Diaspora

 Another week closer to Dublin another longer run logged.....another week of shaking my head at the Weather Gods.....welcome to the arse end of July folks!

I had hoped to maybe resume evening runs this week as the need to increase my weekly mileage volume is pressing ....however the dreaded heat & humidity continue to be a thorn in my side where that is concerned, hopefully w/ August a few days away that will happen sooner rather than later, it's not a pressing need right now but time is slowly ticking down towards Dublin, the need for more volume per week and longer weekend long runs is great.....but I'm somewhat hamstrung by the daily heat and humidity being what they are, mid to late August looks like it will cool down enough to be out there  a few evenings per week hopefully logging 10-12 mile runs b4 continuing to increase my weekend long runs

Monday July 22nd It is often said "Fortune Favours The Brave".....it is also said Icarus flew too close to the Sun although these days it wouldn't be the sun melting  his feathers and wax it'd be the feckin' humidity.....

At 82 degrees w/ 68 % humidity I felt it was " worth a punt" to see if I could run and how well I could handle the conditions 82 degrees at 6pm is mild compared to what we've been dealing w/ of later as I headed out for my first evening run in several weeks revisting  the tried and tested route up Powelton Avenue towards Spring Garden St bridge

8.34 for the opening mile followed by 8.47....I already knew any aspirations I had of this being a double digit run were folly the sweat was rollin' and bouncin' off of me and my breathing was laboured, at the corner of Powelton Ave and 31st St at 2.5 miles I knew better to turn around and head home rather than head towards Spring Garden St and eventually Kelly Dr

I forget at which point the heavens opened but frankly the rain felt some what cathartic as I saw out another 2 miles in 8.43 and 8.45  for a time of 34.49.2 off 8.42 mile pace, far from earthshattering but another 4 miles in the legs, at this point I'd be surprised if I log 60 miles for July but it's usually August when I begin to hit triple digit miles for the month

If getting out this evening was  glass half full the fact that 82/68 heat & humidity still causes me issues was very much a case of  glass half empty.......

Saturday July 27th Fuckin' Ada it must be getting serious when I head out for a long run on Saturday! last time that happened was  Feb 24th, twenty two weeks ago.....

Out the door just gone 7am while my 8 and 10 milers had been over the South St bridge and up the Schuylkill River Trail I opted for Powelton Ave and Kelly Dr for the 12 miles, w/ hindsight maybe I should have stuck w/ the former....'if it aint broke don't fix it....."

Cool enough conditions at 7am 70 degrees, 63% humidity, perhaps the cooler temps lulled me into a false sense of security, opening mile was 8.20, last Friday on the 10 miler it was 8.39....however  that was at 5.30am, hindsight is 20/20 but maybe I should have eased off the gas.......

8.37-8.39-8.34-8.35-8.32 reached the turnaround between St John's boathouse and Strawberry Mansion bridge in 50.37, off 9 min mile pace that would have been 54.00, again  w/ the benefit of hindsight I should have eased off the pace but having made the turn I was now thinking about the inbound 6 miles

The proverbial writing was on the wall when my next two splits were 8.57-9.19, I've been doing this dance long enough to know when the wheels are coming off, when I walked up the ramp to the back of the Art Museum to access Spring Garden St bridge I knew I was toast, and while I got going again on 31st St and clocked 9.32 for mile 9  I knew any notions of seeing out the final 3 miles were as the auld fella used to say"high notions like the mountain Goats in Kerry"......

A laboured 9.59 10th mile was " all she wrote folks"  1.28.56 off 8.54 mile pace, scant consolation for being 32 seconds quicker than last Fridays 1.29.32 off 8.57 mile pace

The bigger pisser is chances are conditions during the week probably won't lend themselves to a redo so I'll have to wait till next weekend to  attempt my 12 miler, which costs me one of the seven 20 mile runs I had penciled in from  August 31st thro October 19th, I will be monitoring the weather all week to see if there's a brake in the heat and humidity to give me a crack at this again b4 Saturday or Sunday

