I have been home now for almost 2 months! I cant believe how quickly it has gone by. I will leave in a week to go to Toronto for the Canadian National Track and Field Championships where I will race on Sunday. Then on either Monday or Tuesday, myself and the Canadian team that are competing at the World Student Games (FISU) will depart for Belgrade, Serbia. Its strange to think that I will be gone again a week for a month and a half. After I am in Serbia for just over 2 weeks, I will be heading to San Diego for about a month to spend time with my fiance Tim and to plan our wedding since we will be getting married there on October 31st of this year and...we have nothing planned yet!!! Uh oh!
Training this week has been good and bad. It started out pretty good on Monday since getting home from New York but then on Tuesday, very surprisingly, I felt terrible and just couldnt get going. My workout was 6 X 2km/1km fartlek but I only managed to do 4 and my times were terrible. I felt better on Wednesday when I had my last longer walk till Nationals, 18k. I have been having a lot of shin pain in my left shin where I have also been having a hamstring issue since Flagstaff. I decided to wear a new pair of shoes (Wave Ronin 2) on Wednesday and see if that made my shin splints go away...and it did. Phew! I didnt think I was wearing my other shoes too long but I guess I was. Im happy that problem is fixed.
I had my first day off on Thursday since leaving Europe on May 2nd to come home. It was about time, I could tell that I needed it! I felt good yesterday in training and thought that I would have a good workout today. Today my workout was 10 X 1km with 2mins rest inbetween. It felt a little bit of a twinge in my hamstring before I started the workout but let it go. I did the first 4 repeats and everytime I had to stop for the rest and then re-start, it felt like I was pulling on my hamstring. After the 7th one, I decided that I would do 1 more and then stop for the day. My times were good, faster than I was wanting to walk them and I could have finished but decided that it wasnt worth the risk a week before Nationals.
Tomorrow will just be a short training day since I have a fundraiser going on at Runner's Life, downtown Peterborough at 9am to raise money for my trip to Serbia. Its a fully self-funded National Team and is going to cost me $2,600 to attend. So far I have raised a bit of money and am hoping more for tomorrow. My community has been so great to me and I so much appreciate all of their help!
Now I can just rest up a lot and do some short training sessions every day leading up to Sunday! Looking forward to the race!
Keep on walking,
Rachel
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Gloomy Days on Long Island
I just got back home lastnight from being on Long Island, NY for a week. It was dark, rainy and humid all week! It was sort of depressing to be honest, its so true that your mood changes when the weather isnt nice. It was hard to get motivated to train all week. A lot of the days we would have to wait till the afternoon to train because the weather was so bad. I also had some shin problems which forced me to not racewalk for one day and instead ran. I had 2 good workouts though on Wednesday and on Saturday and I was also able to train with Maria on Saturday and Sunday!
On Wednesday I had 7 X 2km with 2:30 rest. I was looking forward to doing this and had planned to walk some of them with Maria while she did her lactate test. Her and Tim went to the track early and I was going to go a bit later to do her last 2 2km's when she was going around my pace but when I tried to go to the track, the school security guard didnt let me go into the track area so I had to wait to train for a few more hours. I was really upset because I had waken up early (6:30am) but instead I had to wait around and didnt start training till around 10:15am. By this time, I was getting hungry and the humidity was 100%! Either way, I got through the workout even though I felt terrible. It helped that Tim ran with me because his knee was hurting. Here were my times:
1st: 9:56
2nd: 9:46 (2.7 Lactate)
3rd: 9:45
4th: 9:44 (2.9 Lactate)
5th: 9:44
6th: 9:39 (3.8 Lactate)
7th: 9:43
We took lactate on the 2nd, 4th and 6th repeats and it showed that it was a good pace for me, around 20km pace or a little easier so it was perfect. Im really happy that I got through the workout but it was definitely the hardest workout I had in awhile because of the humidity and the length of time I had to wait till I trained that morning.
