"Queen of South Beach, aging blues dinners at six, wear your cement shoes I thought you were singing your heart out to me, your lips were syncing and now I see, a change a change would do you good I think a change would do you good"
A Change Would Do You Good-Sheryl Crow
Another triple digit mileage month but a blown tempo run and blown long run also.......hopefully the last hurrah of the year for the feckin' humidity, come along for the ride as I attempt to make sense of the last seven days........
Monday Sept 22nd A recovery run hard on the heals of Sundays PDR 1/2 marathon, officially the end of Summer/ start of Fall/Autumn today.....by weeks end I feel Mother Nature had pulled my pants down yet again....but hopefully for the final time this year......
73 degrees and overcast w/ 53% humidity{little did I know this was as good as it was going to get humidity wise all week,,,,,!!!} as I opted for the "road less traveled" and West River Drive/MLK Drive, which has been off limits below Sweet Briar Drive for over 2.5 years now until the reopening of Martin Luther King bridge last Friday
It's nice to have a third option now on my lunchtime runs,Schuylkill River Trail down to South St bridge,Kelly Drive to just beyond Girard Avenue bridge and now just beyond the Amtrak bridge the other side of the Schuylkill River on West River Drive
44.01.1 off 8.43 mile pace off splits of:8.11-8.47-8.53-9.15-8.53, if I could've shaved a little off of the 9.15 mile 4 I would've gotten under 44 mins not that that was a pre run goal.....but when ye finish in 44.01 ye tend to think"if only"......or at least I do........the good thing was there were no lingering effects from Sundays half marathon period as I closed in on triple digit mileage for the month the magic number was now 12 miles.........
Tuesday Sept 23rd Ahh the pure unadulterated joy of an untimed run, pb's and pr's and seasons bests are good craic like but there's something about just being able to go out and run w/out having to worry or focus on speed, pace, splits
85 degrees w/ 55% humidity and the magic number was now 7, the bigger take away from today was my decision to"renew hostilities" w/the hills of the Radnor Run at the end of October, I ran it 3 years ago and recall being grateful to the Kerry DNA in me thanks to "the mother" for the feckin' hills.....shur ye'd want to be part Kerry Mountain Goat to tackle those yokes......in 23 I opted to stay local for the Market Street 5 miler which I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship w/, primarily their refusal to provide a bag check for the runners,I can't always rely on Mrs Shamrock Warrior being w/ me for each race so when the "powers that be" say sorry no bag check it's a problem, in 23 I had to run in baggy shorts w/ pockets for my keys and Septa Key Card, ditch an auld running t shirt b4 the start and since I was sans phone had no idea of the results and had to wait around over an hour after the finish only to discover I was 4th in the 50-59 age group but would've gotten 2nd in the 60-69 age group if it had been another few weeks....... last year on 249 medals and Run For Blue was a week b4 Dublin and that was where I wanted #250 not the Market St 5 miler and Radnor was the same day as Dublin which is probably why it wasn't originally on my radar this season.....but it is now......better start running up Grays Ferry Avenue bridge to prepare for those hills over the next few weeks!!!!
Wednesday Sept 24th On a level playing field today was meant to be my Tempo Run......however w/ my upcoming trip to Dublin in 12 weeks time....{yeah I'm counting the weeks.......I've been counting since it was 29 feckin' weeks!!!!!}I'm trying to stockpile my PTO time to cover the trip which meant no day off after Bruce Dickinson's show at The Filmore last nite......trust me at almost 62 I need a day off after a mid week concert, I didn't have that luxury where work was concerned so I opted to switch my Tempo and Easy runs, like I always say" it's all well and good having a schedule.....but ye have to allow for flexibility' so easy 5 miles it was
46.12.6 off 9.15 mile pace thanks to splits of: 9.13-9.06-9.25-9.45-8.44 80 degrees and 72% humidity.....and shaggin' rain which required my lightweight Dublin Marathon rain jacket, felt more like Summer than Fall/Autumn out there........so it was grey and overcast like I said.......shur ye know what's coming........Hal the little bollix Garmin actin' the bollix......
On Monday when I opted to run out and back on West River Drive I made a point of eyeballin' where 2.5 miles was, it was the third street light after the Amtrak bridge, yesterday on my untimed run that's where I turned......and lo and shaggin' behold when I reached it today it said 2.37........are ye fuckin' kiddin" me??? I had to continue running till I reached Sweet Briar Drive for HTLBG to register 2.50....ya little bollix ya!
Despite more shenanigans from Hal, looking and feeling like a drowned rat between the rain, humidity and having to throw on a lightweight rain jacket the magic number was down to 2......maybe if I wasn't balls arsed tired from the night b4 that might've been something to celebrate......then again "tomorrow's another day!!!!"
