8-Miles, Not Quite As Planned

So the plan to do the first half at 160 bpm heart rate and the second at 170 bmp didn't work out quite as planned.

It was fairly cool, in the mid 60's, and the route started near the Santa Monica Pier. There wasn't enough of a warm up going from the mile marker, the bicycle rental shack, to the start of the Santa Monica Pier bridge and even though I made it over just fine, my shins were hurting through the first couple of miles. By the third mile I was feeling better but another trip over the bridge at mile seven kept going through my mind all morning.

The bridge crossing at mile seven wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but once I was over the crest I got a call on my cell phone. Yeah, I carry a phone just for emergencies, but it wasn't an emergency. Rosie called to say that she and our nephew, Joshua, were at the Coffee Bean. OK, I could go for that after the walk, but then she told me that she was at the Venice Beach Coffee Bean--way at the other end of the route! No way, I told her to meet me at this end and I'd call after I finished. That took some time out of mile seven.

The last mile was all down hill, I was doing pretty good time and halfway through it the phone rang again, this time it was my nephew. When I pulled out the phone everything in my carry pouch fell out. I had to stop, pick everything up and told Joshua that I'd call when I'm finished! Still, that last mile turned out to be the fastest.

As for the heart rate, it fluctuated between 145-165 bpm but most of the time is was around 150, it seldom got over 160 bpm. Maybe my legs got too tired right from the start or maybe the cool weather had something to do with it. Then again I might have been subconsciously holding back in anticipation of crossing the bridge on mile seven. In hindsight there is nothing to be concerned about, my goal was unreasonable. According to the heart rate chart I made a few days ago the easy distance walks should be done at 153 bpm and that's pretty much where it ended up.


Mile 1 - 12:37
Mile 2 - 12:24
Mile 3 - 11:50
Mile 4 - 12:54
Mile 5 - 13:03
Mile 6 - 12:10
Mile 7 - 13:28
Mile 8 - 11:41
Average Pace - 12:30

Still hanging onto that pace even with the hill work, worrying and the phone calls. In fact it was six seconds per mile better than the 8 mile walk I did a couple of weeks ago.