Saturday was much better! I was really looking forward to training with Maria since it had been SOOO long since I trained with someone, it was actually weird though to be honest. Im just so not used to having someone there racewalking with me. It was good though! We had to do the workout on the track (right behind Tim's parents house) because our friend Mike Bartholomew was being ordained as a priest later that morning. So Maria and I did 10 X 1km/400m fartlek. Here is how it went:
1st: 5:05
2nd: 5:01
3rd: 4:54
4th: 4:52
5th: 4:51
6th: 4:50
7th: 4:46
8th: 4:49
9th: 4:42
10th: 4:38
On Wednesday I had 7 X 2km with 2:30 rest. I was looking forward to doing this and had planned to walk some of them with Maria while she did her lactate test. Her and Tim went to the track early and I was going to go a bit later to do her last 2 2km's when she was going around my pace but when I tried to go to the track, the school security guard didnt let me go into the track area so I had to wait to train for a few more hours. I was really upset because I had waken up early (6:30am) but instead I had to wait around and didnt start training till around 10:15am. By this time, I was getting hungry and the humidity was 100%! Either way, I got through the workout even though I felt terrible. It helped that Tim ran with me because his knee was hurting. Here were my times:
1st: 9:56
2nd: 9:46 (2.7 Lactate)
3rd: 9:45
4th: 9:44 (2.9 Lactate)
5th: 9:44
6th: 9:39 (3.8 Lactate)
7th: 9:43
We took lactate on the 2nd, 4th and 6th repeats and it showed that it was a good pace for me, around 20km pace or a little easier so it was perfect. Im really happy that I got through the workout but it was definitely the hardest workout I had in awhile because of the humidity and the length of time I had to wait till I trained that morning.
Saturday was much better! I was really looking forward to training with Maria since it had been SOOO long since I trained with someone, it was actually weird though to be honest. Im just so not used to having someone there racewalking with me. It was good though! We had to do the workout on the track (right behind Tim's parents house) because our friend Mike Bartholomew was being ordained as a priest later that morning. So Maria and I did 10 X 1km/400m fartlek. Here is how it went:
1st: 5:05
2nd: 5:01
3rd: 4:54
4th: 4:52
5th: 4:51
6th: 4:50
7th: 4:46
8th: 4:49
9th: 4:42
10th: 4:38
I felt great for this workout. It felt very easy and comfortable. It didnt feel like I was really pushing which was exactly how I wanted it to be. Tim wanted Maria and I to make sure that we walked the 400m's inbetween repeats together. We walked much slower for those 400's than I would have wanted to or usually do but it didnt matter, as long as I just had a training partner, it was good. Its nice to see Maria getting back into good shape!
Overall, I had a good week, especially being with Tim and seeing his family again. Now I wont see Tim for another month but I have a lot to concentrate on to keep my mind off not seeing him for so long. I have Nationals in less than 2 weeks (June 28th in Toronto) and World Student Games on July 10th in Serbia! Now training is going to slow down and get "easier" so I can race well!
Keep on walking,
Rachel
Monday, June 8, 2009
A Good Improvement!
Saturday I did the 4 X 3km/1km fartlek workout again after having done it in mid May. Tim and I had an engagement party at my sisters house on Friday night and it went late and we didnt get to bed till after midnight. We were going to London, ON to visit family on Saturday after the workout so we had to train at 7am. Man did that feel early! Either way, we got up and were lucky to have a few training partners to go with us...my parents. My Mom ran with Tim and my Dad ran with me. I was just hoping to walk a little bit faster than the last time I did this workout. Last time I walked 19:54, 19:46 and 19:41. I finished the 15km fartlek in 1:16:58. This time, it definitely went better:
1st: 19:47/5:50 (25:37 for 5kms)
2nd: 19:37/5:40 (25:17 for 5kms)
3rd: 19:08/5:40 (24:48 for 5kms)
For a total 15km time of 1:15:44, a minute and 14 second improvement from the last time I did this workout!
It was a super workout for me. The first few really felt easy so Tim said to pick it up and so the last one I did and I still didnt feel like I was pushing too hard.
One shocking and unfortunate thing did happen that day in training though...if you can believe it, I killed a squirrel. About 2.2km's through my last 4km interval a squirrel ran infront of my Dad who was a few steps infront of me and so he jumped over it but then it went infront of me and I didnt see it and...yes, I STEPPED on it! AHHHH! I screamed, I was so shocked. I didnt notice that I had killed it until we turned around and went past it. I felt so bad and still do!
