Nashville, Tennessee is known for its country music and the large number of talented country musicians that call this city home. One event that combines that love for country music and running is the Country Music Marathon and Half-Marathon which is held in April each year. It is a large charitable event with many runners like a Nashville consultant who ran with Team in Training to raise money for leukemia. This article will describe how to train for this half marathon and things to do while in town for the race as well. So sign up and pay the registration cost and Nashville tax to participate in this great event.

Whether you have never run around the block or this is your 20th half marathon you have signed up for, it is important to have a good solid training plan so your body is prepared for such a long distance running event. There are many ways to get advice for how to train for such a race. One great idea is to go to your local running store and ask about a training group that you may join. If that is not available, there are many resources online where you can actually have a cyber coach telling you what to do every step of the way. Three months is plenty and running just 3 times a week is plenty to prepare you for the 13.1 miles.

In addition to running three times a week and following a training plan that will incorporate base training, increasing your cardio and speed and strength it is important to do cross training on the other three days with one day of rest each week. Cross training can involve weight training, yoga, swimming or biking as examples of how to improve your overall strength and fitness to prepare for the long race.

Nutrition is also an important part of preparing for a race. One mistake that many runners make is they do not eat or drink the same thing on race day as they have trained with in their system. This can unfortunately lead to some digestive distress on race day and possibly some cramping and other issues because your body was not used to that particular food or sports drink. Make sure you train using supplements like sports drinks, energy gels or Gu’s to make sure your stomach can handle these things while running and do not try anything new for the first time on race day or it may make you feel sick.

Signing up for a race is a great way to get into shape and a fun way to visit a city. While you are running, you get a close up view of the city on foot. Most races provide discount rates at a host hotel for the runners which is great and the location is close to the starting line. Make sure to come a couple days ahead or after to visit things like the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame while in Nashville.

Runners sign up for the marathon and pay the registration costs and Nashville tax to participate. It draws many runners like a Nashville consultant who participates every year.