March 26th Preview

You drop to nine miles this week, running the first 4.5 with our half-marathoners who are continuing to seven. It’s the usual eight o’clock start from the Eugene Running Company.

The route: Oakway and Coburg Roads to Ferry Street Bridge and don’t cross. Turn left onto bike path, to Autzen footbridge and across. Turn right, to Valley River footbridge. Turn AROUND at “0.0” milepost, then go back the same way: Autzen, Ferry and store. GPS distance is 9.15 miles.

Bring a drink for delivery at Skinner Butte playground (3.5 and 5.6 miles). Weather forecast: starting temperature in 40s with 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.