Land Of The Free

So,what have I been doing w/ myself during my two week hiatus from training?

Well aside from resting and relaxing I've caught up w/ clearing some of my considerable backlog of dvr'd shows and finished my most recent mix tape.

On October 29th I will have lived here in Philly for 23 years so to commemorate said land mark/black day in American history{delete where applicable!!} I made a mix tape of American bands,I would've liked to put Don McClean's "American Pie" on there....but I don't own a copy of that,ditto for Grand Funk Railroads classic"We're An American Band",there's always next year,ditto for the considerable artists who didn't make it on to this years tape,the beauty of an anniversary tape is there's always next year,the year after,etc to add them.

So w/out further ado here's the 2010 version,enjoy!

Jimi Hendrix-Star Spangled Banner Live, Such an obvious choice to kick things off after "American Pie" and "We're An American Band" weren't available.

Fleetwood Mac-The Chain, Growing up as a kid back home and watching Formula One racing I always loved the theme tune to the highlights,years later I learnt that was "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac....nuff said!

The Offspring-Gone Away,some would have you believe Punk never made it this side of the Atlantic,like several other Orange County bands Offspring proved that was bollocks!!!

Eminem-Mosh, An anti George Bush song that proved Eminem could be political as well as controversial.

Madonna-Borderline, There'd be no Lady Gaga w/out Madonna,Burning Up and Lucky Star were strong contenders for my Madonna track and underlining my love of early Maddy.

Metallica-I Disappear, Uncle Sam's version of Iron Maiden in my humble opinion.

Blondie-Atomic, The timeline of American female sex symbols probably reads Marilyn Monroe,Debbie Harry and Madonna....and no I don't have Marilyn's version of"Happy B'day Mr President"for this tape!

Hootie & The Blowfish-I Will Wait, It's easy to slag Hootie off but I recall a Labor Day weekend in Virginia Beach when they played and it was a killer weekend.

B 52's- Party Out Of Bounds, I can still remember 79-80 and discovering cool new bands,B52's were one of them once you got beyond the big hair this was a band you could dance to.....if you wanted to!!!

Prince-My Name Is Prince, C'mon how could you not like the purple one,was tempted to go w/ "U Got The Look" but "My Name Is Prince" won out.

Aerosmith Falling In Love{Is Hard On Your Knees}, US rock royalty for almost 40 years and they're from Boston...need I say more?

Sheryl Crow W/ Stevie Nicks-Goldust Woman, A bit of a stretch using two Fleetwood Mac songs but I always liked this version from Live at Central Park.

Steve Earle-The Other Kind, I discovered Steve Earle late in the day thanks to a former house mate while he and I are no longer friends I still listen to Steve Earle....Steve Earle didn't tell me I had to move out!!

Beastie Boys-Fight For Your Right To Party, The pioneers of rock rap and the reason several car hood ornaments got jacked back in the day to be worn as bling.!!

Nuff Said.........

I think this sums up my day at work don't you????

Down Time

It was always my plan to take a few weeks of down time after 5th Avenue and Syracuse,from a mental and physical stance.

It's been a long 9 months since my opening race of the season on Jan 3rd at 3,000m indoors at Swarthmore to Oct 3rd and the 5K Road Race C'ships in Syracuse for shits and giggles I should add up the weekly mileage totals for the past 40 weeks.

While Syracuse represents the end of my "competitive" season I do have 4 races on my schedule in Oct,Nov and early Dec b4 returning to indoor track,following my two weeks off I will be looking at an 8 week "base building" program where I hope to log between 60 and 75 miles per week between Oct 18th and Dec 12th b4 dropping my mileage back down to 45-50 per week w/ repeats back in the mix as indoor season starts.

I will check in periodically over my two weeks off but to be honest I'm actually looking forward to not rushing straight home from work,going out for my run and then blogging it,I'm sure by the time Monday October 18th rolls around I'll be good and ready to get back into the swing of things but for now it's time to relax,I feel I've earned that much

Cruising In Syracuse

There's an expression in sport"you learn nothing from a defeat"I've always thought that was bullshit,you can learn a lot,I learnt a harsh lesson last year in Syracuse when my sights were on a sub 17 5k and I could only muster a meager 17.20.
Fast forwarding 12 months I returned to Syracuse for the USATF National 5K Road Race C'ships w/ serious 5,000m track credentials to my name, a bronze medal at Nationals and a serious lowering of my track pr 17.03-15.36 so it wasn't an unrealistic expectation coming into Sunday's race that my 5K pr of 17.09 as a master and an all time pr of 16.44 set in 1990 were about to go bye bye.

