Closing in on a 10 Minute Mile

My heel is feeling better so I once again tried for a fast mile followed by some strength training--this time I succeeded.

10:09 minute/mile * New PR by 46 seconds

That's a big improvement on the last PR mile walked two weeks ago.

I'm almost up to the speed I was running when I had to stop due to knee problems. Although I didn't post it when I started racewalking because I thought it was ridiculous, one of my goals is to walk under a 10 minute mile. I couldn't seem to be able to do it running. Now I'm almost there--walking.

There were some lessons learned this morning. One thing is that the Band-Aid Advanced Healing Blister pads hang on much better than the Dr. Scholl's Blister Treatment pads I used yesterday. Another thing is that Body Glide on the heels works better than plain petroleum jelly. Finally, I must be dropping some girth because the heart rate monitor strap is feeling a little loose. Before starting the walk the monitor was reading 195 bmp which was obviously wrong so I had to restart it. Then about 200 meters into the walk the chest band slipped down and I had to pull it up. In addition, the monitor was reading over 210 bpm, but that was impossible. By the time I finished the mile it was reading 178 bpm so I guess things eventually settled during the workout.

Goals for the next few weeks:

• Finish the long (20+ mile) walk without blisters - don't care too much how fast I go.


• Break the 10 minute mile barrier.


• Walk under 12 minute/mile for the 8 mile long walk.