5,000 indoor nationals recap

 

 

I'd say it was a pretty successful day for me and my athletes!  AJ won his second junior national title and was third US male.  He continued on to 10,000 for an official PR.  More importantly he learned a lot about himself, racing issues, and how to improve going forward.  That's worth more than any PR to me!

Michaela had her first race longer than 1500 and boy did she kick it!  28:08 for a junior nats qual time.  She unfortunately learned the hard way about the joys of chaffing, but also did a fantastic job pacing.  She also learned a ton and with a few more solid months of training we're going to see a HUGE improvement from Michaela!

Katie had a solid race.  She continued on to 10,000 for a strong sub hour time.  Sometimes life gets in the way of training as hard as you may like, and it's how an athlete deals with that that really shows their metal.  Katie's mental toughness is so impressive, and I know her dedication to reaching her goals will make her such a tough competitor.

Dave had a solid 5,000.  He was first master and second US competitor.  He also smashed his age group record. 

I had a strong day.  I claimed the silver in the 5,000, just snagging the age group record by around a second.  Along the way I hit the qualifying time for indoor nationals.  And I continued on to 10,000 and broke my American record by around a minute.  I almost stopped at 5,000, I had some serious tummy pains.  But I thought I'd lay back for a bit and see if it righted itself.  After an easier K I started feeling better and so picked it back up bit by bit.  I never got back to where I was at the start of the race, but finished strong.  I am a bit disappointed in myself that I didn't push harder.  I think I could've pushed more.  I think I went into "comfortable mode" during part of the race instead of really giving it what I had.  It did seem to knock some cobwebs out of my system as my workouts seem to have jumped up a notch. 

I leave Monday for the final preparations for the Olympic Trials.  There's 7.5 weeks left, plenty of time for lots of hard work and improvement. 

Happy New Year!!

Soooooo tired, but feeling amazing!!!

Whew!  A second hard week of training is in the books!  I got in some amazing training and learned so much about what I'm capable (and not) of, where some of my boundaries are, and how to plan out the next nine weeks before the 50K Olympic Trials. 

One of the things I love about coming to train with Ian is his great knowledge base.  We have such great conversations about training ideologies, ideas, and concepts.  And he's got a reference for just about anything.  I leave feeling like I've learned a lot and extra motivated to get out and train. 

Since the first week I did such high mileage I started week two a bit on the tired side, but ready to give it what I had.  Where my 10x1K speed session went amazing two weeks ago, this last week it was a little rough.  My legs were tired and heavy.  I pushed as much as I could, and never gave up, but times were getting slower and slower.   The good thing was my technique still looked pretty good.  Ended up a lot of it was low blood sugar, and after a really good lunch my afternoon speed session of 10x400 went much better.  I had pep back in my step. 

Thursday's long one was good, until about 25K.  Then we both kind of hit the wall.  30K was good for the day.  But again, after a good meal and a massage I went out for a solid 8K in the evening.

Saturday was a great day.  We did our Saturday road race, a Santa run.  Almost everyone was dressed up, except me.  Then I realized, that since I was dressed all in black, I was the lump of coal!  the race was quite hilly, the last two K especially.  I did a 24:34, and was quite pleased with that on tired legs.  My afternoon workout was 30x30/30 which is 30 minutes of 30 seconds all out and 30 seconds recovery.  I hit my 5K split in 24:50.   A really, really solid day. 

However I was to pay the price on Sunday for the 40K workout.  I knew I was tired and it wasn't going to be my fastest workout, so I decided to not look at the splits.  I went decent through about 22K and then, poof, nothing left in the tank.  My legs would not go.  I wasn't low on sugar, my legs were just dead.  I still had to get back to the car.  It took me 80 minutes to cover the last 10K back to the car.  Luckily it was a beautiful day with wonderful scenery.  I'm not sure my body has ever been as tired and sore as it was last night.  Even after a massage I was moving around like an invalid.  A good night's sleep, a REALLY easy walk today, and I should be good for my last hard day in South Carolina.  I'm doing my third 10x1K in the AM and 10x400 in the PM session.  The rest of the week will be traveling home (hazzah!!!!) and getting ready for USATF indoor 5,000 national championships.  My plan is to continue on to 10,000 and see where I'm at.  All my athletes are racing and I'm really excited to see how everyone does.   There have been some amazing workouts happening and a whole lot of hard work going around.  Makes me really, really proud. 

