This past week was my first 40 since my son was born:
Sunday: 8 comfortable miles before driving down to Grand Slam Track in Philly.
Monday: 3 miles from the office on my lunch break. Monday runs have been hard to come by lately, so this was a step towards better consistency.
Tuesday: 6 miles easy with strides.
Wednesday: 4 x 600 meters (1:56, 1:56, 1:54, 1:53) with 3 minutes rest. I found 600-meter repeats really helpful while prepping for a sub-5 mile attempt in 2023. The reps are just long enough that you can’t fake them, but not so long that it hurts too much to hit them at close to mile pace. It is a good speed-endurance stimulus.
I’m not sure if my schedule will allow for a mile or 3K this summer like I’d hoped, but I still want to build speed before attempting a longer training block later this year. This workout made me feel like I am, in fact, building speed. My splits were quicker than in 2023, and I felt strong when pushing the pace. I think the hill reps and strides and strength work I have been doing have been working. A little bit of Dad Discipline goes a long way.
Thursday: Another 6 miles easy.
Friday: 4 miles easy with strides.
Saturday: 3 miles at tempo pace (6:10 average) on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. My wife and I took a trip to Belmar this weekend, leaving our boy with her parents nearby in Central Jersey. I wanted to go somewhere my wife could relax and recharge as her maternity leave winds down. Belmar was where I proposed to her, so suffice to say it has treated us well in the past.
We ate well, read books on the beach, played pinball at the Silverball Museum, drank rum buckets, visited a bookstore, and played mini golf. It was everything she loves to do except spend quality time with our little guy; we had a wonderful trip, and we still missed him the whole time.
While this all feels like a huge win for discipline and consistency (and for a happy marriage), there was one important part of my routine that utterly eluded me—sleep. I had seemingly no motivation to go to bed on time; my watch logged me sleeping close to or after 11 PM six of the seven nights this week.
I can forgive myself for sleeping less when I’m on vacation, but that leaves four weeknights stuck in a bad habit. I need to do better than this to keep building into the summer and fall. My first week at forty miles is a small victory, but in the long term it’s only a checkpoint on the way to fifty, or sixty, or more—whatever my new life as a dad will allow.
Though, my wife (and to my surprise, my infant son) have been extremely supportive, so I guess that’s ultimately up to me.
theDNF 
Leave a comment