Rest.  We do not become better runners by running hard - we become better runners by recovering from running hard.  In fact, after you complete a hard workout, you are now a worse runner than you were before you ran.  Have you ever tried to run hard 2 days in a row?  The second day never goes very well.  Why?  Because your body has not adapted from the first hard workout.  Only after you fully recover from a workout do you receive all the benefits of that effort. Rest Days

Younger folks (i.e. 18 year old boys) can follow a hard/easy/hard/easy pattern.  Running hard every other day.  (Note: "Easy" may mean no running at all, a slow 20 minutes or even 90 minutes - just understand that "easy" has different meanings for different runners.)  As you get older, your recovery time slows, and you need more rest.  One hard run, one long run and 2-5 easy runs per week is a conversative pattern for older runners.  A little more aggressive program would be 3 hard runs, 2 long runs and 3-9 easy runs  over a 14 day period.  Either way a good rule of thumb is to have an easy day before and an easy day after a hard run or a long run.

Easy Weeks

During your training cycle, it is a good idea to plan recovery weeks.  This is where you break from the schedule, cut your runs in half, and allow your body to fully recover.  A recovery week should still involve running.  (The only reasons why you would not run at all during one of these weeks, would be if you are nursing an injury or if you just finished your goal race.)  In fact, recovery weeks should also include hard running, it's just that the quantity of your running should plummet.  If you are training hard, you should have a recovery week once every 5-6 weeks.

Next week is a recovery week.  Cut your runs in half - but still do the workout.  For example, if you are currently running 40 miles a week - run 20 miles, but still run the time trial on Tuesday, and next Sunday we will return to Shleby for a hard 3 miles.

This Sunday

This Sunday is not a rest day.  In fact for our last week at Percy Warner park there are two challenges:

First: Chuck Hargrove (the inaugural ENOW), is going to take any intermediate runners on the full 11.2 mile loop.

Second: I will take the advanced runners on the Red/White/Blue challenge - an impressive undertaking. (White trail to Red Trail to Candy Cane trail to Blue trail to Candy Cane to Red to White...)

Of course, if you do not feel nasty enough for these challenges, there will be plenty of folks running the 5.8+ the boulevard, or the red/white trails.

See you on Sunday!

Mark

Just a quick reminder that we are meeting at Percy Warner park tomorrow!  It takes about 25 minutes from the East Side, and there is no bathroom where we meet (there are two port-a-potties in the park - but they are a couple of miles into the run).  So be sure to leave your house with enough time to get there - and take care of business before you leave! Hopefully this will be the last time we need to wear warm clothes, but we will need to wear warm clothes because it is supposed to be chilly tomorrow.  

That's all for today!

Mark

We are to run #3 (posted at the bottom of this page) which is perhaps my personal favorite because I love McEwen - it's such a random street/alley.   Look closely at this run, because it's easy to miss your turn off of Porter onto 20th.  A good landmark is that if you run past the Rosepepper Cantina, turn around, you have gone too far. Hills

It does not take too long to discover that East Nashville is hilly, with the exception of Shelby Bottoms, which could be the only flat place to run in all of Davidson County!  This makes for pretty scenery, but challenging runs and races.  So how do you run hills?

For starters, you will slow down;  and in races, the downhills never "give back" as much as the uphills "take away".  So expect slower times.  (This is one reason why you should never compare your race times from different courses.  The only true analysis of your fitness gains/losses is running the same course in the same weather conditions.)  Also, be patient; hill running recruits some different muscles than running the flats, so if you just moved here from Chicago, and find yourself dying on the hills - give your body some time, your muscles will adapt to the hills.

Hill running is all about keeping the same effort level, and not the same pace.  Unless it's a very very short hill, you should never blast down a hill as fast as possible and carry that momentum up the other side.  When you hit a hill, you want to intentionally slow down at the bottom - don't wait until your body forces you to slow down.  Unless this is the end of a race, never allow your body to go anaerobic - even if that means a competitor passes you up the hill.  Take short quick strides up the hill, and when you get to the top, allow your stride to return to normal length and  get right back on pace.  This is important - if you run up a hill quickly, but under control, you should be able to immediately return to race pace.  Allowing you to fly past that person who surged up the hill and is spending the next 2 minutes trying to recover from that effort!

I'll see you guys on Wednesday.  Remember, there are still a couple of East Nasty shirts.  $25.  Talk to Drew.

Notice: For those of you who only read the first lines of my  blog, here is the important stuff: we are meeting at Percy Warner Park for the next three weeks rather than Shelby Park.  Park at the end of Belle Meade boulevard, we will meet at the bottom of the "stairs".  Do not speed while driving down Belle Meade Blvd. On Being a Vegetarian

Spurred on by a discussion I had while running last Sunday, I have been perusing the internet for articles on being a vegetarian endurance athlete.  I have read articles about the benefits of red meat, which were refuted by articles about the horrors (both health wise and environmentally) about eating cows - which refuted the article I read about how humans are meant to eat meat - which in turn, was refuting the article I read about how humans resemble herbivores rather than carnivores, which was refuting the article....blah blah blah

You get the idea.  There are so many mutually exclusive opinions about just about everything, that sometimes it's really hard to know what to believe.   So here are a couple of nutritional conclusions that seemed to be pretty consistent across the more credible articles (and believe me I read plenty of non-credible articles):

1) Iron: If you don't eat red meat, and you are an endurance athlete, make sure you are getting enough iron.  Iron can be found in green leafy vegetables, but iron from meat is easier to absorb than iron from plant sources.  Aparently iron from plant sources is absorbed easier if it is taken with vitamin C, and stay away from coffee and tea.  So make yourself a orange juice/spinach smoothie.