So learning has happened, schedules adjusted, plans made, goals getting ready to be met.   Looking forward to going home, seeing my sweetie, taking some nice hot baths, and some of Dave's yummy popcorn.  Then off to St. George, Utah for final training before the Trials!

Training update and remembering the big picture.

Talk about a crazy couple weeks since the 50K.  It's been full of ups and downs, frustrations and excitement.  On the Thursday after the 50K Dave and I did our usual Turkey Trot 5K race.  It's a pretty flat course for where we live, gets a good crowd, and we LOVE the shirts (it's all about the shirts after all).  I was hesitant to do a hard 5K that soon after the 50K, but we signed up for it knowing we could always just do it for fun and go easy..... hahaha, yeah right.  If you know Dave and I at all you know we're not really wired that way.   It ended up that the race went fantastic!  According to my GPS watch (not official, I know) the course was decently short.  But I figure either way I did a sub 25:00 effort and I was over joyed with that!  Took it easy a few more days and Dave and I did a speed session on Sunday.  We did a workout Dave really likes, but slightly different.  We did 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 twice.  It's 6K worth of speed work.  I really want to work on my turnover and speed, and Dave's great at going super fast, so we thought it'd be a fun workout.  And it was!  It was really tough, mentally and physically, but we both did great.  He had the fastest times for all the 100, 200, 300s, but I had all the fastest 400 and 500s.  We both went faster than we have in quite a while, so I was really happy with both of us. 

Then we decided to finish up the siding on the bunkhouse.  We had what we thought were going to be some of our last warm days, so we worked like crazy.  I spent a lot of time up really high on a ladder reaching waaaaayyyyy over holding my breath to hammer in nails.  My chiropractor said this is probably what caused my back/SI joint and shoulders to go totally wonky.  And I mean, wow.  I went out later to do a 30K and hobbled home and barely finished 14K.  I cross trained a lot, and a week later did a 30K with Dave in Olean for orchestra weekend, but it was one of my slowest 30K times in years.  So I was getting really frustrated.  How am I supposed to train hard and go faster and really push myself to reach my goals on February 21 if I can barely finish a 30K.   Those few weeks where I could barely go anywhere were really testing me mentally.  I was very frustrated and thinking about when I should retire (now?).  When things are going well it's super easy to get out and workout, but when things are not going well it can be hard to get out of bed. 

(Beautiful sunrise on my way to South Carolina)

Through the frustration I kept stretching, rolling, seeing my chiropractor, got some massages.  I think what finally did it was I saw my chiropractor the day before I left for South Carolina and then saw an ART practitioner the day after I arrived in South Carolina.  They both really got stuff loosened up and my second day in SC I felt great!   Ian and I went to do a speed session at the track, and even during my warm up I felt better than I had in months!  We did 10x1K, a session I haven't done in quite a while and was a little nervous for.  I did them all between 4:42 and 4:46!  The majority of them were 4:43 and 4:44.  I haven't done that consistent of an interval session all year!  And it felt like I was pacing, like I had another gear somewhere.  Alas, it was not in my legs that day, but it would be.  I backed that up with 8x400 in the afternoon.  They weren't as fast as I would've liked, but I got them done fairly quickly and pushed through all of them. 

The rest of the week included a solid 30K, A double speed session on Saturday that in the afternoon we did a 5K road race.  It was fairly hilly, and I got stuck at the start.  In the first 150 meters Ian gained probably 50 meters on me just from not getting stuck behind people.  this course was significantly short, but I extrapolated out and I think I would've been about 24:30, not bad for hills and a second speed session.  At this point in the week I had already covered well over 100K too!   Sunday finished off with a really solid 30K and a not so solid 10K.  I finished that 40K, but man I hit the wall.  The most important thing?  I got it done! 

