Make Mine An Ennis

Dispite only finishing second yesterday in the Heptathlon Jessica Ennis will always be my "Golden Girl" in track and field
Blessed w/ the body of an angel and the face of a saint Jessica is full of Yorkshire grit and determination below that exquisite surface, a trait necessary for seven events in two days and I'm confident her "bad day at the office" in the Javelin which cost her a second World Championship gold will serve her well between now and next August when the Olympics begin in London.

If Team GB are smart they will make Jessica the face of the Great Britain track team,granted it's added pressure on the 25 year old lass from the Dales but she will be one of Britain's best hopes for Olympic Gold along w/ Mo Farrah,Dai Greene and Philips Idowu and I'm sure the disappointment of her silver will drive her on over the winter,ditto for Mo Farrah.

Today was a rest day in Daegu but no rest day for me,I get my rest day Friday so it was out for a third 8 miler on the out and back course along Cobbs Creek Parkway but at a much easier pace than yesterday.
Hard to believe tomorrow is September 1st,Labor Day weekend is this weekend,the unofficial end of Summer though Fall isn't scheduled till Sept 23rd,the fall semester at school begins next week,the fall tv season will begin soon and the evenings will continue to get darker sooner,as the sun sets on 2011 season I look to the fall to add some substance to a below par summer on the track.

I Love Lalova

"If there's a cure for this I don't want it,I don't want it if there's a remedy I'll run from it
Think about it all the time,never let it out of my mind cause I love you
I've got the sweetest hangover I don't want to get over the sweetest hangover"

Love Hangover-The Associates

I'm often asked why I'm so passionate about track and field......I'm sure the one picture of Bulgarian sprinter Ivet Lalova says more than any number of paragraphs could but for those of you still actually reading this and not googling Ivet here goes!!
4th in the 100m final in Athens 04 and 5th in the 200m final the future seemed bright for Ivet till a horrific leg fracture in 05 ruled her out for 2 years but after a semi final appearance in the Beijing Olympics 100m and second round 200m the speedy Bulgarian is back finishing 7th last nite in the 100m final and the only european to make the final,she begins her quest for the 200m final tomorrow.

As for yours truly it was my hard 8 miler this evening,hoping to improve on last weeks 47.16.3.
From the get go it was clear I was up for the challenge,a second faster at both my opening splits I then held a 15 second advantage from a week ago at 2 miles(Whitby Ave)b4 reaching the turn in 23.36......a full 30 seconds faster than last week.
Now came the 64 billion dollar question had I shot my load?......which is a loaded question after posting a picture of a major hottie Ivet Lalova on this blog entry......c'mon people minds out of the gutter please!!!!!

I was still feeling strong as I began the uphill approach to Whitby Ave and mile 6 and my form felt like it was holding true.
Remarkably I now held a 40 second advantage over last week as I clocked 34.04 and believed at least a sub 47 min time was on,it would remain to be seen if I could negative split again.
38.26 as I crossed Baltimore Ave it was going to be close to sub 47 but I was confident,I asked myself"what would Mo Farrah do?" in this situation as I found another gear and thanks to a little bit of luck w/ the final set of intersections and traffic lights I crossed the finish line outside the front door in 46.37.8.

Wow! another nite of sub 6 mile pace and another negative split 23.36/23.01 as I took 1.19 off of last weeks time.
Clearly a number of things are working in my favour the temps are alot easier to run in,I don't think I even checked to see what it was this afternoon,the daily dose of Vit C and Iron pills plus throwing in a weekly helping of Liver to help w/ the Iron deficiency plus a return to 50 miles a week all contribute to seeing my times for the last three weeks go:49.46.1-47.16.3-46.37.8.
The Bridge Run 10k is still 9 weeks away but if I can continue to stay illness and injury free who knows what's in store.
After any hard run I look forward to an easy day tomorrow.

The Other Worlds

Having spent most of this year focusing on Worlds.....the WMA(World Masters Athletics) variety it's now time to focus on the IAAF(International Amateur Athletics Federation) version.
You can usually count on three events bringing the house to a grinding halt,the track and field portion of the Olympics,the football/soccer World Cup and the World Athletics Championships so from now until Sunday you can expect to find me glued to my tv catching up on the 5 hours of coverage I've dvr'd during the day.

