"Now warning lights are flashing down at quality control, someone threw a spanner,they threw him in the hole, there's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town someone blew the whistle and the walls came down.There's a meeting in the boardroom they're trying to trace the smell,there's a leaking in the washroom,there's a sneak in personnel.Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze goodness me,could this be industrial disease?"
Industrial Disease-Dire Straits
It's often said there are three things you can be sure of,Death,Taxes.....and Work fucking your shit up......buckle up dear readers......it was "one of those weeks"............
Tuesday September 8th The fact my training week began on a Tuesday should clue ye in to the kind of week it was going to be,Mondays lunchtime run got shot to shit cos we were short handed at work, I don't want to go into a long work related diatribe however for the sake of context 9 weeks ago were took on this yoke from the corporate office who was relocating to Philly, to use a time honoured expression the auld fellas used to use"he couldn't work his way out of a wet paper bag that one" in nine weeks he managed three whole 5 day weeks,more excuses than Jimmy Carter had Liver Pills/the Bible has Psalms........anywho late Saturday nite he emailed the regional manager and site manager to resign his position........good riddance to bad rubbish, collect yer P45 and don't let the door hit ye in the hole on yer way out.......langer!
The powers that be didn't organize coverage for Monday so my coworker and I had to work through lunch,no biggie an hours OT for yours truly and I figured I could run on Friday lunchtime......which is slowly becoming a routine of late.........
As for Tueday's run nothing out of the ordinary, temps were in the low 70s I didn't check on the humidity but it felt non existent......much like Ireland's World Cup Final chances after a brutal 2.1 defeat in Armenia at lunchtime pre run, in a year when they're more teams than before in the finals The Boys In Green will not be making up the numbers.......
Wednesday Sept 9th A bit of an anomaly the humidity was higher than the temperature.... 67 degrees and 79% humidity, the fact I never had time to post this run on my Instagram/Facebook page post race due to retiring to some sort of bedlam at work was in keeping w/ my week......and it was only gonna get worse...
Thursday Slightly more conventional temps today 80 degrees w/35% humidity, two things of note it's maybe a tad premature to start packing a short sleeve shirt in my backpack for work but I do feel the temps are about to change, the local weather anchor said on Monday or Tuesday she's of the opinion we've seen the last of the 90 degree heat this summer{Fall/Autumn} officially begins Monday September 22nd, I'd like to think for September I'm safe w/ running vests/sleeveless running shirts but October could be changeable on a day to day basis......ever the Boy Scout I'd like to be prepared....
The other thing I'd like to do is reinstate the four day rotation of: Recovery Run, Untimed Run,Tempo Run and Easy Run, during the brutal heat and humidity I was more focused on just getting miles in,now that things have cooled off next week feels as good as time as any to reintroduce that,it'd give me six weeks in the lead up to November when my race schedule goes into overdrive to get some fast 5 milers in there's a potential 5 mile race mid October, a 10k November 2nd a 5k{and 10 miler...!}November 8th it does look like the Penn Relays 5k is going to clash w/the Rocky Run on November 8th and not the following Saturday November 15th but I have no say in when races are scheduled, that said I do think Penn have fucked up putting the annual 5k on the same morning as the Rocky Run....but hey!
Sunday September 14th So much for making up for Monday's missed run on Friday........upon returning to work post run on Thursday all hell broke loose w/ what can only be described as the " print job from hell" not only did I stay three hours late on Thursday sending one of the four components to the copier I then did my best 747 Pilot impression Friday as my feet never touched the ground from the time I arrived at work{7.42am} till I left {5.25pm} no lunch period much less going for a run on my lunchhour.......
By the time I got home Friday I was fried, mentally and physically, I don't like to play the "age card" period but frankly at almost 62 I truly am" too auld for this shite" I did toy w/ maybe my long run Saturday and then making up for Monday/Fridays missed run on Sunday.......as the auld expression goes " theory and practice are often a horse of a different colour"...... it was evident when I got up Saturday morning there would be NO run of any kind so it would just be the scheduled long run on Sunday, having bailed last weekend due to hopefully the last blast of humidity I needed to go long today period but also w/ a half marathon next Sunday at PDR {Philadelphia Distance Run} it would be a handy " ace up my sleeve" to have 14 miles under my belt.....
