Bobby Moore,The Spirit Of 66 And All That

So I guess the sixty four billion dollar question is "what caption and picture would I have chosen if the temprature had been 69 degrees???".....I guess we'll have to cross,burn,jump,paint that bridge when the time comes!!
So we've established it was a 66 degree day when I ran,the coolest it's been in the eight weeks since I resumed training,it's only going to get cooler but according to the boffins at the Met Temps will heat up a little over the coming days,80 degrees on the weekend......don't put away those sleeveless running shirs just yet!

I set off around 4.20pm conditions may've been 5 degrees cooler than Monday but at least the sun was out which always helps.
I was cautious not to get carried away by Mondays 6 miler but it was evident early on into this run I was feeling a lot better than last week,even though Friday will mark my 14th anniversary working at the hospital I'm no medical expert but I do think last weeks "grind em till ya find em" and "bonk" were health related and seemingly I'm over that issue now so hopefully full steam ahead.
I was "kicking out the clutch" on the downhills,working the up hills and getting much more leg turnover than I have been of late,maybe it's the cooler weather,maybe it's the incentive of getting home to catch the tail end of "Crowd Goes Wild" and my girl Georgie Thompson and or the fact that in week eight of training maybe just maybe it's all starting to come together but whatever the reason last nite felt like days of old,and that dear reader can only be a good thing for yours truly.

Another 8 miler on tap this afternoon/evening,I'm still not sure the 8.4m tempo run is part of the weekly program but if I can continue to feel this good then maybe it's not too far away but for now lets take one training run at a time and see what comes of that b4 thinking about global domination......run locally,think globally!!!!

Start As You {Hopefully} Mean To Go On

After a less than satisfying week b4{4 days at 25 miles} I needed to "right the ship" and get back to the 5 day/40mpw plateau that I believe will aid and abet my off season as I continue to lay the groundwork for the upcoming track season.
The plan this week he said tentativly holding his breath and crossing his fingers was 6 miles,8 miles,8 miles,8 miles of repeats and a Sunday long ran of 10 miles to round out a 40 mile week.....piece of cake he said....

It's not like I haven't "been there,done that" in recent weeks,I said at the end of August I needed to be consistant in that 5 day/40mpw  schedule and having "nailed it" in week one it felt like a backwards step last week to fall short but that  was last week and if I could kick this week off w/ an incident free 6 miler I'd be on my way to hopefully another 40 mile week.
Conditions were overcast when I set off at 4.40pm.....having made sure to get my achilles stretches in b4 hand this time....I ditched my shades for this run.....and my sleeveless running shirt......yep summer is coming to an end.

A couple of weeks ago I lamented on the fact the temps had dropped to 77 degrees,well on the outbound leg of this 6 mie miler Peco Tower was showing 70 degrees,71 on the inbound leg....either way things are cooling off.
One thing NOT cooling off is my ability to "accept a challenge" I happened to notice "shirtless bandana man" coming down the Market St bike ramp as I ran along the Schuylkill Bank and w/in 200m he went by me.....fair enough but then he not only slowed down but kept looking over his left shoulder to see  if I was going to return the complement.....I thought it best to put his neck muscles out of their misery and went by him w/in 200m and didn't see him again till I turned at Lloyd Hall to head back down the banks.

While this issue of knee lift still feels contentious my leg turnover was far greater on this run,I was able to "freewheel" the downhills nand work the uphills,something that's been lacking in recent weeks,granted it was only a 6 miler off of basically back to back 5 milers but when your confidence and self beliefe have taken a battering of late you'll take any positives and run w/ them.....no pun intended!.
Granted there will be sterner test this week kicking off w/ an 8 miler tonite but it was a good start to the week.....let's hope it continues!

Greek Tragedy Meets Morning At The Improv

Oh boy! it's been a while since I've encountered "one of those mornings" where my run is concerned but coming two days after Friday The Threeteenth maybe it was to be expected?
The fact circumstances had dictated a switch from Saturday to Sunday for my weekly reapeats should NOT have distracted me from my pre run rituals and routines and YET.........