(never send us to the store after a long workout, we may drift from our intended plan)

(smiling after a 40K, that's what good company, good weather, and a good course do!)
We went home and had an amazing massage therapist there to work on us.  She did a great flush of my sore, tired muscles and it felt amazing!  She really helped get things loosened back up.  This week I tried, the day of my long walks, going out for a second session.  I know there are elite 50K guys that double up on long days, and I wanted to, carefully, give it a try.  Thursday when I did my 30K I went out for a 5K run in the evening.  I thought that doing the second session as a run might be a bit easier on my system than trying to RW.  I figure I'll do it running for a bit and then try walking it.  The 5K Thursday went well, I definitely had to warm into it, but by the end I was moving really well.  Sunday, after the massage and rest I felt great!  I didn't time my run, but I felt like I was moving great.  I know you're not supposed to play the numbers game, but I knew if I ran a 6K I would hit 170K for the week.  I thought the boost it would give me mentally far outweighed the sin of going father just to add numbers up, so I put my headlamp on and headed out in the dark for one of the best feeling 6K runs I've ever done! 

(post 6K run photo, with headlamp to see in the dark)

This week I've had two solid distance walks, two days of speed all well under my 5K race pace, and days in the middle of them that built strength and helped me recover.  I think this week may have been my best training week ever!  

And what's interesting about that is it came right after such a horrible week where I was on such a low and am now on such a high.  There's that picture that floats around the internet of:  This is what you think your road to success should look like, and it's a straight line.  And this is what the road actually looks like, and it's a bunch of squiggles going everywhere.  I have felt like that these past two weeks.  Squiggling everywhere, but still working my way towards my goal. 

I also am reminded that it really is true what I say to my athletes....  it's not the few amazing workouts you have here or there, it's consistent training over time.  Sure, my workouts weren't that great a couple weeks ago, but I was doing as much as I could, cross training to fill in gaps, and still moving forward.  I was giving my best at whatever I was doing and making the best of the situation I was given.  Over time the hills and valleys fill in and as long as you're steadily going upward you're making progress.  You never know what could make something turn around; a workout, a change of scenery, a word of encouragement from an unexpected source.  The thing to remember is things generally do turn around for the better, you just have to stick with it. 

So here goes another solid week of training, where I will continue to work as hard as I can with a well thought out schedule, decent weather, good company, and lots of focus.  I miss Dave, for sure, but I know that I am moving towards accomplishing amazing things and these times apart really mean something.  I think I sometimes train harder because I feel like I have to make the time apart worth even more.   Guess I'd better go get ready for my second session!  Happy training everyone!

(the fruits of some of my down time between training sessions)

50K aftermath

Now that it's almost a week after the 50K I've had more time to think about how things went.  While I am still disappointed that I didn't at least break 5 hours, I think I gave it pretty much all I had.  But something very unexpected happened out of the whole thing;  I was selected as the USATF Athlete of the Week!  It's quite an honor, with the list usually filled with Olympians and World Champions.  And it wasn't an easy week either!  NCAA had their Cross Country championships, so some good performances there to contend with.  Here's the article:

http://www.usatf.org/News/Race-Walker-Erin-Taylor-Talcott-named-USATF-Athlet.aspx

There are a few factual inaccuracies (my time and that I set a national record.  I already have the national record with my 4:33:23) but it was very nice. 

Another thing I was thinking about was how tough a lot of the people out there were on race day.  Everyone has goals and dreams and hopes for what they'd accomplish.  It's hard when something like the weather gets in the way of your race plan.  I saw a lot of people going out smart and still hurting from the heat.  I saw some people succumb to the heat.  And I saw some that were going to finish no matter what.  So here's my nominations for the most amazing/gutsy/stick-to-it-iveness performances I saw out there.

Darlene Backlund is no stranger to the longer events, getting out there and strutting her stuff with the best of them.  Having just turned 70 she was out there to prove something, a big something!  And boy did she, and in style!  No 70 year old woman has ever raced a 50K, at least until Darlene!  I was lucky enough to witness Darlene finish, with such a huge smile on her face!  As she then proceeded to wibble-wobble for some timey-wimey (anyone catch the reference?) across the line, then hit the ground with leg cramps.  What a champ!  I'm so amazed by all she does and continues to do. 