One final thought, the past two weekends have seen the culmination of the GAA Provincial championships, fair play to the Clare hurlers and Armagh footballers for lifting the coveted Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire trophies in Croke Park...... none of them rocked up to Croke Park on the day and thought " we have this in the bag'' to a man the hard work and sacrifice to walk those steps and hold those trophies aloft began back in November and December on cold nights in Clare and Armagh so that in the sunshine of July their hard work and dedication would be rewarded, back on January 6th I ran my first 14 miler in the cold to begin laying the ground work for an Autumn day in Dublin when I hope to have my moment in the sun also

Roulette Wheel/Roll The Bones

 " What's the deal? spin the wheel if the dice are hot take a shot, play your cards, show us what you've got What you're holding, if the cards are cold don't go folding Lady luck is golden she favours the bold that's cold, stop throwing stones the night has a thousand saxophones so get out there and rock and roll the bones" Roll The Bones-Rush

Another week when trying to get out and run was very much  akin to roulette or a crap table, spin the wheel, roll the dice and hope luck is on your side......Mercifully by Thursday Heatwave #3 had come to an end so the odds of a Friday morning 10 mile run looked good, I had hoped earlier in the week to get out for another 8 miler however after  a sleepless night due to the hot and humid conditions the 5.30am alarm was was greeted w/ a " not today" as I attempted to fall back asleep for another 90 mins b4 getting up for work......

Friday July 19th well at least the weather Gods were on my side  Cecily Tynan on #6 News had said on Thursdays weather forecast that Thursday would be the coolest evening in the past two weeks which lent itself to a good nites sleep and the odds of me answering the 5.15am alarm for a 10 mile run were favourable

Out the door just gone 5.30am, this was unchartered territory for yours truly, I'm not accustomed to getting up at 5.15am or running 10 miles at 5.30am but "needs must" I wanted a 10 miler and Friday represented better odds of getting it than the weekend if I was willing to get up at such an ungodly hour, I was buoyed by the fact the air was cool and despite being b4 the official Sunrise dawn had shed enough light that I wasn't running in the dark

According to the much used of late Weather app on my phone 6am was going to be 68 degrees and 68% humidity...this was important since when I reached South St bridge and the usually trust Peco Tower was displaying time and temperature  it said 12.30am and 72 degrees......if the time was cockeyed I had to guess the temperature was also.......!!!

My target time was 1.30.00 off 9.00 min mile pace, I clocked 1.29.28 off 8.57 mile pace, which while pleasing I went into the run telling myself all that mattered was getting the 10 miles sub 1.30 was an added bonus my splits were:8.39-8.56-9.08-7.36?-8.51-9.00-9.16-9.14-8.55-9.53

I put a question mark next to mile 4 it wasn't a 7.36 split the cloud cover was effecting the Garmin as it's prone to do mile 4 should come in at Lloyd Hall at the start of Boathouse Row and I hadn't reached  there when mile 4 popped up so I tacked a bit extra after mile 5 b4 making the turnaround to level it out

Given this was my first 10 miler in eleven weeks since the Broad St Run I was pleased w/ the fact I really didn't have to dig deep over the final 2 miles, maybe knowing I still had to go to work meant there was no margin for error, along those lines I realized this morning that while getting up at 5.50am and out the door ay 6.05am for 5 mile runs was doable b4 work now when I need longer runs I need to revert back to evening runs, weather permitting, I've penciled in next week as the return  to that but it will depend on the weather, but if not next week hopefully the week after as we begin August

 For the record I did run on Saturday but it only ended up being a 2 mile run  at 16.14.9 off 8.07 mile pace w/ spits of 7.38-8.35, I went out a tad too aggressively  in the opening mile and it caught up to w/in the next half a mile so I swung back to tack on the .5 and called it 2 miles

T-14 till Dublin, hence the need to resume evening double digit runs hopefully 10-12 miles 3 evenings a week while using the weekend to continue to extend my long run, I'm hoping next Saturday will be 12 miles which if I can get 2 or 3 10 milers in during the week should be a bit easier.....again  this is all prevaricated on the heat and humidity which hasn't gone away it's just lurking in the long grass....

Boldly Going Where I Haven't Been In A While

 "So here I go,it's my shot feet fail me not this may be the only opportunity that I got"  Eminem Lose Yourself

 Well it was a case of "Quality Over Quantity" last week as the humidity ruled the roost and dictated the state of play throughout the week, however in the classic you can't teach an auld dog new ticks department I discovered it's not the temperature  you need to pay attention to it's the humidity.......

