Caution Is The Better Part Of Valour

 So only the one run to blog last week, another stunning reminder that no matter how willing I am to get out there and do what I have to do somedays things beyond my control just throw an industrial size spanner in the works, at my age controlling my bladder is a full time gig but at least I have some control over that, the weather, work and mass transit all conspired last week to feck me over, the week began well enough w/ a 9 miler on Monday but after that it just got away from me.......what's the old adage " time, money and women all slip through my fingers"..........

Mon April 15th While the masses had descended  on Boston for the marathon  I was happy enough to be out the door post work around 6pm to tackle a 9 mile run, out and back along Powelton Avenue and the start of Kelly Drive to just beyond Girard Avenue bridge

A balmy 80 degrees according to Peco Tower safe to say sleeveless and shorts was the attire and hopefully till mid October now when I'm tapering for Dublin I won't need my half zips and 3/4 length bottoms

Mercifully the Art Museum and Kelly Drive weren't as crowded this evening as Sunday afternoon so a little less weaving in and out....in running as is in life I prefer straight lines

1.16.19 off 8.29 mile and thankfully no repeat of the maniacal 1.16.03 off 8.27 pace I ran on Thursday where I effectively ran myself into the ground tonight felt a tad more under control

Like I said after that the week transpired to get away from me w/ the proverbial one thing and another, some days the running Gods smile on you.....somedays that say" it's not your day" however I will say had I not been erring on the side of caution maybe I could have gotten out there on a few of those days

On Monday while making my way up Powelton Avenue I was forced wide at he intersection of 34th and Powelton by some jobsworth who had tried unsuccessfully to cheat the red light and failed miserably instead of being able to go straight across the intersection I had to veer sharply to my right where not only there's a sizable dip down from the sidewalk to the road but it's uneven and I remember at the time when my right foot struck the ground thinking " that smarts" and probably thinking of a few unflattering comments towards "Mario Andretti" ......

Tuesday morning said right ankle/ achilles  were a little sore at first I thought maybe I'd slept on it wrong my second fear was my achilles was inflamed.......I missed a huge chunk of the 2009 season and my shot at the 800m and 1,500m  at Masters Worlds in Finland due to  tendinitis and it flared up again in 2013

Since my second go round w/ physical therapy I have made a point to stretch my achilles b4 ever run, again I'm at an age where " everything hurts" I also make sure to stretch so that my knees, hip and calves don't bother me so that I can keep running, there's a lot of miles on this frame and hopefully a few more yet to come so I leaned on the side of caution w/ my ankle/ achilles rather than grind away miles for the sake of padding my mileage I sat out a few days, Dublin is 27 weeks away and I'm sure the "Dog Days Of Summer" will have some say in my training the last thing I need is an injury period but also one that can be avoided when a more cautious approach would serve me better

The Return Of Eyore{Doing The Donkey Work}

 Back at it.... training and blogging!

So following my 15k race on Saturday I knocked out an easy/recovery 7 miler on Sunday to round the week up to 16 miles but also get me back into a routine of getting out there and getting the miles in that had fallen by the wayside of late

Mon April 8th

I always say that Monday is the most important day of the week re a training run, handle business Monday and set yourself for the week, miss/blow off Monday and allow for the potential of getting jammed up later in the week

The fact I had this Monday off of work made it easier for me to get out there and start the week off on the front foot so taking full advantage of that fact I ran at lunchtime

Opted for an out and back along the trusty Schuylkill River Trial via the South St bridge which basically takes me to the back of the Art Museum at 4.5 miles then  a quick u turn and back the way I came

They are extending the Schuylkill River Trail beyond it's current end at Christian Street down towards Grays Ferry not sure what the time frame is on that project but once complete it will give me another option on my runs, it'll be interesting to see which construction job finishes first the extension to Grays Ferry or fixing the bridge at the end of West River Drive under the Spring Garden St bridge

Tue April 9th

The acid test....it's all well and good going out on a Monday lunchtime on a day off but could I come home from a days work and get myself out the door for a run......?

