Its about time!!!

On Sunday I walked a 10km at the Art Keay/ Ontario 10km Race Walk Championships on the Toronto Island. It had been raining and cloudy all week so it was nice to wake up to the sun that morning! Once we got over to the island though, it was ridiculously windy!

The race started and there was so much head wind that I was focusing on pushing through the wind that I didnt notice how much I was pushing. I went through the first 500m's in 2:17, EEK!!! So after that I tried to slow down a bit since I had been hoping to do around 4:40/km pace for the whole race. I went through 1km in 4:36, a little fast but I thought that I could handle it. I decided to try and slow my pace a little bit so that I didnt build up a lot of lactic acid right from the beginning of the race. I went through the first 2.5km loop in 11:43 which was right on the pace I had wanted to be at. I slowed down a bit between then and the 5km split which was 23:37 but not too bad. The wind was really hurting me at that point, I had a hard time pushing through it by myself. I slowed considerably the next lap and had a really bad first km of the 3rd lap because it was like the wind was a wall infront of me and I ended up doing a 2:29 first 500m of that lap! It was crazy! I regrouped for the 2nd 500m (2:24) but it was still a 4:53 km which is my 20km race pace! I ended up finishing in 47:30 (23:53 last 5km's) which wasnt what I was hoping to walk but I think considering the conditions of 40km wind gusts that it wasnt too bad. It was a 7 second PB which I was happy about since my PB was from 4 years ago so it was about time! Its good to get the 3rd PB of the season and im hoping to get another one before the season is over.

Tim has been here with me this week in Peterborough. He hasnt been here since September so its nice to have someone to train with. We will have the 3 X 4km/1km workout again tomorrow. Hopefully I will have improved since the last time I did this workout a few weeks ago. Next week Tim and I go to Long Island to visit family. My next race will be Nationals on June 28th, im looking forward to it!

See you on the roads,
Rachel