W/ heatwave #2 in full effect I spent more time on my weather app than usual last week checking on a daily basis the temperature and humidity to see if and when there was a chance to get out and run, eventually Thursday looked like it was doable if I was willing to get up at 5.30am and run 8 miles rather than the 5 milers I've been running thus far, I'm at a juncture now in mid July that has become "piss or get off the pot" the clock is ticking on Dublin, Sunday marks 16 weeks to go I need to be able to up the ante from 6 miles to 8 miles this week so that next week it's 10 miles and so on and so forth that my weekly longer run is getting longer, however in order to get to 10 miles I need to get to 8 first and thus far I'm 0 for 2 in my attempt to log and 8 miler so w/ that in mind I spent most of Wednesday hydrating  in preparation for Thursday morning

When the alarm went off at 5.30am I was ready by 5.47am I was dressed, stretched and out the door 74 degrees.....but more importantly only 76% humidity.....finally after several days of stifling humidity a chance to get out and run

A modest 8.34 opening mile, while I was shooting for 9.00 min mile pace the truth was this was more about trying and hopefully getting 8 miles in, time, speed, pace were secondary.....distance was the goal 9.12 at mile 2 as I crossed the South St bridge a little b4 6.10am already dozens of likeminded other runners had the same idea to get out early getting the miles in b4 it became too steamy ,8.51 at mile 3 and 9.00 flat at mile 4, 35.37 at the turnaround just after Lloyd Hall on Kelly Dr, 2 weeks ago when I reached Lloyd Hall I knew I was fried today I was able to turn and head back along the Schuylkill River Trail

I wasn't overly concerned about miles 5 and 6 I had enough 5 miles logged in recent weeks to cover them it was miles 7 and 8 that were a concern my most recent 8 and 9 mile runs came in early to mid April in prep for Broad St on May 5th, bonking on the weekend is bad enough and seldom sits well but on a weekday when I still have to get home get in and out of the shower and get to work by 8amish meant failure was not an option or to quote Eminem from Lose Yourself ''success is my only motherfuckin' option, failure's not......

9.11 for mile 5 and 9.23 for mile 6 the on/off ramp up to South St bridge is always a challenge but it was one I passed today, now for the closing 2 miles.......I was too close to home now to bonk in my heart and mind......I just had to hope my legs were on the same page........

9.01 for mile 7, I was going to be close to the 1.12 target time off 9.00 min mile pace if I could dredge up the last ounces of strength I had......w/ 7 blocks to go and 7.30 on the Garmin I did have to dig deep I was TOO close to home now not to

A laboured 9.41 final mile to reach my door step in 1.12.52 off 9.07 mile pace as I said earlier time, speed, pace were not the issue here, getting 8 miles in was  and I was able to do that and hopefully that puts me on the next rung of the ladder moving up the mileage ladder

For the record the temperature on Saturday at 6am was a comfortable 74 degrees.......however the humidity was 96% it was a suicide mission to even attempt to run so I settled for Thursdays 8 miles and began checking the 10  day weather forecast for heat and humidity to see when is the next opportunity to get out there and run, heatwave #3 is about to begin so it's going to be a game of wait and see.....

Hello Humidity My Old Friend.........

 I believe it was Glenn Frey who said "The Heat Is On".......The Shamrock Warrior said " this feckin humidity is killin' me"........

I'm no stranger to struggling w/ the summer heat and humidity, each year over the past few years I've noticed my tolerance to it becoming less and less, and as each year it feels like the planet continues to heat up which feels like a lose/lose for me, heading into a Fall marathon I knew I would have to face the heat and humidity and hope for the best, by the end of last week if felt like it was a tie two wins each w/ the summer demanding an instant rematch this week......

Monday July 1st Up and at it at 6.10am, seldom one to brake my hand patting myself of the back I am proud of the fact I've been able to get up in the morning and getting out to run either pre work of early on my days off, at 64 degrees it's a reward to get up and out at 6.10am knowing in 12 hours time it'll be 84 degrees and counting

Almost an identical time to Fridays 5 miler, 44.05.2, shaving three seconds off Fridays time my pace was 8.49 mile pace and my splits were: 8.14-9.06-9.01-8.49-8.54

The opening split was a bit brisk which came back to bite me in the rear over the next two miles, I'd like sub 9s if possible getting that opening mile right would go along way to making that happen.

