February 7th Preview

For the first time in this training cycle, you drop DOWN in Sunday distance -- to six miles. This can serve either as recovery from the previous week's long run (at the same pace but about half as far) or as speed training (at about half-marathon race pace).

The route (from the Eugene Running Company with an eight o'clock start): Oakway and Coburg Roads to Ferry Street Bridge and don't cross. Turn left onto bike path, then onto road near Alton Baker restrooms. Follow road to end at canal path. Turn right onto path, to I-5. Turn AROUND there and come back the same way. GPS distance is 6.12 miles.

Bring a drink for delivery near dog park (about 1.5 and 4.5 miles). Weather forecast: temperature in 40s and dry.

Distances for marathoners the rest of this month will be 13.1-7-15. For the Cottage Grove Half: 11-7-5. Eugene halfers will join us on February 28th, starting with the five-mile run.

WEEK SIX MARATHON LESSON: YOUR MILEAGE

Question: You never mention how much weekly mileage I should total. Why not?

Answer: Weekly mileage is one of the most misleading figures in the sport. It causes you to run too far on days that should be easy, penalizes you for taking a day off (which you need), and can leave you tired for the ones that really count. Put your emphasis on the length of your long runs, and on recovering in between with easy runs and days off. At least for the life of this marathon-training program, stop counting weekly mileage. If you count anything during the week, make it minutes – which help insure that those runs will remain easy. As noted earlier: no more than two hours of running between the weekends, and no run lasting longer than one hour.