Lions, Tigers & Bears

Another successful week in the books, first race of the season under my belt two more medals to the collection..........

Monday February 5th W/ the Cupid's Chase 5K just 5 days away there was a need to see if the fast twitch muscles were still sharp.....evidently they are!

46.07.01 off 7.40 mile pace  it wasn't till I got home in the evening to "consult w/ the Oracle"....my running log that I discovered this was in fact a PR and course record....the fact that I'd been able to utilize Sunday as a rest day for once and come into Mondays run fresh probably helped, granted since I began prep for Dublin most of my runs during the week mainly the 6 milers were just to log weekly mileage but now  w/ a race on Saturday it was time to " see what was under the hood" I only ran three 5ks last season, Cupid's Chase in February, Penn Relays and Rocky Run in November and while the ultimate goal this season is the Marathon it would be beneficial to get some speed work under my belt to round out the "Three S's, Speed, Strength and Stamina"

Tuesday February 6th Having gone hard on Monday it felt prudent to throw in an easy/recovery run today to balance things out.....no point leaving it all out there along the Schuylkill River Trail this week and not having anything left in the tank on Saturday

To that end it was an easy 50.17.5 off 8.23 mile pace, however for good measure I did manage to throw in a negative split out in 26.05 back in 24.12 remarkable the weather has been "unseasonably warm" for early February to the point I could ditch my hat and gloves while running along the river...how long that will last is anyone's guess but as the saying goes let's make hay in the proverbial sunshine while it lasts

Wednesday February 7th Well I guess Monday wasn't a one off afterall.....43.09.9 off 7.11 mile pace my splits went:7.05-7.17-7.29-7.04-6.57-7.14.......when 7.29 is your slowest split you know you're doing something right!!!

At this point now the wheels were truly turning in my head, if I could average 7.11 mile pace over 6 miles what might I be able to do over 3 miles come Saturday?, over the last few seasons I haven't raced 5k that often but my days of sub 20 have begun to get further away while I doubt sub 20 is on the cards Saturday this early in the season I'm curious what I can run 

Saturday Feb 10th after a ten week hiatus it was race time again! gave myself 45 mins to walk the 3 plus miles from home to the Philadelphia Zoo and arrived there b4 7.30am ample time to get my race number, make one last " pit stop' at the rest room pin my number on strip down to race gear and get into the corral, conditions were above average as they had been all week once again I was able to leave the ski hat and gloves behind in fact I rolled up the sleeves of the long sleeved running shirt under my Ireland running vest b4 the gun even went off, I always joke in races and training runs that " when the sleeves get rolled up I mean business" the fact they got rolled up b4 the gun was  an indication of what was about to unfold.....

Having ran the race last year I knew the course, the opening mile looped through the Zoo, mile 2 was outside b4 coming back in and basically reversing the opening mile back through the Zoo to the finish I got a clear start and quickly found myself in the top 10 runners in a field of over 300 7.06 for the opening mile as we now looped around the outside a loop I'm very familiar w/

Prior to the clocks going forward in November and running at lunch time I was doing 8 mile runs three miles up to Mantua Ave then around the back of the Zoo and back down 34th Street  till I hit mile 4 then reverse and ran back the way I came so that second mile of the race was  familiar to me, I moved up to 8th and saw how much daylight I had between myself and 9th

7.11 for the second mile the gap between 7th and me wasn't closing and now it was just me verses the clock, could I go sub 21??? the final uphill in the corner of the Zoo took a little out of me the first few strides coming off of that hill were choppy b4 I got back into my  stride and crossed the finish line in 21.02.54

If you offered  me 21.02 b4 the gun went off I'd have taken it so to have just missed sub 21 isn't the end of the world, not sure if they're be a bunch of 5k b4 seasons end to go sub 21 but chances are I'll do the 5k and 10 miles at the Rocky Run in November post Dublin so we'll see

Finishers medal and  age group award winners medal to put me up to #243 for the career, closing in on #250 which if everything goes to plan will be Dublin on October 27th, while the Dublin Marathon was always on my list it's NOT a coincidence  I set it up that it could be medal #250

For good measure post race I ran the three miles home to round up to 24 miles for the week since I lost the chance to run at lunchtime on Thursday I'll have to get out there on Sunday to finish off the week at 30 miles

Sunday Feb 11th Easy/recovery 6 miles out and back along Powelton Ave and Mantua Ave just gone 9am.....actually I ended up running along 34th towards the Zoo entrance  to compensate for a Garmin malfunction along Powelton Ave when I didn't restart it at 35th St, I could have " eyeballed" the turnaround but then the Garmin would have come up short and I wanted the  6 miles besides it was a pleasant morning to be out there  and having sacrificed the Saturday long run for the race yesterday a little extra half a mile or so wasn't going to matter

Officially 6 miles for the day, 30 for the week, 50 so far in February, down to  six weeks till The Love Run half marathon on March 24th and the prospect of a 40 mile week w/ a 16 mile long run this Saturday.....never let it be said I'm one to rest on my laurels.....