Just an Easy Six

I did my usual 6-mile walk this morning. Nothing thrilling, just an easy day. 

Mile 1 - 13:27           (8:21 min/km)
Mile 2 - 12:50           (7:58 min/km)
Mile 3 - 12:41           (7:53 min/km)
Mile 4 - 12:40           (7:52 min/km)
Mile 5 - 12:52           (8:00 min/km)
Mile 6 - 11:44           (7:17 min/km)
Total Workout - 1:16:16
Average Pace  -   12:42  (7:53 min/km)

On Saturday I tried to do a lap, 400 meters, with Pedro Santoni but could only hold on for about 300 meters. I don't know what pace he was doing but it was the fastest I've gone, maybe 8 minute/mile or even faster. Every time I push myself that hard I usually injure my knee and this time I felt a slight tightness in my left knee. Nothing to worry about or take anything for pain--in fact it has been a long time since I had to take any pain medication. Still, I took it easy, no running and didn't push myself until the last half-mile of the walk.

Hiking Cross Training

I did something a little different today--took a hike.

Sunday is usually my long walk but I haven't done a really good long workout since the L.A. Marathon. Donna Cunningham, one of the Southern Cal Walkers, organized a hike up Mount Wilson Trail and then to see the world's largest flowering vine, an over 100 year old 250 ton Wisteria vine. Rosie and our mini schnauzer, Natty, came along but they only made it 3/4 up the mountain before turning back. Still, they had a good time.

Anyway, the hike up the trail was only 1.5 miles up to "First Water" but it was quite a rugged climb. The total hike was only 3-miles plus maybe another mile walking around Sierra Madre, but it was still a good workout. Doing some hill work should help out my racewalking, especially that climb and long decent on the new L.A. Marathon course.

Speaking of hill work, there is an interesting 5K, half-marathon, marathon coming up May 19 in Palos Verdes--the 41st annual Palos Verdes Marathon hosted by the Kiwanis Club. A bit hilly but there are several distances to choose from if doing a marathon isn't in the cards for that day.

3 Kilometer Timed Workout

This morning the Southern Cal Racewalkers did a timed 3km workout. (That's 1.86411358 miles.) Here's how I did:

Lap 1   400 meters - 2:30   6:15 min/km      10:03 min/mi
Lap 2   400 meters - 2:30   6:15 min/km      10:03 min/mi
Lap 3   400 meters - 2:32   6:20 min/km      10:11 min/mi
Lap 4   400 meters - 2:33   6:22 min/km      10:15 min/mi
Lap 5   400 meters - 2:34   6:25 min/km      10:19 min/mi
Lap 6   400 meters - 2:34   6:25 min/km      10:19 min/mi
Lap 7   400 meters - 2:24   6:00 min/km       9:39 min/mi
Lap 7.5 200 meters - 1:18   6:30 min/km      10:27 min/mi
Total Workout -     18:58
Average Pace  -             6:19 min/km      10:10 min/mi

In case you're wondering why the time doesn't add up, my watch measures hundredths of a second but I dropped that off when writing down the lap times.

I was doing a warm up lap with Rosie when the group started and I crossed the starting line 17 seconds behind, though I was going by my watch so it didn't really matter. By lap three I caught up with Carl Acosta and Ray Billig and I stayed with that group until the last 400 meters when Ray pulled ahead. I put on a burst of speed but it was too much too soon so I faded back and followed Ray for the last 200 meters. This time I wasn't afraid when my heart rate went up to 183 bpm but perhaps I should have tried to even out my pace a little better and save the burst of speed for the last 200 meters instead of 400 meters then pooping out.

Afterwards we had a party at Elaine Ward's apartment to honor Carl Acosta for his coaching and dedication to the club. I've got to give him a big thank you for the coaching he has given me.

