Pre La Coruna

Excited to be flying to Spain!

It's nice to have more time to sit and relax!  Tomorrow is the big day, racing in La Coruna.  The start list is very impressive, with so many amazing athletes.  I definitely have one of the slowest seed times and realize that I will be helping bring up the rear.  It's both frustrating and motivating.  I really do want to be a faster walker.  One thing being here does though is motivates me to work harder.  With the wonder of hindsight I wish I had come to big events like this earlier in my career.  I think being among the fastest in the world would be a huge inspiration.  My advice to those of you out there who think you're not fast enough to race with the speedsters, do it!  Like they say, if you want to be a good writer surround yourself with good writers.  So if you want to be a good walker, surround yourself with good walkers! 

Going out and doing my workout I get to see lots of people doing theirs and it's fascinating to me to watch everyone's technique.  So much to learn.  And one thing that's been a real surprise to me is how many people seem happy to see me.  I look at all these amazing athletes and feel like I'm nowhere in the same level they are, but one thing that I love about this sport is how friendly almost everyone is.  I try my best when I go to international races (and national races too, obviously) to go out and meet new people and be friendly.  I guess it works because I have people saying hi to me before I see them. 

My second shake out workout today I got to walk with a few of the Mexicans, who are just the friendliest and most welcoming group of people. 

I haven't done a ton since the race in Belgium.  Thursday was a travel day and I took it off, just stretching and doing my mobility drills.  Today I did a 5K in the morning and felt great.  Then we did some easy sightseeing and I did a second workout of a 4K warm up and 5x200 to get loose.  We walked around a little more and I'll stretch in a bit.

Sporting some awesome tan lines with the Roman lighthouse built in the 1st century in the back.  Talk about a feat of engineering.  My engineer husband said when we were inside, "how did they do that?"  As if this music major has any clue!

My plan for tomorrow is to get up and go for an easy stroll, eat and rest and walk around, and then race as good as I can.  I'm pretty sure my legs are fine from the 50K now.  Not positive, but I'm going to act as if they are fine!  I know if it wasn't for Dave giving me massages and keeping my legs loose I'd be in one heck of a horrible position for tomorrow.  My calves keep getting so tight and they also keep swelling up, but he's been awesome about rubbing them and keeping fluid in my legs moving around.  I've been getting some good sleep and my eating has been better after the gluten I ate after the races.  And maybe a few pieces of chocolate I had in Belgium....  ;) 

So my goal for tomorrow is as always, I'm going to race as smart as I can and do my absolute best.  I will enjoy being in a race with the best in the world.  I'm going to cheer on my friends who are going for Olympic qualifying times.  And most importantly, I'm going to have fun.


“When you’ve got something to prove, there’s nothing greater than a challenge.” – Terry Bradshaw

And you know what, I've got something to prove!

On a separate note, I have my first international athlete!  I'm so excited to be coaching Bianca Dittrich from Germany.  She is so excited about the opening up of 50K for women and excited to race a 50K.  Very exciting!  Look for some exciting things from Bianca, she's one impressive young lady, very tough, and very motivated!

My attempt at being artsy with my phone!

Post Rome recovery and races.

So good to be with Dave again!

It's been a while since I've written.  And I'm happy to say it's because I've been having a wonderful time!  After the race I did some sightseeing with Ian and Susan and wandered (slowly!) around Rome and went to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius.  All the regular walking was great for recovery.  And I really loved seeing those amazing places.

From Rome I went to Vienna for a few days.  I crammed as much as I possibly could, walking all over the place and seeing as much as I could.  I made good use of the Vienna City Pass and spent a fantastic day at the Palace.  I got to go to a concert in the big hall in the Palace and listen to Strauss and Mozart!!!!  For the musician in me it was amazing!  The acoustics in the hall were incredible!  And to think that was where Mozart had performed, and made his debut a few rooms over!  It was great!

After that I took the train to Budapest and stayed with my friend Anett.  She is always the hostess with the mostess!  Along with some fun stuff in Budapest we went to her hometown and stayed with her parents, who totally spoiled me!  They even got me a birthday cake and some presents!  We went to Lake Balaton which was wonderful and had lavender ice cream, which was delicious.  And the best part was I started to RW again.  It was great walking with someone, it made coming back a lot easier as we could talk and giggle and occasionally stop to pick flowers.  I did a speed session with her and her coach was there.  I was moving okay, but the 50K was 7 days prior.  She told me later her coach said to her "does she not do these kinds of workouts much?  She seems like she's having trouble."  (it was 3K, 2K, 1K, 2x500)  She said "Coach, her 50K was last week!"  he said "Oh, right!  Wow, she's doing great!"  :) 

Next was traveling to Naumburg to meet Dave.  It was going to be 11 hours on the train, which was cheaper and a bit more convenient than flying.  That is true when you make all your connections.  Once I realized I was supposed to get off and didn't I was fairly far past where I was supposed to be.  So instead of arriving at 7:30 PM I didn't get in til 11:06.  Since I left at 6:30 AM it made for a super long day.  The worst thing was Dave was waiting for me and I was worried he'd be freaking out.  Luckily I convinced the people at the station I turned around at to play a message at the station telling him that I'd be late.  They did!  Whew!  He was there waiting for me!  It was so good to see Dave again.  I really do miss him when I'm gone and feel so much better when we're together!

The following few days were getting ready for the race on May 22nd.  we found a little park to train around.  I was actually feeling pretty good.  That ended the day of the race though.  I never felt good.  My stomach was a bit upset, I'm afraid I might have eaten something a little funky the night before, and I was so tight.  I think, after three weeks of racing, traveling, and strange beds that my hips finally went a little out.  So I DNFed myself at 13K.  I decided that finishing a race with an okay time wasn't what I wanted since I had another opportunity for a good 20K six days later in La Coruna.  I never like stopping a race, but I really do feel that it was the right decision.  I was able to help Dave and cheer for him which was good.  He didn't have the race he wanted either, but finished and finished as hard as he could, so I was really proud of him!

