Getting To Grips W/ Vertigo

If' it's Saturday then it's 3x2 mile repeats at Temple.
I was disappointed w/ last weeks performance but all the factors that I believe went into that{fatigue,having to run the day b4,a clunky stopwatch and not being able to eat b4 the run} were non existent today,I also hoped to build on the good 8 miler I ran on Monday and Wednesdays hill repeats.
Arriving at Temple just b4 10am conditions were ideal,warm but no humidity and no wind on the back straight{not always the case there}and next to nobody using the track which always helps, but when you're running 24 laps even more so!!!
Mile warm up and then showtime.

#1 repeat 1.19.6.1.26.0.1.27.5.1.26.9.1.27.9.1.27.8.1.24.9.1.21.0-11.22.0.A solid opener and very consistent,I came through the opening mile 5.40.2.,11.22.0 is my third fastest split to date.

#2 repeat 1.21.7.1.27.2.1.27.6.1.28.0.1.27.8.1.31.2.1.24.7.1.16.1.-11.24.6.Oh for lap 6 over again!!not sure if that was a mental or physical let down but it would prove to be my slowest lap of the entire session,I said in week 2 once I began to eliminate the 1.30 laps on this repeat I would be getting somewhere,I'm that close,a 5.44.6. opening mile.

#3 repeat 1.25.6.1.28.6.???1.29.6.1.27.7.1.27.6.???1.13.7.-11.30.1.Due to a stopwatch malfunction I don't have splits for lap 3 and lap 7(sorry!) but again very consistent lap splits and a 1.13 closing lap(very nice!!).

In week 2 I went:11.21.2.-11.40.9-11.46.2. today:11.22.0.-11.24.6-11.30. and while I'm far from being where I need to be I'm getting there,fingers crossed tomorrow's planned 12 miler doesn't get rained out and I can log my first 50 mile week since early May,between the Iron pills,Vit C and nudging my mileage up I believe I can get where I need to be to have a decent crack at my oldest pr the 10k road,34.53 set all the way back in 84 in only my second ever 10k,more importantly I'd like to halt the up and down nature of these 3x2 mile repeats,weeks #1 and #3 left a lot to be desired,weeks #2 and #4 were marked improvements,let's see what next week has in store?

Once A Runner

Technically today is a rest day but having just finished John Parker's novel "Once A Runner" I had to comment on it.
Highly regarded as one of the best books about running I have to confess I'd never heard of it until earlier in the year when my friend and team mate Phil Reilly published his first novel "Chasing Ghosts" which will be my next read but while doing research on "Chasing Ghosts" I stumbled on "Once A Runner" and must admit fell in love w/ it.

I could relate to the trials and tribulations of Quenton Cassidy and Bruce Denton in Kernsville and look forward to reading the sequel "Again To Carthage",if you haven't read "Once A Runner" yet I strongly recomend it.

Getting My Ducks In A Row

"Take time to see the wonders of the world to see the things you've only ever heard of

Dream life the way you think it ought to be see things you thought you'd never ever see

Take a cruise to China or a train to Spain go round the world again and again

Meet a girl on a boat meet a boy on a plane and fall in love w/out the pain

Everybody needs love and adventure everybody needs cash to spend

Everybody needs love and affection everybody needs two or three friends

These are the things,these are the things the things that dreams are made of

Take a lift to the top of the Empire State take a drive across the Golden Gate

March march march across Red Square do all the things you ever dared"

The Things That Dreams Are Made Of-Human League


Frankly if we get any more rain this week I fear my ducks my float off!!!

Pay day today(yea!!!)hopefully this time around the money in my bank account will say "I Promise To Pay The Bearer" not "I Hope To Pay The Bearer"!!!

I set my weekend in New York for the Human League and 5th Avenue Mile in motion,got my Human League ticket,booked a hostel in New York close to 5th Avenue and booked a round trip ticket on Megabus for $10,all I didn't do was order the new Human League cd,I figure that can wait till the next paycheck today I ordered the new OMD cd since I'm seeing them the nite b4 the Human League,on back to back nites I'll see the band who began my concert going in December 80 and a band I saw the following December.

As to why I have the two pictures posted atop the blog?when I first saw the Human League in 81 I wanted Phil Oakey's hairstyle,now 30 years later I have it.....ha ha!!!!

Easy 8 mile recovery run this evening after my hill repeats yesterday,coming off the first uphill I could feel the effects of yesterday.....god bless the easy day,and tomorrow is a rest day....god bless the recovery day!!!

On A Mission.......