Run A Little Longer

Yesterday I wasn't able to get to my strength training but I did wake up early enough to do 6-miles this morning. My plan was to do a warm up mile, try to keep an even but easy pace without looking at the time until I got to the mile marker and finally, extend the run from one to two miles. Here's how it went:

Mile 1 - 13:17 warmup            (8:15 min/km)
Mile 2 - 12:33                   (7:48 min/km)
Mile 3 - 12:30                   (7:46 min/km)
Mile 4 - 12:36                   (7:50 min/km)
Mile 5 -  9:53 run               (6:08 min/km)
Mile 6 -  9:37 run               (5:59 min/km)
Total Workout - 1:10:28
Average Pace  -   11:44 min/mi   (7:17 min/km)

I kept the running easy, though my heart rate did go up on the run. Too bad my heart rate monitor was acting up and I couldn't get consistently reliable readings. The readings I was able to get showed the racewalking miles were about 145 bpm and the running around 163 bpm.

Now if I could only racewalk as fast as I can do these easy runs.

Heart Rate Training Cavets from an Expert

There are some good discussions on the racewalking forums in Yahoogroups. Recently there was a conversation about heart rate training. I made a mistake on last Sunday's 5K race by putting too much emphasis on the heart rate monitor--here's what racewalking legend Curt Clausen has to say about it. By the way, AT is aerobic threshold which is somewhat different from aerobic threshold, AeT.


Here's is how AT is defined by Wikipedia:

The anaerobic threshold (AT) is the exercise intensity at which lactate starts to accumulate in the blood stream. This happens when it is produced faster than it can be removed (metabolized). This point is sometimes referred to as the lactate threshold, or the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). When exercising below the AT intensity any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up.

And here is Curt's advice: 

I've used heartrate for years in training and racing. The major caveat to
using it in a long distance race (or workout) is that heartrate rises
substantially with dehydration, yet AT pace remains about the same. We've
tested this with blood draws over 4x8k & 4x5k race pace sessions. The
heart-rate can increase dramatically by the last stages in a longer effort
while holding a pace that is under AT. So the correlation between HR and AT
breaks down a bit especially in hot weather. If you don't account for this
in racing you will ultimately be using the HR monitor as an unnecessary
break and not race to your fullest potential. In my better 50k's I raced
with beginning HR at/under 150 and last 10k heartrate high 160's.

Curt Clausen

5K Splits and More Results

Easy Striders put up the results of the 20k and 5k race from Sunday. I was able to get my split times and do a little number crunching. The first lap was "about 800 meters" and the rest were 1.05059 kilometers.

Lap #   Time     min/km   min/mile
Lap 1 - 04:42    05:52    09:27
Lap 2 - 11:30    06:28    10:24
Lap 3 - 18:29    06:38    10:41
Lap 4 - 25:39    06:49    10:58
Lap 5 - 32:35    06:35    10:37
Average Pace     06:31    10:29

So it looks like I started out fast and slowed down a little over half-way. That's what I expected, I remember seeing my heart rate monitor showing over 180 bpm and I backed off because I wasn't sure if I could keep up that pace. I probably could have held a slightly faster pace because I was able to squeeze a bit out of the final few hundred meters.

Donna Cunningham, one of the members of Southern Cal Walkers, walked it under 30 minutes and that's what I'd like to do. Here are her splits:

Lap #   Time     min/km   min/mile
Lap 1 - 04:35    05:43    09:13
Lap 2 - 10:51    05:57    09:35
Lap 3 - 17:07    05:57    09:35
Lap 4 - 23:16    05:51    09:25
Lap 5 - 29:31    05:56    09:34
Average Pace     05:54    09:30

That's quite a difference. Although she also started a little faster, her pace is much more consistent than mine. She thought lap 4 was her last lap so she pushed harder on that one but was still able to pull off a decent finish.

One last split to examine, the overall winner--Joe Nieroski:

Lap #   Time     min/km   min/mile
Lap 1 - 03:47    04:43    07:36
Lap 2 - 08:51    04:49    07:45
Lap 3 - 13:59    04:53    07:51
Lap 4 - 19:13    04:58    08:01
Lap 5 - 24:14    04:46    07:41
Average Pace     04:50    07:47

He also started out faster than his average pace and lap 4 was his slowest, just like me. However, his pace stayed within a narrow range, 25 sec/mile or 17 sec/km, while I varied 91 sec/mile, 63 sec/km.

