Time to Buckle Down

Its been 2 weeks since I started training and so far ive been feeling pretty good. Ive been slowly building up the mileage and doing weights 3 times a week. Ive been a bit slow to start. My heart rate has been pretty high and my pace has been slow but I am seeing progress.

Today Athletics Canada released the 2011 World Championships/Pan Am Games qualifying standards. AC has made some good steps in the right direction. They have released the standards earlier than ever and they have stayed with the IAAF standards. The bad news for me is that they are using the Rising Star criteria again for both events. Since I went to the 2009 World Championships under the Rising Star criteria, I am no longer eligible EVER to compete at any major international event with the B standard, I will always have to achieve the A standard which is considerably faster. I now have to break 1:33:30 for 20km's in order to qualifying for anything, which is a minute and 20 seconds FASTER than the Canadian Record!

Since taking my 3 weeks off, I have come back to training feeling a lot more confident in my potential. I know I can make big jumps and can achieve the A standard. I dont know if it will come this season or the next one but I know that I have the potential and that if I work hard and do everything I can to improve, that I can do it! I have re-committed myself this year to doing all the right things and train like a professional athlete. I have no reasons why I shouldnt be doing everything that I need to. Its time to buckle down and focus on getting my times down! Lets get it done!!!

Keep on walking,

Rachel

Here We Go Again...

Three weeks off just flew by! Before you know it, you're back at it again. I didn't do much training during my time off. I only ran and at the most 3 times a week. I was really happy to see that I didn't gain any weight and when I did run, I felt like I didn't loose much fitness.

Last week I started back training. First day was 6km racewalk in the morning and 6km run in the afternoon. As usual, the first day racewalking felt weird and not very smooth. I feel like this every year after taking my time off. I only racewalked 3 times last week and ran on the days inbetween and hiked on Sunday. As the week went on I started to feel a bit more normal racewalking. My heart rate is still high for me but everytime I racewalk the average heart rate has been going down bit by bit. This week I will racewalk 4 times and so far im feeling so much better. I also started doing weights again last week. I havent done weights for a few years and now that I am back at it, I don't know why I ever stopped. I LOVE doing weights!!! Im not doing anything heavy but i'm doing typical distance athletes weights. Low weight and medium amount of repetitions. I am doing weights three times a week at Cuyamaca College. I signed up for the Strength and Conditioning course. It basically gives me access to the weight room and I can do whatever I want and all I have to do is record the machines I use and the weight I set them at. I have been spending a lot of time at the College because Tim is now the men's cross country coach there. The picture above is of the men's team, Tim and I at their 2nd race. Its been a lot of fun. Tonight I also started a yoga class. I am hoping that it will help increase my flexibility. I have never done yoga before but so far so good, I didn't embarrass myself too much :)

I am feeling very excited for the new season and I feel like I have changed my approach to training both mentally and physically. This year is going to be different and I cant wait to get the ball rolling. Here's to a good season!

Keep on walking,

Rachel