Next we took the train to Brussels.  Our first train was late and made us miss our connection (ugh) so we spent 4 hours in Efurt, Germany.  It was nice, but I would've rather been to Brussels earlier.  However we did make it and spent some time wandering around.  We were able to find a good hotel right in the center of the city and we were so close to everything.  We were going to go eat some Belgium food, but it was expensive and neither of us were really hungry, so we found a Greek restaurant that was amazing!  I miss good Greek food! 

After a little bit of a sleep in we got up and went for a training walk in the park not too far from us.  It was about 1.4K around, according to my GPS, and we had a nice shake out walk.  After checking out we did more sightseeing around Brussels.  Then we jumped on the train (again!) to Namur, the town outside Brussels by about an hour that we'll be racing in.  We checked in then went to the track where I did a little shake out walk, doing some 200s between 50 and 53, which is pretty good for me. 

Now I'm sitting around waiting for the race.  Our race starts at 8:45 (assuming the track meet doesn't run late).  I'm not used to starting so late, so figuring out how to organize my day is tough.  I think we did a good job.  I went for a training walk in the morning, then breakfast.  then we went into town and Dave got a haircut, which was sorely needed, and we saw the Citadel, which was incredibly impressive.  Then we came back, repacked our luggage, took a nap, and are now waiting to go!  I'll wait to finish up this blog post for after the race.  I'm feeling decent for it.  Dave and I have worked hard to get my hips back where they're supposed to be.  Hopefully we managed it and I'll be able to move okay!

Wow, what a night!  The weather was great for the race, but it started about 30 minutes late.  That's one thing I love about RW events usually going first, you know when you're starting so you know how to plan your warm up.  I warmed up and then tried to just stay loose.  The second to last even was the 110 meter hurdles so we could use the back stretch to do some pickups.  That seemed to be all I needed. 

After the 5,000 in Namur, Belgium with Anett.  If you look closely you can see her devil horns :)

The gun went off and I started off comfortable.  My goal was to really work on technique and not go out super hard and die.  Other than that I had hopes, but nothing I was really intent on doing.  I am very happy with my race!  I placed second behind Anett.  She went out hard and got over 100 meters in front of me.  I started closing the distance a bit, but would've needed probably another 5K to catch her :)   I don't have my official time, but I was somewhere around 24:16.  My last 500 wasn't my slowest, so I'm happy about that, and nothing was over 5 per K pace.  I felt like my arms were nice and low and I kept my head level.  And another cool thing... prize money!!!  Dave placed 3rd and had a solid race, and he also won prize money.  So going to Belgium was a huge success!

Our race swag.  Not sure why I can't get the picture the right way....

Since the race started so late and it took so long to get the prize money we didn't get back to the hotel until almost 11:00 PM.  With a shower, eating, and last minute packing we got to bed about midnight.  Our shuttle to the airport left at 4:30, so that meant very little sleep.  I slept maybe 2 hours on the flight to La Coruna.  But I am definitely ready for a nap!  When we got to La Coruna we were trying to find the bus that would take us into town and this lady came up and started translating, and helping us with where to go and giving us ideas of things to do, places to go eat.  She was so nice and so friendly!  She walked us to sight of our hotel.  Talk about friendly!

Heading to Spain!

Now comes the preparation for La Coruna.  I know there's going to be a ton of amazing walkers and I'll probably be bringing up the rear.  I hope I'm recovered enough from the 50K to do a solid time.  It looks like the weather will probably cooperate, although there may be thunderstorms, which may not be so perfect....

Once I get done with La Coruna it'll be time to look to the future and make long-term plans!  But I will say that I do have some long-term plans that are very exciting.  So if you'd like to help support me, and need to buy some training gear, I'd ask you to go to my AthleteBiz storefront here:

https://www.athletebiz.us/athletes/erin-taylor-talcott/store

you shop at Running Warehouse, buy awesome stuff (through my storefront) and I get a percentage of what you spend!  I know it works because some awesome people have already done so!  To those who did, thank you!  

For now, Adios from Spain!  I'll let everyone know how the race goes :)

https://www.facebook.com/RacewalkerErin/

IAAF World Team Championships of Race Walking..... Done!

Deep breath in..... hold it.... aaaannnndddd exhale!  Whew!  This is the first time since the race that I've sat down at my computer with WIFI for longer than 10 minutes.  Wow, oh wow, what a week it's been.

I purposely laid low before the race.  I had no idea what my reception was going to be there and was trying to keep my stress/anxiety level down.   Luckily there were some fantastic people on the team that were able to keep me laughing.  And of course going around Rome was amazing. 

An interesting side note.  A lot has been going around about how Team USA did.  I'm not going to get into that, but one thing I've been thinking about is this:  We don't get many chances to travel to race.  Sure, we race in the US, but that's a known quantity.  You know the food, you know the language, things like that.  You leave a day or two before the race, so any tapering you do is at home.  When you travel so far there's a lot more to it.  You've got the flight and the jet lag.  You've got new food to figure out if your tummy likes.  You're in a foreign environment, which for some is a small stressor.  There was a lot of concern about going out and doing tourist things before the race, afraid that we'd go out and walk ourselves to death.  I get it, I know that standing in a museum for three hours can make my feet as sore as a 50K.  But, if I was at home I would be tapering, but still doing things.  I'd be working in the garden, taking care of the animals, doing housework, doing yard work.  I'd be active and out and about.  When I'm overseas I don't have those things to do.  I personally would go totally crazy if I was sitting in a hotel all day for 5 days before a race.  And I know my body well enough to know how much I can take with walking around.  I actually think that more people who stayed in the hotel and didn't do touristy things got sick than those who went out and about.  But that's one thing that needs to be practiced, and one thing that other countries have over us, practice tapering away from home.

At the Vatican with Dee Mahoney, physio extraordinaire!

