"His destiny is not just written in the sand he's got a plan, he's no lucky man ohh Jimmy's winning matches Jimmy's winning matches, Jimmy's winning games Jimmy's winning games, Jimmy's bringing Sammy back to Donegal again"
Jimmy's Winning Matches-Rory & The Islands
Quite the week, a return to Recovery,Untimed,Tempo and Easy lunchtime runs, my longest week of the year to date, medal#7 of the season, #263 of the career, and a modicum of revenge for last years disaster at PDR.............
Tuesday September 16th Yet another week that began a day late as the powers that be at work haven't replaced the yoke who quit and the yoke they send to cover for him keeps calling out......two Mondays in a row now I've had to work through my lunch period much less miss out on a run
Given the grind I had to go through to complete Sundays 14 miler I was eager to get out onto the Schuylkill River Trail and flush the crap out of my legs.....waiting another day wasn't ideal but ney point bitchin' about it just shut up and run......I forget what the humidity was but it was only 73 degrees at 2pm as I clocked a semi respectable 46.15.4 off 9.13 mile pace w/ splits of:9.30-9.18-9.17-9.16-8.52 after a sluggish opening mile felt I got my mojo working and saw each split drop not a bad way to kick off my week
Wednesday September 17th while a lot of my runs of late have been Untimed it's nice to have at least one run a week now where I'm not governed by the almighty Garmin, just go out run on feel, feels too slow pick it up, feels too fast back off
As I mentioned in my social media posts on Wednesday this run had a bit of everything, 70 degrees but 75% humidity and rain,I almost opted for the rain jacket pre run but thankfully didn't follow through w/ as the 75% humidity was brutal and honestly the rain by the time I got onto the Schuylkill River Trail was a welcome relief.....I'm Irish.....well used to running in the rain, tis the feckin' humidity that does me in!!
Thursday September 18th Ahh shit, the return of the lung bustin' tempo run, my first since mid April, this was always going to be interesting......
83 degrees but only 50% humidity this felt like idyllic mid September conditions,keeping in mind Tuesdays recovery run kicked off in 9.30 I wasn't too taken aback to clock 8.16 for the opener......however 7.57 for mile 2 was always going to come back to bite me in the hole,and so it did 8.22 at mile 3 and 8.40 at mile 4, granted it's been 22 weeks since my last Tempo run but I'm going to have to re teach myself the art of going out at a fast but even pace, by the end of mile 4 I was hanging on for dear life b4 somehow dredging up a 8.03 final mile to finish in 41.18.6 off 8.16 mile pace
Anytime a tempo run resembles a feckin' EKG chart I know I've made a hames of it,it'll get better....it has to I can't be going off half cocked like that again, sure a little " ring rustiness" off a 22 week hiatus was to be expected, I'll give myself an E for effort but be painfully aware it could just as easily been an incomplete......w/ a new record of 33 miles up for grabs making this a 4 miler was frankly not an option...
Friday September 19th Another Friday run brought on out of necessity.....I fully expect to be brought before the Pagan Gods and asked why I continue to flaunt the Pagan Sabbath.......I've been advised to plead " desperate times call for desperate measures " and hope that appeases them........
After a lung buster yesterday at least today was an easy run and also allowed me to kill two birds w/ one stone, the race # pick up for Sundays PDR Half Marathon was at Lloyd Hall at the start of Boathouse Row so since I had to run anyway I figured rather than turn left onto the Schuylkill River Trail I'd go right towards Boathouse Row and Kelly Drive continue till just past Girard Avenue bridge to 2.5 miles turn and head back, stop at Lloyd Hall grab my race # and t-shirt and continue back towards the Ben Franklin Parkway, what could go wrong............
As I made my way under Spring Garden St bridge I had a wry chuckle to myself as the ribbon cutting on the Martin Luther King bridge was taking place, tempted as I was to yell " ye're a feckin' week late!!!!" I kept it to myself......after all tis me who made a balls of the dates not the city!!!!!
Just my luck at Lloyd Hall to get stuck behind a runner picking up several race numbers, asides from drippin' sweat onto the floor as it was 85 degrees out there and 45% humidity I'm now running late to get back to work,I'm not getting into why I chose to run and pick up my race # other than to say it was the easier option to help streamline my weekend if it was done this way......of course had I been able to run Monday I could've just walked up here from work which is roughly 1.5 miles and made it a 3 mile walk round trip.........trip being the operative word..........
