Taking a Break Sucks!!!!

Hi there,  I am back.  Not that anyone missed me.

Well alot has happened in the last couple of weeks.  I raced in the masters 5km and 10km race.  We had to make up a new course due to safety issues on the road and this meant using the rise in the foot path.  Not a good mix for me and by 2km I had done my back and felt like I stretched my hamstring tendon.  But stupid me kept walking..........5km and I kept going as all I could see was the championship!  Well I know better.

This has forced me to take a week off.  I had to go to the dr to get the results of my tests and biopsy's and that was a bit up setting for me.  After taking god awful pills for the last week, I can only hope that tomorrow I will give a clear test and wont need to take them any more.  The effects of these pills left me unable to walk so it was well timed.

I dont do rest well............ I get antzy and moody.

My good friend arrives next tuesday and then we have a half marathon to walk............I can barely walk 2km.  EEEEKKKKKK  to say I am worried is an understatement.

Tonight I decided to go to the track.  I had to know if I can still walk.  I joined in with robyn and her walkers..... they were doing 2km, 400m, 2km and 400m.  

After my first two km I was not doing the 400m and I pretty much limped off the track, so angry and annoyed.  My back was KILLING me.  I wore my SI Belt and it had NO effect.  If anything it made it hard to walk.  I was stiff and slow and hurting.   My 2km was 11:55 ... ugh Paul beat me by doing a 11:19

I thought...give it one more go and after chatting to Robyn I headed back out...minus the belt and focused on relaxing.  In the first 100m I felt like a different walker....I was smooth and for the first time in ages I felt that my hips were moving.....by 400m I had caught and passed Paul and just kept pulling away.  Finishing this 2km in 11:21   ... YUS!! thats more like it.  I decided not to push on the 400m and just cruised for 1:15min.

I am a little sore and stiff now but Ice will help.

1st 2km
2nd 2km

5 km recovery on treadmill

As no one was walking tonight I decided to hop down stairs on the treadmill.   It would also give me a chance to fiddle with my watch a little.  It says on the site that the watch can tell the distance you walk....I find this hard to believe so I did take if off auto lap.  (hindsite...I will leave it be)

I started the treadmill and 20 seconds into the walk I had to stop it and reset it as it was set in miles!  Grrrrr so I reset it in kms and started again.  I set the treadmill to 9.5km/hr and decided to just tick along at that pace.  I was really surprised to see that my watch was matching the kms on the treadmill....how did it do that???  when the treadmil hit 1km I clicked lap on my watch and after that the watch was about 10mts out per km for each km.   I was really pleased that the watch kept distance so well.

I was surprised that the only part hurting was my shins.  My hip was good and while my SI did niggle it was not as bad as it had been in the last couple of weeks.  I think the chiro got it right on Friday.  Plus I have been in my kicks with inserts all day everyday....so no chance for my arch to collapse.

for my 5km I did 31.17

tomorrow I will go for another 5km along the walkway and then a 6km with the guys on Thursday.  If I still feel good then I will enter the 10km champs on the weekend.

5km data

16km (10miles) LBG Walk Championships

I flew to Canberra on Saturday night.   It was freezing when I landed and I really had come away unprepared for the cold.   Annette, Lucy and David came and collected me from the airport.   We get back to the house and gathered everyone together (Jim and Liz) and headed out for dinner.  It was so nice to meet Sarah and Cassie and in the racewalk family style.....we all got talking shop!  

The alarm goes off at 6am and I gingerly step my feet out of my nice warm bed.   BRRRRR its really cold!   0 degs - with nervous chatter we all go about our routines in getting ready for a race and head to the race start.    When we arrived the first thing I spotted was the group of Kangaroo's that were all just casually lounging under the trees watching us with amusement.

This is a huge meet with many age grades and distances.  The most prominent event was the 20 and 10 mile.  These two races started at 8am.  It was a great feeling lining up on the start line beside Olympian Jared Tallent and top Australian walkers like Chris, Tanya, Bek and lauren.   Not very often I get the chance to even see them walk let alone say I walked with them (even if only a couple of steps) 

 Look at all those walkers!  It took a full 500m for us to pull away and settle to our own spots.  I settled into a pace I felt happy with.  Sarah came up along side me and walked with me for about 1km but then she slowly pulled away and I slowed to my pace that I would hold at for most of the race.  While I am relatively fit, 16km is a big ask when you have only been doing 8km and the odd 10km.  I was starting to really feel the ups and downs on the course and it was only 5km.  My back was pulling and just not freeing up at all.  I had expected that and just figured to hang in there and keep one foot infront of the other.