Anyway, it was great watching the juniors race.  AJ went for it and couldn't quite hold it, but still was less than a minute of his PB on an international stage.  It's motivated him to work harder, which is great :)  And it was fun cheering for all the other people I know and have met from other countries.  We had some PBs in the junior races which is great.

Very proud of this kid! 

I didn't watch the senior races, because that I knew would be too much standing and excitement.  Luckily it was on TV so I got to watch it!  Definitely got me excited for my race!

I woke up earlier than I usually would for a 9:00 race and I didn't need my alarm.  I also ate earlier than I normally would because I could tell I had some butterflies in my tummy flying around.  I didn't want any issues so I figured the earlier I could digest the better.  that was totally the right call as I didn't have any tummy issues at all.

The 6:30 bus left and arrived at the stadium about 7:00.  That left lots of time for a potty break (the porta potties were n-a-s-t-y) and getting loose.  I didn't really walk to warm up at that point, just did some mobility stuff, and was feeling nice and loose.  That's mainly due to Dee Mahoney working on me and getting stuff moving and teaching me some incredible mobility exercises that are going to help me get my full range of motion back for the future. 

It can't be all serious before the race, I'd be a mess, so why not jump on the podium?

We got called to the call room and I headed in.  I saw some people I knew and said hi.  I had some guys I didn't know come up and shake my hand, which was very touching.  No one said anything negative or shot me any bad looks, so that was really nice.  As we headed to the course there were people lining the course who were smiling at me and giving me thumbs up.  A few asked to have their picture taken with me.  When we got to the start line I did some walking and pick ups and felt great.  More people wanted photos with me, and the announcer announced me, which was cool.  I was doing my best not to get over excited, but my heart rate had been probably 15-20 beats higher than normal since I'd woken up. 

Finally we lined up.  How cool is that, we... me and the guys.... we lined up to start a 50K.  I was lining up at the start line of an international 50K!!!!!!  The gun went off and it hit me.   Look where I was!  Look what I was doing!!!! Oh my gosh!!!!  I started to choke up a little.  To actually be there, to have done it, to have made it, was just surreal.  But I threw that out of my mind and got down to business.  My plan was to go out at 4:35:00 pace, which is 5:30 per K pace.  I felt pretty unsure of pace, especially across the cobble stones, but when Ian and I got to the K mark we were at 5:32, almost like we planned it :)  I settled into my pace and it felt great.  Felt easy and smooth. 

I was staying very focused, but it was hard, because it felt like EVERYONE on the sidelines were cheering for me!  The announcer kept announcing my name and people would yell and cheer.  I couldn't help but smile.  After the race people said I got more cheers than anyone else.  Other nations were cheering, tons of Italians were cheering, the people at the aid stations for other countries were cheering for me, it was nuts. 

My plan was to get through 25K at pace and then start to kick it down a little.  As the race went on I felt like it was going to be perfect, I was on pace, a bit over, but nothing crazy.  So 25K came and I thought, yes, let's start to pick it up..... got to the next split, and I slowed down!  What?!?!?!  I didn't feel like I went slower.  So I collected myself and thought, okay, back up we go!  And was still slower.  And that's how the rest of the race sort of went.  I gradually slowed down, at one point decently slow.  It was so frustrating because I wasn't sure why I was slowing down.  By 40K I think it was just the beating from going at that slower pace.

IAAF says that you have to start your last lap by 4:35:00.  As the race was getting close to the end I started to be worried that I wouldn't make it.  Also, I didn't know exactly where "the last lap" was.  usually on a 2K course it's at the start/finish line.  It ended up that in this race it wasn't, which was a very good thing.  Had it been the 2K location I wouldn't have made it.  All the people at the lap counting area were rooting for me (and some of the officials I think)  With 3 or 4 laps to go they were cheering me on, saying, "You can make it!"  With two laps to go I was so worried, I really wanted to be able to finish.  Then one of the officials came over on the track and said, "You have 7 minutes!  Go!"  I looked at my watch and it was 4:30:00.  I had seven minutes to get over there.  Some of you may be doing math right now and saying, wait a minute, you said 4:35:00.  4:30:00 plus seven minutes is 4:37:00.  I agree.  And I don't know what made them change their mind.  I think it was just that they really wanted me to be able to finish as well. 

Tony, from New Zealand, can confirm this next bit.  When the official said I had seven minutes and I looked at the time I was still nervous.  I let out a crazy primal scream.  Mike Manozzi had just lapped me, so he was up in front of me about 15 meters.  I took off like a maniac.  The scream almost took all my air, but it got me fired up.  I took off.  I have no idea where the power to do it came from, but I brought my next split down to 5:40.  I had been at almost 6:40.  I was walking terrified. 

Some of this next bit comes from me and some from someone who was standing there, so this is pieced together.  I was coming to the lap counters looking at the officials.  I saw one walking towards me, but I wasn't really watching him.  My friend said he was making a motion as if I should stop.  But I didn't see him, I was looking at everyone else.  They were making a "calm down" motion with their hands, like I could slow down.  I yelled "did I make it?  Can I finish?"  And they said yes!  My friend said the one official looked like he was going to stop me until he saw the look on my face and then just sort of shrugged his shoulders.  I came across with one lap to go at 4:36:15!

It was a good thing they told me I could back off a little bit as the pace I had picked up to was not sustainable for me.  The last lap was fun, knowing that I was almost done.

As I came through the last time I went off the 2K loop and started up and around.  People were there yelling and screaming.  I saw Federica, the Italian girl I roomed with in China.  I said hi to her and asked her how she was doing.  She looked at me like I was crazy and said fine.  It was sort of the fine of, I'm great, standing here on the sidelines while you're racing a 50K!  I think it was partly I was so tired....  as I came down the straight to go into the stadium I started to get very emotional and almost hyperventilated myself. 