"A fleeting glance upon your silken face Medusa and you can turn my heart and soul to stone
Thank you for the memory and the lasting first impression,thank you for the steel that cuts to the bone
Over the hills and far away there's a place that's paradise where we walked,walked,walked,walked on in talked,talked talked of sharing dreams"

Over The Hills And Far Away-The Mission

Normally I baulk at referring to The Mission as The Mission UK but after posting the cover to "The First Chapter" I felt it was a little bland,where as the cover for The Mission UK had more going on so I added the second one....what the heck it's my blog after all!!

Any morning that begins w/ me feeling like a 747 pilot(where my feet don't touch the ground!!) and sees me dialing up Social Distortion on the ipod usually spells trouble w/ a capital T but thankfully the need to walk thro walls,shit nails,spit bullets didn't happen but it's always good to hear Mike Ness and Social D.

Off to Belmont Plateau this evening for a 5 week period of hill repeats,it remains to be seen if I continue w/ them post Syracuse but I have considered it a strong possibility,anyway to kick things off tonite the time honoured 6xFlagpole,my target time was 2.15 per repeat.

#1 repeat,2.12.1. A solid opener,it's always a crap shot on the opening repeat,going out too slow or too fast but this one felt right.

#2 repeat,2.13.4. More of the same on #2 it was just a question of getting the right line on the turn to Flagpole,I almost took a wicked header on #1 as the long grass covered a serious hole in the ground I didn't see.

#3 repeat,2.14.8. Another second added to the tally,I didn't feel there was any particular area I was letting this slip away from me.

#4 repeat,2.15.9. Dangerously close to slipping over the 2.15 barrier,there could be no margin for error now on repeats #5 and #6.......

#5 repeat,2.10.4.Nice! I didn't feel I did anything different on this repeat and felt I ran w/in myself,the trick now was had I left enough fuel in the tank for the finale?

#6 repeat,2.10.8. Heading up the hill towards Flagpole for the last time I could feel myself having to dig deep and while I'd have liked a mulligan on #4 after back to back 2.10's I knew it wasn't happening!!!

A good start to hill repeats,it'll be interesting to see what 6x Parachute yields next week and what week #5 produces when I return to 6x Flagpole in 4 weeks time.

Happy B'day Precious

It sucks I never got around to replacing my digital camera that got stolen almost 16 months ago period but over the last eight months since I adopted Precious my now one year old cat it would've been nice to have documented her growth from tiny 4 month old kitten to one year old cat today
There is a photo of her on January 17th's entry "The Love Cat"(what can I say,cat lover and Cure fan to boot!!!) when she was 5 months old,trust me she's grown a lot since then,I doubt she could fit in between the keyboard and monitor now.
When I first adopted her at 4 months old she could fit in the palm of my hand....good luck trying that now although in recent days she's getting back into "lap cat" mode and curling up on my lap,something I thought she outgrown,one thing she'll never outgrow is being is Daddy's Girl Precious and I share a bond,I don't know if she can comprehend that I saved her from probably freezing to death that first nite I took her in or if she knows how close I came to being thrown out of the house for standing up to the landlord to keep her but the love Precious and I share is a strong love and I want to wish the "not so little girl" a happy first b'day today.

Easy 8 mile run this evening,after giving it a good seeing to last nite I was happy to take a relaxed attitude towards the run this evening period but w/ hill repeats at Belmont Plateau on tap tomorrow there was no need to go after another brisk 8 miler this evening.
No run would be complete w/out the "peanut gallery" of course,the idiot riding towards me on his bike who felt the need to yell at me as he rode by and my perennial favourite the idiots who want to outrun me.....grow up,piss off or both!!!
As for the picture of Clare Grogan, "Happy Birthday" was Altered Images breakout hit back in 81 and it introduced Clare Grogan to the world,I had a crush on her the size of Texas and since I couldn't post a picture of one kitten (Precious) I should at least post one of another!!!

Hold Back The Rain

"Yes we're miles away from nowhere and the wind doesn't have a name so call it what you want to call it still blows down the lane
People tell me I haven't changed at all but I still feel the same and I bet you've had that feeling too you can't laugh all the time
And if the fires burn out there's only fire to blame(hold back the rain)no time for worry cause we ride the outside lane(hold back the rain)
The clouds all scatter and we ride the outside lane(hold back the rain)not on your own so help me please hold back the rain"

Hold Back The Rain-Duran Duran
Yeah,yeah,yeah another Duran Duran reference but it was them or Milli Vanilli and "Blame It On The Rain" and frankly that shit ain't happening!!!
I was disappointed to miss yesterdays 12 miler but from the time I woke up (9am) till late afternoon (5pm) it was pissing down,I can hack running in the rain IF I've started my run but there's something about trying to run when it is chucking it down that I just can't handle,I'm not going to beat myself up over missing a run,trust me there are plenty of people out there who'll do it for me but the fact is over the coming weeks and months there will be beaucoup Sunday 12 milers and 50/60 mile weeks so chalk this one up as a loss and move on.
In lieu of my run I did get some much needed rnr,I went into the weekend saying I was in need of some rest and I got it.