 I was pleased to see my form was not as bad as I felt I looked.......I was just lacking power!  My main goal in coming down to this event was to finish and to finish under 1:40 ........ for a while there I was looking at a good 1:38 but the last 3km were to be the undoing of me.   I had taken a gel at 8km but no water to help wash it down as I had no idea where the drink stations were and twice I nearly went the wrong way.   At 12km I suddenly felt very sick...I really thought I was going to throw and started dry retching as I was walking.  My stomach went into knots and I got a hit of gastro distress.  This was not good.  My pace dropped dramatically and where I was on target for a 1:38 - I was now looking like I was not going to hit my goal either.  About 800m from the finish we had to walk 300m over grass..........this part was AWFUL, its was long, lumpy and full of pot holes.  It was the toughest part of the whole race!!!

You have NO idea how good this felt.  I was amazed my body had held together.  My finish time was 1:39:46 ...... I just scrapped under my goal by the skin of my teeth.

It was great to watch all the other races and cheer on the qld walkers.   It was a great weekend all round.  That night we went out to the presentations where I got a Silver and Liz got a Bronze.  I must say I was surprised at how well my body felt after the race (and the following day too)

 16km data

8km and new watch

My watch arrived today, so I charged it up at work and then during my lunch break - set it up so it was ready to take for a walk tonight.  

It was so easy to set up and my first find was how light it is.  Plus the touch screen is very responsive and easy to work through.

I met up with Paul, Deb and Kay at our usual spot on the Broadbeach walkway.  My watch found satellites quick and we were ready to go in under 30secs.  I was only going to tick along tonight and stretch my legs out.  My back has been hurting since the chiro adjustment.  Muscular pain not bone.  I was very pleased to hear my watch chime off at the km mark exactly as it was marked out and it showed me my km time in large print.  I didnt check to see if the pace was correct as I wasnt worried to much about that tonight.

On the last lap of the walk way both Paul and I has some gastro issues and had to do a sudden and urgent veer to the toilets - My stomach had been playing up all day as I am still adjusting to my new diet and still get some gastro distress in the afternoons.  As I didnt start my walk back at the spot I had stopped.  I had to walk a further 20m at the end to make it up for 8km.  I have to say that I was very pleased with how the watch responded and the data it gave me.  At the end of this walk it flashed and told me I had 4 new personal bests ..... fastest  KM, fastest Mile, fastest 5km and longest walk.   I am really looking forward to seeing this change as my training picks up again.

I am VERY pleased with my watch.  I will look into buying the special heart strap that goes with it (Garmin only replaced my watch not the bundle)  I just have to find somewhere that sells it.

total time for our 8km was an easy 55:54

8 km data

My Week - so far

I am officially coachless.  I will be training myself from here in.  I think I have learned enough to get it right.

Sunday, I started the 30 day challenges with Shane.   25 squats, 20 sec Wall Squat etc etc .... Sunday my back was killing me so ended up just doing 5km on the treadmill.  But that night my legs were really hurting.  my adductors were so tight and sore I was struggling just standing up right.

Monday -  Got my self into the chiro and was told that my arch on my right foot had collapsed causing my SI Joint to lock tight and stay tight.  It took 2 goes to get it to crack and free up.....BOY did it crack.  OUCH.  So I really must address getting proper orthotics and soon.

I heard back from Garmin about my watch.  They had found a fault and were going to send me back a new replacement of the same.  So I called them and blow me down with a feather!!! they are happy to up grade me to the 620 at NO extra cost.  Whoop Whoop.

Tuesday,  My legs were still hurting and while I went to the track, after two laps I knew I couldnt do any sort of workout.  Robyn had 5 of her juniors walking tonight and they were to do 500m's.  We swapped that to 400m and I walked with them and helped them with arm technique.  They are such a great bunch of kids, so enthusiastic and GREAT walkers.  A lot of potential tallent coming through here.

We all did 6 x 400m most around the 2:46 per lap.  My legs are still sore but not as bad.  Hope to do 8km on Thursday.

one of our 400ms