One obvious drawback of the time difference from here to Daegu South Korea is that I have to not only dvr the highlights but also try to avoid the internet for fear of reading the results,I knew about Usain Bolt's DQ in the 100m and a couple of today's finals b4 sitting down to watch the races but if it means being a tad more selective w/ my internet choices during the day between now and Sunday,sobeit.

I did get out and run however World C'ships,Olympics,World Cup or not I still have to train so tonite was an easy 8 miler to jump start the week like it did last week,I'm hoping some of Mo Farrah's silver medal performance in the 10,000m rubs off on me tomorrow over 8 miles as I look lower last weeks 47.16.3.

Hurricane Irene Nil Awesome Possum One

Sweet and merciful Jesus the rain stopped and Hurricane Irene has been and gone now.
I wasn't sure when I hit the zzzs last nite at 10pm what today would hold in terms of running,I figured it'd be a game time decision but upon waking up at 8.20am it seemed like the worst of the rain had stopped and by 11am after sitting through a painful 5.1 Spurs mauling at the hands of Man City I figured a run was the best thing for me!

The plan was an out and back along Kelly Drive for my 13 miler however upon reaching the Schuylkill Banks I was faced w/ my first obstacle,the Schuylkill River had crested its banks and subsequently the Schuylkill Banks were shut down,while I'm passionate about getting my run in I'm not a hard arse about public safety so w/ a quick about turn I headed back towards home w/ 2 options to complete the 7 miles I'd need to make this 13 miles.

Option one,hang a right on Cobbs Creek Parkway then hang a right on Spruce St and run back down to the South St bridge b4 turning back for home,or option two right on CCP turnaround at Spruce St and then back out along CCP to my 3 mile turnaround b4 turning for home.
My concern w/ CCP was that it's notorious for flooding and downed trees when the weather is bad but since I have to be back out there tomorrow for an easy 8 miler I figured today would serve as a recon mission.
I'm pleased to report no flooding and only one downed tree which I hope the Fairmount Park commission will have cleared if not by tomorrow then Tuesday.

So another 50 mile week in the books,here's hoping for a third but w/out all the drama of the last seven days beginning tomorrow w/ an easy 8 miler

Trial Of Miles

First of all apologies for being a day late w/ this entry,blame it on Irene!
Given what was on tap w/ the weather this weekend I knew getting my 3x2 mile repeats in on Saturday b4 the brunt of Irene hit was crucial,granted missing out on my Sunday long run will be a pisser if it doesn't happen but if I could only get one of the two runs in this weekend I'd have gone w/ the 3x2 mile repeats,having seen an improvement in my times last week I was keen to at least try and continue to press home that advantage.
I arrived at Temple just b4 10.40am,a little later than usual but wasn't too concerned w/ that my main concern was the weather holding during the repeats,the skies were grey and overcast but w/ a heavy air of humidity as I conducted my 6 lap warm up.

#1 repeat 1.20.5-1.24.1-1.26.2-1.22.1-1.24.1-1.24.8-1.23.1-1.18.7-11.03.7.Wow,my fastest 2 mile repeat to date(eclipsing my very first repeat on July 2nd of 11.08.4.)Clearly the key was even pace,was I tempted to drop the hammer on the final to get my first sub 11? sure but I wanted to look at the bigger picture,following my 11.08.4. I blew the fuck up but that was 8 weeks ago as a 3x2 mile rookie I feel I'm learning how to come to grips w/ this repeat now.

#2 repeat 1.23.4-1.28.3-1.29.5-1.28.0-1.28.6-1.27.4-1.26.7.-1.19.1.-11.31.3.I knew from the opening lap I wasn't moving as fluently as I had on the previous repeat but at least when I saw the 1.29.5 on lap 3 I knew the need to get my head back in the game and managed to keep the repeats below that over the final 5 laps.

#3 repeat 1.26.2-1.26.7-1.27.6-1.27.3-1.25.8-1.24.8-1.22.2-1.14.7-11.15.5.Yes! having talked about looking to erase the 1.30 laps a few weeks back I managed that today throughout the entire session which is something I want to build on but also the fact I rebounded from the 11.31.3. to drop a 11.15.5. is also very pleasing as in one session I notched my two fastest repeats.