Out the door by 1.15pm, 84 degrees w/ 43% humidity I felt I was well capable to handle that, however rather than go the recent Grays Ferry Ave bridge/Schuylkill River Trail I opted to go up Powelton Ave to West River Drive to do the loop around the Schuykill River it's 3 miles to get there, 8 miles around 3 miles home....bingo! 14 miles.......one slight oversight on my part I was under the impression it was reopening this weekend after 2.5 years of construction.......it's NEXT weekend.......bollix!!!!!
Now I had to reroute on the fly, one of the reasons I take Hal the little bollix Garmin w/me on long runs in case I have to reroute, it could've been worse but had I know Martin Luther King bridge wasn't open I would have done an out and back on the Schuylkill River Trail/Kelly Drive instead of the opening 3 miles through my neighborhood/Powelton Ave and then cutting over to Kelly Drive.......shur look it shit happens but it was in keeping w/ a week of feckin' spanners going into the works....
The pre race plan as ever 9 min miles which over 14 miles is a respectable 2.06 finish and the opening 3 miles went:8.45-8.29-8.40,mile 4 was 9.11 since I had to slow on the approach to the Martin Luther King bridge and turn back around 400m in when I was faced w/ an unmovable object blocking me from advancing any further along West River Drive/MLK Drive......which if they're still working on the construction had every right to be there.....unlike yours truly who'd jumped the gun and thought it was open this weekend......gobshite!
8.56 for mile 5 b4 a pair of 9.22 splits at miles 6 & 7 which ended up being on West River Drive via Falls bridge, at this point I 'd already committed to going back via Kelly Drive and the Schuylkill River Trail as I figured it'd be more direct
10.07 at mile 8 I wasn't too worried at this point splits and pace were secondary the only numbers that mattered were the miles at the end and I was committed to making them 14 no matter how slow they might be
I maintained a decent pace down Kelly Drive,9.48-9.43-9.28 as I reached Lloyd Hall and Boathouse Row b4 continuing on the Schuylkill River Trail, not gonna lie or front yes I did stop few times to walk and take advantage of water fountains but here's the thing a year ago I'd reach mile 6,7,8 on my long runs and the wheels would fall off,I'd try and get going again but more often than not I just didn't have it to get going or keep going, it's no wonder last year saw me record my slowest times ever because the mileage wasn't there,ye'd think going to Dublin to run on the 40th anniversary of the auld fella's passing and the 1 year anniversary of "Our Kid's" passing not to mention 3/4s of the Roche,Thomson,Brewster,Coan tribe all pitching up to fly to Dublin { not to overlook Mrs Shamrock Warrior who flew over w/me} would have been enough motivation to dig deep on those runs but it just wasn't there.....fuck knows I tried.....I do think the bitter disappointment of recording those slowest ever times from 5k thro 26.2 miles last season has motivated me this year to dig deep on days like today when it wasn't going to script and say"I'm feckin' getting my miles in"
9.50 for mile 12 , 9.54 for mile 13.....but the bridge connecting the Schuylkill River Trail to Grays Ferry was getting closer and closer, I cleared the bridge at 13.90 on the Garmin and was never so happy to hit stop when mile 14 populated a 10.09 split to finish in 2.11.45 off 9.25 mile pace, frankly I didn't give a fiddlers about having to walk over a mile and a half home.......I was too feckin' knackered to worry about that auld shite
It wasn't pretty by any stretch but it was also the first 14 mile run since February 3rd.......of last year 19 months ago,I get a weeks reprieve of sorts next weekend as it's 13 miles for the half marathon b4 hopefully getting 16 miles in on the final weekend of September......by which time the construction on Martin Luther King bridge will be complete and I can go the Schuylkill River Trail,West River Drive,Kelly Drive,Schuylkill River Trail loop......in a week of so many feck ups I have to own the final one .......when all else fails RTFM.....Read The Feckin' Manual...... as ever I own my mistakes, and hopefully won't make them again.....
No comments:
Post a Comment