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