Post on Racewalking yahoogroups

Things got crazy at work. We're having a screening Saturday and I was at work late last night and had to get back early in the morning so no time for today's workout. However, it was hurry up and wait so during some idle time I answered a post on the racewaking forum at yahoogroups.

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Howdy.
Been a semi lurker,begining racewalker trying to learn from the
really fast folks in this group.
I just made a personnel goal of breaking 10 minutes per mile for a
road 5K. 31:01 at 52 years old and 4 years of racewalking. Endurance
athlete for 40 years-ex-runner - too many knee surgeries.
Anyway. My question for the fast folks. Was there any kind of
specific workouts or drills that really took you to the next level
of speed in racewalking ? I am use to running track drills. I view
racewalking as being similar to X-country skiing and swimming. In
that it is mostly technique and the better your technique the faster
you go. That technique has more effect on speed then being in shape.

Any input from the fast folks ? Am I just dreaming about a silver
bullet - and I just need to "walk faster to walk faster" ?

Thanks in Advance
Mike "wannabe a fast racewalker" Madigan
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Hi Mike,

I'm also a lurker on this dicussion board but your comment brought me out of the woodwork:

> I just made a personnel goal of breaking 10 minutes per mile for a
> road 5K. 31:01 at 52 years old and 4 years of racewalking. Endurance
> athlete for 40 years-ex-runner - too many knee surgeries.

I'm also 52 but have been racewalking for less than a year. I turned to racewalking after injuring my knees running but even with the more "knee friendly" walking gait I've managed to over stress my knees whenever I broke that 10 minute per mile barrier.

> Anyway. My question for the fast folks. Was there any kind of
> specific workouts or drills that really took you to the next level
> of speed in racewalking ?

Just recently I was able to get the that "next level" without the pain. You are probably experienced enough to know about properly warming up before and stretching after every workout, that's even more important for us 50 something athletes, but here are some other tips that helped me out.

1. Take a class. I took Dave McGovern's beginners clinic but there are others too. Philip Dunn and Jeff Salvage also teach some classes.

2. Join a group. The group I joined, Southern Cal Walkers, meets every Saturday and they vary their drills so it isn't boring. One of my favorite games is trying to keep up with the fastest racewalker, even if it is only for a lap or two. Our fastest guy is Pedro Santoni and just by following him around the track I've gone faster than I ever dreamed--short sprints close to a 6 minute mile pace.

3. Get a good running watch. Something that can give you constant feedback of your heart rate and pace is very helpful. I just got a Polar RS800sd and it gives real time information about cadence and stride length along with speed and distance. Although I haven't figured it out yet, it can also send alarms if you are above or below a set pace or heart rate--probably not legal in a race but very useful for workouts.

> ...That technique has more effect on speed then being in shape.

That brings up the next tip:

4. Concentrate on technique before speed. That's what messed up my knees, I wanted to go faster with poor technique and pounded the heck out of my knees. Racewalking should be a smooth and flowing movement. In fact it wasn't running but bad running technique caused my knee problems in the first place.

> Am I just dreaming about a silver
> bullet - and I just need to "walk faster to walk faster" ?

One last tip along those lines--at least for me there was a silver bullet:

5. Strength training. I do a quick set of 30 reps for each exercise. When I injured my knees I was referred to Dr. Robert Klapper who authored a couple of books, Heal Your Knees and Heal Your Hips, and instead of prescribing rest for orthopedic patients he emphasises strength and mobility exercises. I got a simple bench with a leg extension, leg curl attachement, some some ankle weights and an elastic band and do strength training two to three times per week. And don't just do legs, abs play a big part in proper technique and saving your back.

These tips probably won't get you into the Olympic 'A' standard pace, but a 10 min/mile for a 52 year old on a 5K, 10K or even a 20K, should be a reasonable goal. By the way, at 51 Mark Green kept up an 8:55 mile pace for 50K, but that's a master's record.

--Dan

5K "Light"

This morning I did an easy walk using my 3-mile course and it came out to longer than 5 kilometers, just like yesterday's experience with the 6-mile course being longer than 10 kilometers. It looks like I'm going to have to check the calibration at the track this weekend.

According to the RS800sd this was mostly a "light" workout.

Start Time:     6:38:29
Total Distance: 5.45 km
Total Workout:  40:33.3
Zone 1 = 00:01:06 very light ( 50-60% HRmax)
Zone 2 = 00:27:33 light      ( 60-70% HRmax)
Zone 3 = 00:11:40 moderate   ( 70-80% HRmax)
Zone 4 = 00:00:00 hard       ( 80-90% HRmax)
Zone 5 = 00:00:00 maximum    (90-100% HRmax)
Average Pace:  7:29 min/km   (12:03 min/mile)
Max Pace:      5:00 min/km   ( 8:03 min/mile)
Best Lap=4 at  6:47.3        (10:55 min/mile)
Kilometer ## - Lap Time - Average Heart Rate - Cadence - Stride Length
1 - 8:42.6 121bpm 67  85cm
2 - 7:27.6 126bpm 69  97cm
3 - 7:27.5 132bpm 70  95cm
4 - 6:47.3 133bpm 71 104cm
5 - 7:00.2 134bpm 72  99cm

Out of Whack Walk

This morning I did my usual 6-mile course but the Polar RS800sd indicated that I went 10.52 kilometers. Something is out of whack because 6 miles is less than 10 kilometers. Last week when I did the 3-mile course it marked a little under 5 kilometers, as it should. So what is off? Probably when I measured the course. No wonder all this time I was faster on the track than around the neighborhood. Then again, I still have to check out the new running computer watch on a measured track.

