On the Mend

This has definitely been a challenging season for me with lots of ups and downs. My season started off really strong and then after the race on Long Island ive really struggled with some different things. As of late, I have been in what I call a mental injury. Since my races havent gone well or ive run into some back luck, ive really struggled mentally. My training has been going very well for the most part but there has been so many things that have knocked me down that I just havent been able to handle mentally. I ended up taking 6 days off training while I went to the USA National T&F Championships to cheer on my husband Tim and the rest of our TEAM. The time off proved to be very good for me. I decided during that time to mentally re-start my season with new goals. Im not going to let myself get stressed by anything, im going to make sure im doing everything to benefit my training during the day (ie. rest, stretch, to bed early, etc). I had started to get into some bad habits and im turning it all around. Its been a week now since ive made these changes and so far so good. Mentally I am in a much better place, feeling a lot more confident in myself and knowing that my season isnt over yet and there is still lots of time to chase my time goals.

Today I did my first fartlek back. It had been 3-4 weeks since I did a real fartlek and I felt great today. Tim walked with me and we did the Norwegian fartlek. It was pretty chilly out (16c and overcast). We did the first 5km's in 24:00 (fastest split ever for this workout) and then the next 5k was a little bit slower because we were going against the wind. I did 24:25 the 2nd 5k with my 10k being 48:25. This was my fastest Norwegian fartlek by 47 seconds!!!! I ended up doing about 10.3km's in the 50 minute fartlek. I didnt feel exhausted by any means by the end, I felt great. This was a great start for me with 3.5 weeks to go until my next race, the Canadian National T&F Championships on July 30th.

I am feeling very determined and am really looking forward to my Nationals. Its time for me to put everything together and show how good of shape im really in.

Above you will see the cover of the newest book by Jeff Salvage and Tim Seaman called "Racewalk Faster by Training Smarter" with yours truly on the cover :) You can buy the book at www.RacewalkClinic.com. This book is so great! Its based on the same training philosophy that I train by.

Keep on walking!

Rachel

Some Bad Luck

Sorry I havent updated my blog for awhile. Since my last post a lot has happened. In my last post my training had starting to come around again and I was doing very well. My post was before I had left to go back to Canada again for the Art Keay race in Toronto. I left on May 14th to go to Canada which was 2 weeks before the race. Before I left I was doing great and really looking forward to the race. I had some decent training the 2 weeks before the race but the weather was a lot warmer and VERY humid (there is barely ever any humidity in San Diego) so I struggled with the weather quite a bit. My heart rate was higher because of it and it affected my breathing also.

I was feeling very good going into the Art Keay. The morning of the race (here is where my bad luck came in!) I was driving to the race site and unfortunately got into a car accident. Luckily I was fine and so were my other 2 passengers. The man in the other car was also fine but our cars were pretty damaged, my parents will most likely have to write off their car. This was my first car accident so it was very scary for me. We got very lucky because it could have been a lot worst. This was just a few hours before the race and I was VERY shaken up. There was no way that I could race, my mind was just not in the condition to be able to go out there and do a good race. I was so disappointed! This was supposed to be the race where I did a fast time and I was so ready. The whole day was just terrible for me and it was not a good way to leave Canada after having a fun 2 weeks with my family.

The day after the accident I came back to San Diego with my sister Ruthy and just tried to get past the disappointment of the accident and the race. It still lingers in my mind and it has almost been 2 weeks now. I have been able to re-focus and get my head back into training. I am feeling good again and will be racing a 5000m race on Sunday night here in San Diego. I am looking forward to a low key, no pressure race where we can just have fun.

This season has been all over the place for me and im looking forward to an upside soon. Stay tuned for some good results to come.

Keep on walking!

Rachel

Im BACK :)

It has been a week since I have started to feel better and the first words that comes to mind is IM BACK! I am feeling back to normal and am feeling great again. Last year I had a similar few weeks that I feeling down and not performing. After that short period blew over, I was able to great great training in and raced very well again.

Since feeling good again ive had speed work on Saturday and a fartlek today. Saturday we did 5km, 4km, 3km, 2km, 1km all with 3 minutes rest. The goal of the first three intervals was to be between zone #2 and zone #3, not pushing it too much until the 2km and the 1km when I could push a bit more. I finally felt really good and it showed with my times. My times were:

5km: 25:16 (Low Lactate)

4km: 19:45 (2.3 Lactate)

3km: 14:26 (2.8 Lactate)

2km: 9:30

1km: 4:28

I felt good and controlled. My lactates were very good for the pace. Today I did 3 X 4km/1km fartlek and it went very well again. Today was the last hard workout that I could do before my next race since it is only 2.5 weeks away now so I wanted it to be a confidence booster. My times were:

1st: 19:15 (2.8 Lactate)

2nd: 19:09 (3.6 Lactate)

3rd: 18:59 (6.1 Lactate)

I am very happy with how the workout went today. It felt a lot easier than the last time I did this workout over a month ago. The only thing I was not happy with today was my lactates. The first two were fine but the last one was too high. I think that if I didnt push so hard my last km (did 4:39 last km) that my lactate would have been lower but I pushed and the lactate showed. This workout showed that my goal of walking around 1:36 for 20km's is not unrealistic.

