"The Gypsy woman told my mother before I was born you got a boy child comin' he's gonna be a son of a gun he's gonna make pretty women's jump and shout then the world wanna know what this all about but you know I'm him everybody knows I'm him well you know I'm the hoochie coochie man everybody knows I'm him"
I'm Your Hoochie Cooche Man-Muddy Waters
Another triple digit month, seasons best/pr Tempo run and blown long run.......never let it be said my weekly recaps are dull.........
Tuesday Sept 30th Another Monday I didn't run.....not due to the office gobshite callin' out{he waited till Tuesday to pull that stunt!} but due to my stomach bothering me.......I questioned if that was responsible for Sundays blown long run?........
Since Tuesday is my untimed run I opted for an out and back on W.River Dr/MLK Dr, as I came into this run on #105 miles for the month technically I only needed a mile to eclipse August's total of #105 but who the feck is going to all the trouble of getting changed into running gear, stretching and going out for a mile?.....not me!
I said last month when I finally ended an 18 month drought of not being able to register triple digit monthly mileage that if I didn't follow it up w/ another triple digit mileage month then all my efforts wouldn't mean as much so to not only register triple digits again but also log 5 extra miles is quite pleasing, in 2023 I logged #103 in August and #100 in September, nice to know two years older I'm going further than I did
Wednesday October 1st No easing myself gently into the new monthly, a seasons best/pr for the 5 mile Tempo run.......start as ye mean to goon bai!!!!!!
I have a love/hate relationship w/ the Tempo run, it's a lung buster but in the general scheme of things a necessary evil like my interval workouts on the track were, back then it was to aid my 800m,1,500m times now it's to get the best out of the shorter races,my next three races are 5 miles, 10k and 5k so not to go all Tom Cruise/Maverick in Top Gun but "I feel the need for Speed"
My opening Tempo run was rough as I hadn't done one in months and my pace looks like a feckin" EKG chart,last week the 88% humidity crippled me so was it to be " third time's a charm".....or another hammes of things?????
Conditions were in my favour at least 70 degrees and 34% humidity,now to get the pace right......8.01 for the opener,brisk but w/ back to back triple digit mileage months I hoped I'd built up enough strength to counter such a fast opening mile
7.43 for mile 2 along the Schuylkill River Trail, unlike from 16th St across Market St, JFK Blvd and up the Ben Franklin Parkway to 24th Street where I have to slow down and or stop to cross intersections not to mention weave in and out of pedestrians who aren't aware this is a Tempo run and even if they were would probably still adopt the " go around me " mentality on the Schuylkill River Trail, Kelly Drive,W.River Dr/MLK Dr I get a clear run hence forth the quicker split
7.44 at mile 3 but I was aware Hal the little Bollix Garmin was up to his auld tricks.........I swear to christ that little fecker is angling for his own blog cos he gets mentioned every feckin' week in mine!!!!, I felt mile 2 came up a tad early on the Garmin compared to where on the actual trail it should and to underline that 2.5 came up 10 clicks early on it so when I turned at my usual halfway point it said 2.60, rather than piss ball around I figured run till the Garmin said 5.10 which lo and behold was the entrance to Suburban Station on 16th St.....where the 5 miles end on a day when Hal isn't being a little bollix!!!!
7.27 for mile 4......take that Hal ya little bollix, there's no way I ran a 7.27 mile.....much less off the back of 7.43-7.44 splits 7.47 for mile 5 but I had to tack on another.10 to have an accurate 5 miles which came up as 36 seconds.......39.18.7 off 7.42 mile pace, in spite of all of Hal's shenanigans a sub 40 5 miler, now granted this is a course record as my EKG chart Tempo run 2 weeks ago was 41.18.6 and on the auld Kelly Drive route I clocked 40.26.3 back in early April so I will count this as a PR,how much more I can shave off 39.18.7/7.42 mile pace in the coming weeks remains to be seen
Thursday October 2nd, nothing better the day after a lung bustin' Tempo run than knowing it's just about the miles today
I opted for the Schuylkill River Trail again even though I wasn't chasing a time, I wanted to see if Hal was still acting up,once again splits came up early so yet again I had to tack on .10 at the end of the run to finish where I normally finish at the end of 5 miles, I clocked 44.28.2 off 8.40 mile pace, it feels pointless recording mile splits because I know they are off
Another day of 70 degrees temps and 34% humidity......however the mercury and humidity were beginning to rise just in time to bollix my weekend plans, I swear after my cage match w/ Hal the little Bollix Garmin me and Mother Nature are about to step into a steel cage for a Winner Takes All, no holds barred, Pay Per View throw down..........
