, so make a mental note of the mile marks.

Dubai Marathon

Yesterday at the Dubai marathon, Deressa Chisma Edae ran 2:05:42 (4:48 pace)...and finished 8th. Wow. The race was won by a 21-year old Ethiopian, Ayele Absharo, in his debut marathon. (He earned a cool $250,000 for his efforts.) Even more amazing was the fact that his last 2 miles were run in about 9:04. (Once again emphasizing negative splitting:  1:02:22 first half, 1:02:01 second half.) He broke the lead pack apart by running the 39th kilometer in 2:46 - for you track guys, a 2:46 kilometer is 66.4 seconds per lap! For more check out the race coverage here.

No Brunch

Last week was amazing! Belgian waffles, pancakes, bacon... Outstanding! Many thanks to our gracious host Sara Spencer. This week, you're on your own. My post-run East Nashville food suggestions are Mitchell Deli and Marche. A third option would be Bongo Java East. Of course they make great coffee, but they also have some fantastic bagel sandwiches.

See you on Sunday.

Mark

This Wednesday's Run

This week is Route #4: Big Shelby Loop - 4.3 miles. As always, we meet at 11th and Holly at 6 p.m. Be courteous with parking, wear reflective gear, and please volunteer to be a pace group leader!

iPod Nano

Lots of runners use an iPod Nano, and apparently some the 1st generation Nanos had something wrong with the batteries. So I'm not sure if it is still going on, but Apple has an iPod Nano replacement program - where they would replace your 1st generation with a brand new one. (for free)  Here is the link to check and see if your iPod qualifies.

Cups

We've got the cups covered for the next two weeks. But, I would love to have the month of February and March filled. Washing the cups just involves taking them home, washing them and bringing them back the next week.  Sign up here.

Thursday Workout

Thursday we are heading back to the pedestrian bridge for more 6 or 8 hill repeats. Remember, these are not maximal efforts, but should be your mile race effort (really hard).  Like all your runs, hill workouts should go from slow(er) to fast(er). So, the first two repeats should be under control, and the last two should be really fast. We meet at the same location and time on Thursdays: 6 p.m. at the corner of 11th and Holly.

Hanson's Marathon Training Program

There is an elite training group in Michigan called Hanson's. At the Olympic marathon trials they had women finish 2nd, 9th and 13th, and four men run faster than 2:19.   Well they also have a marathon training program for mortals (those of us who don't have time/energy/desire to run 130 miles a week). Their elite athletes are producing top times, but so are their amateurs.  So what is their secret?  They do not focus on the long run!  WHAT?  That's right. In fact, amateur marathoners run one 15 mile run, three 16 mile runs and nothing longer!  (Elites are a little different...)

Their theory is that no one workout is more important than the next. So they have all their runners run 6 days a week (peaking around 54 miles a week). Each week has one speed workout, one steady state run at marathon goal-pace, and one "long-ish" run.  But here is what makes it unique:  they do their long runs on tired legs.  They will have an 8 miler the day before their 16 mile long run. On their "off" weekends, they will run two 10-milers in a row. It is the accumulation of hard work, day in day out, that makes you a good runner...not going out and crushing yourself twice a week.

This is how I want you to apply this idea: run more often. Add mileage by adding an additional day of running rather than slogging through three extra miles on your weekend run.  Don't feel like to be a better runner your Sunday and Wednesday night runs need to be harder. Don't change those runs, just add two more easy runs during the week. Even if you can only get out the door for 20-30 minutes. It will do more for your fitness than you can imagine.

Anyway... something to chew on. Here is the article from Running Times if you want a little more detailed information.

See you Wednesday! -Mark

Hey everyone, this is going to be short and to the point. Wednesday night will be doing one of everyone's favorites, run #5. We head straight down to the Pedestrian Bridge, run up 1st Ave., and then back up Woodland to 11th and Holly.

Trail runs on Sunday have been going well. This week the pancake breakfast portion of the trail run has been cancelled, but will be rescheduled.

Also, the Potato to Tomato 5k program has over 200 participants!!! Keep encouraging them and their coaches whenever you see them out and about. Speaking of the Tomato 5K run, this is the last week to sign up for the race at it's lowest price of $25 dollars (by June 30th!). Click on this link if you have not signed up already! Tomato 5K .

Hope to see you tomorrow!

What's up East Nasty ? We had a great turnout for the potato to tomato 5k training on Monday night. It is not too late to recommend a friend to join the group. There was a good amount of east nasties out there helping out with the group but they could always use more so come out and join the group and help encourage some beginners to keep moving. Now onto this week's run - we will be running run #4 and this run has a few tricky intersections so as always try to remember to run on the sidewalk or side of the road and always stop to let cars go first.  Please take a look at the route and try to remember it ........ YOU may be asked to be a pace leader.

Upcoming events 

This Saturday June 25th our friends down the hill at the Green Wagon general store are hosting a summer block party from noon - 10:00. There will be local music, local food, local beer and local vendors. If you are looking for a social event this weekend then you are now in the know about what is going on in East Nashville. Check out the link here.

East Tomato 5k race

This year the race will be on Saturday, August 13th @ 7:30 am. This is the homecoming race for East Nasty and chances are over 1000 will be running in the race this year. It is still 2 months away but we want to help make this race a big event as it takes place on our turf. Look here for more information on this race as it gets closer.