For the men I had a hard time deciding, but I'm going with Matthew Forgues.  Matt is no stranger to race walking, having been quite successful in his younger years.  However we haven't seen much from him in the last few years.  I will admit that I was quite surprised to see him on the entry list, and entered in the full 50K no less!  But he went out smooth and smart, I think just about on pace to hit the 50K Olympic Trials qualifying time.  I'm not sure at what point it was, but eventually the heat did do a number on him (as it did everyone!).  But he never gave up!   I could see he was determined to finish, and he did!  He finished his first 50K after not racing in quite a while in 90 degree temperatures!  I'm super impressed.  That type of mental fortitude to me means he could be a fantastic 50K walker.  I really hope that he continues and focuses on the 50K!

Dave and I were able to use some of our recovery time working on the bunkhouse, and I'm so happy that we have all the siding done!  I'm done being up on ladders and scaffolding for a while for sure!  And we got it done on what will probably be the last nice day of the year.  Whew!

There's a turkey trot held every year in Cortland that we like to do.  It's a 5K, really flat, pretty fast, and they have great race shirts.  This year we didn't know if we'd want to do it four days after a 50K, but we signed up for it figuring we could just do it as an easy walk if we needed.  We ended up pushing it fairly hard and doing quite well!  The time on the clock showed 24:10, but it seems a fair number of people's watches were showing it being short.  But we figure, even if it was the shortest that some watches were showing it that effort was still a sub 25:00 5K.  I'm pretty darned happy with that!  Still feeling just a little tired, but really pretty good.  I'll be ramping training back up starting next week.  Then the week after that I go to train for two weeks with Ian in South Carolina, so that'll be two really solid weeks of training. 

I have 12 weeks before the 50K Olympic Trials.  I have goals of what I want to accomplish and a plan of how to do it.  I just need to get out there, put the work in, and work as hard as I can.  No excuses, no slacking off, no giving up.  Twelve weeks of being tough and working hard. 

50K recap

Holy macaroni, what a day!  I am so happy to have retained my 50K title!  While my time was waaaaayyyyy off what I was hoping to do, there were a few things that went very, very well that I am incredibly happy about.  I made the whole race without a single warning or caution!  I've been working really hard the last few years on my technique after my DQ at the Olympic Trials in 2012 and I believe it is really paying off.   My race bib was #20.  As you can tell from the (very busy) board, my number isn't on it!

Another thing I am totally thrilled about is my glute strength.  For years I have had a muscle imbalance between my glutes.  My right glute medius did not want to fire like the left side.  I was officially half a lazy ass!!!   This would cause my hip to collapse, putting strain on my hips.  This would cause me to go out of adjustment fairly often, and sometimes at very inopportune times, such as right before a race.  I kept trying to work on my glute strength, but it's hard to get a muscle that isn't used to firing to fire, especially when there are so many muscles around it to easily take over.  So it wasn't just a matter of me trying harder, that I was definitely doing.  But two things have really turned them around.  First, when Quentin Rew from New Zealand came to visit he gave me some core exercises to work on.  I had been doing core work, but nothing like this.  Compared to what I had been doing it was "easy" but really hard at the same time.  After a few months I saw a huge improvement in my core strength which equaled fewer trips to the chiropractor.   But the second thing was a very interesting find.

When Dave and I went to the Huntsman Senior World Games they had a big expo.  I wandered around it a few times looking at all the cool stuff.  One of the booths had this funky machine that people were standing on and wiggling all over.  I was curious so went over for the talk and gave it a try.  The idea behind, in very simple terms, is the platform vibrates your body and muscles are forced to involuntarily activate.  This makes them work.  I noticed on my first time on the platform that I could feel one area of my right butt jiggle differently than the left.  It was my lazy glute muscle!  I couldn't believe I could actually feel it!  I went out for a workout after being on the platform and went significantly faster than I thought I would, and could feel my glutes a lot more powerful than I usually did.  I got a bit excited. 

