Ganging Aft Agley

The poet Robert Burns knew it,
"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley"

Or as we better know the lines,
"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

That's how my training has gone the last couple of days - not bad, mind you, but just not how I planned it.

Thursday was beautiful - close to 60* at noon, with a bit of a wind from the northwest. Even though it was Swim nite, it was such a good day for a run, I went. Donna slogged along with me, and we ran the run we ran on Tuesday - from the building, down State to Broadway, north on Broadway to the pedestrian bridge over the highway, across the bridge and down to the ceremonial circle on the bike path - a half mile. Stop there and stretch. Then run 1 mile north on the path, turn around and walk/jog back, a total of 3 miles.

I like this route, because the first half mile is mostly an easy down hill, a great way to warm up, and the rest of the route is the same start and course I will run at the St. John's St. Ann's Spring Runoff, which will be my next 5K, on April 26. It's flat and scenic, as it follows the Hudson River, and because I run there often, I am familiar with the landmarks and distances. This helps me gauge how far I have to go and how I am doing.

Bringing me to failed Plan #1. Because I have been running regularly, I was sure I had a great shot Thursday at running a sub-12 minute mile. After all, I had run a 12:10 on Tuesday over the same course, I had rested Wednesday, so all me and my fresh legs had to do was pick it up a little and those 10 seconds were gone, baby, gone! Except, they weren't. For whatever reason, my thighs were lead and every step was an effort. Even, so I was pretty much on pace as I passed the boat launch and headed up the narrowed path into the last third of a mile. Then, with 200 yards to go and a real shot at getting under 12 - I stopped to walk. In the last 200 yards I paused twice more, and ended up at 12:16, six seconds slower than Tuesday's time. Maybe it was all in my head again, but it sure felt like it was in my legs and lungs, and I have no idea why.

Good thing I ran at noon, though, because instead of workout number two for the day, a phone call brought me failed Plan #2 - the Y called and said the pool filter was under repair and class was canceled.

The Southern Saratoga YMCA's Indoor/Outdoor Tri is coming in 3 weeks and the bike portion is a 10 mile outdoor ride. I need some training time on a real bike before then, no spinning bikes in this tri, so I called Maria and set up a ride. The weather had been spectacular for the previous four days, but called for rain Friday afternoon. No problem, I thought - we scheduled my first outdoor bike ride of the season for 9 AM Friday morning, well ahead of the forecasted start of the showers. Of course, at 8 AM, it began raining, and I called Maria and canceled. Make that failed Plan #3.

Not to be dissuaded, I went off to the Y. I logged a half hour on the stationary bike, jumped off and hied myself over to the track. This time I sprayed a paper towel and stowed it on the console of the bike before I started my session, meaning when I finished the ride, I could wipe down the bike immediately and get right over to the track to start my brick. Good plan, as I was on the track in one minute and I was running in less than 90 seconds. My idea was to jog a half mile, and then cool down with a half mile walk. Leading to failed Plan #4. Three laps into this, my legs were lead and I stopped. After a rest, I tried it again, and again I stopped after 3 laps.

Standing off to the side catching my breath, I recognized my friend Mike on the track, back from his flights to DC, San Juan and Rochester, Minn. He is a good runner, and trying to get back up to speed after his knee surgery last fall. To help him do this, he has a pretty spiffy watch, connected wirelessly to a gizmo that attaches to the laces of one shoe,and the system includes a GPS, and a computer and I'm not sure what all. Anyway, he was effortlessly loping around the track on a 7:30 pace or so, and I decided to lope along with him. I ended up doing one lap, resting, do another, resting and then a third. His lap times, in the center lane (14 laps to the mile) were 34, 33 and 31 seconds. For me, in the outer lane (13 laps to the mile), that last lap equated to a 6:43 mile. In other words, Mike's pace run ended up being my interval training!

I thought I might get a swim in today, but today is turning out to be more of a chore day than a training day, and that's ok. Tomorrow I really want to get my weekly LSD in, preferably outside, and I'd like to get in a 1,000 yard swim - my neck is still a little stiff from last week's mile (Yes, Dorie, if I had been using proper technique, I would have been my body would have been rotating my head and not my neck, and it wouldn't be sore - I'll work on that next time)

LSD and swim - that's what I'd like to do tomorrow - but I'm making a "Plan" - I already know how that will go.

See you out there.