Since the clocks went forward on  March 10th I'd only managed to take advantage of the extra daylight in the evenings on March 11th and 12th, after five months of lunchtime 6 milers I had struggled to make that adjustment.....that's all well and good but if I hold any ambitions on  a decent Spring/Summer/Fall I need to be out there post work in the evenings putting the miles in and its what I'm used to, I only ran at lunchtime during the Winter to counter the dark

After a week when it frankly " pissed out of the heavens" almost everyday the fact that not only was the Sun out this evening but also 78 degrees at 6.20pm when I hit the Schuylkill River Trial was a sight to behold.......however in  a reverse Dolly Parton "You Can't Have The Rainbow W/out The Rain" w/ the good weather comes the masses descending on the Schuylkill River Trial and space is limited, this is where West River Dr being out of commission plays a major role hopefully they finish reconstruction on that bridge sooner rather than later and free up both West River and Kelly Drive

Thursday April 11th

I knew five in a row was a big ask when I'm just coming back to full training so reluctantly I sat out Wednesday, mentally and physically I was beat and even the prospect of a shorter 6 or 7 mile run rather the the 9s I'd set myself for the week was a big ask, remembering an old adage my former coach taught me" listen to what your body is telling you" I elected to take a rest day Wednesday and  have at it tonight anyway......given the day I was to encounter at work on Thursday the run would prove cathartic.........

I'm not going to get into specifics re my job that's what my journal is for what I will say is if things don't change and soon swaths of trees will  need to be cut down to provide me the reams of paper I require to pen my daily frustrations at work, while I fully understand bitchin' about our jobs is "The National Pastime" I don't wish to be the poster child for the destruction of more trees and we'll leave it at that.....

Conditions were grey and overcast at 6pm as I headed out for my 9 miler w/ the hint of rain in the air.....I needed this run so if I had to go the baseball cap/ rain jacket route to get the miles in I would have

I also opted for a change of route tonight up Powelton Ave to the back of the Art Museum around the front of said Art Museum to Kelly Drive and down Kelly Drive to just under  Girard Ave bridge to 4.5 miles and then back

I wasn't really paying attention to my mile splits but I opened in 7.56 which is a tad brisk and then followed up w/ an 8.05 fair to say I was on a mission.......

W/ three miles to go  coming back down Powelton Ave I could feel the effects of some uneconomic pacing my final three splits were 8.51-8.42-9.02 as I finished in 1.16.03 off 8.27 mile pace for the record Tuesdays run was 1.20.33 off 8.57 mile pace.....

It's rare I play the "No Mas" card at the end of a run I'm pretty good about rehydrating showering making something to eat........not tonite! I collapsed on the bed post run lay there motionless for over 90 mins and by 9pm channeled  my inner George Burns and said "Good Night Gracie" threw my running clothes on the floor at the end of the bed turned the tv and the light off and called it a night!!!

Sunday April 14th

Saturdays long run got away from me, I should have stuck to my routine of getting up around 7am and out the door by 8am, I opted for the Spurs Newcastle game at 7.30am under the pretense I'd run at 9.30am when the game finished.........

When your team doesn't show up and gets spanked 4.0 it's a bitter pill to swallow and frankly a run of any type let alone a 16 mile long run was about as miserable a prospect as the train ride back to London from Newcastle for the Spurs fans who'd travelled North for that shit show.....

Mercifully Spurs don't play another Saturday game till May 11th which is their final Saturday game of the season so I won't have to worry about that potentially happening again till August 

It had been a long week mentally and emotionally and try as I might to get up early Sunday for a long run it just wasn't on the cards....however come 2pm I did galvanize myself to get out the door and knock out a 9 miler.... mercifully not at the kamikaze pace of Thursdays ran on the same route!!!

1.17.47 off 8.38 mile pace and thankfully no repeat of me crawling into bed at the completion of said run this time........