My next race is the Art Keay Memorial Racewalk on Toronto Island on May 30th (photo above is of me racing there last year). I am really looking forward to this race since it is one of only two races that I will walk in Canada this year. Its really fun to have my family and friends come to watch me race since it doesnt happen very often. I will walk a 20km there and will have my TEAMmate Maria Michta there with me. Maria will be heading to Canada to train with me for 13 days before the race to do some final preparations. Its going to be really great to have a training partner for a little while.

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Ups and Downs of Training

Ever since the race on Long Island on April 11th I have been struggling a little bit with different aspects of my training. Ever since the race my heart rate has been 6-7 beats higher when doing my easy paced workouts. To go along with it, I havent been feeling well. At first I just thought that I was tired but these things went on for weeks. I was feeling very unmotivated and started to feel like my season was going downhill before I even had the chance to go up. I was still walking my normal pace in my zone #1 workouts but I just wasnt feeling well doing them. After a few failed workouts and depressing days, I finally started to see things going up. After not making any conscious changes I started to see my heart rate slowly start to drop and within just 3 days my heart rate dropped 6 beats. Thank goodness I am starting to feel normal. I dont feel out of the woods yet but I know that the climb up is beginning and im starting to get excited again.

I have my next race on the Toronto Island in Canada on May 30th (Art Keay Memorial Race Walks). I will be racing 20km's there and am looking at it as being my first real race for time this year. Even though I had some weeks of nothing feeling very good, I know that I didnt loose any fitness towards my goal of beating my personal best time this year. I will be heading back home to Canada on May 14th and joining me will be my TEAMmate Maria Michta from New York. She will be coming to Canada 13 days before Art Keay to train with me. I am looking forward to having a training partner and getting geared up for the race.

Tomorrow will be the first test of weather this little blimp in my training is truly done. I will do 5km, 4km, 3km, 2km, 1km speedwork. Looking forward to it.

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Disappointing Race

After my trip back to Canada for two weeks after the USA World Cup Trials, I flew to Philadelphia this past Friday to race at the Penn Relays on Saturday. I was feeling really good and confident going into the race after having some really good training. I decided to go out in the lead from the gun and push the pace right away. I may have pushed a little too much in the first km as I went through the first km in 4:20. That was not my plan, I was hoping to start off between 4:24-4:30 since my goal was to walk as close to 22:00 as possible. Other than making sure to try and stay in the lead the whole time, my motivation was lacking a little but during the race. I didnt feel the the need to push myself as much as I should have and once it came to 450m's to go and Joanne Dow made a move around me, I just couldnt respond. She dropped me very quickly and I ended up loosing by almost 11 seconds in just the last lap. I was very disappointed with how the race went but I still see that I still walked a personal best by 18 seconds walking 22:30.40 so I cannot be upset with that.

Now I am back in San Diego where I will train for 3 weeks before I go back to Canada for the Art Keay race on May 30th where I will walk a 20km. 13 days before the race, my TEAMmate Maria Michta will come to Canada to train with me there before the race, where she will also walk a 20km. I am very much looking forward to that.

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Tough Race on Long Island

Well we raced a week and a half ago on Long Island at the USA World Racewalk Cup trials and its and understatement to say that everyone had a tough race. The course was quite brutal. We went to see the course the day before the race and were very surprised at how it was. It was a 2km loop, very windy, uneven road with pot holes. It was probably the worst course I have ever raced on. Still, we put the stress of the course behind us for the race and still tried to do what we could. I came in with a goal of walking 1:36 but I knew by 8-10km's that it wasnt possible on this course. My goal changed from trying to walk a fast time to trying to win the race. I ended up walking alone from 4km's till the finish. I was a little surprised that none of the top girls that were in the race were able to maintain a good pace but this course affected everyone severally. I ended up finishing in 1:39:25, way off my goal time but I won by almost 2 minutes so I was very happy with that.

Right after the race, I traveled back home to Canada to visit my family. I havent been back home since September so its been great to see everyone again. My training has struggled a bit since I have been home but sometimes its more important to spend time with family. I have been able to spend everyday with my 20 day old niece so thats been so great.

I leave Canada for Philadelphia on Friday for the Penn Relays. The race is on Saturday morning and ill be racing a 5000m on the track. I have been to this race twice before, 2004 and 2006. I have always done well there so im looking forward to a fast time.

Here are a few stories about the racewalking events for the race this weekend: Philly Daily News #1 and #2.

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Beautiful Anna is Born :)

Well, first and foremost, I wanted to share a picture with all of you of my newborn niece, Anna Laila Christensen. She was born on April 1st and she is absolutely beautiful! My sister, Rebecca, and the baby are doing very well. Now I still have to wait another week until I am able to go and see them. I am so excited that it is very very difficult to not be there in her first few days of life but I am so much looking forward to getting there.

Before I am able to get back to Peterborough (my hometown), I have my race on Long Island on Sunday, just one week from now. I have now started my taper and I am feeling good! At first I was feeling a little tired for the first half of this past week but I took a day "off" (just 6km racewalk) and ive been feeling better since. I did 6 x 2km's on Tuesday and 10 x 1km's on Saturday, both workouts in race pace and they went pretty good. One more week of taper and ill be ready to go!

We travel to New York on Thursday and the race is on Sunday at 10am for the men and 10:05am for the women. Wish me luck in my first 20km race of the season. Looking forward to a good one! You can find the results here.

Keep on walking,

Rachel