Glass half full off an unscheduled day off I felt I could "go after it today" on my 8 miler,after 7 easy 8 milers since returning from Nationals 2 weeks ago it was time to amp up the 8 miler once a week and "give it some welly"....frankly at lunchtime when the heavens opened again I thought I'd be wearing wellies to run but sweet and merciful Jesus it stopped raining and I was able to get my run in.
I figured 50 mins was a reasonable target time 6.15 mile pace,a far cry from the 7.30 pace I was cranking out at the end of May.
My unofficial splits were 3.44{Cedar & Cobbs}9.00{Baltimore Ave}14.00{Whitby Ave} and 24.38 at the turnaround,49.16 pace.
I was feeling good and providing I hadn't bitten off more than I could chew I felt confident that sub 50 was on.
36.00 at Whitby,41.52 at Baltimore and 46.37 at Cobbs & Cedar I still had juice at the finish even if it wasn't a negative split 24.38-25.08 but it was sub 50, 49.46.1.

Over the coming weeks once a week I'll have a crack at continuing to lower that time,my plan is Tuesdays hard 8,Thursdays hill repeats,Saturdays 3x2 mile repeats.
One final foot note,yesterday was my 23rd sober anniversary,I don't like to brake my hand patting myself on my back but having spent so much of my life as a drunk prior to Aug 14th 1988 the fact I've been able to stay sober one day at a time for the past 23 years is a fate acompli and even thought I toyed w/ the thought that due to my low iron levels maybe I could drink Guinness on a medicinal level in recent months since I was diagnosed w/ a mild form of anemia I know that's my illness and disease and addiction talking to me,even after 23 years I'm not off the hook yet....I'll stick to the iron pills once a day and remain sober one day at a time.

The Long Haul

Having officially called time on my 2011 track season after Sundays track pentathlon I began to devise my fall season,phase 1 a 6 week hopefully uninterrupted period of 50 miles a week w/ no races and 2 repeat sessions per week,this would lead me upto 5th Avenue Mile, this then morphs into a 10 week phase w/ 7 races to take me to the end of November.....and then indoor track.
The plan for the next six Saturdays is lay a base of 3x2 mile repeats while I can train w/out worrying about races so this morning saw me resume my battle w/ vertigo.....24 laps plus another 8 thrown in for good measure w/ my mile warm up and cool down!!!!

I arrived at Temple's track a little after 10am,conditions were sunny and warm but at 86 degrees not too humid,that coupled w/ only a handful of people on the track meant the elements were in my favour for a decent workout.......

Repeat #1 1.23.2,1.30.3,1.29.2,1.30.9,1.30.6,1.33.1,1.32.3,1.27.5,-11.57.5.Not exactly the start I wanted the opening lap was solid enough but after that it kind of went into the crapper,it didn't help the wrist band on my stopwatch went kerplunk on me the other day so I was having to hold the watch like an old fashion stop watch(I know I'm having a series of 80's flashbacks right now but seriously!!!!)and I wasn't able to see my splits per lap,if I had've maybe I'd have seen seen the 1.30 splits and upped my pace.....or maybe I was just having an off day?

Repeat #2 1.26.1,1.31.0,1.31.9,1.36.2,1.34.2,1.36.4,1.39.0,1.28.6,-12.23.8.I knew it was shaping up as "one of those days" but rather than throw in the towel I figured I'd see it through to the bitter end,if nothing else next week I'll have a chaseable target time a la week 2 of these repeats when week 1 was also nothing to write home about.

Repeat#3 1.31.1,1.33.8,1.31.5,1.34.4,1.33.3,1.34.0,1.31.7,1.20.1,-12.10.3.A mild form of redemption,having come through the mile in 6.11.0 I knew I had to try and pick up the pace and did just that w/ a sub 6 mile to round out a some what disappointing repeat session.

My three weeks of 3x2 mile repeat so far read a little like an EKG chart:
11.08.4-12.28.8-12.26.1.
11.21.2-11.40.9-11.46.2.
11.57.5-12.23.8-12.10.3.
The fact I came home and very uncharacteristically took a three hour nap probably underlines how tired I feel,my schedule has been a little unforgiving of late,sleeping till 9am this morning was my first lie in of sorts for a couple of weeks and since I'm pleading financial embarrassment this weekend I'm figuring a lot of downtime w/ my feet up outside of my 12 mile run tomorrow should I hope reset my body clock so that next Saturday I'm kicking the 3x2 mile repeats arse....not the other way around!!!