Error number 1,at 10.24am I looked at the #34 trolley schedule.....10.29am and w/ that flew out the door and down the three flights of steps and two blocks to the trolley stop........W/OUT doing my pre run achilles stretches!!!!!!!DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I probably should've turned back and gone home to take care of them since they only take five minutes and the next trolley was scheduled at 10.49am period.....the tenderness in my achilles this morning serves as a ringing endorsement to that,also if I had of it would have eliminated error # 2.

Error number 2,knowing I have a small bladder{drink a pint,piss a gallon basically!!!}I should have made a point to hit the bathroom b4 leaving.....I didn't and lo and behold upon reaching Temple's track w/in 40 minutes of leaving my first reaction was "I need a bathroom" which is a problem at Temple since there are no restroom facilities not even a portajohn available....hard to run repeats w/ a full bladder trust me!
W/out going full blown TMI I will say I was able to alleviate the problem but it was far from ideal,note to self b4 Saturday scheduled 8x300x200x300m repeats....STRETCH & USE THE BATHROOM!!!

Oh but the hits they kept a coming! following my mile warm up I got into my repeat gear and headed over to the 200m start,I pushed the start button as I crossed the line and thought nothing of it untill I completed the opening 400m.....only to discover a stopwatch malfunction and 55 seconds showing for my opening 400m!!!!!!
As if it weren't bad enough I now couldn't get the watch to function so not only had I blown the opening 400m but now the watch woudn't allow me to reset......anything wanna go wrong this morning???
When I did eventually reset the watch I headed back over to the 200m start to try again,last time out I hoped to run 1.20 per lap w/ a 35 second 200m for 3.15 which would prove to be a tad too rich for my blood this early into my return to 5x1,000m repeats and w/ hindsight maybe 1.25 per lap w/a 40 second 200m would give me a 3.30 split?

#1 1,000m
1.13-1.24-32=3.19.9
Jesus!!! talk about the "toothpaste is already out of the tube!!!!" a 1.13 opening lap period ontop of a false start already.......#notmymorning
I felt fast over the opening 200m but was stunned to see 1.13 at 400m and slowed down,glass half full it's good to know I have a 1.13 in me,glass half empty I still had another 9 400m laps and 6 200s to run!!

#2 1,000m
1.25-1.24-41=3.30.1
A little more like it,close to the  splits I was looking for but that false start and opening 400m were going to come back to bite me in the arse I felt.

#3 1,000m
1.23-1.26-41=3.30.9.
Was pleasently surprised w/ the opening 1.23 but lost a little juice over the second 400m but still managed to get under the 3.30 barrier.....just!

#4 1,000m 1.24-1.28-41=3.33.2.
 Opening w/ 1.24 I thought back to back 1.24s would set me up nicely for a 3.30 but the shananigns at the start of my workout robbed me of that hope.

#5 1,000m
1.26-1.28-37=3.30.8.
After the opening 1.26 lap I knew I'd have to dig deep over the closing 600m to get under 3.30,the 1.28 didn't help any but the closing 200m in 37 seconds brought some solice to an otherwise frustrating interval session

Granted I'd improved on week twos feeble opening round of 5x1,000m
3.20.2-3.34.8-3.45.4-3.47-3.30.9 and only for the back to back second lap 1.28s on #4 and #5 had kept each lap at 1.26 and under after a comedy of errors start to my workout,one could hope for less comedy and farce next time out on Oct 13th.

Switching My Dancing Shoes For Running Shoes

As I said on Friday I was not only willing to blow off my monthly 80's nite at Voyeur and save my legs for the weekend but I made good on that offer,file it under "for the greater good"!!
Up by 9.30am since I'd gotten to bed at a respectable hour{11pm} I had my ritual pre ran breakfast of a cup of tea and a banana while catching up on the current comings and goings of Albert Square in "Eastenders"....I say current we've eight and a half years behind the present storyline the episodes I just watched were from Valentines Day 2005......and w/ PBS showing no signs of increasing it's weekly episodes from two a week I guess we'll never get caught up,I know I'm the poster child for the 80's and all things retro but sweet Jesus!!!!

