This Week's Training

Below is the training schedule for this Holiday week.

For those in town, Leigh is organizing a group to run/walk the Thanksgiving Day Race. It'll be a great way to get in your run and burn up some calories before the big meal! You all can meet as a group and enjoy the great company. If you would like to join in the fun and burn up some calories, send an email and Leigh will include you in the group walking or running that morning.

Click here to learn more about the 99th Annual Thanksgiving Day Race

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - XT
Tuesday - Run 45 min
Wednesday - XT
Thursday - Thanksgiving Day Race
Friday - XT
Saturday - 10 Miles

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - XT
Tuesday - Run 30 min
Wednesday - XT
Thursday - Thanksgiving Day Race
Friday - XT
Saturday - 3.5 miles slow

I'll be heading out early Thursday for my wife's parent's house...so if I don't see you before then, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Brian Calkins

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

This Week's Running Update...

This email was supposed to go out yesterday, but we had a snafu with the email program...sorry it's a day late!

This time of the year things begin to get a bit more hectic as we move closer to Thanksgiving and the travel, social & family events kick in. I’m going to continue to send out weekend running updates (without much new running information) that you can modify to fit your schedule. Come January, we’ll get much more specific and focused as a group in training for the Flying Pig.

Also, if you’re experiencing any joint pain or other injury, now is a good time to maintain your current fitness level with some cross-training. I’m going to use the next 2 weeks to alleviate some foot pain I’ve been having lately by using the elliptical machine.

In addition, if you are a 5-day per week boot camper AND running on a regular basis, your body may be ready for a little bit of a break. Doing too much leads to overtraining and diminishing returns from exercise. Remember that improvement occur only during the rest period following hard training. If sufficient rest is not available then complete regeneration cannot occur. If this imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest persists then performance will eventually plateau and decline. Overtraining can occur from either too much training or too little rest, or often a combination of both.

If you’re feeling consistently tired, lethargic, weak, or sick, these are classic signs of overtraining. The solution lies in reducing your mileage and/or eliminating a run or two over a couple of weeks. Just listen to your body and do what’s best for you.

And finally, the Oakley running group will now be meeting at our studio through mid-April as boot camp has moved to Cincinnati Tae Kwon Do (next to the studio) for the winter.

Here’s this week’s outline for you to incorporate as you see fit:

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 45 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 45 min
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 9 Miles

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 30 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 30 min
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 3 miles slow

See many of you in the morning...

Brian Calkins

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

This Week's Running...

Below is the schedule for both running groups this week (no intervals this week!).

Again, feel free to modify your time and distances as appropriate for your November/December running goals.

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 45 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 45 min
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 15 miles slow

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 28 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 28 min
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 2.75 miles slow

See many of you in the morning...

Brian Calkins

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

This Week's Running

Below is the schedule for both running groups this week.

Again, feel free to modify your time and distances as appropriate for your November/December running goals.

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - 12 x 400 Intervals or 45 min
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 45 Mins- easy
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 9 Miles: 4.5 Easy, 4.5 pace*

*Your goal pace is your ideal per mile pace for your next long event, for me it’s a half marathon evaluation on December 27th. Here’s a great calculator you can play with to estimate your pace times for various events and training: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm.

More info on Tempo/Pace runs can be found in last week's post - click here.

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 25 Mins
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 25 Mins
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 2.5 Miles Slow

See many of you in the morning...

Brian Calkins

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

Holiday Running Options

With the coming holidays, a lingering injury, various goals and schedules among the running group, feel free to modify your training in November and December to fit your needs. Some may want to maintain their existing endurance level, others may want to build upon it through the holidays. You can modify your time, distance, speed, frequency of running or any combination of these variables.

For me I’m going to work hard over the next two months to bring my half marathon time down to somewhere between 1:50 & 2:00 in an effort to be ready for January as we officially begin training for the Flying Pig.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be using steady state running, intervals, tempo runs (info below) and long runs in our training. Again, please modify the schedule to fit your needs over the coming 2 months.

Overview of Tempo Runs:

Tempo runs are runs performed at constant moderate effort, usually at or slightly faster than race pace, allowing for two important benefits:

First, tempo runs are effective physical and mental simulators of a race, allowing the body and mind to function efficiently at event speeds. The neuromuscular communication paths necessary to operate in a race are established and your feel of event speed is developed.

Second, tempo runs create a cardiovascular overload, improving endurance and accompanying strength benefits. Optimal tempo runs incorporate a distance of about 1/4 of the race distance.

Because of both of these benefits, tempo runs are one of the most effective types of speed work training for the marathon. Next week we'll incorporate a tempo run...

