Back on the Bicycle
Metaphorically, not triathlonically, speaking.
I hope what few readers lurk here have not given up on me, as its been awhile. In case you're wondering, things have been going well though that, paradoxically, does not necessarily make running any easier. But even here, things aren't as bad as they may seem.
When I last checked in I was getting set to go camping with Tony. Camping I did go, but my running shoes did not come with me. That shut me down for the weekend and an all day trip to Harrisburg followed by Commencement activities at USP continued the slump into Monday. This makes things hard, as with each day turning around this inertia gets more difficult.
But I did turn things around on Tuesday, with a 13.5 mile BN loop (1:43:58); in the absence of anyone to run with yesterday I did an 11-mile SMB (Strawberry Mansion Bridge) loop in 92:04; and today I did another BN loop, a bit faster in 1:41:42. These last few days represent nothing but miles, and today, faced with my third straight double digit day going over basically the same ground, I feel like I'm finally coming to embrace that relentless in-your-face, day-in day-out get your miles in feeling that is crucial to getting back into the 80-mile range like I want to. I can't get the numbers up there quite yet, and won't at least until the surgery I got scheduled for next week is done, but when I do run at least I can get used to the feeling that its going to be long.
The mileage is also nothing fast. I speed things up a little on the river miles, this morning I did these four miles in just under 28, but this is more to mentally push than to get anywhere near anaerobic. I'm also starting to clock the stretch immediately following the river miles, from Falls Bridge to the five-point Conshohocken Ave-Ford Rd-Monument Rd intersection (i.e. the BN, about 1.33 mostly uphill miles) and hit it in 9:30 today. I've noticed that whenever I hit that stretch in under 10 then I'm working. But I'm not doing any track, MP, tempo, etc. until after surgery. Right now its just miles.
Camping was relaxing, esp. with the knowledge that I couldn't get a run in even if I wanted to, but I did make the mistake of bringing along, and plowing through, the book Once a Runner. My advice is not to read this book while you're not able to run. The book is to a runner what Glamour magazine is to the teenage girl. You look at yourself in the mirror and compare yourself to the image in it and, although you know its a nice fiction, all your inadequacies come glaring back at you. I'm enough of a runner to be able to identify with what goes on in the protagonists' heads, but not enough of one to ever be able to get there. So what is left is to make peace with it.
Also want to shout out to Scott, who responded to my dig from one of last weeks' posts and dared me to go head to head with him on naming obscure Phila. neighborhoods. That is one pissing contest I won't be foolish enough to get myself into. Excellent post, however, on his meandering through what Carlo Rotella, a friend I haven't talked to in ages, has written about as the "city of feeling".
And finally, as a postscript, while we're talking about Devil's Pocket, did you know that legend has it the neighborhood got its name because the kids there were thought so delinquent that they'd steal a watch right out of the Devil's Pocket. My alternative take was always that it was yet another hapless attempt by Philadelphia to match NYC, where DP was named in an effort to keep up with Hell's Kitchen.
Now the toughest part of the neighborhood is for the new residents to find space to park their SUVs. The name "Devil's Pocket" will continue to fade from the city's consciousness as it is not good for property values. Better to have it called "South Rittenhouse" or something like that.
I hope what few readers lurk here have not given up on me, as its been awhile. In case you're wondering, things have been going well though that, paradoxically, does not necessarily make running any easier. But even here, things aren't as bad as they may seem.
When I last checked in I was getting set to go camping with Tony. Camping I did go, but my running shoes did not come with me. That shut me down for the weekend and an all day trip to Harrisburg followed by Commencement activities at USP continued the slump into Monday. This makes things hard, as with each day turning around this inertia gets more difficult.
But I did turn things around on Tuesday, with a 13.5 mile BN loop (1:43:58); in the absence of anyone to run with yesterday I did an 11-mile SMB (Strawberry Mansion Bridge) loop in 92:04; and today I did another BN loop, a bit faster in 1:41:42. These last few days represent nothing but miles, and today, faced with my third straight double digit day going over basically the same ground, I feel like I'm finally coming to embrace that relentless in-your-face, day-in day-out get your miles in feeling that is crucial to getting back into the 80-mile range like I want to. I can't get the numbers up there quite yet, and won't at least until the surgery I got scheduled for next week is done, but when I do run at least I can get used to the feeling that its going to be long.
The mileage is also nothing fast. I speed things up a little on the river miles, this morning I did these four miles in just under 28, but this is more to mentally push than to get anywhere near anaerobic. I'm also starting to clock the stretch immediately following the river miles, from Falls Bridge to the five-point Conshohocken Ave-Ford Rd-Monument Rd intersection (i.e. the BN, about 1.33 mostly uphill miles) and hit it in 9:30 today. I've noticed that whenever I hit that stretch in under 10 then I'm working. But I'm not doing any track, MP, tempo, etc. until after surgery. Right now its just miles.
Camping was relaxing, esp. with the knowledge that I couldn't get a run in even if I wanted to, but I did make the mistake of bringing along, and plowing through, the book Once a Runner. My advice is not to read this book while you're not able to run. The book is to a runner what Glamour magazine is to the teenage girl. You look at yourself in the mirror and compare yourself to the image in it and, although you know its a nice fiction, all your inadequacies come glaring back at you. I'm enough of a runner to be able to identify with what goes on in the protagonists' heads, but not enough of one to ever be able to get there. So what is left is to make peace with it.
Also want to shout out to Scott, who responded to my dig from one of last weeks' posts and dared me to go head to head with him on naming obscure Phila. neighborhoods. That is one pissing contest I won't be foolish enough to get myself into. Excellent post, however, on his meandering through what Carlo Rotella, a friend I haven't talked to in ages, has written about as the "city of feeling".
And finally, as a postscript, while we're talking about Devil's Pocket, did you know that legend has it the neighborhood got its name because the kids there were thought so delinquent that they'd steal a watch right out of the Devil's Pocket. My alternative take was always that it was yet another hapless attempt by Philadelphia to match NYC, where DP was named in an effort to keep up with Hell's Kitchen.
Now the toughest part of the neighborhood is for the new residents to find space to park their SUVs. The name "Devil's Pocket" will continue to fade from the city's consciousness as it is not good for property values. Better to have it called "South Rittenhouse" or something like that.
posted by seebo | 8:33 AM
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