After that we went to London for the weekend and Tim got to meet some of my relatives, it was a lot of fun! We did 25k on Sunday and it went really well. We both had our training partners again so that helped a lot. It was a great weekend!
Now, Tim and I are in Long Island visiting his family till Sunday! The travelling never seems to end!
Keep on walking,
Rachel
1st: 19:47/5:50 (25:37 for 5kms)
2nd: 19:37/5:40 (25:17 for 5kms)
3rd: 19:08/5:40 (24:48 for 5kms)
For a total 15km time of 1:15:44, a minute and 14 second improvement from the last time I did this workout!
It was a super workout for me. The first few really felt easy so Tim said to pick it up and so the last one I did and I still didnt feel like I was pushing too hard.
One shocking and unfortunate thing did happen that day in training though...if you can believe it, I killed a squirrel. About 2.2km's through my last 4km interval a squirrel ran infront of my Dad who was a few steps infront of me and so he jumped over it but then it went infront of me and I didnt see it and...yes, I STEPPED on it! AHHHH! I screamed, I was so shocked. I didnt notice that I had killed it until we turned around and went past it. I felt so bad and still do!
After that we went to London for the weekend and Tim got to meet some of my relatives, it was a lot of fun! We did 25k on Sunday and it went really well. We both had our training partners again so that helped a lot. It was a great weekend!
Now, Tim and I are in Long Island visiting his family till Sunday! The travelling never seems to end!
Keep on walking,
Rachel
Friday, June 5, 2009
Its about time!!!
On Sunday I walked a 10km at the Art Keay/ Ontario 10km Race Walk Championships on the Toronto Island. It had been raining and cloudy all week so it was nice to wake up to the sun that morning! Once we got over to the island though, it was ridiculously windy!
The race started and there was so much head wind that I was focusing on pushing through the wind that I didnt notice how much I was pushing. I went through the first 500m's in 2:17, EEK!!! So after that I tried to slow down a bit since I had been hoping to do around 4:40/km pace for the whole race. I went through 1km in 4:36, a little fast but I thought that I could handle it. I decided to try and slow my pace a little bit so that I didnt build up a lot of lactic acid right from the beginning of the race. I went through the first 2.5km loop in 11:43 which was right on the pace I had wanted to be at. I slowed down a bit between then and the 5km split which was 23:37 but not too bad. The wind was really hurting me at that point, I had a hard time pushing through it by myself. I slowed considerably the next lap and had a really bad first km of the 3rd lap because it was like the wind was a wall infront of me and I ended up doing a 2:29 first 500m of that lap! It was crazy! I regrouped for the 2nd 500m (2:24) but it was still a 4:53 km which is my 20km race pace! I ended up finishing in 47:30 (23:53 last 5km's) which wasnt what I was hoping to walk but I think considering the conditions of 40km wind gusts that it wasnt too bad. It was a 7 second PB which I was happy about since my PB was from 4 years ago so it was about time! Its good to get the 3rd PB of the season and im hoping to get another one before the season is over.
Tim has been here with me this week in Peterborough. He hasnt been here since September so its nice to have someone to train with. We will have the 3 X 4km/1km workout again tomorrow. Hopefully I will have improved since the last time I did this workout a few weeks ago. Next week Tim and I go to Long Island to visit family. My next race will be Nationals on June 28th, im looking forward to it!
See you on the roads,
Rachel
The race started and there was so much head wind that I was focusing on pushing through the wind that I didnt notice how much I was pushing. I went through the first 500m's in 2:17, EEK!!! So after that I tried to slow down a bit since I had been hoping to do around 4:40/km pace for the whole race. I went through 1km in 4:36, a little fast but I thought that I could handle it. I decided to try and slow my pace a little bit so that I didnt build up a lot of lactic acid right from the beginning of the race. I went through the first 2.5km loop in 11:43 which was right on the pace I had wanted to be at. I slowed down a bit between then and the 5km split which was 23:37 but not too bad. The wind was really hurting me at that point, I had a hard time pushing through it by myself. I slowed considerably the next lap and had a really bad first km of the 3rd lap because it was like the wind was a wall infront of me and I ended up doing a 2:29 first 500m of that lap! It was crazy! I regrouped for the 2nd 500m (2:24) but it was still a 4:53 km which is my 20km race pace! I ended up finishing in 47:30 (23:53 last 5km's) which wasnt what I was hoping to walk but I think considering the conditions of 40km wind gusts that it wasnt too bad. It was a 7 second PB which I was happy about since my PB was from 4 years ago so it was about time! Its good to get the 3rd PB of the season and im hoping to get another one before the season is over.