Wednesday July 3rd Deja Vu? 44.05.5 off 8.49 mile pace, my splits were:8.22-9.18-8.49-8.50-8.42, I forget what the exact temperature was but I should have made a note of it because it would prove to be the last comfortable day this week......

Pissed my second mile split ballooned up to 9.18,   I probably switched off mentally  which at 6.20am is understandable but still frustrating I could've gotten my first sub 44 min 5 miler w/ ease this morning, still the old running adage " there's always next time".............

Friday July 5th I knew at 5.55am it was going to be a hot sticky mess out there, how bad was it? my sleeveless running vest was sticking to my back going down the stairs before I even got out the front door...........

It was already  77  degrees at 6.20am and the air was thick, I got to 43rd and Baltimore which was .82 of a mile in and said "nah....feck this this, not today!!!!" I knew the further out I got the further back I'd be walking in this soup, turned around tacked on another .18 of a mile to round out to a 8.33 mile and called it a day

Sunday July 7th Having paid close attention to the local weather news on Friday when Payton Domschke said " just cut and paste todays conditions, 97 feels like 104  tomorrow" I knew a Saturday run no matter how early was questionable.....

As I've said b4 it's not the heat that's the killer although its bad enough it's the humidity that does me in, now all of a sudden it's not the temperature I'm checking it's the humidity, to that end it felt prudent to push back my 6am start time to 8am because the humidity would be slightly lower.....alas not low enough I knew when I hit Franklin Field at mile two I was in trouble, beads of sweat were bouncing off me like projectiles and by the time I hit the foot of the on/off ramp at South St bridge to access the Schuylkill River trail I was cooked, the 1/4 mile to Locust Point and the 2.5 mile turnaround wasn't an option, not for the first time this summer, nor I fear the last I cut a lonely sad figure doing the  stop/start walk/run back home managing another mile to round out a 26.27.2  three miler I was so out of it when I got home I forgot to write down my mile pace.....it wasn't high on my list of priorities at that point trust me.....for the record my splits were:8.21-9.06-9.00 for the record 82 degrees at 8am w/ 69% humidity to use a line from Matthew Broderick in "Biloxi Blues"    "man it's hot....Africa hot.....Tarzan couldn't stand this heat"!!!!!

A four day fourteen mile week w/ no " long run"  two weeks in a row I've failed to get my 8 mile run in, but frankly in these conditions I'm probably arsehole lucky to be logging any runs, the ten day forecast dosen't look like its about to get any better, but not panic stations yet, seven weeks till Philly 10k, ten weeks till PDR, sixteen weeks till Dublin, still ample time to  turn it around and when the heat finally drops so that my evening runs can be 8-10 miles a few times a week then I can begin to bump up my weekend long runs.

Two weeks ago when I resumed training and had a bad first weekend I didn't get too down on myself the following day the heatwave broke and I nailed a six mile run you can't  let the lows get you too low, but you also can't allow the highs to get you too high, all things in moderation

When Inspiration & Perspiration Meet

 Well I must be getting serious about Dublin, after no to low mileage the previous 11 weeks  the Shamrock Warrior was not only out there four days last week but three of them were early morning runs....amazing what a ticking clock will do........

I was asked recently "why now?" after a few shallow months of training, my reply was "if not now, when?" Dublin is getting closer if I don't knuckle down now it'll be too late and since we're into "The Dog Days Of Summer" if I'm going to run at all it'll have to be in the mornings b4 it's too hot and humid so now felt as good a time as any to get back into the swing of things

It was no coincidence that Ireland's success at the recent European Athletics Championships in Rome had a galvanizing effect on me, Gold in the mixed 4x4 Relay, Gold in the women's 1,500m, Silver in the women's 200m and Silver in the women's 4x4 relay, we are a small country we don't have the climate or the facilities other nations enjoy, and a lot of our athletes live and train in America and traditionally we've only enjoyed limited success at the Euros, I vividly recall Eamonn Coghlan  winning silver in the 1,500m in Prague in 78, in the years since then Sonia O Sullivan, Derval O Rourke, Mark English and Ciara Mageean had reached the podium at the Euros which I always feel is Ireland's best chance to medal it's a lot tougher at World's & the Olympics that said after our success in Rome I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do in Paris later this month.