Sunday Trail Runs

Our summer trail runs are in full swing - they will meet at 7am, under the stone gates at Percy Warner Park this Sunday.

Thought of the week

Are you a fair weather runner ? I would say that we pretty much get to experience it all here in middle Tennessee. It gets cold here, it storms here on a regular basis, and it definitely gets hot.  Well just in case you did not already know this - God seems to smile on East Nasty. In over 3 years of our existence we have never had to cancel a run due to weather. Now there have been a few times when we had to delay the start a little and there are also some runs that taken place in the rain - but they are rare. Take last week for example - it stormed off and on all day long but right around 5:45 the clouds cleared and it was dry for the next 2 hours. Why do I mention this ?  Well for no reason except letting you know that rain or shine, hot or cold, light or dark -- we will be out there at 6:00 pm getting our run on and you should be there too!!!!

That is all ---- see you tomorrow then ....... East Nasty For Life !!!!!

DREW

For those of us that live in East Nashville, Monday night brought one serious storm!  It came and went in no time at all, but did a crazy amount of damage....You can read all about it and see some pictures here. This means that tomorrow we are going to have to be a little more careful as we run.   There are lots of trees that fell on the sidewalks.  So I'll use this opportunity to remind everybody that we need to follow the rules of the road.  Which means stay on the sidewalk as much as possible,  and never ever run more than 2 wide if you must run in the street.  Wednesday night it is going to be more important than normal that we stay on the sidewalk as much as possible and stay to the side of the road if the sidewalk is impassable.   Our route is Benji, but remember it has been changed a bit.  Check out the route here.

Remember, we also have a couple of other projects in the near future: June 4th the Rebuild Together Nashville house project, The Summer Trial series (more information here) and the Potato to Tomato 5K program (which can be read about here.)

As the summer gets into full swing more newbies might be trying out East Nasty for the first time. So be sure to greet them with a smile and tell them about all we do. And then after the introductions are over, EXPLAIN THE RULES OF RUNNING ON THE ROAD!!!

See you Wednesday

Hello East Nasty -- This will probably shock everyone out there but guess what ? The weather is scheduled to be total crap tomorrow. Well go figure. Two Sundays in a row now we have had the sun shining and the temperature around 50. Then in the blink of an eye, Wednesday is here and its down to the low 20's with snow expected. Make up your mind already mother nature. Well like I said last week - even though the weather is rough outside we will press on. We will be there tomorrow night ready to tackle route #6 at 6:00 PM so come join us if you can.  

The Green Wagon

One thing that I love about East Nashville is the community feel, even within the business community.   Well, the Green Wagon is a local store that once a week, has chosen to give 5% of their proceeds to a local non-profit.  And East Nasty is one of their chosen non-profits!  Read below:

The Green Wagon is a general store which features all natural and sustainable products, 70% of which are made in Tennessee and all are made in the United States. Our vision for the East Nashville Sustainable Community Days is to draw attention and support for non-profits which are helping bring East Nashville toward a sustainable future. East Nasty represents personal/physical sustainability, helping people live healthier, more active lives. East Nashville Cooperative Ministries represents food security in the community, ensuring that everyone has access to quality, healthy food. The Martha O'Bryan Center represents community support and strengthening, providing education and opportunity people living in Cayce Homes, which holds the most extreme poverty and highest crime rate in our community. And finally, Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms represents a healthy outdoor environment in which to spend quality time and learn about the natural world. We want to show that sustainability is about more than just tree-hugging (not that there's anything wrong with that!), it's about improving the quality of life for EVERYONE. Community Days will be held every Wednesday. We'll be rotating through our core four non-profits every month. At the end of the day 5% of total sales will be given to the designated non-profit for that day.

So, the 2nd Wednesday of the month, East Nasty will receive 5% of the total sales for that day!  Johnny and Tara Shields (the owners) want to have all of the nasties over after a run once the weather turns...  But if you have a chance, check out their store.  They are located across the street from Red Door East in an old residential house.

Thought of the Week:

Seeing as how I work in the running shoe industry I get a lot of the same questions asked on a daily basis. The one I get the most when I am out in the running community is " Hey, look at my shoes, do you think it's time for me to get some new ones?  Well the answer is pretty much always yes. People normally hold off a little too long to get new running shoes. That and the fact that running shoe companies on purpose make shoes with materials that don't last long means that if you are asking .. then yes - you need new shoes.  Speaking of shoes, if over your years of running you have  been able to find a particular name brand and model that works for you then here is some advice: stick with that shoe.  You have solved a big piece of the puzzle when you find a good shoe for your foot.  Now of course shoe companies are going to continue to update those models and change them a little each year but the function and fit of the shoe will always remain the same. Why do shoe companies update shoes every year? .. that's right - to make more money. It's the same reason they make shoes that only last about 6 months or about 400 miles .. to make more money.  Here is another pretty easy thing to remember about running shoes, if the shoes you are running in ever celebrate their 1 year birthday .. its time for them to be replaced.  Running is a very simple, and often times a cheap sport but, don't go cheap when it comes to shoes as they are a pretty important piece of equipment.

See you soon nasties ----- ENFL

DREW