I came down into the stadium and the stands were full of people who were standing and yelling and cheering for me!  They had held the team awards so people were still there and the crowd was amazing!  I had done it! 

Coming in to the finish

I came across the line and there were cameras everywhere!  People were having me look every which way for photos.   I had I think six interviews, which was crazy.  My friends were coming up and hugging me, it was awesome.

My time was not what I wanted.  I finished 4:51 and some change, I'm not even sure.  But I never stopped, I never thought of stopping.  I always kept fighting.  I slowed down, but I was fighting it every step.  Someone said that the USA walkers don't fight for it.  I can tell you I fought for it.  I never gave up.  it would've been easy to have slowed up and not made the cutoff time, but I didn't want to do that.  I was passing guys, it just happened that once I passed them they would DNF. 

I placed 40th out of 68 starters (I think that's the right number, I may be off by one or two).  I did what some of the best walkers in the world couldn't do, finish.  And I will take a finishing time/place over a DNF any day, even for those who say you shouldn't be happy with being at the back of the pack.  I think finishing is more important than going out hard and dying and then stopping.  My opinion....

Since then I went to the athlete party, which was great.  I toured the Colesseum, which was really hard to walk around that much the day after the race.  I went and toured Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius, which was amazing.  Now I'm in Vienna for a few days before heading to Budapest to stay with my friend.  Then I will meet Dave in Naumburg.  I'm thinking/hoping to race there..... no, not 50K, 20K.  Then we go to Brussels and race a 5,000 and then to La Coruna for a 20K.  That race I will for sure do.  The walking around I've been doing has been hard but I can tell it's helping recovery.  I will probably try RWing in a few days, right now I just want to enjoy myself for a while and figure out goals/plans for the future. 

Day after the 50K, seeing some sights.

Looking down into Mt. Vesuvius

Pompeii was incredible.  They had some very cool art in the town too.

 

Thank you again to everyone who believed in me and supported me.  To those who didn't, oh well, I still made it without you! 

Oh, and our second calf was born.  Now that we have two we can announce their names:  Essen und Fressen which means food and feed in German, since that's the country we'll be racing in together :) 

It's Getting Real!

Something that even one year ago I would've never believed would be possible, I am sitting in the airport waiting for my trip to Rome to compete in an international 50K!  It's still so surreal.  I wonder if I'm going to wake up from a dream, but I know I'm not.  I'm here, I have my Team USA kit, I've gotten all the emails and I have my plane ticket.  Crazy!  Thank you to all of you who have shown support and happiness for this change. 

The last few weeks have been nuts.  It's been pretty stressful.  My body has reacted to the stress in new and interesting ways, but I'm coping and everything should be just fine!  I've learned new ways to deal with different types of stress, and been enjoying doing more fun things than we would normally do, so that's been a plus.  Sporadic comments like "hey, you want to go into town and goof around for an hour?" are things you would normally never hear at our house, but lately have been.  During some of the nice weather I've been able to get out and get some light yard work done, and some not so light.  It's been great to be outside moving and just enjoying nature. 

The baby just hours after she was born

Lunch gave birth!  It was such a surprise.  We thought she wasn't due until the end of May, but apparently we did our math wrong and forgot the bull came earlier than we remembered.  She's healthy and full of life!  She's small and was getting out of the fence, towards the road, so we strung up another strand of barbed wire at 6:00 one night in the rain.  But we don't want her getting down to the road, so it was very worth it. 

A close up of the little critter

I've had a ton of trip preparations to make.  Dave and I had already planned on traveling to Europe to race in Naumburg and La Coruna.  I had to get myself there and find things to do between Rome and Germany.  Luckily that's not hard to do!  I'm very excited after the 50K to take some time for myself having fun and relaxing.  And getting to see my friend and spending time with her in Hungary!  It's going to be a great trip and should help clear my head after all the 50K craziness.

The race was at the Agricultural college, so definitely needed cows!

Dave and I did a local 5K road race yesterday.  We love doing local races as speed sessions.  This one was small, not a lot of people.  And while they described the course as "basically flat" it was anything but.  It was a VERY hilly course.  I finally did it though, I won a running road race by race walking!  I beat the second place woman by over a minute, and she was ahead of me at the start, so it's not like I started in the lead and stayed there.  I actually started off in third.  That was fun, and while it was a hilly course it was also very scenic and the hills made a nice challenge.  I was incredibly happy with my time too.  I did a double take at my watch twice looking at splits sure it must be wrong and I couldn't be going that fast, but I was! 

I'm sad Dave can't come see me race in Rome, but I know he'll be there in spirit.  He's been so awesome and supportive and he's so excited for me to race. 

I'm planning on taking tons of pictures, and will post when I can.  I'm so excited to be doing this.  It really is a dream come true! 

I AM GOING TO ROME!!!!!! IN THE 50K!!!!!!!!

photo credit: Ken Stone

 

 

 

OH.....MY.....GOSH!!!!!!!!!!  I'm going to Rome in the 50K!!!!!  The US Race Walk Executive Committee voted to name me to the team, so I am going!!!!!  It's just about the most amazing thing I could've possibly ever hoped for or dreamed of. 

First I need to do a big list of people to thank.  People who without their belief in me I wouldn't have gotten where I am. 

Top of the list is hands down my husband Dave.  I can't imagine life without him; his support, his encouragement, and his unwavering belief in me.  Even when things go hard, when the negativity started, he is always there telling me not to listen to the naysayers, to believe in the cause and to keep fighting.  He's the one that holds me when I cry, comforts me when I am sad, massages my legs when they are exhausted, and always makes me popcorn when I ask.  I am the luckiest girl in the world to have him.

To my parents, not only for supporting my race walking, taking me to practice when I was a kid, traveling all over the US for races and believing in me, but for instilling in me hard work and determination, as well as knowing how to fight for what is right, even if it's not popular. 

