Malaga 20K

We're back home!  Boy it's good to be home!  I love traveling so much, but I do love being home too.


The 20K race was the strangest race I think I've ever raced, and that's saying something since I've raced A LOT of races in all my (many) years.  I'm going to attempt to recap it as accurately as possible and share all the things that I was feeling and thinking.  My hope is someone might have some ideas for what went on.  So if anything rings a bell for you please speak up!

After the 10K and being so tired from all the travel to Morocco we tried to take it a bit easier.  We still wanted to see Malaga though, so still walked around.  And Wednesday (two days before the race) we ended up walking WAY more than we meant to, but it was awesome.  Thursday we rested quite a bit but my workouts were still just blech.  Dave came and watched me Wednesday and gave some good feedback so I felt like my technique was solid.

Friday morning I was getting ready to go and I just felt.... blech I guess is the way to describe it.  I barely felt like warming up and mentally part of me didn't even feel like racing.  Things just felt off.   But I figured once the gun went off my competitive spirit would kick in.  I started off not at the front of the line so it took me about 1.5K to get caught up to the leaders.  I felt great!  I was so surprised at how different I felt than my warm up!  I was going at a decent clip and it felt smooth and easy and my breathing was low.

The weather was heating up and it was very humid.  Even with that I still felt great.  Then at 6K the wheels fell off.  My right butt started to hurt.  That K slowed down about 30 seconds!  It wasn't a slow down from starting too fast, not with that much of an instant slow down.  Then my right leg basically went numb.  It was the weirdest feeling.  Luckily I didn't get knee paddles, so I guess muscle memory stayed in place and I knew what to do, but if my knee had started to bend I probably wouldn't have been able to feel it.

Mentally I was so frustrated.  To have gone from not really wanting to race to the lead to slamming back was just throwing my mind everywhere.  I was still in third in my age group.  But most importantly to me was the team.  With myself, Stacy Trogner and Katie Grimes having moved down in age groups to join us we had a team.  If I DNFed then we would have no chance of a team score and that would've really been unfair to Katie as she could've moved to another age group.   So even though for about 3-4K I really wanted to stop because of how my leg felt I didn't want to stop because I didn't want to let my teammates down.  I know how frustrating it is to see your teammate stop and make it so you have no team score.

I kept going and kept pushing.  I got into a decent rhythm and luckily continued to stay in third.  I was drinking each lap and throwing water on me.   With about 3K to go I had about 30 seconds on 4th place.  Then, fairly suddenly, my whole body started to tingle.  My hands, feet, arms, everything.  My sight got sort of weird fuzzy.  I could see but it was just strange.  I tried to start pushing and slowed down.

Next I got probably the biggest side stitch that I've gotten since 8th grade.  I actually do remember the side stitch I got in the 8th grade, it was that bad.  And this was right there with it.  I ended up walking a bit with my arm up in the air to try and stretch it out it was that bad. 

I have never got numb or tingling like that before.  The original pain in my right butt I think might have been from the really, really tight 180 degree turns.  I saw a number of athletes shuffle around them.  I won't do that.  I will race walk every step of my race, even if the corners are tight.  I remember going around once and feeling a spot as I tried to turn harder.  I would lose a lot of momentum each turn so I was trying to push more getting around it, but that might have been bad for my butt.

I ended up coming in third, which I am proud of.  And, even better, we got silver in the team competition.  I am so proud of my teammates who worked so hard to earn that silver!  And I don't know what I would've done without Dave doing my aid.  He was the best!  He got me my drinks every time, cheered, supported and helped me do my best.  That is the best thing about racing at different times, although it makes for long day where I race in the morning and he races in the evening.   And it means that world that he would come out and stand for all that time in the sun and heat before his race to support me for mine.

I've left Malaga with an individual gold and bronze and a team silver.  One of each!  I raced, saw amazing sights, made new friends, hung out with old friends, ate amazing food and had fun.   I definitely didn't race up to my current potential, but I'm okay with that.  I made that decision when I raced on the Isle of Man a few weeks ago knowing that I wouldn't be 100% recovered.  Of course when you're in the heat of the competition it's hard to remember that.  Live and learn!