Here the schedule for those who've been running for several months:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - 12 x 400 Intervals
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 45 Mins
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 14 Miles Slow

Here the schedule for the newer members of the group:

Monday - Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 23 Mins
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 23 Mins
Friday - XT or Boot Camp
Saturday - 2.25 Miles Slow

See many of you in the morning...

Brian Calkins NSCA-CPT, ACE

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

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Wendy & Rob, Rebecca, Leigh, Jill, Rob, Toye, Amy, Leah, and Shannon for a very strong showing at yesterday’s Columbus Half Marathon!! What a fun and exhilarating experience we all shared. For many of us it was our first half marathon – savor your accomplishment and reflect in all the work and dedication you’ve employed the past 7 weeks!!

I would also like to welcome all the new members to the running group – we’re excited to have you with us!!

With our new members we’re now going to break down our weekly email with 2 separate training routines to accommodate both those who just completed the half and the new group. Regardless of where you are today, feel free to follow the program that best fits your current needs.

This week is going to be a recovery week for those who participated in yesterday’s event. Although we need to do some light cardio to deliver oxygen and nutrients to repair damaged tissue, feel free to run or cross-train on a non weight-bearing machine such as an elliptical or bike (click here to read the benefits of cross training).

Leigh and I are looking at doing another half marathon in December since the Flying Pig is 7 months away. We both look forward to shaving time off our half time and having another milestone to keep us focused. It’s a small event, but in December it’s the closest we can find. Info available here: http://www.ashlandrunners.com/. We’d love to have you join us!!

Okay, here’s our training for the week:

Monday – Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 30 min or XT
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 30 min or XT
Friday - Boot Camp or XT
Weekend – 4 miles easy

New Running Group Members Routine:

Monday – Boot Camp or XT
Tuesday - Run 20 min or XT
Wednesday - Boot Camp or XT
Thursday - Run 20 min or XT
Friday - Boot Camp or XT
Weekend – 2 miles easy

There is more information about running for our first time members here: http://cincinnatifitnessrunning.blogspot.com/2008/05/cincinnati-fitness-running-week-one.html.

See many of you in the morning...

Have an awesome week!!

Brian Calkins
NSCA-CPT, ACE

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

Final Preparation...

Are you ready for Sunday? Here are some reminders and notes for the weekend...

Packing: Think of all the steps and things you’ve needed for each of our long runs and make sure those items are packed for Sunday morning. Don’t forget your GU, sports drinks, shoes, Glide, running belt (if you use one), running gear, change of clothes after the race, etc. A friend in Columbus said Sunday morning is supposed to be very cool. Pack both cold and moderate temperature running gear. Click here for Columbus weather.

Carb Loading and hydration starts today! Make sure every meal contains whole grain carbs and plenty of water from now through breakfast on Sunday. Remember, we need half our body weight in ounces of water for optimal hydration. A 150 pound person should be drinking at least 75 ounces, or slightly more.

Your Race Plan: Mentally plan out how you’re going to run on Sunday. Take caution in starting too aggressively (which is likely to biggest reason for a slower than anticipated time). It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the event...or have your competitive juices kick in when the gun goes off...or even to just forget to check your pace with each mile marker.

When you start too fast, your body shifts into your anaerobic energy system immediately, bypassing the aerobic system, quickly depleting your top energy system. At a slower, aerobic energy system pace, you can go for a long period, then when you’re ready to kick up your pace, you’ll have several miles of your top energy system available.

Plan your race out in segments and make sure you have plenty of gas in the tank for the home stretch. Check your times at each mile. For example, if your goal is to finish in 2 hours and 20 minutes, you should be averaging about 10:30 per mile. Your first mile will be around 10:30, second mile at 21 minutes, third mile around 31:30, etc.

Start slow. You can always pick up the pace later.

For those who’d like to fraternize Saturday night and after the race on Sunday….

Saturday’s Dinner: We have reservations at Buca Di Beppo, located at 343 North Front Street, at 7:30 for dinner. Click here for map and directions. The restaurant’s number is 1-614-621-3287. Please confirm with Leigh (leigh@healthstylefitness.com) that you are coming so we can formalize our reservations.

Sunday’s Post-race Lunch: We’re heading over to Champps, located at 1827 Olentangy River Rd. Click here for map and directions. Or you can just follow us over (no reservations needed).

Contacting us in Columbus: You can reach me at 513-325-0886 and Leigh at 513-255-7308.

Remember on Sunday Morning…

The hard part is done.
Have fun.
Enjoy the experience.

Don't think about the 13.1 miles - chunk it down.
One mile at a time.
One minute at a time.
One step at a time.

The only thing you have control over on Sunday are the thoughts that enter your head – your preparation is done - your nutrition is done - your clothes you are going to wear are figured out - it's just your thoughts that are left.

Keep them positive and you cannot lose.

Sunday - you'll be a Half Marathon Champion.