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... 

 

 

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.

Sometimes what I need is a different workout

I've been lax in writing posts, but it's because I've been out training!  It feels amazing to be out on the roads and the track sweating and working hard again.  And with working on the bunkhouse when I can, cooking, eating, going to classes at the gym, life has been very full!

I've had a nice change in mentality the last few weeks that has really helped.  I was getting frustrated that I wasn't going as fast as I "should" be going.  Once I adjusted my thinking from what I should be doing for someone in shape, to thinking of myself as out of shape and getting back in shape then it was so much easier on me mentally.  Now each workout feels like it's building instead of being slower than what I want.  I had to realize that the Isle of Man race really took some out of me and the extra weeks off afterwards didn't help either.  Now I'm feeling good and enjoying pushing. 

One thing that helped too was to make my workouts more effort based.  It can be really frustrating for me if I'm doing a standard workout of say 1K repeats to not see a time down as far as I want.  So instead I do workouts based on effort.  Today I did a Norwegian fartlek.  I did one minute hard, one minute easy, two minutes hard, one minute easy, three minutes hard, one minute easy, all the way up five minutes and back down.  It's 25 minutes of hard and 8 minutes of easy for a 33 minute workout (I do not end on an easy, I end on the one minute hard).  This workout I can do anywhere; out on the roads, in a park, track, wherever.  I can pay attention to how far I go or not.  Today I did it in one of the parks in Owego that's constantly rolling, so I had the extra challenge of powering up some hills.  It was perfect for today since I know I wouldn't have seen times I would've wanted on a typical repeat workout.  Instead I finished my workout knowing I gave it all I had during my hards and had a very successful workout! 

I think I'll be as ready as I can be for my races in China.  I wish I was in a little better shape, but I've been doing the absolute best I can.   For a while I was getting really down on myself, especially seeing the entry list for the women and their 20K PBs.  I have the slowest 20K PB going into the race.  I was thinking I was going to make a fool of myself, that people would think I had no business being there.  But I realized a few things.  First, I was probably ranked slowest last year as well, and I never came in last.  Second, I'm strong, so where some women may struggle the last few days I will still be powering away.  Third I can use this opportunity to race some AMAZING women and try to hold on to them as long as possible to help me become a better walker.  I'm going to see old friends and make new ones.  I get to visit China for the third time in two years!  So I'm going to go, have fun, and try my absolute hardest.  I learned a lot from last year and will capitalize on that to do better this year. 

So with that I'm going to go spend some time in the garden and head out later for my second speed session of the day and then go to the gym!

The results are in....

First of all, how could you have a bad day when it starts off playing with kittens!!!!  No, I didn't take one home, four is enough, but man are they cute and can bring a smile to your face :)

I had some good news yesterday, and a good day in general.  The day started off tackling the HUGE pile of tomatoes in my kitchen to get them canned.  Blanching them and peeling them took me probably about 3 hours total.  Today they're getting canned and I think I'll have about 7 quarts, which is awesome.  Then I went to the gym.  This was my fifth class.  It was open gym day, so we get to work on whatever skills we need work on.  Since I don't know many of the Olympic lifts it means I have a lot to work on!  I was getting help doing cleans and they were going really well.  Then I did some pull up work and dip work.  I've been working on pull ups as strict pull ups, but if you've ever seen a cross fit competition you know that they don't do them strict, they get a bit of a swing in there that helps them go faster.  I asked if someone could teach me that.  We worked on it and it was going really well.   The lady that was helping me had me move from the bar over to the rings to work on it and we decided we'd do the knee ups.  I'd been doing those on the bar and I'm decent at them.  You hang there and then bring your knees up as high as you can so it ends up looking like you're sitting in a chair but hanging from your arms.  Some people are super strong and can bring their legs up straight all the way to their toes.  I looked at them and thought, wow, it'll take me months to be able to do that.  Some can do it with no swing, but you can also have the swing in there to get the toes up.  So we were working on the swing and the knees up on the rings and I thought, what the heck, I'll try to bring my toes all the way up, and I did!!!!  I freaked out so much I had to drop off the rings.  I love this gym because everyone was super excited for me and happy and getting high fives, it's such a rush.  Then I did two more sets of five!  People said they were very impressed and I was on cloud nine.  My hands hurt like heck with all the hanging and lifting of bars, but I assume they'll get used to it eventually.  So it was a really good workout day!

Then as I was at the post office mailing off my passport to get my visa for China my doctor called.  And...... IT'S NOT A STRESS FRACTURE!!!!  What I do have is a low-grade strain of the lower fibers of the anterior tibialis and extensor halluces longus just proximal to the myotendinous junctions, with a small amount of surrounding fluid.   I'm still trying to figure out exactly what all that is, but I do know it's no where near as serious as a stress fracture.   What a load off my mind.  I have some people to talk to about it, see what can be done/healing time for it, but I think I'll be good by China! 

As if the day couldn't get any better from there one of my athletes is coming to spend the weekend and work on technique and he had an AWESOME workout.  He really has good body awareness for a guy (he's competed in Irish dancing a lot, guess that's why) and is able to really think about and feel things that I suggest.  Where he was getting almost no hip rotation before he was able to really open up and looked fantastic and FAST!  I'm so lucky to be involved in his race walking career and help him.  The sky is absolutely the limit for him and his potential. 

Add to that a really solid hour of working hard and sweating on the elliptical at the end of the day and I'd say (minus peeling tomatoes for hours on end) the day couldn't have been much better.  Things are looking up!