Cause for celebration and focus for workouts!!!

Many of you know of my 50K struggles, my quest to have equality throughout all of track and field, which is lacking with the exclusion of a women's 50K.  Victories have been made, but there are many more battles yet to fight.  So boy, oh boy, was I surprised when I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and saw the announcement from the IAAF that was made on October 27th. 

Since women's 50K is not a recognized event by the IAAF there are no world records kept by the IAAF.  There are masters records in age groups, but otherwise, the fastest woman who has ever raced a 50K (Monica Svenson) does not have the world record, she holds the world's best.  Seems a bit like semantics, but I don't think it's just semantics.  When Ashton Eaton broke the world record in the decathlon in Beijing this fall at the World Championships he earned a $100,000 USD bonus for doing so.  There are other countries out there that will give their athletes bonuses for breaking world records.  I vaguely remember Sergey Bubka getting a new car every time he broke the world record in the pole vault.  Besides the potential monetary rewards of breaking a world record there's getting your name in the record books.  You can say you're a world record holder.  The best I can say is I'm a world best holder (I do hold the world's best for the women's 50,000 race walk.  Basically I'm the fastest woman to ever walk a 50K on the track).  It's interesting when I say this to someone.  The conversation goes something like this:

Me:  I have a world's best in the 50,000 race walk!
Other Person:  You mean a world record?
Me:  No, a world's best.  Women don't get to keep world records at that event/distance because the IAAF doesn't recognize it as an event the same way they do for the men.
Other Person:  Well, that's dumb.

I have had some permeation of this conversation multiple times. 

So getting back to my Facebook scrolling I see a post from someone in Australia that had a mention of 50K.  That wasn't horribly unusual, but having the word "women" next to it certainly aroused my attention.   The newest edition of the IAAF Competition Rules has come out.  And with it's release the newly elected president, Seb Coe released a statement.  Part of his statement reads thus:

"Also noteworthy: the distances run at the iAAF world Championships
Cross Country have been standardised for both men and women as 10km;
the Distance Medley Relay and the women’s 50km Race walk have been
added as official world Record events; in line with many other sports."

Score TWICE for women's equality!!!!  Women are now running equal distance as the men in Cross Country AND the IAAF is going to recognize women's 50K race walk for world records!!!!!   I now have one more thing I can strive for the same as a man, I can strive to set a world record!!!!!!! 

Hmmm, maybe I'll go do another workout :) 

30K nationals recap

What a day! This was my first big race both racing and having my athletes racing hard.  I was a little nervous how all that would work out, but I'm glad to say all went fine.  There were a few moments of stress and I'll have to work on the warm up aspect, making sure I'm warmed up properly, athletes are warmed up properly and everyone is ready to go.  But that's just a small thing to tweak.  

I'll start with the shorter distances and move up.  AJ did his first 20K.  This kid is awesome.  He's been walking less than an year, and most of that year has been mainly running with a few race walking workouts.  He did his first 10K in June and totally kicked it.  We decided to give 20K a try since he's such a strong kid.  He's a strong runner and walker and we thought he'd be good to handle it.  It was during cross country season, and his coaches weren't as understanding of his race walking as I could've hoped, so he did it based off two walking workouts per week and high running mileage.   I thought a good pace for him to try would be 5:30 per K pace, which would be a 1:50 for 20K.  He came through 55:49 for 10K, so nice and solid.  He then tightened up and did slow down the second half, but stayed strong and kept fighting.  AJ earned his first national title!  1:55:08 (I could have the seconds off by a few)  I am so proud of how hard he's working.  He's got goals and is ready to work hard to achieve them!  Keep your eyes out on AJ!

Katie did her first 30K.  We did it as a way to really focus on building her base so she could get nice and strong.  She spent a good solid month working with a PT in Michigan to strengthen her glutes up.  Since then her SI joint has been so much more stable, which has meant really consistent training.  We had the goal for her of 6:30 per K pace or under, which would be 3:15 for 30K.  She did her first 5K in 32, which would be a 3:12 and she finished just under 3:12!!!!  To top that off she placed fourth female in the national championship!  And her last lap was her fastest, by just a second, but fastest is fastest and  I'll take it!  I am just so proud of how hard she's been working and how focused she is on her goals.

Dave did the 30K, but continued on to do 50K.  For the first 35K he was so super consistent, right on pace.  He did his second best 50K time ever!  And what really makes me happy is he finished the race hydrated!  And his stomach wasn't upset (he's had problems with nausea before) and he didn't have any cramping!  I think that's such amazing progress.  And he placed 4th in the national 30K.  I'm super proud of him. 

My goal for the 30K was to be sub 2:45.  I wanted to out at 5:30 per K pace, which is 4:35 for a 50K and see if I could hold it.  I figured if I could do it for 30K today, then in five weeks I can go another 20K at that pace.  I started off a little under pace, but picked it up.  And made my last 5K my fastest and my last lap my fastest by 21 seconds to finish at 2:44:57.  I'm very happy with my effort and how I'm feeling afterwards.  I think I'll recover really well and quickly and will be back training for the 50K.  As some additional icing on the cake I won the 30K! 

So I'm really proud of everyone.  Everyone's been working hard and training consistently.  I can't wait to see everyone's progress!  I'm one super happy coach/athlete right now!

(bummer I don't have any pictures of Katie :(  But she was out there looking awesome the whole darned time!!!!)

How coloring leads to increased stress

I have always loved to color.  Of course once I reached a certain age then coloring was not cool anymore, something kids did.  But that was fine, I was going to school or working or training and didn't have time for something as "silly" as coloring.  Then it seemed I was reading a bunch about coloring for adults and how it relieves stress.  Yes!  I thought.  I can legitimately color again!  I can find coloring books that aren't Rainbow Brite ore Care Bears or something.  I could find grown up coloring books!  I was quite excited, however I didn't rush out and find a coloring book.  It ends up that it would be another year or so before I would find a coloring book.

