Disappointing Day in Berlin

Sorry it has taken me almost 2 weeks since my race to put up a post race report. If you saw the results you would have probably figured that I was pretty disappointed about how it went.

I had a very good last week of training and resting before the race. I remember feeling so happy with how easy training felt and how it was great how low my heart rate was. I was eating well and resting and drinking a lot. I didnt do anything unusual, I did everything that I did in preparation for any race.

The men's 20km race was the day before mine and the weather was pretty warm for them (around 25-28c) so I figured that the weather would be warm for my race also but the thought of it being over 30c never crossed my mind.

I ate really well the morning of the race and felt that I had eaten enough to last me through the race which started at noon. I got to the course and it was hot like I knew it would be. I figured it was around 30c which I have raced in once before in Brazil so I knew that I could do it but that I would have to have a different race plan, no personal best time today! I did usual 3km warm up with my heart rate monitor on and my HR was really high, too high. I didnt know if it was because of it being hot or because of nerves. I just shook it off and went to the call room. It was in a tent and it was super hot and we had to be in there 30 minutes before the start of the race. I just relaxed and stretched. When they brought us out to the start line, I really felt the heat, it was brutal but tried to not be bothered by it.

When the gun went off, all I was trying to think about was not being drafted by the whole group. I knew that they would all go out pretty fast so I was trying to stay back, even if that meant that I was in last place. I went through 1km's and my split was 4:53 and I was in last place! I tried to feel like I was easing into a pace and a good feeling but all I was feeling was a little heavy and tired, after a couple kilometers. I tried to keep up a good pace but I found myself going slower and slower as the race went on. I was just dead. I couldnt believe that this was happening to me in the biggest race so far in my life! This was my dream all season being in Berlin. I felt tired that I was racing so poorly when my parents flew all that way to see me race. I was feeling terrible but I didnt want to stop, I wanted to finish, I didnt want a DNF for my first World Championships. I felt like I was dragging my body to the finish line though. It was just terrible! The last lap I honestly felt and thought that I was going to fall over, if not then at the finish line. I managed to not fall until around the finish line when the volunteers kind of caught me. It was terrible. My body temperature was so high. At that point I knew that the weather had to be higher than 30c. When I saw my parents after the race, they had a thermomitor on their backpack and they said that it got up to 38c during the race, 38!!!!!! I just couldnt believe it. No wonder I felt so horrible! I ended up finishing in 35th place in a time of 1:45:45.

Right after the race, the only thing that made me feel somewhat ok was the fact that I was now on a break from training and could enjoy the rest of the time that I had in Berlin. It was nice touring around the city a bit with my parents and after they left, I went to the track to watch the rest of the meet everyday. It was so amazing seeing such incredible performances. It made me really motivated for when I get back training that I want to just continue to improve and be ready to come back in 2 years and do so much better. I have a lot more to improve and im looking forward to dropping more time on my personal best.

So far I have had almost 2 weeks off training and will have 1 more week to go before I have to start training again. I am doing the Ontario 20km Racewalk Championships on September 20th where all I have to do is win which will not be a problem at all. I will just do the race as a 20km workout. It should be fun to see everyone that I havent seen from the Canadian racewalk world again! For now though, I will continue to enjoy my break!

Keep on walking,

Rachel