Married in 10 days!

I cant believe how quickly the wedding has come. It is now only a week and a half away and with not much left to do, I can now just enjoy and look forward to the big day. I mostly am looking forward to my family and friends coming for the wedding. My sisters are coming in just a few days so that they can be here to help me with the final touches. Here is a picture of Tim and I at the spot where we got engaged in March in Sedona, Arizona.

Training has been going pretty well but I have been pretty stressed and mentally tired from all the wedding preparations. The last few days I have been more relaxed and have been feeling better while training. My mileage has been coming on slower than I would have liked because I have been pretty tired and busy. Last week was my biggest week of the new season at 114km's. This week I should have around 120km's and then I will have about 3 weeks of pretty low mileage because of the wedding and our honeymoon in beautiful Hawaii where we will be for 11 days. I have managed to get up to 18km's for my longer walks but this week will do 20k for the first time since the Ontario 20km RW Championships on September 20th. The last three Sundays I have gone hiking. Hiking is a really great break from racewalking or running but allows you to be on your feet for hours so its a good workout and gets your body ready for the longer racewalking workouts.

I will be continuing to do base training for the next few months, trying to build mileage and get stronger. I will not be racing until the end of January at the Millrose Games again. Looking forward to it!

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Training on the Strand

Finally after barely being in San Diego since April, I am back and getting into a new routine.

A lot has happened since I was last here. We decided to move from Tim's studio apartment to a two bedroom apartment that is 20 meters from the trail that we train on every day, the Silver Stand. The main reason for moving was to have more room but more importantly to be closer to the trail so that we didnt have to drive to practice every day. It has been so great living so close, we are loving it so far! The apartment is still a mess from moving but it is coming along.

Along with the new apartment, we have bought a "new" car. Its a 2007 VW Rabbit and VERY importantly, its AUTOMATIC :) haha! I dont know how to drive standard so we had to get an automatic so that I would be able to drive. It has felt so good being able to drive here. I feel so much more independent now.

Training has been going ok. I started training again on September 7th and was pretty stressed the first few weeks of training because I was packing up all my stuff in Canada and getting ready to move. It was a big step for me. I walked at the Ontario 20km RW Championships on September 20th as a workout. It went really well. I was actually very surprised how good I felt. I ended up walking 1:52:21, walking every 5km faster than the previous one. I tried to walk with some of the other walkers during the race to try and help them and so that I could have some company! The last 5-6km's I walked with a man named JP who was doing his first 20km. He did so well! His PB for 10k is around 55 minutes so that shows how well his first 20k was! It was really fun walking with him.

The last week I have been feeling much better. My heart rate has been getting lower and my pace has been getting a little faster. I have been consistently under 6 minutes/km on my easy days which is fine for this point of the season. It will just gradually get faster in the next few weeks. I am using my disappointment from Berlin to motivate me and I am really looking foward to this coming season!

It is now October 2nd and Tim and I are getting married in 29 days! WOW! Time goes fast. I am feeling pretty much ready. There is some stuff that I still need to do which is typical but I am looking forward to having everything done and being able to enjoy the week before the wedding with my family.

Keep on walking,

Rachel