To the Lawyers of Winston and Strawn, LLC.  In 2013 when they heard about the inequality facing female race walkers they absolutely jumped to help.  I was told that there were so many people in the firm that believed in the cause and were asking to be on the case they had to turn people away!  When that came to a successful conclusion I thought all was done.  But they contacted me about a year later saying they didn't feel the job was done and they thought more should be done.  they believed so strongly that women should be treated equally that they continued to fight!  I never could've done this without them and all their hard work.

To my friends who have been behind me, always supporting me and telling me to keep going.  Especially Nicole.  We met as musicians and now she knows waaay more about race walking than she probably ever thought she would.

To USATF and the IAAF who did eventually see that there was an inequality and that it could be rectified, and changed!  Many said that it would never happen, but it did!

To the US RW Executive Committee for naming me to the team. 

To Dr. Tina Nagle, who has not only kept my body in adjustment, but also been a sounding board when I've needed one, always being there for me, and always making time in her schedule for "emergency" visits.  I think the latest I've been there was 10:30 at night, and she always had a smile on her face and always believed in me.

To Steph Massage Therapy, for finding all those knots and tight bits and knowing just how get them to go away.  And for making me laugh while inflicting the necessary pain...

To Ian, Susan, Doug, Maryanne, and Arline, for letting me intrude on their homes to train in the winter months.  It always sucks to be away from Dave, but having such wonderful, caring and supportive people around you makes a world of difference. 

In a very obtuse sort of way thank you to all the people who said "don't bother, they'll never let women race a 50K" or "There's no way that will ever happen" or "just be happy doing 20K."  That's definitely one way to make me work harder, telling me I can't do something! 

Now through all this excitement I have to focus on the job at hand.  I will attack this race the same I do any race, I'll go out there and do my best.  It's going to be so overwhelming!  I was talking with my friend and she said "You will get to race with Yohan Diniz"  My response was "I get to be lapped by Yohan Diniz!"  I realize I'm not going to be in contention for anything.  People have already told me I'm going to be last (it was one of the reasons they said that the US shouldn't send me).  That doesn't even matter to me what place I come in, I'll be on the course!  I'll be racing with the best of the world!  I'll be doing what I love!  I'll be living out my dream!  And I'll be beating all the guys who drop out!  I will enjoy every minute of it!  And who knows, it's possible I could be a scoring member for the 50K team. 

 

Please like my FB athlete page at:  https://www.facebook.com/RacewalkerErin/

There's no more men's 50K in IAAF international competition

Yep, you read that right...  There no longer is a men's 50K in international competition under the IAAF, including in Rome for the World Team Championships.  IAAF released an official memo on Friday, April 8th, effective immediately that addresses it.  I will copy and paste it below.  This memo was sent out to every IAAF member federation throughout the world on Friday:

Dear General Secretary,

IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships

Rome, Italy – 7/8 May 2016 - 50km Race

We are writing concerning the participation of female athletes in IAAF 50km Race Walk events.

You will recall that, in August 2015, Rule 261 was amended by the Congress to include the Women's
50km Race Walk event as a listed World Record event.

For the moment, however, there remains no Women's 50km Race Walk event on the IAAF calendar

and an issue presents itself as to female race walkers being allowed to participate in the Men's
50km Race Walk event.

In this regard, we write to advise you that the IAAF Council has recently voted to amend, with

immediate effect, the Technical Regulations for the forthcoming IAAF World Race Walking Team
Championships in Rome (7/8 May 2016) to allow for female athletes to participate in the senior 50km Race Walk event, together with men. Any women’s results in Rome will count equally with the
men’s results towards the overall team result.

Should you wish to enter a female athlete in the 50km in Rome, please inform the IAAFCompetitions

Department (events@iaaf.org) before the Final Entry deadline (25 April 2016) providing the name of

the female athlete(s) as well as other biographical information as necessary. The maximum number
of athletes allowed to enter and compete in the 50km remains unchanged (seven to enter and five to
compete), regardless of the number of men and women.

Please note that the IAAF Council’s decision also extends to the participation of female athletes in

future IAAF 50km Race Walk events for which they qualify until such time as the IAAF introduces a
separate 50km event for Women.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries regarding the attached information.

Kind Regards,

Jean Gracia

General Secretary

Appendix (under separate cover): IAAF WAS Technical Regulations, amended IAAF World Race

Walking Team Championships
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This means there is no more men's 50K in IAAF competition, there is just THE 50K open to both men and women equally!!!!!!!!!!  Although I had never heard it before, the correct term is "gender blind" and the only other event that is gender blind in the Olympics is Equestrianism.  (there's debate about whether sailing is also gender blind, and that's a discussion for another day). 

I'm not sure I could be much happier right now.  This is a huge step for women's 50K walking!  I'm waiting to hear from the US Race Walking Executive Committee, who are having an emergency meeting, to see if they will vote me on the team.  There are many, many reasons why they should do so, and I'm very hopeful that they will.  Then I can be either the first or one of the first (if any other countries enter women) women to compete equally with the men, which would be AMAZING!  The last few days have felt surreal and it's been really hard to focus on things, which may be one reason I made a few mistakes playing Man of LaMancha last night, that and being really tired. 

So now I go out to do my workout, hoping and praying that in one month I'll be in Rome racing a 50K.  Please everyone, send positive, encouraging thoughts to the Race Walk Executive Committee that they will vote yes and nominate me to the team. 


(Please follow me on facebook at:  https://www.facebook.com/RacewalkerErin/)

Race recap and moving forward

The race has come and gone, and with it a lot of disappointment.   I had done everything I knew to do; chiro, ART, stretching, moving around.  But alas, it was not to be. 

First off, the important stuff.  I was only able to have this opportunity because of the kindness of so many people.  Especially Susan Heiser, who organized and stressed and fretted and did an amazing job of getting everything ready.  The volunteers and judges who came out super early on a Saturday morning.  To my amazing hubby who supports me always and drove all the way down there, judged and drove us home (11 hours each way).  To everyone who helped make it possible a huge thank you! 