2) Protein: Being a healthy vegetarian is hard, and instead of packing meals with extra vegetables and plant sources of protein, many people just end up eating lots of cereal and breads.  (And girl scout cookies.)  Endurance athletes need more protein than the average joe, and protein is where many vegetarian diets fall short.  One study said that vegetarian athletes tended to feel hungry a lot of the time, probably because they weren't getting enough protein or fat, and often craved sugar.   So make sure that you are eating good sources of protein with complete amino acids.  (Refer to the article above for an explanation of complete vs. incompleted proteins.)

3) Fat is not a bad word, and some vegetarians don't get enough of it.  What?  That's right, eat more fat. For endurance athletes, high fat diets are bad - but ultra low fat diets have also been found to be bad.  So make 20-30% of your calories good fats - whether you're a vegetarian or not!

4) There are other nutrients such as zinc, calcium and B-12, that vegetarians need to pay attention to.  Read this article for more details.

What's the bottom line?

The bottom line:  If you are an endurance athlete, you need to eat more than if you are sedentary.  So if you are a vegetarian athlete, make sure that those extra calories are coming from foods that are protein and nutrient dense.  Or just forget about all that vegetarian crap and order yourself the old 96er!

See you on Sunday!

Mark

Notice: For those of you who only read the last lines of my  blog, here is the important stuff: we are meeting at Percy Warner Park this week rather than Shelby Park.  Park at the end of Belle Meade boulevard, we will meet at the bottom of the "stairs".  Do not speed while driving down Belle Meade Blvd.

So for those of you who are observant, you may have noticed that there is a list of 6 runs at the bottom of the blog.  These are our six runs for the next couple of months.  We are on week 2, therefore we will do run #2.  (I'm not going to link the run here, go to the bottom of this page, and check out Run #2.) I decided not to change the route every week for lots of reasons, two of them being: 1) I was running out of time and creativity, and 2) People were getting lost...so this will give everyone an opportunity to learn the routes.  (I'm planning on making 6 new routes come summertime.)

As the days are getting nicer - be sure to join us at 3 Crow Bar after the run.

See you on Wednesday!

Mark

Nasties - I don't have time to pontificate about the virutes of running - so just the facts this week....

This week's route (Thanks to Polly): Something a little bit different.

Speaking of runs...

Future Running Routes: Starting in February (next week), I am going to start a 6-week, 6-route rotation.  I will pick the 6 most popular routes (according to me), starting at 3 miles and working to almost 5 miles, and we will run them in a 6-week cycle.   I will post all the runs at the bottom of the blog - so we can plan accordingly.

Yoga For Runners: This Sunday after the Sunday morning East Nasty run, Leah from Kali Yuga Yoga, will be presenting a free 30 minute yoga clinic.  If the weather coorporates - it will be held outside in Shleby, if not - it will be back at her studio at 11:00.

Always remember East Nasty Rule #1 - Everyone gets home safely.  Please run with a partner, and be safe when cars are around!

See you tomorrow!

Mark

Week 2 of CMM 1/2 training. Last week we had a great showing with fantastic weather, and while we hope for more 50-60 degree mornings, don't count on it. If it's cold, make sure you cover your head and hands  - and bring some warm, dry clothes to change into after the run.  Remember the rule of thumb:  dress as if you are going for a walk in weather 15-20 degrees warmer than the current temperature.  After the run, we will be heading over to Ugly Mugs again, so bring a couple of bucks for some java and a grilled panini.  (mmmmm....grilled panini....)

There are lots of people coming to these runs, and a lot of new faces.  If you're new, there's bound to be someone who is about your pace.  Spend these first couple of weeks looking for a training buddy or buddies.  Having a familiar face to run with really helps during a 1/2 marathon - so introduce yourself to the other East Nasties who are running by your side.

So how fast should you be running?  The most common error that beginner runners make is that they run every run at the same speed.  So of course long distances are intimidating if you do your 8 mile runs at the same pace as your 3 mile runs!  Your long runs should be comfortable - meaning conversational: if you can't talk during a long run, you are going too fast. For those of you who need numbers: once your long run is longer than 60 minutes, you should be running a minute and a half to two minutes slower per mile than your 5K pace.  Or for you heart rate junkies - your heart rate should never exceed 80% of your maximum on a long run, and should probably be closer to 65-70%.

Note:  You don't need to worry about gels or goo or really any sort of calorie replacement until your runs are over 90 minutes.

The training plans are at the bottom of this blog - so print yours out and post it on the fridge.  I am planning on bring a couple extra training logs - post a comment if you want one, so I will know how many to make.

Finally - consider speed sessions.  Because if you think long runs are hard to do by yourself...wait till you try to do track workouts on your lonesome!!  Fleet Feet offers winter speed sessions specifically designed to improve your 1/2 marathon time.  (In the summer, the sessions are deisgned to improve your 5K times - but really there is a lot of overlap...)  They are on Tuesdays from late January until mid-April.  I plan and coach the morning  sessions, Drew coaches the afternoon sessions, so grab either of us if you have questions.

See you on Sunday!!!

Mark

PS Bring 16-32 ounces of fluids for after the run! I usually finish a 32 oz gatorade in about 3 gulps after a long run.  This will become even more important as our runs get longer.

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...