January 15th Preview

Trying again this Sunday to get started as a marathon team. Ice erased our group’s seven-mile day, so we’ll skip to eight this time – weather permitting. Cottage Grove half-marathoners will join you to go five miles.

The route (with an 8:00 start from the Eugene Running Company): Oakway and Coburg Roads to Ferry Street Bridge and don’t cross. Turn right onto bike path, past Valley River footbridge, to "1.75" milepost near Marist High School. Turn AROUND there and go back the same way: past Valley River, to Ferry and store. GPS average is unchecked but close to 8.0 miles.

Bring a drink for delivery at Valley River 2.5 and 5.5 miles. Weather forecast: starting temperature around 30 with little chance of rain.

WEEK TWO LESSON: YOUR EXTRAS

Question: If I have raced this distance before, can or should I do more training than this program lists?

Answer: More isn’t necessarily better. For these months, stick to the scheduled distances on weekends, neither shorter nor longer, and take as many of these runs as possible with the team. The average increase of one mile week already pushes the safe limit of 10 percent, and one of the goals here is to keep you healthy throughout the program. Adding extra miles could put you at risk of injury, and our first goal is to get you safely to the starting line. The only run specified is the weekly long one. No schedule-for-all is prescribed during the week, since how each of you feels and what you need varies greatly. I can give you as much or as little individual advice as you want for planning those runs. The guiding principle for weekdays: nothing so hard that it might interfere with the next long run.