W/ just under a quarter of a mile to finish the run just below 18th and the Parkway I caught an uneven paving slab and fell.....luckily for me just like last October in the Dublin Marathon when I caught the rim of an electrical cover and went arse over tit I was able to throw my right hand out and brake my fall....like any runner worth their salt I stopped the Garmin.....no need for it to be running if I'm not!!! a little " road rash" on the palm of my right and left hand but that seemed like the worst of it till later in the evening when my right hip began throbbing then my right wrist was sore......thankfully a warm shower then some Ice and some Advil did the trick
I'm very aware this could have been far worse,at almost 62 now I'm no "Spring Chicken" anymore and the auld bones aren't as strong as they used to be, the trip could've been far worse period but two days before a race the timing wasn't lost on me, I forget when I opted for the Ben Franklin Parkway over Market St and then JFK Blvd but never has that paving slab been an issue until today, I will be extra cautious of it from here on out......
Sunday September 21st This one had been marked on my calendar for a while,I'm not sure how many times I've run PDR but I feel it's the race I've ran the most here{ or anywhere for that matter!} I arrived in Philly in October of 87 and I'm reasonably confident that my PDR debut was Sept 89, it is my favourite race of the year but after last years slowest half marathon ever in 1.54.44 off 8.44 mile pace there was added inventive to rewrite my history
Like I said I've ran this race more times than I can recall, I've ran several versions of the course{I'm auld school enough to remember when we had to run down the Ben Franklin Parkway to the finish not in front of the Art Museum} I've ran it as PDR then the Philadelphia Rock & Roll Half Marathon, now back to good auld PDR, and I've also ran the traditional third Sunday in September date in all conditions, picture perfect days, days it pissed out of the heavens, and sadly in recent years days of heat and humidity, or just plain auld humidity..........
The forecast today was mixed, 65 degrees at 7.30am which is grand.......not so feckin' grand the 85% humidity,I don't know what weather app this gobshite of an announcer was looking at when he said pre race"I don't want to hear excuses about humidity today's a perfect day to run......" but it wasn't the app I get my weather from............ya feckin' gowl!!!!!
I forget what I used as my seed time I'm guessing 1.45 or 1.50 either way I ended up in corral 3 w/ the 1.50 pace runners since they were going in 10 min groups there was no 1.45 pace group, not a bother as I tend to run my own race/ pace anyway, 7.47 for the opening mile down the Parkway around Logan Square and back up the Parkway leading to Kelly Drive, 8.06 for mile 2 as I moved in front of the 1.50 pace group, 8.04 for mile 3 b4 a dip in pace and 8.19 for mile 4
Pre race the plan was 8 min mile pace and a 1.45 finish, at this point I was just adding 8 mins to each split to calculate my next mile mark time, it was going to be there or there about 1.45 if I stayed on pace, however crossing Falls Bridge between miles 4 and 5 I was painfully aware how much sweat was rolling off my Palestine running vest and onto my Ireland running shorts, ever the Boy Scout I had made sure to drink plenty water yesterday to make sure I was hydrated.......I was going to need it!
8.02 at mile 5 b4 8.22 at mile 6 b4 somehow dropping down to 7.50 for mile 7, the turnaround on West River Drive was b4 Columbia bridge, I remember last year making that same turn and waiting for the wheels to come off due to my inability to log a single double digit mileage run which they did at mile 8....I went through mile 8 in 8.07......said wheels felt they were staying in place........
Little bit of a rough patch early on heading to mile 9 saw a 8.29 split b4 dropping splits of 8.19 and 8.10 at mile 10 & 11 at this point 1.46 was looking good but I'm sorry to say the final two miles just got away from me, while I had kept a decent pace throughout finally the humidity caught up to me, I'm pissed I was so close to a complete race b4 two stop/start walk/run final miles, I'm not sure which is worse last year when the wheels came off at mile 8 and the final 5 miles were stop/start walk/run or to be 2 miles from the finish line this year and having to walk a little b4 getting going a few times
9.24 at mile 12 and 9.20 at mile 13 b4 a 59 second .1 to cross the line in 1.49.18 off 8.19 mile pace the 1.50 pace group had passed me just b4 mile 13 near Lloyd Hall.........
It's an improvement on last years 1.54.44/8.44 mile pace I'll happily take that but I'm far from happy about being that close to a complete race and a 1.45-1.46 finish and seeing the last 2 miles get away from me, to put things in perspective last year in the entire month of September I managed 29 miles,13 of which were at PDR, this year w/ another 9 days to go I now have 83 miles, hopefully a quartet of 5 milers during the week puts me at 103 miles b4 I attempt a 16 mile long run on the weekend and still have one or two 5 milers the following Monday and Tuesday,at 33 miles this week I eclipsed the previous best of 32 I logged the week of August 25th-31st, that and medal #7 for the season and #263 for the career are all good things to focus on rather than Fridays trip and today's humidity getting the better of me in the final 2 miles......we go again tomorrow......or Tuesday if we don't have coverage at work tomorrow.......
No comments:
Post a Comment