One Last Workout for 2006

It seems like a long time since my last workout. I needed some time to recover from a knee injury then went on vacation. I really wanted to get a few workouts in while visiting family in Argentina but I caught a cold, my heel swelled up (probably an insect bite) and my knee was still hurting a bit.

So much for excuses, today's workout:

1 Mile - 11:07

It was only one mile because I'm breaking in the orthotics and it should have been under 11 minutes but I had to stop and wait for a car to clear an intersection. Oops, but those are more excuses.

I'll postpone the marathon distance workout for later as I ease back into my routine. Three miles for tomorrow, six for Tuesday and I'll be back on schedule, more or less.

Meet the Feet

So today I had my appointment with the podiatrist.

He kneaded and twisted my feet then ordered some xrays and told me that I had a problem that could be solved with surgery but since it wasn't severe I should try orthotics first. Basically, my feet flatten out instead of hold their shape properly. Since the 2E width shoes seem to fit me better I asked if I had wide feet and he said no, it's just that they spread out. He mentioned that the Superfeet insoles that I bought were his favorite so at least that was a good choice. He then ordered casts made for the custom orthodics and gave me some calf stretching exercises--which happen to be the ones I've been doing anyway, I just have to do them more often.

So is this the magic bullet I've been looking for? We'll have to wait and see, the orthodics arrive in a couple of weeks, right when I'll be away on vacation.

Tired of Resting

After a couple of weeks of resting a sore knee I finally got out and did my six mile training walk.

My schedule calls for six mile walks every Tuesday and Thursday, speed work with the Southern Cal Walkers on Saturday, long distance on Sunday and strength training on Monday (depending on Sunday's distance) Wednesday and Friday. With the holidays and vacation plans coming up this well planned schedule will probably fly right out the window.

Tomorrow I've got an appointment with a podiatrist, that's a good thing because he might be able to determine why I've been hurting my knees everytime I push through a 10 minute mile. Then again there is also a DreamWorks Animation company party tomorrow night and that could be detrimental to my training. It was hard enough getting up this morning, I can't imagine doing the six mile walk the morning after a holiday party.

Here's how it went today:

Mile 1 - 11:49
Mile 2 - 12:22
Mile 3 - 12:41
Mile 4 - 12:58
Mile 5 - 12:34
Mile 6 - 12:11
Average Pace - 12:26 minutes per mile
Total Workout - 1:14:38

It is going to take a while to get used to doing six miles instead of the usual three and I took it a bit conservatively this morning. I do have an excuse for that slow mile 4, my shoelace came untied--yikes! The laces on my new size 11 Loco Banditos are a bit long for the way that I lace them so I'll have to either get shorter laces of find an alternate way to tie them.

Time for some more research:

Ian's Shoelace Site

New Scientist Article: Mathematics unravels optimum way of shoe lacing.

Holiday Postal Photos

Saturday night I decided not to walk the one hour postal and take some photos instead. I was hoping to see a few hot shots at the race and I wasn't disappointed. Rick Campbell showed up all decked out with a holiday hat and bells on his shoes. Fortuantely for the sanity of the other racewalkers his bells fell off so they didn't have to hear jingling bells for the duration of the race. I don't have the official results, but he went further than 10k in the hour so that means that his average pace was under 10 minutes per mile--quite a performance.



A moment just before the start. It rained the night before so the track was soggy. The bathrooms were all locked so the start was delayed a few minutes after sunrise which made for better light for photography.



The start of the race.

















It was probably best I didn't enter the race. Just walking across the field so many times made my knee a little sore.

Getting Back up to Speed

This morning I worked out with the Southern Cal Walkers. There's a club postal tomorrow, that's a race where they see how far they can go in a one hour time limit, and that made the workout today rather light. I said that I wasn't doing the race tomorrow so I did a somewhat more strenuous slow, faster, faster, full-speed, lap sets. The way it works is to do an easy walk for a lap (400 meters) followed by an easy racewalk lap, then a racewalk at about a 70% effort and finally an all out effort on the fourth lap. Then--do it all over again. I walked with Carl Acosta and Sylvia Ellis, Carl showed us how on the first set then let Sylvia and me go off and do another set. I didn't time myself but the last lap my heart was beating 187 bpm, Sylvia was at just 87 bpm--go figure. I wish I would have run the stopwatch because it felt like we were under 10 minutes per mile pace.

