Novak Djokovic recently fired his long-time coach, Goran Ivanisevic. Apparently, he thought since he'd lost a couple important matches recently, a new coach might breathe some new life into his game. This got me thinking... I've had the same coach (myself) for my entire running career. Maybe it's time to give someone else a chance. Since I probably couldn't afford a big name like Ivanisevic, and the fact that I'm basically a cheap bloke, I had to get creative.
As I was thinking about this, I heard a totally unrelated podcast regarding the looming dangers of AI. True, AI can be scary, but for many applications it can be helpful. So, I began my search for an AI coach. Within minutes I found her, Agnes Ironfist! She asked me a few things about myself and my goal for my next 5K. Next she set up a schedule for me. She tells me what days to run, how far to run, and at what pace. Based on the data I upload from my watch, she adjusts and tweaks my schedule.
I know what you're thinking. She looks tough and sounds tough. But she hasn't yelled at me yet. Actually, her schedule has been surprisingly easy so far. I told her my goal of wanting to run 29:30 in the LifeCare 5K . Over the last couple weeks she gave me several short runs with plenty of rest in between. Then for my taper, she scheduled a 2.1 mile run last Sunday and a 0.9 mile run on Monday. I've only had rest days since then.
So, today was the big day. (She didn't even show up... or did she?) The weather was perfect - high 40s, partly sunny, almost no wind. My wife (and personal photographer) caught this picture of me at the starting line:
At the beginning of the race I actually had a smile on my face. That didn't last long because I knew Coach Ironfist wanted me to maintain a 9:30/mi pace throughout the race.
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