Racewalking Year in Review

It's fitting on the last day of the year to look back and reflect. Here goes!

January started off rough, as I was still recovering from a mysterious viral illness that had me out of commission for most of November and December of 2010. However, by the end of the month I was training well again and that continued through the end of February when - SURPRISE! - I discovered I was pregnant. I had to stop training hard, but kept walking; sadly, I miscarried 3 weeks later. In retrospect it's still sad, though somewhat of a relief - mixed feelings.

So, in mid-March we resumed training, and I did the Salt Lake Half Marathon in April to get things going, under strict orders to take it easy. I did, but still set a 4-minute PR! This was just the beginning of great things to come this year.

But first, another test. I was training well for the national 15K in May in Riverside, and just 6 days before the race I incurred a shin injury. MRIs later would show it was a tear of my anterior tibialis with tendonitis in the front of my ankle as well. I rested up for the race, did it anyway, and set a new PR (well, OK, it was my first 15K race, so it was going to be a PR anyway!) of 1:29:03. I was quite happy with the time, which earned me a silver medal in the OPEN division (!) as well as a gold medal in my age group.

After resting and some physical therapy, I was able to start training hard again in June. I only had about 6-7 weeks until the World Masters Athletics Championships in Sacramento, CA. Not enough time to be as fast as I wanted to be, but still enough to do well if we trained through the 5K and 10K races. I worked really hard and pulled off three new PRs at WMA: 28:04 in the 5K, 57:35 in the 10K, and 2:00:37 in the 20K. I had wanted to break 2 hr for the 20K, but I was just too fatigued from the previous efforts. Still, I was very pleased to have three PRs and three silver medals, coming in second to my good friend and training partner Nyle Sunderland from New Zealand in all three races.

A few weeks' recovery were in order, including a week in Disneyland with the family. After that, it was time to start training again, as I planned on doing a marathon in September, and there was not much time to get my mileage up. Jim wrote me a great program that got me ready in time; however, because of the short training time it was a tough race. At the Top of Utah marathon in Logan, UT, I smashed my marathon PR by 9 minutes. It would have been more except for the last 5 miles - I hit the wall and got glycogen-depleted, and it hurt! I was still ecstatic to break my PR by so much and to know I could keep training for more.

I continued hard training, this time with the goal of being ready for a fast 50K in January, 2012. Our walking club had our first judged race in October, and though it was a short 3K I really wanted to do it to support the club. Despite training for longer distances and not doing much short fast stuff, I broke my 3K PR in that race with a 16:24.

Continuing my training for the 50K, I had a few key races along the way, the first being the Two Cities Half Marathon in Fresno in November. Since I was traveling to do the race (as well as to visit my husband's family in Bakersfield), I wanted to race it hard and do well. Coach said I could do that as long as we trained through it and didn't taper, which was fine with me. I figured my half marathon PR was ripe for smashing, and it was! I won the racewalking division with a new PR of 2:05:33 and also won a beautiful necklace, a plaque, and a free pair of New Balance shoes.

Some friends suggested I racewalk the Mesquite Marathon with them in November, and I thought that sounded like a fun girls' weekend. It was! Jim said I could do it IF I approached it as a training walk and took it easy. Cool. I was very careful not to push hard (except the last km or so!) and on this nice fast downhill course I smashed my PR with a 4:19:27, even taking it easy! Wow. I was gaining confidence for the 50K with each workout, and this race showed what I could do. Now I just had to continue to work hard for a few more weeks and increase my fitness as much as possible before the 50K.

I've trained well the last month, continuing to break PRs in various workouts that Jim gives me, and I feel my confidence growing. It's been a great year! Total mileage for the year, despite illness and injury, was 1560 miles or 2510 km. That's a lot better than 2010 :). And I set new PRs at every distance: 3K, 5K, 10K, 15K, 20K, half marathon, and marathon. I'm ready for the 50K just one week from today. Bring on 2012!