Tim has been here with me this week in Peterborough. He hasnt been here since September so its nice to have someone to train with. We will have the 3 X 4km/1km workout again tomorrow. Hopefully I will have improved since the last time I did this workout a few weeks ago. Next week Tim and I go to Long Island to visit family. My next race will be Nationals on June 28th, im looking forward to it!
See you on the roads,
Rachel
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Ottawa Race Weekend Fun!
This weekend I went to Ottawa to participate in the Ottawa Race Weekend. First I went to the expo on Saturday afternoon to get my race kit and was surprised by how many people I saw that I knew from Peterborough! After getting my race kit I went to the Mizuno area and met some of the people that work with me and the rest of the Mizuno Brand Ambassdor athletes. They were so welcoming! I feel so fortunate to be supported by them.
I had registered for the 10km even that night at 6:30pm so between the expo and the race I went and spent time at the hotel suite of Roger Burrows and the Bytown Walkers (http://www.bytownwalkers.ca/) before I had to warm up for the race. It was really nice to be surrounded by other racewalkers. Since I am away so much from Canada, its always nice to get to see the other Canadian walkers and get to know them. They were also racing the 10km that evening.
I always getting worried when I enter a running race if I decide to racewalk it, especially when there are a lot of entrants because either I can get trampled on or have to weave through everyone to pass the slowing runners. My bib number said that I could choose the corral that I wanted to go in so I decided to go in the first corral, that way people that were faster than me could pass me and I wouldnt then have to do as much passing. It ended up being the right decision too!
Before the gun went off, I was looking all around me to see if I could see Tim Berrett, who I knew was also participating in the 10km race but I couldnt see him. So I started and funny enough, almost a km later I hear a familiar voice behind me and it was Tim! It was a really nice surprise and we ended up walking together for the whole race. We were talking the whole time, catching up since I hadnt seen him since Nationals last year and when I saw the first split that I caught, which was at 4km's I thought oh no we are going to walk 50 minutes! Coach Tim wanted me to walk around 49-49:30 for a good solid tempo pace workout. So we went through 4km's in 20:03 and then when I caught the next split, 9:58 for the next 2km's I thought ok maybe we can get it back on track while still having a full on conversation. Finally I felt like we were getting into a better rhythm and then the next 4km's was great. My splits were: 4:53, 4:53, 4:46 and a shocking 4:40 last km uphill that felt great! So I ended up finishing in 49:15 (25:02 first 5km, 24:13 second 5km). So I was happy with how it went and it was really fun to walk with Tim!
Usually when you enter a running race and racewalk it, you always hear different comments but to my surprise, everyone was saying "look at those racewalkers". I cannot believe how much I heard the word racewalkers out there! Usually you always hear speedwalker, power walker, etc. So it was awesome to see that the crowd was educated on the proper name for our event!
Here is a picture of Tim Berrett and I at Nationals last year when we both won.
I had registered for the 10km even that night at 6:30pm so between the expo and the race I went and spent time at the hotel suite of Roger Burrows and the Bytown Walkers (http://www.bytownwalkers.ca/) before I had to warm up for the race. It was really nice to be surrounded by other racewalkers. Since I am away so much from Canada, its always nice to get to see the other Canadian walkers and get to know them. They were also racing the 10km that evening.
I always getting worried when I enter a running race if I decide to racewalk it, especially when there are a lot of entrants because either I can get trampled on or have to weave through everyone to pass the slowing runners. My bib number said that I could choose the corral that I wanted to go in so I decided to go in the first corral, that way people that were faster than me could pass me and I wouldnt then have to do as much passing. It ended up being the right decision too!
