March 20th Preview

So far, you haven't ventured onto the Springfield street portion of the Eugene Marathon course in Sunday training. That will change (slightly) this week, when you cover the 12th mile there -- twice.

The course (from Eugene Running Company with an 8:00 start): Oakway and Coburg Roads to Ferry Street Bridge and don't cross. Turn left onto bike path, to Alton Baker parking lot and onto road. Continue past Autzen Stadium to end of road ponds. Turn left on canal path, under I-5, to end of path in Springfield. Turn right onto D Street, to 4th Avenue. Turn AROUND there and come back the same way: canal path, road, Ferry and store. "Mile 12" of the marathon is I-5 to 4th Ave. Sunday's GPS distance is 9.10 miles.

Bring a drink for delivery at Springfield boat ramp, about 3.5 and 5.5 miles. Weather forecast: starting temperature in 50s with light rain likely.

WEEK 12 LESSON: YOUR TEMPO

Question: Is all the running at marathon pace or even slower?

Answer: You sometimes run faster than that, just not on long-run days. Taking these too fast makes them too hard to repeat as often as you need them. We schedule a so-called “tempo run” every other weekend from the second month on. You can run faster then than in your latest long run, for about half that distance (11 and six miles, 13-7 and so on up to 21-10). How much faster? Roughly your half-marathon race pace instead of expected pace for the marathon – or as much as one minute per mile faster when you run shorter. These runs aren’t meant so much to increase your raw speed as to make the pace of the marathon feel “slower” and more comfortable.