Well the clock is ticking folks, Sunday marked 10 weeks till Dublin, my first race in 16 weeks and the unofficial start to the Fall road racing circuit........mercifully we're also a week closer to the end of August and hopefully cooler conditions.......
Tuesday Aug 20th Moment of truth having failed miserably to nail a 12 miler in my four previous attempts I felt I needed to scale it back a few miles to gain some much needed confidence so the plan was 8 miles but if I was feeling ok maybe squeeze out an extra mile and put me one step closer back to double digit mileage......
70 degrees w/ 42% humidity just gone 6pm as I set off down trusty Baltimore Avenue and the South St bridge to the even more trusty Schuylkill River Trail, 8.04 for the opening mile which I backed off of w/ an 8.31 split at mile 2 and 8.29 split at mile 3 along the trail
Given my recent trials and tribulations I could be forgiven for being concerned when mile 4 ballooned up to 9.28 in my recent crash and burn runs this is where the wheels have begun to come off but I dug deep till I hit 4.5 miles in the region of 38-39 mins still inside 1.21 pace off 9 min miles for 9 miles, in recent weeks my mantra that wasn't a foul mouthed tirade post failed run was I'm not overly concerned w/ time, speed, pace etc just distance.....this evening would be no different......
9.22 at mile 5, 9.31 at mile 6 and 9.31 at mile 7, having made it up the on/off ramp at South St bridge and over the bridge now it was just a matter of gutting it out the final 2 miles, 9.28 for mile 8 and 9.49 for mile 9 a tad leg weary but still moving forward w/ out having to stop and walk.......
1.22.15 off 9.08 mile pace, far from earth shattering but given all the body blows my confidence has taken since that 10 miler at 5.30am on July 19th this was a much needed win.....however "one swallow does not a summers make"........fuck me a bit of Shakespeare in ye old blog......never let it be said Kevin Running Free didn't provide a bit of culture...... and this run alone will mean nothing w/out the ability to build upon it.......
Thursday Aug 22nd Hindsight they say is 20/20 and perhaps the day after I stood for three hours at Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, barely ate, didn't hydrate and didn't get home till close to midnight was not the afternoon to run......what I lack in brains I try to make up for in heart I guess!
A comfortable 77 degrees and 34% humidity at 12.40pm 8.22 for the opening mile followed by 8.41 by mile 2 when mile 3 ballooned up to 9.14 I'd knew I'd seen this movie once too often of late to expect a different outcome.......I cobbled together a 9.27 mile for mile 4 b4 sticking a fork in it 4 miles in 35.46.3 off 8.57 mile pace
Not what I was hoping for but again probably too big of an ask off the back of the Springsteen show and while another blown run doesn't sit well I wouldn't have traded last nites Springsteen for anything it was truly epic
Sunday Aug 25th I had considered a run on Saturday given the ticking clock that is Dublin and the number of blown runs of late this month but it didn't pan out, I tend to do better when it's a case of get up and run right off the bat around 7-7.30am however w/ the humidity what it is for another week or so {PLEASE LET THIS END SOONER RATHER THAN LATER!!!!} it was prudent to hold off till 10am and frankly that just didn't pan out......given the way the race went maybe that was for the best....
Good to know 48 years into my career things are still the same now as they have always been a sleepless night followed by dodgy guts when I woke up at 5am, you would think after all these years and races I'd be used to it by now........NO CHANCE!!!
Down to 9th and South b4 6.30am as is my won't I like an hour b4 the race to get myself prepared and use the Portajohn since it's a given I'll need to go again and frankly the lines at said Portajohn are less an hour b4 race time.......plus you may NOT want to use one after a ton of runner have blown it to kingdom come pre race.....just saying!
I had no preconceived ideas about pace for this race which given how it went was probably for the best, 70s for heat and humidity at 7.30am when the gun went off, this is the 11th edition of Philly 10k, I've been fortunate to have been a regular since 2018, minus 2020 when Covid stuck a fork in it this was my 6th year of racing thro South Philly and Center City starting and finishing on the iconic South Street
7.40 for the opening mile....good job I didn't have a pace/split in mind as I'm sure it wouldn't have been 7.40.....7.54 at mile 2 at this point sub 8s were looking like the flavour of the day, 8.04 at mile 3 I forget what my 5k split was but it wasn't going to be anything outstanding.....
8.07 at mile 4 w/ 2 miles to did I go for broke and risk blowing up in the final mile or hold on and try and get to the finish in a decent clip?........8.21 for mile 5 what the fuck.......at least mile 6 was south of respectability off a 7.51 split and the final 400m was a semi respectable 61 seconds for a 48.55 finish off 7.53 pace........let the post mortem begin.......
Obviously in recent week my focus has been on distance not speed so the fact this ranks as my slowest ever 10k should come as no surprise side bar on Sept 11th 1983 I ran my first ever 10k in Wimbledon in a time of 38.55 so in 41 years I've only lost 10 minutes not too shabby I guess but cold comfort in light of my slowest ever time for the distance........
The bigger issue is another sub par/ slow race minus my season opener at the Cupid Chase 5k at the Philadelphia Zoo in early February all of my races this season {Love Run, Hot Choc 15k, Broad Street Run, Philly 10k} have been slower than anticipated a worrying trend I need to correct STAT period but also I only have one more race {PDR} in 3 weeks time b4 Dublin time is ticking......
While I keep being optimistic and saying this is not the time to panic we are getting to the business end of training for Dublin, I have to hope this will turn around and soon ,the weather forecast for this coming week isn't great I need another compromised week of training like I need another sub par race...
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