Obviously, I've got to work on maintaining a more even pace.

Here are the split times for everyone who competed in the 5 kilometer racewalk:

Lap*                1       2       3       4       5

M 70-79
Carl Acosta       5.14    12.15   19.15   26.14   33.15
Bill Moreman      5.25    12.39   19.57   27.16   34.26
Leon Glazman      ---     13.03   20.41   27.58   35.24
Willis Allen      6.03    14.07   22.15   30.21   38.15
Lloyd McGuire     6.14    14.33   23.24   32.11   40.52
Jim Lamb          7.06    16.59   25.35   34.36   43.31/DQ

M 60-69
Rick Campbell     4.33    10.36   16.48   23.04   28.58
Stuart Ray        5.40    13.04   20.35   28.09   35.45
Gerald Saulvester 6.23    14.41   23.09   31.31   39.57

M 50-59
Alex Kazaryan     4.31    10.46   17.06   23.35   30.06
Ray Billig        5.26    12.05   18.49   25.40   32.16
Daniel Fort       4.42    11.30   18.29   25.39   32.35
John Magnussen    5.47    14.17   23.10   32.16   40.55/DQ

M 40-49
Joe Nieroski      3.47     8.51   13.59   19.13   24.15
Mario Lopez       4.44    11.10   17.38   24.17   30.53
Clifford Veasey   6.57    16.28   26.05   35.25   44.41/DQ

W 80+
Soula Thomas      7.00    16.08   25.18   34.37   43.45

W 70-79
Shirley Capps     5.35    13.08   20.42   28.21   35.58
Joan McIntyre     6.01    13.52   21.52   30.06   37.58
Patty Kennedy     6.34    15.22   23.12   33.15   42.02
Pat Willis        7.01    16.20   26.28   36.48   47.08

W 60-69
Donna Cunningham  4.35    10.51   17.07   23.16   29.31
Janet Robinson    5.06    11.5    18.35   25.24   32.09
Roberta Hatfield  5.57    13.32   21.01   28.32   35.54
Nancy Alexander   5.49    13.31   21.09   28.58   36.42
Joan Allen        6.03    14.07   22.11   30.17   38.15
Anelise Smith     5.59    14.03   22.11   30.34   38.57
Margaret Fields   6.56    16.05   25.04   34.17   43.18

W 50-59
Yoko Eichel       4.27    10.43   17.03   23.27   29.36
Sylvia Ellis      4.38    11.15   18.07   24.59   31.43
Carol Bertino     4.57    11.48   18.35   25.31   32.23
Debbie Raymer     5.24    12.55   20.30   28.00   35.21
Barbara Kowalski  5.27    12.55   20.31   28.11   35.43

* Note: Lap 1 is approximately 800m. All successive laps are 1.05059km.

Recovery Walk and a Run

This morning I did a recovery workout. The goal was to keep my heart rate around the 125-130 bpm range. That's very low for me, about 50% of maximum heart rate according to the tables I calculated a while back. Here is the post.

It took the first two miles just to warm up and by mile four I was feeling good so I did a slow run on mile five bringing the heart rate up to about 165 and finished it off with a cool down mile.

Mile 1 - 13:58                (8:41 min/km)
Mile 2 - 14:07                (8:46 min/km)
Mile 3 - 14:07                (8:46 min/km)
Mile 4 - 14:21                (8:55 min/km)
Mile 5 -  9:23 run            (5:50 min/km)
Mile 6 - 14:16                (8:52 min/km)
Total Workout - 1:20:14
Average Pace - 13:22 min/mi   (8:18 min/km)

I took the run slower than last week but it was still better than 10 min/mi which was a barrier that couldn't break through when I was running about 9 months ago. I've completly changed my running technique so hopefully I won't have any of the knee problems I used to have.

Yes, racewalking is a very technique centered sport, but so is running if you want to go fast and not get hurt!