Friday, July 31, 2009

Next Week's Running Schedule...

Okay, tomorrow we have a 6 mile run!

Remember, pace can make or break a long run.

If you’ve never run 6 miles before, DO NOT let that intimidate you. If you maintain a moderate pace, walking when you need, or just slow jogging, you’ll do GREAT!

Then a week from tomorrow we’ll go to 7 miles, then have a week where we take a little break from the increased mileage (before going up to 8 the week of August 17th).

So here’s next week’s training schedule (August 3rd):

Monday – Your choice – Light Strength Training or Rest

Tuesday – 4 miles – easy pace

Wednesday - Light Strength Training

Thursday – 4 miles pace run

Friday - Your choice – Light Strength Training or Rest

Saturday - 7 Miles

Sunday - Rest

See most of you tomorrow at the studio at 7am!

Your friend in fitness,

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105 www.CincinnatiFitness.com

Monday, July 27, 2009

Next Week's Running Schedule...

Okay, we have our 5 mile long run coming up this morning, leaving from the studio.

Since many of you likely will not get this email until after the run is complete, how was the run on Saturday? How did you feel when you finished? If you didn’t attack the run too aggressively, you should have felt awesome at the finish…and your body should feel great on Sunday.

Remember, long runs should ALWAYS go about 90 seconds per mile slower than a what you can typically run. Going slower DOES NOT adversely impact cardiovascular endurance, but it DOES keep the body from becoming beat up. Until we taper down our long runs (just before a 10K or Half, for example), just plan on running slowly and taking lots of walking/water breaks on Saturdays.

Signs You’re Running Too Fast on the Long Run:
  • Needing more than an hour afternoon nap the day of your long run (assuming you weren’t already sleep deprived)
  • muscle soreness in your legs that lasts more than two days
  • difficulty breathing during any part of your run – inability to hold a conversation during the run
  • a feeling of “hitting the wall” in the last mile or two of the run
  • a general feeling of agitation at the end of the run
  • nausea or lightheaded

Next week’s schedule is below; we’ll go up to 6 miles on Saturday (August 1) for those training for the 10K AND Half Marathon. If your training ONLY for the 10K, the next Saturday’s run will only be 5 miles.

Here’s the schedule:


Monday - Adventure Boot Camp
Tuesday – 4 miles – easy pace
Wednesday - Adventure Boot Camp
Thursday – 4 miles pace run
Friday - Adventure Boot Camp
Saturday - 5 Miles
Sunday - Rest

So, what is a pace run, you ask?

Race Pace is the pace you plan to run in the 10K or 1/2 marathon. If you're training for a 2:00 1/2 marathon, your average pace per mile is 9:09. So you would run that same pace during our Pace runs on Thursday’s.

How do you figure that out? Use the following calculator here – just plug in your 5K time to get started.

Here’s to a great week of training!

Your friend in fitness,

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105 www.CincinnatiFitness.com

Friday, July 17, 2009

Next Week's Running Schedule...

Okay, I’m excited. We are now really embarking upon preparation for long distance running. We have our 10K coming up in 7 weeks, but that’s really a stepping stone for the half marathon for many in the running group. So now, we’ll be increasing our distance (long runs) over the next few Saturdays, then tapering back a bit before the Labor Day 10K.

The long run:
Although sometimes perceived to be “scary”, long runs actually feel easier than shorter distance, faster pace runs. It very important to pace all of the long runs approximately 60 - 90 seconds per mile slower than you could actually run that distance. Walking breaks become critically important during long runs and will help you to slow the pace of the overall run, but you must run slower as well. It’s important to note that you get the same endurance benefit from the long run, if you run slowly, as you would if you run fast. However, you'll recover much faster from a slow long run.

The benefits of a long run
Clearly there are significant physical benefits from running long distance. But there is an even greater mental and emotional benefit in completing the longest run to date. Strong feelings of positive momentum, enhanced self-confidence, and a positive attitude result from completing long runs. And by keeping the pace slow during a long run you will experience a tremendous expansion in cardiovascular conditioning, reduced fatigue, while remaining injury free.

Remember, keep the long runs slow. Walk when you need to walk. We’ll also need to begin “planting” bottles of water along our routes as we go longer so we stay well hydrated. The Tuesday/Thursday runs can go at a normal pace. Slow on Saturdays. Did I say that enough??