I went back and talked to the owners of the platform and they agreed to help me out.  They're so amazingly awesome, so I now have my very own platform.  I use it twice a day for 10 minutes, generally watching TV.  I don't feel that one muscle in my glutes anymore giggling differently and I feel so much more stable and powerful in my core.  It's a amazing!   If anyone wants to know more about the platform here's the website.  I'm happy to answer questions, and I'll keep everyone updated on how it's helping me continue my preparation.

http://relaxhealthandtone.com/

So that's all the good, now to the "needs improvement" section of the race.

Leading up to the race I kept checking the weather forecast and it kept going up and up so I knew it was going to be hot.  Whenever I cross train inside, for example on the elliptical, I will go to our exercise room and crank up the gas heater full blast and get the heat up to about 85 and humid.  So I thought I'd be decently well ready for the heat.  It worked well for me in 2013 in Florida.  There I was slower than I was in shape for, but stayed pretty strong.  Not this year.  I was decent through 20K, the next 10K was okay, and the last 20K was just finishing.  Very seldom have I felt that hot.  One thing I think helped in Florida was there were more water station, and you could get personal aid on both sides of the course so you could drink about 3 times as often.  Florida also had an extra water station and an angel with sponges soaked in ice water.   I've decided that I like sponges way more than towels.  I felt like I couldn't get enough water wrung out on me with the towels, and they were too small to wrap around my neck without falling off. 

But I think I just was not in the shape I needed to be.  I also was not as dogmatic and structured about my race aid as I usually am.  Luckily there's almost 13 weeks between now and my next 50K race.  I'm going to spend 2 weeks with Ian Whatley in South Carolina and 6 weeks in St. George, Utah so I'll have plenty of quality, uninterrupted, and hopefully snow free training weeks.  I'm focusing on my strength, both RWing strength as well as muscular strength.  I'm going to really focus on the cross fit classes.   So I'll take a few days easy, let the massive chaffing heal a bit, and get ready for the next one!  I feel like I have to redeem myself after that poor showing.  I have to stay focused and on my game.  No slacking off, no making excuses, no wimping out.  And with that thought in mind I think I'll go do some core work!

Getting ready for the 50K!

We're now at the point where weather.com shows what possible race conditions could be in Santee for 50K nationals, which means time is getting close!  I always look forward to my favorite race distance, probably because, well, it's my favorite race distance!  Training has been going well, I've had some great training blocks, and I've worked on/improved my muscle fitness more than in past years, thanks to going to a cross fit gym!  I'm healthy, no injuries, just a couple little niggles (as all athletes tend to get) and decently close to my race weight.

One thing I've always been really happy about my 50Ks is my race nutrition.  I feel like I usually do a really good job of staying hydrated and fueled.  Only once did I feel like I was missing something, that was the 50,000 I did on the track in Oregon in 2014.  The cool thing about that was since it was on a track I could ask for stuff every 2:12 and I was able to try a bunch of things, that was awesome.  I know what my stomach will (and won't!) handle, and about how often I need to take stuff.  I learned too that having a wide variety of flavors, textures, and brands is a really good idea.  What can be your favorite flavor at the beginning of a race/workout, can turn your stomach later on.  I've learned to trust my instinct that if it doesn't "sound good" don't take it!  Not to the extent that I won't take anything, but just to find the flavor/brand that sounds good at the moment. 

Texture is a big deal to me.  If I don't like the texture there's no way I'm going to be able to get it down at the end of a 50K.  So I love trying new stuff to find what works.  At the beginning of races/workouts I'm able to handle energy gels that may be a bit thicker, but near the end, the thinner and smoother they are the easier they are for me to swallow. 

Recently I tried Honey Stinger Energy Gels.  They're quite yummy and nice and smooth.  You do have to like the taste of honey, as that's one of their main ingredients, but their ingredient list is very short compared to some companies. 

And if you're able to chew things during a race I love my Honey Stinger chews.  They always taste good to me (sometimes I eat them as a "treat" instead of candy, if I'm really craving something sweet.

With drinks I've got a few different products I like.  Amino Vital is an energy drink, and their grape flavor I NEVER get tired of.  I used to drink stuff like Gatorade, which I still will occasionally, but sometimes it gets too sweet for my tastes and I can't get it down.  I NEVER have that problem with Amino Vital, and if you're a person who likes some protein while you race, this has some. 

