"And the old religion humming in your veins some animal instinct starting up again and I am wound so tightly,I hardly even breathe you wonder why we're hungry for some kind of release so tired of being careful, so tired of being still give me something I can crush, something I can kill A lightning strike, a fallen tree and I'm afraid oh don't let it find me but you can't outrun yourself, you'll see and I am powerless, oh don't remind me"
The Old Religion-Florence & The Machine
A 5 day 33 mile week for the second time in seven weeks, three more medals to the collection......oh and a long overdue age group win......not yer average week for the Shamrock Warrior.........
Monday November 3rd Off the back of Sundays brisk 10k at the Bridge Run I needed a shake out run to get any lingering crap out of my legs.....also w/ a rare Saturday race/races on the schedule I wanted to get my reps in Monday through Thursday so I could be fresh come 7am/8am Saturday morning
The morning at work had been a bear so I was only too happy to duck into the empty office I use to get out of my work gear and into my running gear this lunchtime and blow off a little stream, a semi respectable 46.26.0 off 9.04 mile pace which for a recovery/easy run is fine, having ran my fastest 10k in 2 years the day b4 if ever there was a day to ease off the gas a little it was today
Tuesday November 4th Mercifully a less " all hands on deck" morning in the office and an untimed run on tap......now wonder I was smiling when I did my post run socials, the sunshine and the 62 degree temps didn't hurt either........
Wednesday November 5th NOT the fireworks last weeks Tempo Run produced on Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night sadly but none the less my second fastest time on this course over the last five weeks
No sub 40 or negative split this week but at 41.21.6 off 8.16 mile pace it wasn't something to be sniffed at either, having thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the Radnor 5 Miles and Bridge Run 10k in the past two weeks it will be interesting to see what kind of time I can register Saturday in the 5k, the last 18 weeks have seen me rededicate myself to my training and I'm finally starting to see the rewards now in training and my races, granted the season is winding down but unlike last year where I pretty much mailed it in post Dublin and then didn't resume training till late January once December 7th's season finale is ran I don't plan on easing off, even if it means using a treadmill in my hotel in Dublin while I'm away for 10 days
Thursday November 6th The big takeaway from this run was how badly it effected my fingers post run, at 55 degrees it was hardly cold out there and certainly no need for gloves{that friggin' cheque is in the mail trust me,maybe not December but I'm sure come January!} however post run from my fingertips down to the middle knuckle turned ghostly white and trying to operate the frigging Remote Data Link handheld on the 4pm mail run was problematic to say the least......
I know I'm cursed w/poor circulation to begin w/ it's always my extremities, fingers and toes that feel it first on a run......but I wasn't expecting it to happen in early November, reasonably sure HR won't sign off on Whiskey as a " medicinal beverage" pre run so I may just have to keep an eye on this and see if it was a one off or if it happens again
Saturday November 8th For the eighth time in nine years{2020 being the outlier for obvious reasons} yours truly was not only getting the feck up at 5am{I know tis insanity, as a hand held sign between mile 8 and 9 read today "You paid to do this!!!"} but also was doing the "Italian Stallion Challenge" the 5k and 10 miles......why?..... simple cos they offer a bonus medal......that's feckin' why!
In 2017 when I returned to road racing after 10 very fruitful years running Masters Track my medal count was #157 I started thinking about getting to #200 so when I saw that The Rocky Run offered a bonus medal for signing up for the "Italian Stallion Challenge" I signed up......and have kept signing up ever since in 2019 the 5k yielded #200 but since I then turned my focus on #300 so the thought of either the 5k or the 10 miles hasn't really played out,on my current trajectory I believe #300 could come at the end of the 2027 season or early 2028 so that means for the next two years its ye auld "Italian Stallion Challenge"
I paid more attention to the fact it was going to be raining at 5am than what the actual temperature at race time/times was going to be..... it was almost my undoing in the 10 miles as I had opted for a base layer which I actually didn't need but for all my yackin' about being a Boy Scout and "Be Prepared" I never brought or thought to bring compression shorts opting instead for my 3/4 length running tights, boy did I sweat in them and the long sleeved running shirt under my running vest......t'was honest sweat in fairness and I'd rather sweat than be under dressed and be cold out there
22.19.8 for the 5k off 7.11 mile pace my second fastest time in the last 2 years, at Cupid's Chase in February of 24 when I was in a rich vein of mileage I logged 21.02.5, this is why the fact the Penn Relays 5k clashed w/ the Rocky Run this year is a double pisser, A one less medal and B the chance to run a 5k w/out holding something back for the 10 miler, guess I'll have to wait 14 weeks till Cupid's Chase 26 to run my next 5k.......motivation to "keep er lit" over the Winter.......
I won't lie, I had some concerns about the 10 miler going into this, since PDR on September 21st my longest run was 8 miles on October 19th as I opted to focus on the shorter distances but again in "full disclosure" the plan is 10 mile long runs between now and years end minus my time in Dublin so that come the first weekend in January I'm ready to step up to 12 miles and by late January/ early February I'm upto 14 miles as my sights will be on the Love Run half marathon on March 29th
8.04 for the opening mile,I was hoping for something around 8 min mile pace/1.20 finish....give or take, when I logged back to back 8.08 splits for miles 2 and 3 it felt like I'd gotten into a good rhythm and 8.10 at mile 4 confirmed that
Not sure how or why mile 5 ballooned upto 8.23 pace......I suspect I was preparing for "Mount Drago" a series of up hills that would make or brake me, again this is why I've spent several weeks on the hills of Sedgley Drive,Lemon Hill Drive and Kelly Drive doing hill work........although in fairness those hills have feck all on these yokes, sweet mother of God these are some serious feckin' hills to begin w/ and it's just over half way in the race/races for those of us insane enough to do both distances
9.11 at mile 6 just after the final uphill now I don't quote Sir Isaac Newton that often.....if ever........however "what goes up must come down" and I knew there were downhills back onto West River Drive so the fact mile 7 was a 7.53 split shouldn't come as a great surprise
Maybe it was the momentum of the downhills and the decent mile splits at mile 7 but mile 8 was another 8.08 split, there was no doubt in my mind now I was finishing this and doing so w/out stopping, I don't know what the official temperature was at 8am-9am but it was warm and sunny and in the second weekend of November ye'd take it every time
8.02 at mile 9, granted my average mileage per week of late has been mid to low 20s but I had racked up some decent longer weeks at the tail end of August, early mid September when the Philly Marathon was a consideration so I had that "muscle memory" in the legs
7.32 for the final mile as I crossed the line in 1.21.41 off 8.09 mile pace.........remarkably quicker than Broad Street in May which was 1.24.29 on a very humid morning, last year post Dublin Marathon I ran 1.30.27 here which was my slowest ever time for 10 miles.......what a difference a year makes!
I won the 60-64 age group in the 5k, got 4th in the 10 miles{at least it wasn't feckin' 5th for a third week in a row!!} 2nd in the Italian Stallion Challenge and 5th in the Mount Drago challenge ......not a bad mornings work if I say so meself!
Normally I'd be half way through a five week cycle of Fall Road races,next weekend would've been the Penn Relays 5k and the following weekend would've been either the half marathon or the Rothman 8k neither of which are happening this year......which is grand as I can hopefully log three 10 mile long runs the next three weekends b4 the season finale Schuylkill River Loop on December 7th and finish the season on a high note not the bum note last season ended on and the fact it took till the last week of January to get back into the swing of things......a fully motivated Shamrock Warrior is a dangerous Shamrock Warrior....
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