Training Week Seven Recap (123 days to go)

I've got a good excuse for falling behind on the blog last week. A really good one, if I do say so myself. The best one ever:


Beth and I welcomed a beautiful and healthy daughter on Saturday, February 19th. Nora Marie weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces and measured 19 3/4". She's got her daddy's ears and her momma's good looks...and she's stolen both of our hearts. But don't think she's made me forget about running!

Here's a quick photo of Nora and me taken with my cell phone. I'd been up for over 40 hours at that point, since she decided to start her arrival one minute after I crawled into bed on Friday night and didn't arrive until 3:35 the next afternoon. I've have more photos in a post to come later this week (if I find some time to type it up).


Here's a quick recap of my training during Nora's birth week. It was a cutback week for me mileage-wise after three mileage PRs in the previous four weeks, and I was paying particular attention to my sore left foot that didn't hurt when I ran, but had a faint soreness that appeared whenever I was sitting around (and with a desk job, that's too often).

Monday: 5.33 miles nice and easy.

Tuesday: 10.17 miles, including 7 miles in the middle that got progressively faster: 7:18, 7:27, 7:17, 6:59, 6:57, 7:04 (oops), 6:51.

Wednesday: 6.28 miles nice and easy under a full moon rising in beautiful 60 degree weather.

Thursday: 10.06 miles, including six half mile hill intervals along Skinker Boulevard in Forest Park. I rocked this workout, if I do say so myself...and temperatures hovering around 70 at 6 PM didn't hurt my ability to do so!

Friday: 6.20 miles nice and easy the next morning.

Saturday: 3.25 miles. The plan had been 16 with 13 at tempo, but little miss Nora had other plans. I didn't complain. Oh, no, I didn't complain.

Sunday: 16.12 miles, including 13 at tempo. Does this workout sound familiar? Beth told me to go get my run in, and I decided a mile or two into the run to give Saturday's plan a shot. I expected to pull up after 8 or 10 miles on account of exhaustion from being at the hospital for 36 hours, but my legs were adrenaline-powered. I averaged 7:10/mile for the 16 plus, with the 13 tempo paced well under 7 minutes.

Total Week Seven: 57.41 miles...which would have been a top ten mileage week for me before I started my WS100 training. It's hard to believe that I missed out on a 14 miler that was schedule for Sunday, and which, by the way, I made up on Monday.