Out the door by 10.30am,early on into my run I felt the goosebumps on my arms....not from the fear of another bonk but from the dip in temprature,the sun may've been out but it was a typical end of summer /early fall kind of morning,note to self  get some of my dri fit short sleeve running shirts ready they could be pressed into action sooner than I thought!!
I opted for a 5 miler to put me on tap for a 25 mile week{10 miles Tuesday,5 miles Wednesday,5 miles Saturday and 5 miles Sunday a mile warm up and coo down either side of my 5x1,000m repeats}

While my run along the Schuylkill Bank was limited I made my turn around at the Art Museum I had enough runners in front of me or running towards me to observe their knee lift and leg turnover.....to be honest I didn't see a whole heck of a lot of difference from theirs to mine so maybe I'm overthinking this whole issue,that said post run I did buy some vitamins to hopefully boost my recent sub par performances,in 2011 when the whole anemia issue rose to the fore I was poppin' Iron Pills firstly on a daily basis then once a week plus Vit D and E b4 eventually stopping as I didn't think I needed them anymore.....the recent struggles on my runs have underlined a need to do that again so as well as my daily intake of Vit C I'm now back on a weekly regament on Iron Pills plus daily Vit D and Magnesium lets see if they make a difference?

Prince,Pauper,Vagabond.King

If only my knee lift and leg turnover were as razor sharp as my wordplay I wouldn't have been sitting out my  scheduled 8 miler last nite,instead I found myself working on the arse grooves of my recliner but at least I got to see my girl Georgie Thompson on "Crowd Goes Wild" so it wasn't a complete bust!!

I couldn't help but think about how for the second time this week I had to sit out a training run and yet still found the ability to blog......it's a far cry from this time last year when the desire,drive and heart to run was only matched by the lack of passion for my blog....hence the "Sign Of The Times" quote.......see method,madness I don't just throw this shit together at the last minute a lot of careful consideration goes into my daily bloggin'!!!!
Hopefully back to back days off will see my knee lift and leg turnover return,if not w/ a vengence then at least some modicum of fight,I'm strongly considering nixing my monthly homage to the 80's at Voyeur tonite as it would feel like a bit of a piss take to sit out an 8 miler but then go clubbin' till 3.20am.

Even w/ no clubbin' tonite I will stick to Sunday for my repeats,w/ the Rock N Roll Philadelphia half marathon on Sunday I'd rather hit the Schuylkill Banks tomorrow for an easy 6 miler than deal w/ the overcrowding that's going to be an issue on Sunday while I'm miles away over at the track at Temple far from the maddening crowd.
This feels like a good weekend for staying off my feet and resting my legs,I'm not too bothered w/ the 6 miler tomorrow but I want to cain the 5x1,000m repeats Sunday so getting caught up on my 15 hours of "Luther" "Law & Order UK" ''The Bridge" "Copper" and "Broadchurch" seems like a plan

Running On Empty

I can still remember my run on Tuesday September 11th 2001,after coming home from work and switching on the tv to watch the horrors of the day unfold over and over again I reached a point where I couldn't watch anymore and got into my running clothes and headed out the door for my 10 mile run.
Back then I lived in Port Richmond so my route was along Deleware Ave,hang a right onto Spring Garden upto the Art Museum and along Kelly Dr to the 1 mile marker b4 turning and heading home.
At 6pm you'd expect a decent amount of trafic on the roads but not that evening,the roads were unusally quite obviously as it seem the whole nation and come to a full stop not quite believing what had happened that faithful morning in New York,DC and Pennsylvania and even though the flight path to Philadelphia International airport was overhead not a solitary plane filled the sky.....it was a very surreal feeling.

Seldom has a day gone by when I don't think of the events of 911 twelve years ago it will forever live w/ us and even though I wasn't directly effected by it it's hard bordering on impossible not to be shaken by the actions of those who commited such horrors on our nation,as I've said repeatedly 911 was our generations Pearl Harbour.

As I've said b4 one of the hardest things for me is to blog a bad run/race the day after but it has to be done.
For whatever reason/reasons I've been struggling of late,I thought Sundays "grind em till you find em" last 3 miles of my 10 miler was a one off but still took the precaution of taking Monday as a day off just in case,I didn't feel any problems over Tuesdays 10 milers although the issue of knee lift and leg turnover was there again at the end of the run......
I delibertely set off at a slow pace yesterday given the 92 degree temps....yep that's NOT a typo 92 degrees,it never hit 90 during August and yet here were are not even half way through September at 90 degs.....#whatthefuck
W/ only an 8 miler on tap I was reasonably confident of taking care of business having taken care of back to back 10 milers....."how fickle fate can be" once sang Beth Orton!!