Before the gun went off, I was looking all around me to see if I could see Tim Berrett, who I knew was also participating in the 10km race but I couldnt see him. So I started and funny enough, almost a km later I hear a familiar voice behind me and it was Tim! It was a really nice surprise and we ended up walking together for the whole race. We were talking the whole time, catching up since I hadnt seen him since Nationals last year and when I saw the first split that I caught, which was at 4km's I thought oh no we are going to walk 50 minutes! Coach Tim wanted me to walk around 49-49:30 for a good solid tempo pace workout. So we went through 4km's in 20:03 and then when I caught the next split, 9:58 for the next 2km's I thought ok maybe we can get it back on track while still having a full on conversation. Finally I felt like we were getting into a better rhythm and then the next 4km's was great. My splits were: 4:53, 4:53, 4:46 and a shocking 4:40 last km uphill that felt great! So I ended up finishing in 49:15 (25:02 first 5km, 24:13 second 5km). So I was happy with how it went and it was really fun to walk with Tim!
Usually when you enter a running race and racewalk it, you always hear different comments but to my surprise, everyone was saying "look at those racewalkers". I cannot believe how much I heard the word racewalkers out there! Usually you always hear speedwalker, power walker, etc. So it was awesome to see that the crowd was educated on the proper name for our event!
Here is a picture of Tim Berrett and I at Nationals last year when we both won.
Tomorrow I have a speed workout, my only "hard" workout this week since I have the Art Keay, Ontario 10km RW Championships on Sunday.
Keep on walking,
Rachel
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Tim and Jefferson's Commercial for State Farm Insurance
Hey there!
I just wanted to put up a link to a State Farm commercial that has a short clip with Tim and Jefferson Perez in it: www.youtube.com/statefarm Its pretty cool that they wanted to use a clip with some racewalkers even though you dont see them racewalking or anything.
Enjoy!
Rachel
I just wanted to put up a link to a State Farm commercial that has a short clip with Tim and Jefferson Perez in it: www.youtube.com/statefarm Its pretty cool that they wanted to use a clip with some racewalkers even though you dont see them racewalking or anything.
Enjoy!
Rachel
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Another Good Day!
Today I had another long interval workout. My confidence has definitely come back after last Tuesdays 3 X 4km/1km workout and it continued today as I had 4 X 3km repeats with 3 minutes rest inbetween. Again, today the goal was just to be around 20km race pace and a bit faster by the end of it. It wasnt meant to feel too difficult and it definitely didnt feel hard at all. I finished the workout feeling like I had just done an easy distance day. Here is how my times went:
1st: 14:56
2nd: 14:42
3rd: 14:34
4th: 14:23
We should have probably made this workout a fartlek with 1km medium inbetween each 3km repeat to make it harder but since I am just starting to come back now into regular training and we wanted to make sure that it went ok. My mentality has changed completely in the last week and a half that my training has been going well and consistent after struggling with my hamstring.
This weekend I will be heading to Ottawa for the Ottawa Race Weekend that includes the National Marathon Championships which, by the way, my Mom won twice in the 70's and my Dad came 2nd twice alson in the 70's. I will be participating in the 10km event on Saturday night for fun to support Mizuno (http://www.mizunocda.com/) the headline athletic sponsor for the event.
Keep on walking,
Rachel
1st: 14:56
2nd: 14:42
3rd: 14:34
4th: 14:23
We should have probably made this workout a fartlek with 1km medium inbetween each 3km repeat to make it harder but since I am just starting to come back now into regular training and we wanted to make sure that it went ok. My mentality has changed completely in the last week and a half that my training has been going well and consistent after struggling with my hamstring.
This weekend I will be heading to Ottawa for the Ottawa Race Weekend that includes the National Marathon Championships which, by the way, my Mom won twice in the 70's and my Dad came 2nd twice alson in the 70's. I will be participating in the 10km event on Saturday night for fun to support Mizuno (http://www.mizunocda.com/) the headline athletic sponsor for the event.
Keep on walking,
Rachel
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