I usually plan to drink every lap, which since the course is a 1.25K loop, means I'll get to drink a lot!  I'll take an energy gel or chew anywhere from every 6.25 to 8.75K.  I'll take a wide variety of flavors and brands with me so that no matter what I'm in the mood for it'll be there.  I've got my pre-race breakfast all set, some yogurt and a banana with peanut butter.

Training between now and the 22nd will be focused on getting me as rested and sharp as possible to go out and see what I can do.  The national 30K gave me a lot of confidence, so I feel ready to hit my goals.  A lot of people will be racing and chasing time standards, so I should have some great people to race with, which is always nice.  My parents will be there cheering and doing our aid table.  They are old pros at it now and do a fantastic job.  

I will of course let everyone know how it goes!  Thanks so much for all your support!

I am a professional shoe lacer and number pinner....

Or at least I should be.  I mean, think about how many times in my life I've laced up my shoes.  And I've been to more than my fair share of races, so think of how many numbers I've pinned.  And since race walkers have front and back numbers I've pinned twice as many as the average single-numbered athlete! 

So why is it I still sometimes tie my shoes too tight and pin my numbers crooked?

Seriously, kids learn to tie their shoes around age five or six, right?  Let's even say seven.  That's 30 years of shoe lacing experience I have.  And being an athlete I wear sneakers a lot.  I can't think of the last time I wore dress shoes.  Let's say I learned to tie my shoes at the age of 7, just for easier math.  And let's say I have to tie my shoes an average of twice a day.  That would be almost 22,000 times I've tied my shoes. 

The author Malcolm Gladwell made popular in his book Outliers the theory/concept that 10,000 hours of practice will make you a master.  While I haven't tied my shoes for 10,000 hours, surely 22,000 ties (actually 44,000 since I have two feet, duh...) should be awfully close. 

So I ask again, why is it I still sometimes tie my shoes too tight and pin my numbers crooked?

Dictionary.com defines practice as:
1.  habitual or customary performance; operation:

2. habit; custom:

3.  repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency:

 

It is the third definition that concerns us here.  Repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency.  I'm pretty sure I remember, all those eons ago, when I first started to tie my shoes that I had to really concentrate on it.  I had to think about how my fingers looped and where the laces went.   I had to make sure that the tongue in my shoe was straight and not bunched up.   After a while it became habit and I didn't have to think about it anymore.  Now I can tie my shoes without looking.  So how much of those 44,000 times did I really "practice" correctly and properly lacing my shoes? 

 

One of my favorite quotes is: 

"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

Vince Lombardi

 

How true!  So in simple terms I am not a professional at lacing my sneakers because I don't perfectly practice.  And never mind when I'm pinning my number, half the time I'm not thinking about where I pin it, I'm thinking about my upcoming race or talking to people.  It's only when I pin my number the night before, in the privacy of my room, that I actually focus on it and my number looks straight, even, and nice!

 

When I was teaching music I used to stress that the first few times played through music were the most important.  It was then that if you made a mistake that the mistake wanted to become permanent.  Really focusing on what you were doing and thinking about every note, nuance, phrase, and dynamic were super important.   Basically I was trying to get them to practice it perfect!

 

Think about your race walking.  How often do you go out and just do your workout?  You've been doing it for years, so you've got the technique down, right?  You go out and do your speed session and push, you do your long walk and get your miles in.  I just got off the phone with a reporter and one of the things I said to her as she questioned me about the technique of race walking was that I think there's always something that can be improved in a race walker's technique.  There's always something that can be tweaked, polished, or worked on.  How exciting is that?  There's always a way you can get better!  There's always improvement to be made!  In theory you could never reach your potential because there's always something more you could be doing!  Yet how often do we really focus on our technique? 

I urge you today to not just do things, but to mindfully practice them.  Practice perfect practice!  Think about your laces as you tie them.  Focus on your technique as you're going for your workout.  Be aware of the jobs and chores you're doing.  If you are used to mindfully practicing the little "unimportant" things then it'll be even easier to perfectly practice the important things!

 

 

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...