A lot of races lay claim to a fast flat course,Dave Oja at Syracuse delivers which is why for three years this event has been held here and looks to become a regular fixture on the race calender and why masters track and road runners make the journey to upstate New York for the Syracuse Festival Of Races at the beginning of October.

I was due a big 5K on the road,granted I don't do much in the way of road racing but I believed coming in to this race my long overdue increase in weekly mileage from 30 miles to 50 and some times 60 miles a week was about to pay off so it was w/ no sense of irony I warmed up w/ Francis Burdett and John Cunningham two runners and close friends who have been on at me for two years to up my mileage and drop one of my repeats per week to two,my times and results this year have paid off w/ dividends and I owe those guys a great deal of my success.
Couldn't have asked for better conditions come 9am sunny and mild w/ very little in the way of wind,unlike last week when I had several race plans today I had only one and I stuck to it.

I got out reasonably fast but not too fast and was soon into my stride and getting a reasonably clear run at things making sure I was able to follow the orange lines{we are in Syracuse after all!!} to run the shortest line.
3.01 at the first kilometer and 4.53 for the opening mile unfortunately nobody was calling the half way split.
6.03 at 2k by which time my hopes of a medal went bye bye as Jim Derick passed me w/ Pete McGill and Francis already well clear of me,9.06 at 3k and no 2 mile marker.

Now I had to dig deep,I heard 12.47 at 4k and knew I was close to a sub 16, making the turn towards the finish John Tuttle and Dave Cannon went by my...these guys are in the 50-54 age group and they were overtaking me and I was running my fastest 5k road race ever!!!
Making the final decent towards the finish line I thought I'd given everything I had but when I heard the announcer say Francis had crossed the line in 15.33 I knew I was going to have to find another gear if I had it.

Pat McCarthey went by me on my right hand side and in giving chase to him I caught and passed Dave Cannon on my left,I chased Pat as hard as I could to try and reclaim 4th in the 45-49 age group but it wasn't to be,13th overall 5th in the age group and what I initially thought was a 15.58-15.59 time........
However my time was rounded up to 16.00 which I have to say is a pisser as I SO wanted a sub 16 5K,that said it is a 69 second masters pr and a 44 second pr plus a new club record by 13 seconds.

Post race at brunch I got to see my team mates on the M50 team win gold which was great for them and good for the club, my friends on Westchester Track Club took silver in the M40 and I hope next year when we return to Syracuse Greater Philly will have a M40 team....and I can go sub 16

16.00

Cliff notes from Syracuse,13th of 136, 5th in the 45-49 age group 16.00,huge pr and new club record.
More to come tomorrow

Road Trip

Ah the time honoured tradition,the road trip having spent weekends in Ithaca,Boston and Sacramento already this year I'm heading up to Syracuse for this weekend's Masters 5K Road Race C'ships.

It also marks the end of a journey of sorts,this will be my last competitive race of the season as of Monday I'm taking two well earnt weeks off b4 returning to training on October 18th as I begin 8 weeks of base mileage training to get me ready for the indoor season in mid December.

Having ran this race last year I know what to expect from the course,last year I had hoped to notch my first Masters sub 17 5k but failed miserably and clocked 17.20,this year w/ several 50 mile weeks under my belt and 4 sub 16 5,000m track races under my belt I'm aiming for a sub 16,looking at the status of entries I can see who my competition is,let's hope I'm ready.

Afternoon Delight

Well that's gotten your attention hasn't it!
This is my blog not "Dear Penthouse" and the title refers to the fact I got my 6 miler in this afternoon not this morning as is my won't when I'm off work and the only heart rate elevation,heavy breathing and working up a sweat came from running......more's the pity!!!

After yesterdays heavy rains it was no surprise the road along Cobbs Creek Parkway was flooded,everytime it rains that section of road holds the water so subsequently my shoes got waterlogged at around the 2.5 mark which made for that awful squelching for the remaining 4.5 miles,let's hope for better conditions in Syracuse on Sunday.