46:25 and then off to Flagstaff!

Tim and I had a nice and busy 5 days at home before we left for our drive to Phoenix to visit with my grandpa and then race at the US 50km Racewalk Championships. We had planned on meeting Lauren Forgues, Trevor and Bruce Barron there to race and then drive up the mountain to Flagstaff for altitude training. Myself, Tim and Lauren had planned on walking just 10k and Trevor 20k. The plan was for Tim, Trevor and I to walk together for 10k this way they would help me get a 10k PB hopefully and it would be a good pace for Trevor enroute to his 20k. Tim and I had been sick the whole week (Tim worst than me) and so Tim didnt want to push himself too much before going to Flagstaff. The race went really well. It was great weather (maybe a little chilly for the first few laps) and the course was great (other than the hairpin turns that consisted of just one cone). We walked 9:22 for the first lap (2km loops) and progressively got faster with the next laps being 9:18, 9:18, 9:17 and 9:09. It was a nice negative split with the 5ks being 23:19 and 23:06 finishing up in 46:25. A minute and 5 second PB, wow! It felt great, it didnt feel terribly hard but not super easy either. I am thrilled with the time especially since I have done barely anything fast, no km's at that pace in practice at all really. This bodes really well for later in the season since we are starting to do some fartleks now twice a week. Trevor also finished up really strong breaking the US Junior 20km record by almost 6 minutes walking 1:31:51. Lauren also had a very good race walking her 2nd fastest 10k ever in 51:16. It was a great start to our training camp in Flagstaff. I think we could have all walked at least a second faster per turn since they were so tight so that gives us a lot more potential for the next race.

We are now in Flagstaff and luckily for us, the snow storms seem to have stopped, at least for the time being. There is quite a bit of snow on the side of the road but the roads are completely clear. We love it up here! We are staying in the same condo as last year, right beside our 2.5km training course. We will be here for 2.5 weeks and then we will be driving to Albuquerque, NM for the US Indoor Nationals where Tim hopes to win his 12th National Indoor title and surpass Henry Laskau as 2nd most National Championships of anyone in track and field for the USA. Im really looking forward to watching him race since it will be my first time at that meet.

Keep on walking,

Rachel