Finally Reached Goal Pace

I finally hit my marathon goal pace, on an 8 mile walk no less.

Mile 1 - 11:30          Mile 5 - 11:22
Mile 2 - 12:03          Mile 6 - 12:13
Mile 3 - 12:44          Mile 7 - 12:19
Mile 4 - 11:27          Mile 8 - 12:19
Average Pace - 12:00 minutes per mile * New PR
Total Workout - 1:36:00

This time the course was pretty much flat, I didn't include the Santa Monica Pier bridge. As I was clicking off the miles I was hoping to get three miles in a row under 12 minutes but somehow I just couldn't do it. The mile markers on the L.A. Roadrunners maps must be a bit off because I always seem to do great on the mile just before the pier, miles 4 and 5 on today's walk, and a tougher time on some of the other miles. In any case, the total distance and the average pace should be a fair indicator of how I'm doing.

Of course it wasn't all smooth sailing. On mile 2 I remembered that I didn't turn on my cell phone and I dropped some stuff from my pouch when I pulled out the phone, though it didn't seem to hurt my time too much. I was really pushing it to make my goal pace and as a result my heart rate was higher than I would have liked, right around 165 bpm for most of the walk. When it caught myself going up to 170 bpm I backed off a bit but I was feeling good so I didn't slow down too much. My right heel was patched up but at times it was feeling like the Moleskin was slipping and I was getting a new blister. After the workout I did notice a new small blister but the tender spot I was protecting did fine. The back of my right knee hurt a little probably because I was unconsciously compensating for my right heel. One final glitch--there was a foul smell once I got into the car. Humm, smells like someone stepped in some--yep, there it was dog crap all over the sole of my new shoes.


Despite the crappy treads, though my mother always said that was good luck, the new Loco Banditos worked out great. They are now my favorite shoes but I've still got to experiment some more before deciding if these are the ones to use on the L.A. Marathon.

Joshua didn't run today. He hurt his shin getting into a van at school. He was on his way to soccer practice at the time and once he started running he was hurting. He is taking it easy for a few days until it heals, but he's already talking about the 22 mile workout scheduled for next weekend.