August 21st Preview

Each training cycle we make one “field trip” to the Row River Trail near Cottage Grove. This is the week, when the distance is eight miles (and the marathoners go 17). Details about the drive to Row appear in today’s email.

The route is dead-simple: Mosby Creek bridge to “7.0” milepost and back to Mosby. GPS distance is 8.04 miles.

Bring a drink for delivery at the turnaround. Weather forecast: sunny with starting temperature in the 60s, warming quickly toward an afternoon high in the 90s.

WEEK 5 LESSON: YOUR PACE

Question: How fast should my long runs be?

Answer: Let your pace find itself. Don’t try to force an arbitrary pace (such as a half-marathon time goal) onto these runs. Instead, run comfortably, letting whatever happens with your pace happen. Finish with the feeling that you could have gone a little longer that day, which you will do soon enough. Our more experienced runners might want to train for speed during the week. I recommend that this come between Tuesday and Thursday to give enough recovery from the last long run and before the next one. If you run a shorter-distance race during this training period, make it easy. A full effort there would conflict with your weekend long run, which is far more important during this training cycle.