September 28th Preview

You’ll get to know the EWEB Half-Marathon course quite well this fall, as training eventually will cover most of it. This Sunday’s run, for instance, will preview race miles one, five, and a little of 13.

The Sunday route (with an 8:00 start from the Eugene Running Company): Oakway and Coburg Roads to Ferry Street Bridge. Turn left onto bike path, to Autzen footbridge and across. Turn right, to Ferry Street Bridge and turn AROUND. Back the same way: Autzen, Ferry and store. GPS distance is 6.11 miles.

Bring a drink for delivery at halfway. Weather forecast: starting temperature in low 50s and little chance of rain.

WEEK 2 LESSON: YOUR DISTANCE

Question: Why do we only meet as a group once a week, for the long run?

Answer: The weekly long run is by far the most critical. You could run almost nothing else during the week and still do fine in the half-marathon. Or you could run almost daily, skip too many long runs and not do fine. Make sure you take the long ones, and recover well in between. We increase the distance by one mile a week from five to 11 miles before easing down to six miles the final Sunday of training. Don’t jump ahead of yourself by thinking too soon, “Can I run 13 miles?” You’ll get there when you get there. For now, think only of training for six miles, then seven, then...