Here’s our schedule for next week:

Monday - Adventure Boot Camp
Tuesday - Run 4 miles
Wednesday - Adventure Boot Camp
Thursday - Run 4 miles
Friday - Adventure Boot Camp
Saturday - 5 Miles slow
Sunday - Rest

And for those training for the 1/2 Marathon in Columbus, here's our 13 week schedule: http://www.cincinnatifitness.com/Columbus-Training-Program.html

(We're actually completing week one of this schedule tomorrow morning!)

And, by the way, early bird registration for the Columbus 1/2 marathon ends on July 31st - after that the price goes up. ($50 for the 1/2 marathon) Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon or 1/2 Marathon

Next Up:

Mercy Metric 10K Run on Monday, September 7, 2008 at Lunken Airport - 7 weeks away.

See many of you here a the studio tomorrow morning at 7am for 4 miles!

Your friend in fitness,

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105 www.CincinnatiFitness.com

Monday, July 13, 2009

Tomorrow's 5K + Next Week's Schedule

We've done a great job as a group preparing for tomorrow's Fairfax 5K...and it’s been a lot of fun watching you progress over the past many weeks of training.

Enjoy the event tomorrow - go "all out" just to see how much you've progressed over the past 7 weeks of running. And of course, "all out" means go at your top pace, wherever that is for you.

After tomorrow's event, we move right into training for the Mercy Metric 10K Run on Monday, September 7 at Lunken Airport. We are 8 weeks away from this next milestone.

As we look beyond the 10K, for those continuing on for the half marathon, we are just about 13 weeks away, and thus the long runs on Saturdays will continue to become longer.

In just a couple of weeks we’ll be into the 5-6 mile range.

As we get closer to the half marathon, it will be very important that our volume of running and cross training allows for 6 days per week of training. If you are an active boot camper, your Monday, Wednesday and Friday boot camp training will be your cardio conditioning (as well as your strength training).

If you are not an active boot camper and are training for the half marathon, you’ll want to make sure you are doing some type of heart elevating cardio AND strength training work on M-W-F to protect your body with the increase in mileage, in addition to the group runs on T-TH-S.

Here’s our schedule for next week:

Monday - Adventure Boot Camp

Tuesday - Run 35 min

Wednesday - Adventure Boot Camp

Thursday - Run 35 min

Friday - Adventure Boot Camp

Saturday - 4 Miles

Sunday - Rest

For those that are only signed up for the running group through the 5K tomorrow, congratulations for your efforts, and thank you for being a part of the crew these past 7 weeks.

For those continuing on, we've got a lot of fun, and a bunch of miles in front of us!!Also, if you're interested in fresh routes, please email Leah at leahosgood@yahoo.com and she'll come up with some new running paths.

See many of you here at the studio tomorrow morning, no later than 7:50am as we head over to the Fairfax 5K!

Your friend in fitness,

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105 www.CincinnatiFitness.com

Friday, July 3, 2009

5K Registration + Next Week's Running Schedule

Our first milestone arrives next Saturday, July 11! Congrats for laying the groundwork over the past 6+ weeks as you are now ready to run a 5K event!

If you’re running next Saturday, you can register online (the pre-registration deadline is Wednesday, after that you can still register, but for $12 instead of $9). Please let me know that you are running so we can all start together as a team and share in the post-race celebration. Click here to register for Fairfax Day 5K!

The following week (July 19) we’ll add some mileage to our Saturday run for those who’re continuing on to train for the next milestone, the 10K. But first, let’s savor the 5K next Saturday!!

Below is our schedule for the week...

Monday – Adventure Boot Camp (or strength training)
Tuesday - Run 30 min
Wednesday - Adventure Boot Camp (or strength training)
Thursday - Run 30 min
Friday - Adventure Boot Camp (or strength training)
Saturday – Fairfax 5K (or run 3.5 miles for those unable to do the 5K)
Sunday – Rest & Celebrate!!

Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!! See you next week.

Your friend in fitness,

Brian Calkins

HealthStyle Fitness, Inc. 4325 Red Bank Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227 513-407-4665, x-105 www.CincinnatiFitness.com