The race started off and I was on pace quite easily.  Obviously 5:30 per K pace shouldn't be hard for the first 30K.  But I never felt good.  My hips felt off.  At about 7K I started getting a pain in my SI joint on the left side, going down into my glute.   I did my best to ignore it.  At about 14K or so it started to really hurt, to the point it was causing me to tighten up.  I asked Susan if she had a hard ball and she found a tennis ball.  So I stopped for a minute and rolled on it to see if I could get it to release.  This took me about 30 seconds.  So I was now 30 seconds off pace.  I started off and did my fastest K of the day; 5:24.  The worst thing was rolling on the tennis ball didn't help.  I was able to keep at or slightly under pace for a few K, but the pain was just getting worse.  Because of the pain in my left hip and trying to protect it my right hamstring was getting super tight.  Then the pace started to fall well over 5:30 per K pace.  I was hitting 5:40s and at 20K I hit a 5:53, so I knew it was time to call it quits.  As much as I wanted to hit my goal I have lots of important races coming up, and I did not want to injure myself.  It was very hard to stop.  It was so tough to not fight to the very bitter end, but I've tried that before and gotten injured.  I know I made the right decision in my head, but my heart is still heavy.  What made it lighter though was seeing how well Ian did.  While he didn't make the time he did set 5 American age group records and stayed so tough!  It was such a pleasure to watch him and cheer for him. 

We decided to drive back after the race and just get home.  I've been away for so long and the idea of being in my own bed with my hubby was sooooo nice.  So we drove with two stops and got home at 3:30 AM.   We slept ourselves out and got up at 11:30.  Dave decided he wanted to go do a local road race as a workout.  I didn't want to race and didn't want to be in the cold for that long (it was a 15K race) so I stayed home to recover and rest.  I texted my chiropractor and asked when she had something available.  Because I am surrounded by so many amazing people, she made an opening for me right then.  So I drove out to Chemung and saw her.  She was great, spending a ton of time with me.  My hips were out, my neck was out (but my neck is almost always out after I travel that much, especially since I fell asleep in the car).  I was wonked out in about three other places too.  The biggest thing she found was that the pain I was feeling wasn't muscular, which was why rolling on the tennis ball didn't help.  It was the nerves going through the bone area that were inflamed and connecting into the sciatic nerve.  With the adjustment and sitting on ice and taking some anti inflammatory it's feeling much better.  I took the rest of the day Sunday off by her advice. 

Now the focus switches entirely to 20K.  World Team Championship Trials are April 3rd in St. Louis.  Since I know I'm strong I'm focusing entirely on speed for the next two weeks.  Short, all-out speed and longer sustained speed.  I need to move past the disappointment of last week and focus forward.  As they say, life goes on. 

Here's the little guy who was at death's door.  Looking great this morning!

And speaking of life goes on, nothing shows that more than spring time and getting new chicks!!!!  We have 30 new meat birds and 6 new layer chicks.  We didn't realize though that the meat birds would bully the layers, so we had to separate them.  We didn't know we'd have to do that so we weren't prepared for it.  Thus we now have 6 layers in our kitchen cheeping and being cute.  It's still quite cold outside, in fact yesterday it snowed, and stuck on the ground.  We have a heat lamp for them, but apparently it wasn't enough.  So they were huddling in some groups and we noticed that one chick was being smooshed to death.  I saw him and he was cold and barely breathing.  So we brought him in, warmed up the heating pad and stuck him in the kitchen.  By night he was up and aware and doing great!!  We kept all of them in the house in the warmest room of the house and this morning I was greeted with some very loud chirps!  He was up and running around and greeting the world!  I'm happy to say I just took him out with his brothers and sisters in the barn.  And with the second heat lamp outside everyone did great last night.  Whew!


Our baby layers

Time to focus, time to move past disappointment and time to work towards new goals. 

The fragility of confidence

Confidence is a funny thing.  There's a fine line between being confident and being cocky.  On the other hand confidence can be as fragile as a silken thread.  Sometimes you can see confidence in a person, in how they speak, stand, or act.  The dictionary defines confidence thusly:

1.  Full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing:

 

2. Belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance:

 

3.  Certitude; assurance.

 

The second and third definitions are more apt to what I'm talking about; belief in yourself and your abilities, being certain of what you can achieve and being assured of your success.  Not only is confidence important, but not having confidence can be equally as destructive.  What's interesting is when dictionary.com gives definitions they also give sentences so you know how to properly use the word.  Here is the second definition in it's entirety:

 

2. Belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance:

                His lack of confidence defeated him.

 

Dictionary.com even realizes that not having confidence is a problem, to the point where it can defeat you. 

 

So how do you gain confidence?  How fragile is it?  What destroys confidence?  How do you grab hold of confidence when you feel it slipping away?

 

It's interesting growing confidence in younger or beginning athletes.  They don't have many experiences to draw upon, and they don't know how progress grows.  You can tell them you believe that they're capable of something and they don't believe you, they don't have the confidence in themselves.  What I tell my athletes is you gain confidence by putting in the work.  It's not one or two fabulous workouts every so often, but weeks/months/years of hard work.  It's consistency.  It's every day putting that small deposit in the bank so that on race day you can take out a huge withdrawl.  It's all the workouts that you've done in tough conditions, getting out there when you're tired, sore, or just not feeling it and putting in the effort anyway.  That's one way of building confidence.

 

You can also pull off of prior experiences.  I did it once, I can do it again!  The body remembers what it's done and once you do something it's easier to duplicate it.  It took years to break the four-minute mile barrier, but once it was broken many people did it.  Once they saw it could be done they knew it could be done and it became possible.  