I'm so proud of how Dave raced, just a few weeks after a world leading 100 mile time he did amazing.  I'm so glad we were able to go and experience new cultures and have fun and race.  Race walking is so awesome in so many ways!

Now it's time to rest a bit and then get going on 50K training!

World Master's 5,000 in the books!

Photo credit Tammy Stevenson

Oh my gosh, I won!  I can't believe it!  But I'll start back a bit....

Dave and I had a nice and uneventful flight to Malaga and got our luggage!  What a relief!  We made it to the hotel just fine and took a nap.  I know, you're not supposed to, but we were tired and wanted to be rested more than we wanted to get on the right time zone. 

We had a few days to goof around and get the lay of the land and get our credentials.  We found the Canadian race walkers who are always wonderful to hang out with.  We watched some races at the track and got excited.   I did a few easy sessions and by the day before the race I was moving decently well and thought cool, I can have some fun! 

As I posted on my FB page this has been a massive year.  I've raced three 50Ks, an 85K, a 300K stage race and a 100K race.  The 100K race was two weeks ago, so I am in no way fresh.  Especially since after the 100K I got sick and it just would not let go of me and hung around for just over a week. 

Photo Credit: Tammy Stevenson

As most athletes are I am a very competitive person.  I can smack talk a game of Yahtzee like nobody! ;)  But I went into coming to this race with the view of having fun.  I thought after the Isle Of Man I'd be pretty tired and didn't want to do anything to hurt myself, so I tried to take expectations away. 

And one thing I tried, and again I posted this on FB, was I raced in a crop top, something I've never done because of a poor body image.  For those of you who posted to my FB page in support THANK YOU!  It made me feel amazing!  I really, really appreciate it!  But I was going to the start line feeling more self conscious than I normally would. 

The Women's 35 and 40 were racing together, so there were a decent number of ladies on the start line.  I knew I wanted to get out quick to get out of the mess.  They lined us up and the gun went off and I went right to the front and.... they shot the gun again!  They called us back to the line!  I've never actually been in a race walking race what got recalled.  It felt kind of cool, like I was a sprinter or something.  It wasn't that anyone actually false started, there was a problem at the finish line.  So we all lined up again. 

The thought went through my mind, since I was getting a second chance to start a race, and who ever really gets that, of do I start off differently?  Did I hit it out too fast?  But I thought, nah, go with it!   So the gun went off again and I again went to the front.  I came through 200 in about :55, well faster than I knew I could do the whole race, but my plan was to go out, get out of the mess and then settle.  So I spent the next 200 or so gradually slowing the pace.  I fully expected that when I eased back I would get passed.  That was my expectation.  Imagine my surprise when that didn't happen!  I was actually a bit confused!  From 200 to 600 was around a 1:57, a pace I was much happier with, so I settled around in there or a bit slower.  Again no one was passing me!  And it sounded like the breathing of the ladies behind me was a bit labored.  At that point my breathing wasn't hard at all.  And they were taking water early, something I didn't do until around 7 laps in.

I decided to just keep pushing.  The American age group record for 3,000 was 15:11, something I thought I could break on the way, so I pushed a bit for that.  I was satisfied to come through in 14:52!  After that I slowed a bit, to around 5:08 per K to finish in 25:08.  I kept expecting people to catch me.  I even mouthed over to Dave to tell me how far back second was.  When he told me 50 meters I was quite surprised.  So I finished comfortable.  I could've pushed harder and broken 25, which would've been nice, but I didn't really see a point.  I was comfortable in 1st and there's still the 10K and 20ks to go.  There are more women racing in the 10Ks too, so there will be more competition which will be fun!

Photo Credit: Tammy Stevenson 

Once the gun went off I didn't think about my top at all, it was quite comfortable.  So yay! 

I was asked if I did well because I took the pressure off myself.  I honestly think the answer to that is no.  Because even if I'd wanted to win I probably would've gone out the same pace and the result probably would've been identical.  I just went to walk my race and I did and on that day I came across the line first. 

Photo Credit:  Dave Talcott

Now we'll go spend a few days in Morocco and then come back for the 10K.  I have no idea if I'll be able to do any workouts while I'm there, so that should be interesting preparation for the 10K.  But I still hold true to my thoughts that I'm here to have fun and just enjoy myself. 

Happy training everyone!