August 11th through 17th was the first week in which I’ve ever run a full 100 miles.
There’s no great significance to this “milestone”; the numbers just happened to add up that way. And if anyone else out there is planning their first 100-mile week, I don’t especially recommend my approach, which was as follows:
Monday: Ran home from work via Capitol Hill, including the usual time-trial segment (10th & Roanoke to 14th & 15th) in 21:02, then the neighborhood loop with Lucy. 7.6 miles.
Tuesday: Ran home from work, then the neighborhood loop with Lucy. 6.7 miles.
Wednesday: Ran to work. 5.8 miles.
Thursday: Ran to work. Later, ran home, then the neighborhood loop with Lucy. 12.9 miles.
Friday: Ran home from work, then the neighborhood loop with Lucy. 6.6 miles.
Saturday: Slow, self-supported run around Lake Washington (starting and ending at home). 55 miles.
Sunday: Out and back on the Chief Sealth Trail with Phil in the baby jogger. 5.4 miles.
Or, to put it more succinctly: easy, easy, easy, easy, easy, hard, easy.
I did the Lake Washington loop (using a route recommended by TWBC.org) as a sort of feasibility study. I wanted to assess whether I might do well in a 24-hour race like Ultracentric. If I ran slowly enough, with regular walk breaks and copious food and fluids, could I finish the loop with the sense that I could do it again if necessary?
The answer on this particular Saturday was a resounding NO. Of course, it didn’t help that the temperature hit 90 degrees that day, but the long and the short of it is that I had a moment of clarity about eight hours into the run. I thought: “Not only has running — one of my all-time favorite activities — ceased to be pleasurable over the last couple of hours, but eating — one of my other all-time favorite activities — has ceased to be pleasurable as well. What exactly am I doing out here?”
I did finish the loop, but, three days later, I’m still hobbling around, a minute per mile slower than usual. This week’s mileage will probably be about 50.
My Track Record 
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