Friday October 3rd Since I missed Mondays run and I have an eye on back to back to back triple digit mileage months I felt compelled to go out today.....on the Pagan Sabbath no less and log another 5 miles,since work didn't afford me the luxury of having time to recalibrate Hal either post run Wednesday or Thursday I figured stay on the Schuylkill River Trail to see if he was still actin' the bollix.....he was but not as badly as the last two days, however those splits or the points where the spits came up were still completely different to the splits and points he originally gave me the first time I used him to measure out a 5 miler out and back route earlier this summer......he is either a pathological liar or a little bollix......perhaps both!
44.14.4 off 8.44 mile pace, it was 72 degrees but 44% humidity and while the weather people on the local news seemed quite giddy about the prospect of " unseasonably high temps" this weekend I wasn't .......and in hindsight w/ good reason........
Sunday October 5th Stop me if ye've read this b4 here but I had to wait till lunchtime to attempt my long run due to how high the humidity was in the morning,at 8am the humidity was in the mid 80s and as was painfully proven two weeks ago at PDR at 7.30am when it was a crisp 65 degrees it was 85% humidity and ye saw how that ended up for me so yet again I waited till 1pm when it was 41% humidity.....however by now the temps had risen to 81 degrees, damned if ye do, damned if ye don't anyone????
9.00 for the opening mile right where I'd want to be at 9 min mile pace, I opened in 8.55 last week b4 the wheels came off.......
8.19 for mile 2 which begins w/ a massive downhill off the Grays Ferry Avenue bridge last week my split was 9.13 so I knew I was in trouble this week I felt things were tickin' a long nicely,,,,,,even if my Cork sleeveless running shirt was already heavy w/ sweat at only mile 2.....{ this is the point in the movie the ominous feckin' music starts up......}
8.53 at mile at mile 3 still where I'd want to be at sub 9/9 min mile pace.........
9.08 at mile 4 I was starting to feel it, let's go back 5 weeks ago when I ran my 12 miler I logged the opening 10 miles all in sub min 9 pace, that day it was 70 degrees and 40% humidity, I feel that's the quintessential " proof in the pudding is in the tasting"
Now I've been doing this long enough to know there are " rough patches" in a long run.......but I've also being doing this long enough to know when it is or isn't going to be your day.....at 4.25 I exited the Schuylkill River Trail and made a bee line for Mantua Avenue and Powelton Ave to take the shortest route home.....
10.22 for mile 5 to use a time honoured expression the auld fella used more than once in his short but eventful time on the planet" fuckin bollix, wrap up!!!" I did the 2.5 mile "walk of shame home via Powelton Ave.....another blown long run
45.42,4 off 9.09 mile pace.....far from earth shattering I know,now comes the self doubt/ self examination that come w/ back to back blown long runs, am I deluding myself to think in 7 weeks time I can run a 26.2 marathon when I can't complete a 16 miler? is it time to bin any marathon aspirations I have? was Dublin last year an outlier or do I just not have it over the longer distance anymore? is it just dumb fuckin' luck the last two weekend have been unseasonably warm and humid? or do I hang in there another couple of weeks and try again next weekend and the weekend after b4 saying no it isn't on the cards?
As we're into the Post Season of Major League Baseball here I'll end on a classic baseball analogy if next weekends third attempt at 16 miles goes tits up that's the classic " three strikes and you're out"......I shall spend the upcoming week praying to the Running Gods and Weather Gods for a fair crack of the whip.....all the while keeping one eye out for a rotund female opera singer doing her vocal warm ups........
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