 

How fragile is confidence?  That's really a very personal question.  Some have unfailing confidence.  They always believe in themselves and their abilities.  I think a lot of that was fostered and nurtured by parents and coaches.  The converse is true, if you don't have parents and coaches saying they believe in you it's harder for you to develop it on your own.  It's possible, definitely possible, but harder to do.   Maybe an injury can take away your confidence.  I've seen someone's confidence shattered by one poor race.  Their confidence was so weak, so tenuous that any tremor blew it apart.  For some a single DQ or even a single red card can cause their confidence to evaporate.

 

If you do a simple Google search on "how to build confidence" you'll get an almost infinite return of sites aimed to "Boost confidence now!"  "5 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Self Confidence." and "25 Killer Actions to Boost Your Self Confidence."    

 

So why am I brining this up?  It's because I'm having a crisis of confidence.  The race is Saturday and I'm not feeling totally ready.  My body is betraying me.  I've always dealt with unstable hips.  My SI joint likes to wobble around and occasionally go out.  I've had it happen before big races, even during big races.  I've worked hard to get it more stable, and am happy that the last few years it has gotten much better.  I have strengthening exercises I do that really help and I can sometimes go months without anything going out.  But then there are times when I'm traveling a lot or really tired or do a long/hard race - like a 50K - that sometimes my body just goes out. 

 

When I got down to South Carolina I never felt quite right.  I got an appointment with a chiropractor that I've seen and he said I was waaaay out.  Okay.  Happens.  He put me back in place.  But my muscles were really unhappy.  They had gotten tight and didn't want to release.  You know that feeling when you try and stretch and just can't?  Yeah, that feeling.  And when things go out I find my core work isn't easy.  It just feels off.  Where I can  normally hold planks super solid for well over a minute multiple times, suddenly 30 seconds and I'm shaking all over the place.  That translates to losing a lot of power when walking.

 

The chiropractor put me back in place, but the muscles were grumpy.  Lucky for me we went to see the ART guy yesterday.  He said I was super tight through the hips.  Again, makes sense.  Stuff was out, muscles tightened up, now to get them relaxed.  After he worked on me I did a nice shake out walk that started feeling a bit more like myself.

 

But today I'm out again.  Chances are it's just because I was so far out it didn't quite stick.  We have an appointment with the chiropractor for a few hours from now, but it's getting to be mentally very difficult.  I've had some good workouts since February 21, but not many.  I don't need many, I know I'm still in shape, but what if I can't get my body to behave itself?   This is shaking my confidence. 

 

One of the websites from the Google search said the following:  Know your strengths and weaknesses. Write a list of things that you are good at and things that you know need improvement.  Excellent idea!   I'm going to do it in the opposite order though, starting with things that need improvement and moving to things I'm good at.  I like to always end with the positives.  Here goes.

 

Things I need improvement on:
* More core/hip/pelvis stability.  this is something I can continue to work on, but not a lot between now and Saturday.  However, what I can do is go to the Chiropractor and ART, stretch, roll, and massage.

* Figuring out more what exactly happens to throw me out.  Do I sit a certain way on the airplane that throws me off?  Am I sleeping differently?  Do I not stretch as much after a hard race?  Am I drinking enough while traveling so that things don't get bound up.  All these things are areas I can work on and improve.

 

Things I am good at:

* Walking long distances.  50K is what I love!  I have twice gone under the standard I need to walk on Saturday.  I know I'm in good shape.  I know I'm good at walking 50K.

* I'm mentally tough.   I know if I'm within striking distance of that qualifying time I will hit it.  During workouts I constantly play games with myself by giving myself time goals to hit at the end of workouts.  It works really well.

* Staying positive.  Sometimes I can get negative thoughts going through my head, but I'm generally excellent at keeping them out.  In the track race at Banks two years ago I hit a patch where I started to slow down and I started to freak out and I almost started to hyperventilate.  I finally was able to tell myself to chill the f*@k out and I got right back on track. 

 

I believe that if my body is working as it should I can hit the standard.  The thing that's shaking my confidence is what if my body isn't at optimal?  Can I do it then?  I thought I could do it February 21st, but the heat was just too much for me.  The weather forecast is so much better here, not what some would consider 100% ideal, but really darned close to it. 

 

So here is how I will deal with my confidence crisis.  I will realize the following:

1.  The only thing I can do is my best.  I can get out there and work as hard as I can, racing smart and tough.

2.  I am in shape to do it.  I've done it before and can replicate it.

3.  I am mentally tough and can push through the rough patches and enjoy being on the track with good competition, working together to reach our goals.

4.  I will go into it knowing I did everything I could do; seeing the chiropractor, stretching, staying hydrated and well fueled.

5.  I will go over in my mind other times when I maybe doubted what I could do but came out victorious.  All the times people thought I couldn't do it and I proved them wrong.  When I'm on the track getting tired I will hear in my head the things people have said and I will laugh as I once again prove them wrong. 

6.  I am a hard worker. 

 

Think about your confidence.  Where does it stem from?  What holds it together?  How can you continue to grow your confidence so that if something happens to shake it you'll have the foundation to hold strong?  Be confident that you can achieve what you set out to achieve. 

 

 

 

One week to go, new associations, exciting things on the horizon

I made it to South Carolina!  It's hot!  Holy cow!  Luckily it gets hot later in the afternoon and it's supposed to cool off by next weekend.  I've settled in nicely, and got a solid 30K in on Thursday, my last long one before the race.  It went fine for the course.  I felt a little beat up, but stayed decently strong throughout.  Today though I felt pretty awful and decided a trip to the chiropractor was in order.  Boy am I glad I did.  I was WAAAAYYYY out!  I feel like a whole different person right now.  Whew!  I have two bodywork appointments for next week; one Monday and one Friday, so I should be good to go.  Now that my body is in the correct alignment I think the stretching will be much more useful.  That's one way I can sometimes tell when I'm out or going out, I'll get tighter and tighter and it feels like stretching doesn't do any good.  Now that things are in the right spot I can get some good stretching/yoga in.  

It's great being down here and really focusing on training and getting ready for the race.  As I'm typing the Sydney Olympics is on the TV, so watching the best 50K walkers in the world battle it out.

