Sometimes the best runs come from nowhere...

First off my apologies to any of my friends from the Runners World Masters Forum. This post will look familiar.

Kirk the coach had to stay on top of Kirk the runner all morning.

The runner did not want to get out of bed this morning. The coach reminded him that he has a goal race the first weekend in September.

The runner did not want to do a tempo run this morning. The coach again reminded him about the goal race.

The runner complained that he left the Garmin charging at the office. How could he run tempo without feedback on his pace? The coach reminded him that the goal race last year did not have mile markers and it was very wet. So the runner is going to have to race just on effort. So the coach pulled out an old Polar Heart Rate Monitor and a Watch. He told the runner to try to maintain about 150 bpm after the warm up.

The runner complained that his hip was tight. The coach told him to go ahead and warm up if the hip was still tight he could take and easy run instead of the tempo. The runner shuffled off. At one mile the coach asked how the hip was. The runner said OK. So, the coach said take off.

At the end of 1 mile, the HR was 150. The coach said Good. At 1.5, the HR was 155. The coach said be careful. At 2 miles the HR had climbed to 165. The coach said slow down. At 3 miles the HR was 160. The coach said OK, ease up a bit more. At 3.5, the coach looked the other way, and the runner took off. The runner finished the 4 mile tempo with a HR of 168 and sucking air. The coach caught him and make him run a 1 mile cool down.

The total mileage was 6.1 total time 56:36

mile 1 9:56 (warm up)
mile 2 18:57 (9:00 pace)
mile 3 27:41 (8:44 pace)
mile 4 36:41 (8:59 pace)
mile 5 45:12 (8:31 pace)
mile 6 56:36 (11:24 pace) (cool down)

Now the coach tells me that today was just to see if I could pace off of a HR Monitor. Next week he is going to work me harder. I think he is just ticked about me taking off on that last tempo mile...

I guess that is enough of me typing about myself talking to myself. Go ahead and link over to Mickey's Blog (Days in the Life) and see how he and Cody are doing. There are some great pictures of Mickey, Cody, and some butterflies. Y'all have a great day!