Thursday Sept 25th Most, if not all my running posts on Instagram have a music option, the fact I chose the Verve classic "Bitter Sweet Symphony" today shouldn't come as any great surprise{asides from the fact it is a feckin' belter of a tune!!!}
At 87 degrees w/ 88% humidity.......that's correct NOT a typo!!! maybe waiting it out a day was a better option and maybe the lure of reaching triple digit miles today and not tomorrow nudged me to going for the Tempo run rather than waiting it out.......for all my craic about Gypsy Blood I had no way of telling what was coming down the tracks the following day weather wise.....hindsight as they say is a wonderful thing and I opted to run Thursday, if I knew then what I know now..........but also IF my Aunt had balls, she'd be my Uncle......
8.40 for the opening mile, last weeks opening mile on the Tempo run was a suicidal 8.16 which came back to bite me in the hole so I wasn't overly concerned about it......IF I could maintain 8.40 pace for the next four miles I'd be grand.....
8.41 at mile 2, given it was 87 degrees w/ 88% humidity I had opted for the Schuylkill River Trail for it's proximity to the Schuylkill River and the hope that any breeze coming off the river would help combat the heat and humidity......
9.02 for mile 3 and I was toast, the feckin' heat and humidity had drained me, I wasn't even going to grind through the final 2 miles as I had feck all left in the tank
IF,IF,IF......if Bruce Dickinson hadn't have been Tuesday I could've gone Tempo yesterday in slightly better conditions and just "gone through the motions" today on an Easy run but Bruce Dickinson WAS Tuesday and I elected to switch days so careful what ye ask for I guess......
26.24.8 for a 3 mile Tempo run off 8.48 mile pace, I had " set my stall out"last week to reintroduce the Recovery,Untimed,Tempo,Easy rotation so there's little to no point " throwin' my toys out of the pram" now.....granted on the 3rd full day of Fall/Autumn who had 88% humidity on their feckin' Bingo card I know I didn't?
#101 miles is not to be sniffed at period,much less 5 days b4 the end of the month however having to curtail a run due to heat and humidity seldom sits well.....it sits less well when the "Dog Days Of Summer" are in the rear view mirror
Sunday Sept 28th What's the auld adage " when arguing w/ Mother Nature she always gets the final word".....my planned 16 mile long run ended at mile 4 as I never got out of second gear today
Originally the forecast for today had rain ergo why I think I opted to run Thursday not Friday as the prospect of a 5 mile Tempo run Friday followed by a 16 mile long run Saturday didn't seem too appealing, as it turned out Friday was a much nicer day than Thursday AND we didn't get rain today......tis my own shaggin' fault for putting stock in the weather be it on the local news or my phone
79 degrees and 59% humidity at 1pm......what's the auld Monty Python line" still I was getting used to it by then" just once it would be nice to get up early and knock out or attempt to knock out the long run rather than sit on my hole till lunchtime, it wasn't to be today and a week out from next Sunday it won't be next Sunday either as the humidity levels from 8am thro 1pm read:83%-77%=68%-62%-55%-51%......now alot could change between now and then but I'm struggling to find "silver linings" where Mother Nature and my running conditions are concerned right now.....
8.55 for the opening mile and I was happy w/ that, I didn't want to go off half cocked period, much less when the plan was 16 miles......softly softly catchy monkey......
9.13 for mile 2 and I was a little concerned as the middle part of mile 2 is the downhill of Grays Ferry Avenue bridge, was I just being overly cautious?
9.46 at mile 3 just after the on/off ramp from the South Street bridge on the Schuylkill River Trail.......this ain't my first{or last!} rodeo I knew the further out I went the further back I'd end up walking,one thing about being an auld fart and having done this for almost 50 years ye get a sense of when it isn't going to be your day.....and today felt exactly like it wasn't so I turned and began to head back
10.00 at mile 4.......ahh fer fuck sake stick a fork in it!!!!any thoughts of even a 5 miler went out the window w/ a 10.00 mile at mile 4, I know when I'm cooked, my bandana was soaked and so was my Dublin running vest, I called it quits rather than grind through another mile just for the sake of making it 5 miles
W/ 8 weeks to go till the Philly Marathon there's ample time to get some 16,18,20 mile runs in so no need to hit the panic button just yet, that said the past 8 days have been a reminder that ye have to enjoy the highs when they happen, cos the lows will hit ye below the belt when you're not expecting them, at least w/ 2 more days in the month I have 105 miles in the books which is what I ran in August, potential for 115 which isn't too shabby,I quote Dolly Parton about as often as I quote the Bible but she once sang "You Can't Have The Rainbow W/out The Rain"......amen to that sister!
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