"To strieve to be world class demands payment of a bitter price but the serious competitor must be willing to pay it,even if he hates it because he must be convinced thatthe rewards justify his sacrifices"
Jumbo Elliot
It seemed approrpriate for yesterday as I was looking at a trek across the city to Roxborough in order to access a track,my last midweek foray to nearby Temple was rebuffed and frankly I can ill afford to miss any more training than I already have so if I have to schleep out to Roxborough each Tuesday in order to get the first of my two weekly repeats in b4 hitting Temple on Saturdays then so be it....it's a pain but like Jumbo said.......
A 45 minute bus ride from Center City to Roxborough meant I was there by 4.35pm,the track isn't visable off Ridge Avenue when I first get off the bus till I get three quarters down Hermitage St so there's always that fear I'll have gone all that way for nothing if the track is in use......no worries today,not only was there no activity on the track but the one thing Roxborough has over Temple is a Portajohn......it might sound trivial but for those of you who've ever gotten to a track for a workout in need of a bathroom you'll know the importance of a Portajohn........
Another issue going into today was the weather,when I left work at 3.20pm the first miniscule snow flakes were beginning to fall tht wasn't the issue I could deal w/ that my concern was the fact I'd left my ski hat and gloves on my bedroom radiator to dry off from Mondays easy 8 miler and being cursed w/ poor blood circulation and no gloves was a concern,that old adage "if it's cold enough to snow" was foremost in my mind but I was here now and frankly not knowing how bad the snow might be overnight{there was talk of 1" to 3" inches} I couldn't risk blowing off today in fear of tomorrow being a non starter.
Had there not been snow in the forecast I might've sat today out,having ran seven days in a row might not have been the best prep for a set of repeats but I'd rather take my chances of running slower than last time out than not being able to run period,when your constantly being reminded of that Jumbo Elliot quote in your appartment it's hard not to say "fuck it I'm doing this"!!!!
Mile warm up concluded it was "have at it time" for 4x1 mile repeats
#1 Mile:1.23-1.29-1.30-1.26=5.48.1
10 seconds down on my effort 10 days ago but I told myself not to worry over 16 laps it's about being consistant for the duration not throwing in a handful of fast laps here and there
#2 Mile:1.25-1.31-1.31-1.24=5.51.2
Last time out I said if I could eliminate those 1.30 plus laps I'd be making headway after 2 repeats I had 3 already I only had 4 in total for the entire repeat on March 15th and they came on the final two miles....
#3 Mile:1.23-1.31-1.31-1.27=5.52.2
Having ballooned upto 6.02.6 on #3 last time out I was pleased w/ the 10 second improvement here,I was only at plus 3 seconds in the over column for a combinded time,what did I have left in the tank?
#4 Mile:1.23-1.31-1.31-1.21=4.46.7
Booyah! A closing lap of 1.21 period but also my fastest repeat of the four to end things on a high and shave 6 seconds off of the March 15th effort:5.38.6-5.48.4-6.02.6-5.55.3.
Clearly there's still work to be done,I need laps 2&3 to be quicker but this is a positive step in the right direction for me and justified my trek to Roxborough.
One final thought,the snow flakes had gotten bigger as the workout went on it never really bothered me period but also in the back of my nind was the comforting thought that a few miles across Philly on the Mainline at Villanova back in the day Ronnie Delaney,Eammon Coghlan and Marcus O Sullivan all probably conducted workouts in the snow under the watchful eye of Jumbo Eillot......if it worked for them why not me?
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