I wasn't sure how this would go just 2 days after a good 20 km race but I was feeling pretty good. There was quite a strong wind at my back so I realised that it would be hard to get good times on the way back. My first 500 m was not great but that is the usual pattern. After that things went quite well. To me that a huge improvement from a few weeks ago when I was struggling to do 7:30 min/km after a good effort due to very sore hamstrings. It seems like I have finally managed to get glutes to do the main work and they don't seem to take so long to recover. Overall time 51:10, average pace 6:23, average HR 152.
6:06
3:12+ 2:58 = 6:10
3:22+ 3:06= 6:28
3:15+ 2:59 = 6:14
3:27+ 2:58 = 6:25
3:26+ 3:05 = 6:31
3:29+ 3:03 = 6:32
3:35+ 3:07 = 6:42
Sunday 11 March - Wellington Champs 20 km Road Walk
I wasn't sure how this walk would go. My glutes were still quite new to working this hard and had been starting to fatigue after about 8 km. I had done quite well in the half marathon 2 weeks earlier but I didn't need to think about judges in that event.
I wanted to start conservatively but when I saw the first 500m was under 3 min I knew that wasn't the case. I tried to settle in to a steady rhythm and pretty much achieved that. I kept an eye on my 500 m splits, hoping to keep them under 3:15. I was pleased to reach the 10 km mark in under 63 min with no warnings or cards. My own husband who had been roped into judging gave me a warning not long after this and a card appeared on the board at around the 11 km mark.
Weather conditions were perfect. It was overcast with some light drizzle at times. There was a moderate head wind coming out from the start/finish line but it did not have a noticeable impact. I got the bell at around 62 mins and realised that I was going to achieve a personal best time. I clocked in at 1:09:47. I have been DQ'd at more 20 km races than I have finished. My previous best was at the long distance champs in my first year of walking where I did 2:14 but don't know the seconds. This time is also a Wellington Masters record in my age group by about 7 mins but I have to make the effort to do the paperwork on that one yet.
I was the second woman to finish behind Alana Barber who races for Racewalking Auckland. Since she is not a member of a Wellington club then I was named as the Wellington Champion for this year. It was a pity that Robyn was out of town this weekend as we may have had quite a close battle.
A couple of hundred metres after the start of this race I realised I had forgotten to wear my heart monitor strap. I decided that was a good thing since I have had problems with it slipping down during training and I may have risked losing form whilst concentrating on adjusting the strap.
It's late and I need to get to be so I will be very brief in my next few reports. I did type a good description of these the other day but the system decided to throw an error when I tried to publish them and auto-save wasn't working so I lost everything I had typed.
Friday 9 March - 3 x 2km + 2 x 1 km
Total time 50:21, average pace 6:17, average HR 156 bpm. I was slow on the first km, did quite well for the remainder of the 2 km sprints but disappointing on the 1 km sprints. Probably a sign of fatigue and the hard effort put in on the 2kms.
Thursday 8 March - 10 km Training Walk
Total time 1:10:54. average pace 7:05 aver HR 142
Wednesday 7 March - 12 km Walk with 2 x 5 min@ 10 km pace
Tuesday 6 March - 10 km Fartlek
Sunday 4 March - 10 km Training Walk
The 20 km race scheduled for this day was postponed a week due to the stormy weather. In the afternoon we parked in town, walked to the Newtown fair and then walked back round the bays. Not great speed or distance but we did at least get out.
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