"Tell us commander, what do you think? cause we know that you love all that power is it on then? are we on the brink? we wish you'd all throw in the towel we'll not fade out too soon not in this finest hour whistle your favourite tune we'll send a card and a flower saying it's a mistake, it's a mistake, it's a mistake"
It's A Mistake-Men At Work
A pair of missed runs, a few " comedy of errors" a long the way, a revisit of auld courses not ran in a while and a return to double digit weekend long runs.......variety they say is the spice of life.........
Tuesday November 18th For the second week in a row skipped the Monday run which almost proved to be my undoing, need to revisit the mantra that skipping Monday can put your entire week behind the 8 ball, between missing Monday because work had gotten on top of me again and Tuesday having to reroute mid run perhaps the proverbial writing was on the wall this had the potential for being " one of those weeks"
The top of Lemon Hill Drive was " off limits" to the point that barriers had been placed across it ....more to deter motorists I would imagine but as it came at me on the fly I now had to reroute mid run, if I'd gone w/ my first instinct to carry on up to Girard Avenue and over the Girard Avenue bridge I think I'd have been ok instead I " followed my nose" which lead me to a trail above Kelly Drive.......fuck me if I didn't get flashbacks to my one and only Trail Run race The Ugly Mudder way back when, a race that saw me utter through clenched teeth as I crossed the finish line "never the fuck again!" I survived that day and I survived Tuesday but I would NOT be risking life or limb again this week on that route, for the record I ran a semi respectable 43.49.8 off 8.46 mile pace but was more grateful for finishing in one piece and unscathed all nine lives still in tact........
Wednesday November 19th Since today was an untimed run and I wouldn't have Hal the little Bollix Garmin w/ me and I had zero intention of doing the run I did yesterday I needed to channel my inner Marine and improvise, it wasn't a hard choice, pre Schuylkill River Trail and brief dalliance w/ the then reopened West River drive my out and back 5 miles was up the Ben Franklin Parkway onto the Schuylkill River Trail behind the Art Museum and onto Kelly Drive at Lloyd Hall/Boathouse Row and out to just beyond the Girard Avenue bridge and back. it's a run I've done countless times so no need for Hal....
Felt good to mix it up a little, I get caught between two trains of thought re my routes, stick to what I've been doing and I can monitor if I'm getting faster, getting slower but in doing that it can become " the same auld same auld" same course, same scenery so maybe I need to think about mixing things up a little in the New Year next week is a short 2 day work week, the following week I work a full week and the week after that another 2 day work week b4 flying home to Dublin......upon my return it's another 2 day work week b4 the final week of the year chances are I won't be able to get out New Years eve lunchtime as we'll probably only work till 3pm so no lunch.....ergo why it might be next year when things settle down to regular 5 day work weeks again and I consider mixing things up route wise
Friday November 21st If Wednesday had seen me make a Lenny Kravitz/The Simpsons reference to " he's kickin' it olde school!!" re my route choice on my post run social media post then Thursday was a full blown Homer Simpson "D'oh"!!!!!! moment....... I had forgotten to unhook Hal the little Bollix Garmin off its charger b4 leaving for work.....ok not a deal breaker I could do another untimed 5 miler no bother..........however I'd also neglected to throw in either a bandana or hat to my backpack the night b4 and I wasn't risking a run w/out something on my head period......much less along the Schuylkill River in mid to late November, last thing I need is getting sick period but w/ virtually all my PTO time covering the Dublin trip I'm not looking to be up shits creek sans feckin' paddle......this is where opting out of a Monday ran came back to bite me in the hole,I knew Saturday morning would be raining and my schedule in the afternoon didn't allow a run so I was going to have to settle for a 4 day week....again not the worst thing in the world considering last week I only ran 3 days....however it's another missed run and lost miles as the month is drawing to a close if I aim to log my 4th consecutive triple digit mileage month.....
Opted to show West River Dr a little love for this run as I had no way of knowing if Lemon Hill Dr was still "on lockdown", two major takeaways from this run almost a sub 40 time 40.07.6 off 8.01 mile pace which is one thing but to be honest when I set off just gone 2pm I wasn't thinking sub 40/tempo run it just happened, out in 20.23 back in 19.44......the second takeaway was having to slalom in and out of the Geese on West River Dr.......I can tell ye two things....one there are no feckin' Geese on either Kelly Dr or when I tackle the hills on Sedgley/Lemon Hill Drives....and two my Geese/Slalom game is very much on point thank ye very much{ ney Geese were harmed while yer man was running!!!!!}
Sunday November 23rd It's been a minute since I got out there on a Sunday and logged double digit miles partly due to races three of the previous four weekends however I needed to get back into that groove sooner rather than later period but I also knew a 10 miler today would not only round out my week at a semi respectable 4 days/25 miles it would push my monthly mileage to 79 miles w/ a week to go if I'm to continue my current run of triple digit mileage months
On Philadelphia Marathon Sunday I was aware of "what might've been" if my training hadn't deserted me when I needed to up my long runs in September 12 miles felt it was my plateau in late August and if that's the case moving forward I can I hope look forward to several half marathons over the coming seasons, to that end it was important to get out today and nail this 10 miler bad enough I missed a chance last week, I have another "bite of the Cherry" next weekend b4 my season finale race the Schuylkill River Loop the following weekend, the weekend after that I'm in Dublin which then leaves 2 weekends in mid/late December to hopefully notch two more 10's b4 the opening weekend of January when I hope to move up to 12 miles and eventually 14 miles in prep for the Love Run half marathon on March 29th
Conditions were sunny and mild at 1.20pm when I set off, given this was the day of the Philadelphia Marathon I had to give some consideration to my route, I suspected both Kelly Dr and West River Dr could be "off limits" even at that hour, and I saw first hand Wednesday & Friday there was a fence across the Schuylkill River Trail near the Art Museum which ruled out an extended run along the trail beginning at Grays Ferry......feck it in a week of revisiting auld courses I opted for the tried and tested Powelton Ave,Mantua Ave,34th Street,Lansdowne Avenue,Avenue Of The Republic,Belmont Avenue route......pleased to report no issues there and back
Outside of my 10 miler a fortnite ago at the Rocky Run I hadn't logged double digit miles training since August 30th but I needn't have worried as not only did I cruise through all 10 miles I did so well under the 1.30/9 mile mile target, 1.26.32 off 8.39 mile pace and for good measure threw in negative splits, out in 43.36 back in 42.50,earlier in the year that wasn't the case.....earlier in the year it was feckin' hot and humid which also resulted in low mileage weeks/months
My only gripe was mile 5 which is a bastard up Lansdowne Avenue was the only mile not under 9 mile pace, my splits were:8.23-8.41-8.37-8.42-9.15-8.41-8.38-8.41-8.26-8.28, it would've been nice to keep all 10 under 9 min mile pace but I'm not Barbie,I can't have everything and I'm not looking for "jam on both sides" shur we'll have another cut off of it next weekend and see what happens"....
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