I reached the 4 mile mark w/out any issues....other than the omnipresent lack of knee lift and leg turnover.....cue the Monty Python quote"still I was getting used to it by then!!!" however what I wasn't used to was coming to an abrupt halt  w/in 3/4s of a mile of the turnaround....the abrupt halt in running is akin to the conversation that starts w/ "we need to talk".....nothing good ever comes from either!!!
I walked the 1/4 mile to Lloyd Hall hoping that a visit to the water fountain would cure my every was ailing me.....#wishfulthinking
W/in 30 meters of restarting I pulled up again.....call me steak cos the proverbial fork had just been stuck into me and a long three mile walk home beckoned......oh the unbridaled joy in 92 degrees w/ sweat pouring off of me!!!!
I must have cut a forlorn figure walking down the Schuylkill Banks casting envious glances at every runner who went by me but none more so than one female runner whos knee lift not only seemed "text book" but I also noticed the back lift her feet made.......why am I unable to reproduce that kind of motion at the moment???

It's impossible to correct a problem when I'm not 100% sure what the problem is in the first place,and thus begins the time honoured dilemma of how to go about correcting this current glitch in my training when I don't really know I'm suffering a dramatic loss in knee lift and leg turnover  to begin w/#conudrum
I will sit tomorrow out,there seems little point being a "mileage whore" at the moment gouging 40 miles a week when the quality of said mileage is below par,Friday is my token day off anyway and I'll see "which way the wind blows" Saturday as to getting a run in b4 hitting the track Sunday and hope by then whatever has ailed me this week has worked it's way through my system,they say" a week in running can be a long time"....they're not wrong this week!

Indian Summer Sky

In the ocean cut,swim deep the sky like there I don't know why.
In the forest there's a clearing I run towards the light Sky...it's a blue sky to lose along the way the     spark that set the flame,to flicker and to fade on this the longest day

Indian Summer Sky-U2

Seems like it was only last week I was lamenting the end of summer w/ the "unofficial" end of summer time Labour Day and temps of 81 and 77 degrees on Tuesday and Thursdays runs so you can imagine me doing a double take when I thought I heard them call for 90 degrees today....the pile of sweat soaked running clothes on my living room floor confirmed my hearing is good.....88 degrees,that said little humidity and frankly there's a world of difference running in 88 degs in September as there is in August w/ the humidity kickin' in,that said I suspect having to go w/ different running clothes tonite as I somehow doubt what I wore yesterday will have dried off come 4.30pm this afternoon!!!
Following Sundays "grind em till you find em" finish over the last three miles of my 10 miler I could be forgiven for going into todays 10 miler a little on the backfoot,granted envoking my rest day Monday would hopefully help recover from whatever may have been ailing me but in the back of my mind was the nagging thought that "all systems were not go" and rather than throw caution to the wind I should approach this run w/ a modicum of caution lest I have to make more changes to my week having already played my "rest day" card early in the week by sitting Monday out.

Nothing felt out of the ordinary as I set off at 4.30pm and soon found myself on the Schuylkill Banks leading to Kelly Dr and the 2 mile turn around point for  a 10 miler,just as I was reaching the turn around I saw my friend and team mate Sean Harbison running towards me.......funny I don't recall asking for a Doctor????
Sean was 4 miles into his 6 miler beginning and ending at Lloyd Hall so we ran the next 2 miles together shoot the breeze and "talking shop" ....running and hospitals "the good doctor" is leaving Temple next month to become Chief Surgeon at Penn where hopefully the prestige of his title will mean getting treated accordingly I think Temple have "taken liberties" w/ Sean over the years,how does your chief surgeon end up "on call" all the time????
Anyways "putting the world to right" for 2 miles till Lloyd Hall meant I wasn't preoccupied w/ the sweat rolling off me or worrying about a repeat of Sunday and while my knee lift and leg turn over weren't prolific I didn't have to dig deep again to see out the closing three miles a la Sunday.

W/ the weeks "long run" in the books now I can focus on shorter 8 mile runs between today and Saturday b4 taking on my 5x1,000m repeats on Sunday and hopefully putting another 5 day/40mpw in the books.