The key now is to keep building on this,I have another three weeks of 3x2 mile repeats b4 a run of three back to back races so it's of the utmost importance to keep pressing home the gains I've been making in the past two weeks.

Land Of The Lost/Hurricane Irene

As I sit here getting ready for 4 hours of 80's tunes on Wxpn's "Land Of The Lost" W/ Robert Drake I also find myself w/ one eye on the weather this weekend.
Since Monday and maybe earlier than that the weather people have been tracking Hurricane Irene as she began working her way up from Puerto Rico,by the sounds of it the east coast is about to bare the brunt of a category 2 hurricane tomorrow evening heading into Sunday.

Sounds like Philly will get a right soaking on Saturday night going into Sunday I'm faced w/ the prospect of another Sunday long run going by the way side which blows.....no pun intended and if it's absolutely pissing down the satellite dish probably won't allow me to watch much in the way of tv......good job I've got a ton of stuff on the dvr to catch up on!!!

Anyway in light of Land Of The Lost and Hurricane Irene here's a modern rock/80's Top 20.......submitted for your approval:

Eye Of The Hurricane-The Alarm
Gimme Shelter- Sisters Of Mercy
Blow Wind Blow-Alison Moyet
Windpower-Thomas Dolby
The Storm-Big Country
Like A Hurricane-The Mission
Reap The Wild Wind-Ultravox
Here Comes The Rain Again-Eurythmics
Shelter-Lone Justice
Like The Weather-10,000 Maniacs
A Common Disaster-Cowboy Junkies
It Can't Rain All The Time-Jane Siberry
Rain-Terrance Trent D'Arby
Songs From The Rain-Hothouse Flowers
Whistle Down The Wind- Nick Hayward
Who Can Stop The Rain-Thompson Twins
Happy When It Rains-Jesus & Mary Chain
Rain-The Cult
High Land Hard Rain-Aztec Camera
Hard Rain's Gonna Fall-Roxy Music

Stay safe this weekend,I'm off to the Land Of The Lost chat room to hang w/ my fellow 80's peeps

Tweak

After the balls up yesterday w/ my new shoes I had to get out there today to get a run in,the problem being I was scheduled to do hill repeats at Belmont Plateau and frankly the rain didn't seem to want to let up.
The problem w/ getting to Belmont is most of it's by foot after a 2 stop ride on the el and frankly if it was raining I'd look like a drowned rat b4 I got to Belmont Ave from 46th and Market so my back up plan was a 6 miler along Cobbs Creek Parkway,even if it was raining it wouldn't be too far from home.

As it was by the time I got home it had actually stopped raining so the out and back 6 miler along CCP was a go(as it turned out I could've gone to Belmont after all as it didn't rain but when I left the house at 4.15pm it looked like it was going to pour so maybe it was the right call)
When I started off the plan was 6 miles but early on into the run I began to toy w/ several permutations,if I left it at 6 miles today I'd still have to run 5 miles tomorrow to bring me level at 30 miles w/ 8 on Saturday on my repeats and then 12 on Sunday but to be honest I like a day off not just for a mental and physical rest but to get stuff done plus I'd end up running 13 days in a row b4 my next scheduled day off.

After a number of different options I went w/ 9 miles today which will allow me tomorrow off then an extra mile on Saturday(1.5 mile warm up and 1.5 mile cool down instead of the run of the mill mile warm up and cool down either side of my 3x2 mile repeats) b4 closing the week out w/ a 13 miler to make it another 50 mile week.
Sure it'd have been nice to duplicate last weeks 50 miles w/ 2 repeats but in another couple of weeks the option of hill repeats at Belmont won't be an option I began to notice how much quicker it's getting darker in the evenings recently,by 8pm it's already dark so you figure come mid October after the first three of my fall races 5th Avenue Mile,Syracuse and the Jack St Clair 5 mile xc it may be too dark to schlep all the way over to Belmont and back for hill repeats but that's a problem for another day right now I can look forward to a day off and "Land Of The Lost" on Wxpn tomorrow evening b4 Saturdays 3x2 mile repeats.