easy 12 minutes

Today I was supposed to do 12 minutes easy. That turned into 14 minutes, but I think my coach will be OK with that. I wanted to RW the 2K loop that I'm going to do tomorrow for the 10K, so that's what I did. It's very flat (almost everything in Sacramento is really flat!) and on the road behind the stadium. It's NOT the same course they'll use for worlds next year, unfortunately; that course will be in Land Park, about a 10 minute drive from the stadium. I would have liked to race on it beforehand, but I guess that doesn't matter too much. At 7:45 am when I racewalked this morning, it was nice and cool, and most of the course was shaded (about 2/3 of it). The race is at 7:30 am, so I'm optimistic that the conditions will be fairly ideal.

I ran into - or should I say racewalked into - Vicki P. and John M. out on the course. I enjoyed a little chat w/them, and then finished up my walk before heading in to the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) meeting at 8 am. That was quite interesting! They are going to drug test a sample of the masters athletes next summer at worlds, and I learned some important things. Basically, anything I put into my body medication-wise needs to be checked against their list of prohibited substances online. For example, the cortisone shot I had in my foot last fall would be considered a banned substance, and I'd have to get a TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption) in order to have the shot. Presumably that's out of my system by now since it's been 10 months, but if it wasn't, and I got randomly selected for a drug test and failed, I'd lose my medals and face sanctions. Anyway, you even need to check cold and flu medications, as pseudoephedrine is a banned substance. It was an informative meeting, marred only by the extremely idiotic questions that some people posed, and by the bad attitude of some in the audience who seemed to simply want to challenge the patient instructor.

***

I'm tired, because I was up too late skype-ing with my coach :). I know, not smart, but I like to chat racewalking, so why not? My plan now, since it's 4 pm, is to simply stay up until about 8:30 pm and then go to bed. I'll get up at 4:30 am, eat breakfast before the race like I did on Friday, and head to the race. I'll try to arrive an hour beforehand to declare and warm-up, and then it will be race time. I'm a little less nervous than for the 5K, but still apprehensive. I want to do my best, and am just hoping that it will work out OK. I'm as prepared as I'm going to be, so it's silly to be nervous, but it's just the usual race day jitters and those will be what they will be.

Last night at dinner with some racewalking friends, most of us were agreeing that the 10K is just a tough race. It's fast, almost as fast as the 5K, but goes on longer, and so the pain is longer in some respects. Yeah, the first 6K can't be too hard or you won't have anything left, but it's hard enough to wear on you, and then the last 4K just hurts a lot. I am not really looking forward to the pain, but the sense of accomplishment when you are done is worth it when you have a good race.

***

It's different having a coach for these events. It's very nice mentally to have someone to chat with and help you decompress as well as instill confidence in you prior to the race. It's also nice not to second-guess how I trained; when I coached myself it was always a guessing game, and while I've read a lot, I don't know anywhere near as much as Jim does about training. I'm learning a lot and enjoying it. I have highly recommended Jim before, and will do so again now - even if you don't think you need a coach, you might consider it. Here's his website. So I'm offering a public thanks to Jim for the last 4 months of coaching. It's been invaluable. I know I'd be in lots worse shape both physically and mentally without his help.