Anyway, tomorrow is the postal. I said I wouldn't do it, but I'm feeling pretty good and my knee isn't complaining. I probably won't make the final decision until just before the 6:45am start. If nothing else I could take it easy and call that my Sunday workout.

Therapy or Broken Promise?

I said that I wasn't going to do any racewalking for a couple of weeks--but I was feeling pretty good so I decided to go out for a therapeutic walk. Just an easy three miles, here's how it went:

Mile 1 - 13:18
Mile 2 - 13:11
Mile 3 - 13:02
Average Pace - 13:10 Minutes per Mile
Total Workout - 39:32

Things were obviously going well because I kept increasing my speed but the sore knee isn't quite 100% yet. Tomorrow is strength training day and Saturday morning is Southern Cal Walkers. There is a one hour postal on Sunday and although I'd like to do it, maybe it isn't a good idea to do a race right after coming off an injury.

This week I had an appointment with chiropractor, Dr. Bill Bravo. He massaged my knee and gave some tips that seemed to help things along. Next week I've got an appointment with podiatrist Dr. Gary Briskin, one of the founders of the Foot & Ankle Institute.

I'll probably put in the distance training starting on Sunday but will keep the speed down until I feel the knee is 100% healed.

My training schedule will come to a screeching halt starting on December 15 because of holiday plans but I'll still try to get a workout in when possible. In the meantime, maybe I'll make a goal of completing a 26.2 mile training walk before the end of the year.

Longer Than A Marathon

If a marathon seems like long distance, try a 50 km--that's 31 miles compared to the marathon's 26.2 miles.

I'm not thinking about entering this race, but it might be a good opportunity to see some world class athletes in action.

So how long does it take to walk a 50k? The world record was just broken in Australia. Here's the story.

Deakes destroys World record for 50km Race Walk

Saturday 2 December 2006

Four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nathan Deakes has broken the World record** for the 50km Race Walk in Geelong, Australia, this morning. Deakes recorded a time of 3:35:47.

Competing at the Telstra Australian 50km Road Walking Championships in blustery conditions, Deakes took 16 seconds off the World record previously set by Poland's World and Olympic champion Robert Korzeniowski at the 9th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Paris, France in 2003 (3:36.03).

In a big day for Australia’ walkers, Duane Cousins set a personal best and World Championships a-qualifier of 3:53.19 to finish second, as did Victorian Jared Tallent who walked a time of 3:55.08 to finish in third place.

Deake’s smashed his previous best and Australian record of 3:39:43 which he set in Melbourne in 2003.

Overcome by tears, an emotional Deakes fell to the ground after crossing the finish line, his wife Annette and parents rushing in to congratulate him.

“It’s obviously quite a surprise. I didn’t think I was in that kind of shape. To break a World record is really special. To do at home is even nicer. The best prepared athletes walk fast anywhere,” explained Deakes after the race.

“I had a great training camp at altitude in US but the key has been the fact that I have been injury free for the last 6 months. My hamstring has been really good and I’ve been able to get through a lot of work.”

“I’m getting older and it’s getting harder, but right now I’m very very content.”

In a dominating performance, Deakes demonstrated his class above the field taking an early lead before destroying his opposition to take out the Telstra Australian 50km Road Walking Championships title.

In front of an ecstatic home crowd, the Geelong local was ahead of the World record pace by over 2 minutes at the 40km mark, however he tired over the concluding stages dropping the frenetic pace in the final 10km.

The 50km distance has not always been a favourite of the 29-year-old on the Olympic and World Championship stage, disqualified in 2001 in Edmonton and at the 34km mark in Athens when walking side-by-side with Kozeniowski. The duo were under World record pace at the time of the disqualification.

Based at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, Deakes is coached by Craig Hilliard, whose credentials as one of Australia’s leading track and field coaches continues to grow. Hilliard was behind the success of super walker Kerry Saxby-Junna in the 1990’s.

It’s been nearly seven years since an IAAF World record has been broken by an Australian athlete in Australia. Emma George leaped 4.60m in Sydney to break the women’s Pole Vault World record in 1999.

Michelle Cook and David Culbert – Athletics Australia Media – for IAAF

**pending the usual ratification procedures