This weekend is a weekend full of excitement:  AJ is racing at New Balance Indoor Nationals tomorrow and then the Hershey meet the following day.  He's ready to go, mentally and physically, so I'm excited to hear how he does.  USATF indoor nationals is tomorrow, so it'll be great to see how everyone does.  and the IAAF has a meeting where on the agenda is women's 50K walking.  Obviously I can't wait to hear how that meeting goes.  And what was exciting was during China's race last weekend there were three women who raced 50K!  Well, there were four, but one DNF'ed.  I think it's a huge step to have a powerhouse such as China get some women involved in the 50K.  I think that's major progress and very exciting.

And for more exciting news, I'm very proud to announce a partnership with AthleteBiz!  They are dedicated to helping athletes gain publicity and exposure and help fund their dreams.  Please visit my site and take a look and tell me what you think.  The extra exciting thing is you'll see a link to my storefront.  This will take you to Running Warehouse, a great place to buy shoes, clothes, watches, nutrition, basically all your workout needs!  If you go to their site via my storefront and buy things then I will receive a percentage of what you spend!  No strings attached!  They also have a great clearance section with shoes.  Please visit, take a look for some things you've been meaning to stock up on, and help me out in the progress. 

https://www.athletebiz.us/erin-taylor-talcott

And I have one more exciting thing to announce.....  but I'm not going to announce it yet.  There's still a bit more to do for preparation, but I'm so incredibly excited about it.  And no, I'm not pregnant (since whenever a woman says they have an announcement that's the first thing people seem to think of...)  So stay tuned!

Being home and starting to feel like myself again - just in time to leave

Walking our legs out at Sea World the day after the 50K

It's been 11 days since the 50K.  Recovery is going slower than I'm used to, but still pretty good.  The worst thing has been sleep - or should I say lack of sleep.  I don't usually sleep well the night after I've raced a 50K, and this time was no exception.  The next night I slept decent, however travel home was horrible.  It took us 16 hours to get home, and it was 2:30 AM before we stepped in the door.  I had to get up at a somewhat reasonable hour to try and get the house ready for Katie Smith's training visit.   She was supposed to arrive about noon but was delayed.  This caused me to have time to do my ab work on the floor at the airport.  I'm not sure the TSA people have seen anyone do that before.  At least they looked at me like they'd never seen anyone do ab work before.

Katie after a hard workout where she totally nailed it, going faster than she thought possible.  She was steaming by the time she was done!

(Katie after a hard workout where she killed it!  You can't tell from the photo but she was steaming!)

For the next week I focused on resting, recovery, doing stuff around the house, and working with Katie.  Katie worked so hard while she was here.  If she's able to keep up the awesome training consistently then be prepared to see her smash her PB's this year!  

I kept trying to sleep but various things kept getting in the way; phone calls, texts, (finally figured out how to turn the phone off while leaving the alarm on) someone coming to the door, and nightmares, so sleep seemed elusive.  Finally a few days ago I managed to get in a nap and that really, really, really helped!  I've also been working hard on my diet and making sure my body is getting all the nutrition it needs to recover. 

Maybe not the smartest thing, I'm still not sure, was racing a 3,000 six days after the 50K.  It went really well, but I was pretty tired afterwards, more tired than I felt I should've been for a 3K.  My first 2K were strong, but I slowed down a bit my last K.  Still one of my strongest 3K races in a few years!  14:13.92 made me very happy.  I was even happier with how all my athletes did.  They inspire me to work hard and keep pushing.

Another thing I realized about 20 minutes ago is that today is the first time in about 8 weeks that I've been by myself all day!  I had my wonderful hosts while I was in St. George and then I got home and when Dave went to work Katie was here.  I guess it makes sense why I'm a little lonely today. 

Looking forward, I have a 50K to do!!! March 19th is the day, down in South Carolina.  Ian and Susan at Caminata Training Center are organizing a race for us, which is amazing.  Weather should be way, way, way better, it'll be on a track, so no problems with surface.  Since it's on a track getting aid will be easy and we'll be able to get whatever we need whenever we need it. 

That being the case, the race is in 15 days!!! Holy cow!!!!!!!  I'm traveling down to South Carolina on Wednesday, so I'll have to leave again soon.  We decided to send me down early so I can get all the travel out of my legs and get used to the climate.  That and the ticket prices got stupid expensive if I left after that.

apparently our bird feeder is a great place to roost for the night!

It's been great being home, getting caught up on some stuff, and sleeping in my own bed. And most importantly being with Dave!  I hate being away from him.  It's been great seeing my kitties, but the saddest thing of Joe passing away while I was gone has left quite a hole.  I keep expecting him to be around the corner, or jump on the bed at night.  I think my other cats notice his absence as well.

The turkeys are comfortable on the front porch too.

Now to the weirdest thing.  Some of you may remember my blog post on the case of the mysterious white rooster:  http://erintaylortalcott.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-case-of-mysterious-white-rooster.html   Apparently we are a welcome center for wayward fowl.  Four turkeys have adopted us.  They even went into the chicken coop to munch on some corn.  They hang out on our back porch.  It freaks my cats out when they go outside.  They try to run out the backdoor but stop up short when they see four turkeys right there.  It's kind of amusing actually.  The only thing that's not funny is the amount they poop!  Holy cow!  I thought sweeping chicken poop of the porch was annoying!  Boy oh boy can turkeys poop!

Athlete #2 comes tonight for a weekend of training.  I've got some fun stuff ready for him :)  And some good workouts for us to do.  Then Monday I head to Albany with Dave for his training, and leave Wednesday for South Carolina.  

I'm resting, training, eating well, stretching, doing everything I can think of so that I'll be ready on March 19th.  I've got goals and a belief in myself that I can achieve them.  Now I just need to get out there and do it!


Thank you Honey Stinger for supporting me on my journey!

Happy training :)