The Evaluation

After my training routine today, Adrián said it was time for me to use my heart monitor again because he wants to evaluate my performance.-----------------------------------------------------------------"What do you mean, evaluate my performance? What do I have to do?"------------------------"Well, you check your heart rate as you do 10 minutes at an easy trot, then you recover, then you do 10 minutes at a moderate trot, you recover, then you do 10 minutes of running, and we'll see if your heart is hitting its training rate often enough."-------------------------------------"When are we going to do this?" I asked, wondering if I could arrange to leave the country in time. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Oh, next week, probably Tuesday, how does that seem to you?"--------------------------------"HA!!!" I howled, "I will be in Seattle next week!!!"----------------------------------------------If I thought this was putting paid to the matter, I was mistaken. Adrián simply put the whole thing off a single week until I get back. My heart, and its rate, sank. I could hack the easy trot, the moderate trot for 10 minutes seems undoable, and the idea of running for 10 minutes is frankly insane. There was a moment or two when Adrián's voice tapered off as he mentioned the ten-minute run, as if it even occurred to him that the idea bordered on pyschosis. Well, I have that week in Seattle to keep working, along with the ghastly uphill phases of the running path near my son's home. I think I'd better start practicing. Doesn't this guy know how old I am???