A 4 day/36 mile week better than it has been of late so that's the blueprint moving forward Broad Street is three weeks away, another week of 9 milers this week and then 2 weeks of 10s leading upto Broad Street and beyond

{Re}Building The {Im}Perfect Beast

 First and foremost apologies for the lack of blogging recently, to be fair there wasn't a whole heck of a lot to blog about as my running hit a wall of sorts, hopefully that's behind me now as I've spent the last three days "pounding the pavements" trying to get back into a routine

There have been two races recently a disastrous Love Run half marathon on March 24th and a slightly better Hot Chocolate 15k last Saturday ,I'm still at a loss as to why my half marathon went "tits up" at 1.39.17 off 7.32 mile pace it ranks as my second slowest ever half marathon only the infamous 2017 Odyssey half marathon aka "the mother of all cock ups"  ranks slower

Why it went pear shaped I'm still at a loss to understand I've been running for 48 years  I'm not naive enough to think there won't be bad days period muchless  days when you just can't put your finger on what went wrong, this was one of them, is it possible I over trained???? I had 4 12 mile runs logged by the end of December and 4 14 milers in January/February and the 3 16 miles in February/March I missed the 2022 Love Run due to a hip injury and the 2023 edition due to my knee, my last two half marathons were the 2022 and 2023 Philadelphia Distance Run both of which were hampered by humidity so maybe I went into this years Love Run a little too gung ho.....it's done now it was a poor race by my standards but to quote the always quotable Roy Keane" nobody died.....life goes on".........

To say I went into Saturdays Hot Chocolate 15k on Kelly Drive a little snake bitten  is an understatement, the 7.32 mile pace over the Love Run had caught me well and truly off guard I expected to run faster maybe I over estimated where I'm at in training right now so the plan for the 15k was 7 minute mile pace and a 63 minute finish

I got my customary good start and eased my way through the first corral on route to a 6.54 opening mile however b4 reaching the second mile marker the 7.30 mile pace runner pulled up along side me as my pace dropped to a 7.35 mile, we went back and forth over the next 3 miles as my splits went 7.35-7.23-7.18 I knew it was windy going north on Kelly Drive to begin w/ plus after  my last outing it might be prudent to go out a bit conservatively  for the opening half of the race and then push the pace for the inbound 4.5 miles

After finally dropping the 7.30 mile pacer at mile 5 I thought I'd have "open road" between the Conrail bridge and the Art Museum finish...........hold my Gatorade!!!!!!!

This year the race offered a 10k option to the already existing 5k and 15k I hadn't given it any thought that the 10k and 15k would start at the same time until I reached the 6 mile mark in 7.06 and the 10k turnaround..........the word Clusterfuck sprang to mind........ my clear run to the finish line was now obscured by the 12 minute mile pace 10k runners don't get me wrong I have untold respect for any runner no matter how slow they may be to put themselves out there and run but the powers that be might want to rethink start times for next years races as I'm sure I wasn't the only one hampered by this

Despite having to weave in and out of the 10k runners my final 3 miles went:7.06-7.04-7.04 for a 67.21 finish off 7.13 mile pace, still not at the 7 min mile pace I would like to be at and where I think I should be at but maybe that's "high notions like the mountain goats in Kerry"  as the auld fella liked to say and maybe all the hill work I've done on my long runs has taken a toll on my legs?

46th overall but more importantly a comfortable winner of the 60-64 age group, adding considerable  insult to injury at the Love Run on top of a poor race and slow time I missed the 60-64 podium by 25 seconds in 4th so today felt like a bit of redemption and hopefully yields another medal to the collection and keeps me on pace for Dublin being #250

I have four weeks now till Broad Street and hopefully time to work on getting that 7.13 mile pace down to 7.00,Dublin is still 29 weeks away if I can get down to 7.00 mile pace by Broad Street I'll have 25 weeks to try and get down to 6.50 mile pace which would get me sub 3.00 in Dublin.....little by little, mile by mile, training run by training run......