Gear Jammin'
Set the alarm for 5:15 and couldn't get out of bed this morning. Just couldn't.
So I "slept in" to 7:30 and ran at noon to break up my day, which just ended 45 minutes ago when I wrapped up class. The run was the Strawberry Mansion loop with an extra MLK mile tacked on. To get the lead out, I ran 3 MLK miles in 17:50 and felt fairly comfortable doing this, and then slowed the pace to around 7 for the next three miles, then slowed a bit, and took it back up to what felt like 7 for about a mile before doing recovery pace for the last mile or so.
Usually when I go marathon or tempo pace for awhile I immediately go into recovery mode, which means my overall loop time isn't much different than had I run at a steady training tempo. Today I wanted to sustain faster pacing after going mp, and then again torque it up a bit after doing recovery. The latter is especially hard mentally. But it went well and my time (for 12+ miles) was 86:10, about ten minutes faster than my usual times of late for this loop.
Wasn't going so fast that I didn't notice the work they did on the little park they're putting up to commemorate the Philadelphia Stars of the old Negro Leagues. The park is at Belmont & Parkside, on the site of what used to be Parkside Field (of which there is not a trace today). I was a bit skeptical about the venture when they started construction, as it doesn't seem to be a place where people would naturally congregate, but today the place had the feel like a corner of a ballpark, with the wood fence that looked like an outfield wall and a statue of a baseball player. There is also a mural in progress across the street. I'm now sold on the project, and was inspired enough to fish out an article on the venture that has further convinced me that this is an important undertaking.
Also makes me realize how long I'd been running, unaware, on yet another piece of Philadelphia history. You run on a piece of ground long enough and slowly it will open its secrets to you. And in exchange you will hand over a piece of yourself.
So I "slept in" to 7:30 and ran at noon to break up my day, which just ended 45 minutes ago when I wrapped up class. The run was the Strawberry Mansion loop with an extra MLK mile tacked on. To get the lead out, I ran 3 MLK miles in 17:50 and felt fairly comfortable doing this, and then slowed the pace to around 7 for the next three miles, then slowed a bit, and took it back up to what felt like 7 for about a mile before doing recovery pace for the last mile or so.
Usually when I go marathon or tempo pace for awhile I immediately go into recovery mode, which means my overall loop time isn't much different than had I run at a steady training tempo. Today I wanted to sustain faster pacing after going mp, and then again torque it up a bit after doing recovery. The latter is especially hard mentally. But it went well and my time (for 12+ miles) was 86:10, about ten minutes faster than my usual times of late for this loop.
Wasn't going so fast that I didn't notice the work they did on the little park they're putting up to commemorate the Philadelphia Stars of the old Negro Leagues. The park is at Belmont & Parkside, on the site of what used to be Parkside Field (of which there is not a trace today). I was a bit skeptical about the venture when they started construction, as it doesn't seem to be a place where people would naturally congregate, but today the place had the feel like a corner of a ballpark, with the wood fence that looked like an outfield wall and a statue of a baseball player. There is also a mural in progress across the street. I'm now sold on the project, and was inspired enough to fish out an article on the venture that has further convinced me that this is an important undertaking.
Also makes me realize how long I'd been running, unaware, on yet another piece of Philadelphia history. You run on a piece of ground long enough and slowly it will open its secrets to you. And in exchange you will hand over a piece of yourself.
posted by seebo | 10:35 PM
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