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