Week 7 Week 8 Week 9

Wow. I'm getting behind here.

Week 7 seems so long ago. That was the weekend that I missed my long run, so I did it on Monday. Of course Tuesday I couldn't (wouldn't) get out of bed for my 3 miler, so I missed my first run of the training program. There goes my Hal Higdon Perfect Attendance pin. I did my 5-3 on Wed/Thurs and 12 on Saturday, so all in all it was a good week.

My weight drifted up a pound that week. Ill portents of things to come? Read on.

Week 8. What can I tell you about week 8? Let's see, 3-7-3 midweek, but I didn't check my calendar and did 3-6-3 instead. Lame! The six miler was a 9:00 mile tempo run, and then 13 miles on Saturday to cap another fine week. I'm getting better at running slow. This may sound hilarious to you but it's hard to run 12 minute miles. It's not clear to me how I will be able to go any faster than that during the marathon but what the heck, I'll give it a go.

Of course, my weight went up another pound that week. Three consecutive days of meetings with buffet lunches will do that to me - especially when I eat two plates of food every day. Put down the fork, Brad.

Week 9 was a "fallback" week, 3-7-4 midweek and 10 on Saturday. The 7 miler was a 8:40 mile tempo run. It's funny, when I hurt my knee last fall I assumed that it had something to do with my "aggressive" tempo runs. You know, 9 minute miles. Then I looked at my half-marathon time from 2004. I averaged right around 8:30 miles. Get moving you slug!

The weight responded to my renewed vigilance - and the absence of buffet lunches/eating like it was my last meal. 209, back on track baby!

Chart is here.