Run To The Hills-Iron Maiden
The last of the 70 degrees days maybe, a missed training run and a plot twist Stephen King would've been feckin' proud of........seldom a dull moment in Kevinrunningfree..............
Monday October 20th Frankly Mondays Easy 5 miler should've been brought to ye by Lipton's Iced Tea......why ye ask?......cos it was feckin' Brisk out there!!!!! feck me all I needed was my umbrella and I could've lived out my Mary Poppins fantasy and flown the course!!!!!
66 degrees and 41% humidity was fair but dear lord the wind was something savage when I set off just gone 2pm,in a week when I had a race waiting for me on Sunday there was a sense of " keep the powder dry" outside of the tempo run and race its self so opening in 8.43 felt about right, mile 2 was 9.02 as the hills on Sedgley and Lemon Hill drives kicked in, as I made the turn around I saw 22.25..........
9.24 for mile 3 again I was happy out w/ easy pace but something seemed to kick in over the final 2 miles, 8.44 for mile 4 b4 a 8.13 finale......44.07.1 off 8.49 mile pace but a negative split, out in 22.25 back in 21.42, was there a tailwind in the final 2 miles down Lemon Hill Dr,Sedgley Dr and up Kelly Dr to the Ben Franklin Parkway? maybe......
Tuesday October 21st Ah the untimed run.....perhaps my favourite run of the week when I don't have to worry about time, speed and pace and just enjoy the run period but today might've been the final day we see temps in the 70's it was 70 degrees and sunny and 31% humidity so what better way to enjoy it that than being able to run w/out having to focus on the pesky auld garmin
Of course one drawback of a run like that is not paying attention to key components a la knee lift and leg turnover and just b4 mile 4 on the opposite side of Kelly Dr from the Art Museum I managed to clip the uneven part of a broken piece of paving and almost went arse over it again......thankfully thanks to ones catlike reflexes I stayed upright but it was another harsh reminder that it only takes a split second for it all to come crashing down around ones ears if ye aren't careful........
Thursday October 23rd Maybe there's more Gypsy Blood in me than I let on?........for the last two weeks I've been saying the last of the good weather days were coming to an end.....ok so ye don't need a degree in Science to work that out in mid to late October but I also said at the end of my blog last week that in order to reach another month of triple digit mileage I would need the weather and work to play ball......and on Wednesday work threw me a curve ball that meant no lunch and no run.....shur it happens when it does I say "my training schedule has to fit around work not the other way round" so ney point throwin' the toys out of the pram or spiitin' the dummy out.........however that said since I was now heading up to New York City on Friday lunchtime there would be no chance to make up that lost 5 miles.......#thirdworldproblems and #worsethingshappenatsea ........as my former coach once said " you can't chase lost miles" so now my bigger issue what to do re the type of run as it was either a tempo run or easy/recovery run.......or maybe I could channel my "Inner Barbie" and have everything........
Opted for a hybrid tempo run but on the hills, what the fuck one final balls out 5 miler out and back on the Schuylkill River Trail wasn't going to effect how Sundays race goes but another six hills would be useful and at a quicker pace than I've been doing them
At 60 degrees this could also be the swansong of my sleeveless running vests for awhile as next weeks forecast has temps of:59-57-58-60 but rain and 58
A lively enough opener in 8.28 b4 dropping down to 8.42 which ends after the uphills of Sedgley & Lemon Hill Drives 21.26 at the turn almost a full minute up on Monday, stick or twist ? shit or bust.......
8.40 at mile 3 b4 dropping an 8.12 split at mile 4,no point backin' off now shur and threw in a final mile of 7.21 to not only log a 41.24.8 time and course record.......but also another negative split out in 21.26 back in 19.58........the Three S's Speed,Strength and Stamina all present and correct heading into Sunday.....
Sunday October 24th If it's Race Season then that means the alarm is going off at Silly O Clock......5.45am this morning, file under " the things I do for the things I love" which also applies to getting to bed at 3am Saturday morning upon my return from NYC as I was one of the fortunate few selected to attend a Rolling Stone interview w/ the one and only Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine at Cherry Street Theater Friday evening #TheQueenIsBack......
Out to Radnor by 7.25am for an 8.30am start it was sunny but brisk probably 47 degrees so I opted for my Ireland 3/4 length running tights under my Ireland running shorts and a long sleeve running shirt but w/ the sleeves rolled up come race time under my Palestine running vest
Unlike my debut here three years ago this time I knew what to expect from the course so I got out to a comfortable start and went through the opening mile in 7.50, pre race the mindset was that 40 mins would get me on the podium so 5 times 8 min miles equals 40................. 7.08 for mile 2 which I'm sure ye can workout was downhill unlike the opening mile......unlike 2022 I knew what to expect from mile 3 this year so I knew I'd be giving something back so wasn't surprised to see 8.23 on Hal
8.00 flat for mile 4 suddenly the prospect of sub 40 was real and given my hill work over the last few weeks coupled w/ tempo runs I felt I had fuel to burn in the final mile, as the great Carl Lewis once said and I quote"I just wanted to know I left it all out there"..........7.18 for the final mile as I crossed the finish line in 38.40.7 off 7.41 mile pace.........however my euphoria was short lived.........
In 2022 the 60-69 podium went:38.27.3-38.31.0-40.10.3 in 2023 it went:38.33.8-40.05.8-40.54.21 and in 2024 it went:38.36.4-41.26.0-41.50.0 based on that data my 38.40.7 would've gotten me 3rd in 22, and a close 2nd in 23 and 24.........5th today..............
I'm gobsmacked not only not even close to the podium in a respectable time, the winning time was 33.41.1 which is fair moving on this course at any age let alone 60-69,second was 35.03.3, third was 35.59.2.....if I'm salty spare a thought for yer man in 4th who crossed the line in 36.40.5 a time that would've won him the last three years only to discover he finished 4th........
I'd like to think I don't take podium finishes as a given, I train hard and put the work in but in 8 races this year I've only seen the podium 3 times 3rd at the Cupid's Chase 5k, 3rd at the Hot Chocolate 15k and 1st at the Freedom 10k this one is going to take a while to process.....thankfully there's another race next Sunday at the Bridge Run 10k to try and get over todays disappointment, rest assured I'll be taking no prisoners in training this week........
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