 

 

Fast forward to my last trip to China.  As I was wandering around Shanghai with my friend we went by a store that sold lots and lots of paper products.  And there, in the window, just staring at me, was a coloring book!  For adults!  I was drawn in, with no control over my feet. 

 

It was awesome!  Pages and pages of different things to color.  And it was only about US $4 or so.  Luckily the store also sold colored pencils and pens.  I was set!!!  I did spend some time  in China coloring and made a few pictures I liked. 

 

Fast forward to when I get home.  I had preordered a book through Barnes and Noble and went in to pick it up.  I love books and love to read and try to take advantage of our library system, but this was the third book of a series and I was eager to read it.  I told myself I was going in to get my book and not look around and not buy any other books.  I was waylaid!  In between the two front doors B&N tends to have their sale books.  On this day the entire right side was covered with coloring books!  I stood no chance!  But they were awesome!  Patterns!  I love patterns!  I love the symmetry, the designs, I love patterns!  So we bought two of the coloring books.  I immediately went home and started to color.  I'd color while sitting on the couch watching TV, or while I was sitting in a chair with the book in my lap. 

 

 

 

 

I think my favorite so far is the middle one.  Now this is supposed to be a stress reliever, right?  Well guess what?  I spent so much time huddled over my coloring book that I annoyed a few of the nerves in my lower back.  Talk about stupid thing to do!  I even thought a few times while I was coloring, "gee, I'm sure sitting here with poor posture."  Never ignore those little thoughts you have!  Luckily I caught it early with the help from my amazing chiropractor and it's easily "fixed" but yesterday's workout did not go as planned because, of all things, coloring.  Sheesh... 

 

 

It's SOOOOOO good to be home!

They say home is where your heart is, but for me home is where Dave is.  So after a long trip to China seeing Dave, even if it was in Utah (well, technically we found each other in the Denver airport first) was like coming home.  I guess that's why I tend to say, "Let's go home" when we're traveling, even if that means we're going to a hotel, because as long as it's with him it feels like home.

Of course, now as I write this I really am home, sitting on my couch with cats sleeping all around me, cows mooing in the field, and chickens running around in the yard.  The leaves are starting to turn, weather is getting colder (boo!), and things are trying to fall back into a rhythm. 

China was a blast.  It was fantastic seeing old friends and making new ones.  I got to spend time in Shanghai with a friend and we had a great time seeing the city, getting stared at for being "blonde" and eating yummy food.  Workouts went pretty good, especially considering how hard it can be to find a place to train in Shanghai.

The races themselves were both good and frustrating.  Recovery from the 100 miler took longer than I had hoped, so I was not in the shape I wanted to be.  When I went I really wanted to be in great condition and improve on what I did last year.  Alas that was not to be.  I found after the first day I had to change my mentality from "racing" to "working as hard as I can."  It might not seem like an important distinction, but it really took the pressure off my mind and let me just get out there and work.  It was all about the process, not about the outcome ("With Winning In Mind by Lanny Basham, I've mentioned it before, but if you're just now reading then go get this book and read it!!!!) I did have a few people say that my technique looked much improved from last year, and the judges seemed to agree this year, I only got one yellow paddle during the entire four days of racing! 

So I left wishing I could've/would've gone faster, but feeling like it really helped get me off to a solid start again.  The worst part was my SI joint went out of whack the last day and I DNFed the final race.  Usually I can race through that, but this time it was sending a lot of shooting pain down my legs and up my back.  I guess all the travel and three days of racing before it was just a little too much. 

Since we figured this could be my last trip to China we decided to send me to Beijing for a few days.  It was awesome!  I got to see some of everything; the Great Wall, Tianamen Square, the Forbidden Palace, the Summer Palace, pandas, the Bird's Nest, Temples.  It was fantastic. 

From Beijing I flew to St. George, Utah for the Huntsmans World Senior Games.  While I am not yet old enough to compete, Dave is, and we thought it would be fun for him to go and get some speed work in.  Plus they used me as an official so I earned us a place to stay and some money.   Dave did fantastic, setting the 3,000 men's 55-59 age group USATF record.  I was super proud of how he raced all six races in three days!  He's really been working hard and it's paying off. 

I guess I can never leave China without getting sick, but luckily this time I was able to shake it off very quickly so it didn't affect training for more than a few days.  Dave and I had some fantastic workouts, including one really strong 30K walk.  I feel like my strength is really coming back and I'm moving really well. 

Another one of the reasons we went to St. George was how close it is to both Bryce and Zion canyons.  The original idea was to go camping, but with me catching cold and the temperatures getting down to the low 30s at night, we thought that wasn't one of the smartest things we could do.  We met some wonderful people who offered us to stay at their house and we could just drive to the canyons to hike.  it was perfect and they're so unbelievably wonderful!!!!

Here's us in the middle of a nice 8 mile hike at Bryce Canyon.  If you haven't ever been and have the chance, definitely go!  It's beautiful!

Dave and Eric after one of their races.  Eric is an amazing athlete who competes in so much more than race walking.  And a super nice guy!

Even though the trip to China and Utah was wonderful, it was so nice to get home again.  The moo cows were very happy to get more apples.

So things are back on track.  Workouts are going better than they have in months, I'm focused on my goals and taking things one day at a time.  Progress is being made on the bunkhouse and we're chipping away at it little by little.  My athletes are working super hard and it's showing up in their training and racing.  Everyone is racing at the national 30K on Sunday and I'm super excited to see how everyone does.