For as long as I can remember wearing an Ireland running vest has been tremendous inspiration to me w/ my running, the fact 'The Holy Trinity" of Irish milers Ronnie Delaney, Eamonn Coghlan and Marcus O Sullivan have inspired me the last 48 years is no coincidence and hopefully a successful Olympics for Ireland will continue to drive me forwards towards Dublin at the end of October

Monday June24th Finally a brake in the bastard heat after a week of 90 degree plus temps the heatwave broke Sunday evening which allowed me an evening run on Monday

Having huffed and puffed thro a 4 miler on Saturday and a 3 miler on Sunday in the humidity even at 6am I could've been forgiven for not having high hopes on Monday evening however w/ temps in the  low 80s I felt less sluggish than I had on the weekend and managed a 6 miler in 54.02.3 off 9 minute mile pace, my spits were:8.59-9.16-8.52-8.47-9.06-9.00 far from earth shattering but a few weeks back on a 6 mile run after I hit mile 4 I had to stop and walk for a mile b4 finishing off the final 2 miles, I talked last week about having to work on my S&C so this albeit a small victory was a victory none the less and something to build on moving forward

Wednesday June 26th Having ran Monday evening there was no way I was getting back out there in under 12 hours, on top of running 4 days in a row so I set my alarm for 5.55am and surprised myself by answering the call, it's probably the best part of a year since I managed a weekday morning run

Even at 6.30am it was 75 degrees  but given in another 12 hours it'd be 95  I had little to complain about as I made my way out and back to Locust Point which is conveniently 2.5 miles from my front door to make it a nice 5 miler, during the winter I was running 6 miles further up along the Schuylkill River Trail on my lunch hour when time constraints were an issue so for the time being I'll make do w/ morning 5 milers since I still need to get home shower and be back out the door by 7.30am to get to work, maybe August if it isn't too steamy in the evenings I can return to 8-10 milers?

44.40.8 off 8.56 mile pace thanks to splits of:8.55-9.01-9.04-9.02-9.00, fairly consistent  and something to shoot for come Friday morning if I could get up at 5.55am again, Thursday evening was looking a little on the steamy side.....

Friday June 28th two morning runs in a week the boy must be serious!, conditions were cooler than Wednesday 66 degrees which helped as I dropped my time to 44.08.5 off of 8.50 mile pace thanks to splits of:8.37-8.56-8.53-8.52-8.50

While Wednesday's splits were consistent today I kept them all under 9 min mile pace which is pleasing it tells me my S&C is coming back as I continue to move forward, three runs in a week and two of them were morning runs, more boxes ticked, now to finish the week off w/ gusto.........

Saturday June 29th......Bollix!!!!!! having gotten a 6 miler in on Monday I was aiming to tweak that a tad and go for 8 miles this morning  however.......

W/ hindsight not answering the 5.55am alarm was probably my undoing as it was 7.20am b4 I eventually got out the door by which time the mercury had risen from 67 to 71 and at just over 2 miles in I could see the sweat drops bouncing off of my bandana like they did last weekend

I   knew at 3.5 miles at the Art Museum I was probably cooked so I hung in for another half mile at Lloyd Hall b4 opting for the shorter 3 route home via Powelton Ave where I managed a stop/start walk/run  mile to round out a  laboured 5 miler 

Not the finish to the week I was hoping for but lesson learned next Saturday when the alarm goes off at 5.55am get yer arse out of bed b4 it gets muggy!

I forgot to screen shot my overall time and splits, rest assured they were nothing to write home about however I did log 21 miles for the week, 38 miles in June and my yearly miles to date are 500 miles, a far cry from the 179 I had at the end of June last year

Hopefully this week was the start of me for now logging 4 days a week on a regular basis and getting up in the mornings to run, July will be just as hot and humid if not worse than June, Dublin is 17 weeks away hopefully next Saturday I can nudge my longer run to 8 miles and so on and so forth over the coming weeks to get back up to where I was in March at 16 miles, fingers crossed come mid August i'm up to 18 milers b4 rolling into 20s come September....