It didn't take me long to warm up and since I had a day off from Sunday's 15 kilometer long walk I was feeling pretty good. Yesterday I did strength training and that seems to aid in recovering.

Start Time:     6:24:11
Total Distance: 10.52 km
Total Workout:  1:07:29
Zone 1 = 00:00:44 very light ( 50-60% HRmax)
Zone 2 = 00:02:27 light      ( 60-70% HRmax)
Zone 3 = 00:06:03 moderate   ( 70-80% HRmax)
Zone 4 = 00:58:15 hard       ( 80-90% HRmax)
Zone 5 = 00:00:00 maximum    (90-100% HRmax)
Average Pace:  6:25 min/km   (10:19 min/mile)
Max Pace:      4:21 min/km   ( 7:00 min/mile)
Best Lap=6 at  6:06.0        ( 9:49 min/mile)
Kilometer ## - Lap Time - Average Heart Rate - Cadence - Stride Length
1 - 7:15.2 132bpm 71  97cm  6 - 6:06.0 164bpm 78 105cm
2 - 6:13.6 154bpm 76 105cm  7 - 6:20.2 162bpm 77 102cm
3 - 6:24.2 161bpm 76 102cm  8 - 6:16.5 163bpm 76 104cm
4 - 6:21.3 163bpm 77 101cm  9 - 6:18.5 163bpm 77 102cm
5 - 6:23.2 164bpm 78 100cm 10 - 6:09.8 160bpm 77 105cm

I hope that the RS800sd is measuring accurately--I really do want to believe that I've improved this much. At the 10K mark I was at 1:03:48, this was a personal record for me.

15 Kilometer Long Sub-Threshold Walk

Sub-threshold means going slow enough not to build up lactic acid. I didn't want to call it a slow distance walk because it wasn't all that slow.

I really wanted to do 20km but I got up a little late and the family wanted me to take them out so I cut it down to 15km. It felt like a good workout and it was fun to click through the different settings on the Polar RS800sd. I set it up to record every kilometer and it was a relief not having to remember where the mile marks were at and having to hit the lap timer. It looks like I'll be able to do a workout outside my comfortable little neighborhood course. Here's some data about today's workout:

Start Time:     8:02:47
Total Distance: 15.03 km
Total Workout:  1:43:07
Zone 1 = 00:00:42 very light ( 50-60% HRmax)
Zone 2 = 00:07:42 light      ( 60-70% HRmax)
Zone 3 = 01:16:16 moderate   ( 70-80% HRmax)
Zone 4 = 00:19:09 hard       ( 80-90% HRmax)
Zone 5 = 00:00:00 maximum    (90-100% HRmax)
Average Pace:  6:52 min/km   (11:03 min/mile)
Max Pace:      4:36 min/km   ( 7:24 min/mile)
Best Lap=14 at 6:06.4        ( 9:49 min/mile)
Kilometer ## - Lap Time - Average Heart Rate - Cadence - Stride Length
1 - 8:13.1 127bpm 71  86cm  6 - 6:43.9 149bpm 75  99cm 11 - 6:35.8 152bpm 74 102cm
2 - 6:30.5 142bpm 74 104cm  7 - 6:49.2 147bpm 73 100cm 12 - 6:43.0 151bpm 75 99cm
3 - 7:11.5 146bpm 72  96cm  8 - 6:21.6 154bpm 75 104cm 13 - 7:08.9 145bpm 74 95cm
4 - 7:11.7 143bpm 72  96cm  9 - 6:41.0 148bpm 74 100cm 14 - 6:06.4 149bpm 76 108cm
5 - 7:18.7 144bpm 71  96cm 10 - 7:08.1 151bpm 75  94cm 15 - 6:14.4 154bmp 75 106cm

That's a lot of information to digest but the bottom line is, it was 15 kilometers, about 9.32 miles, at an average pace faster than my 10 miler race pace just 3 months ago. (11:27 min/mile then vs. 11:03 min/mile now.)

I also like the switch to kilometers. It is easier keeping up a good pace for a kilometer rather than a mile--and the kilometers go by much faster too.

A Truck Load of Data

This morning I did speed work with the Southern Cal Walkers. The workout was some quick intervals, about 40 seconds fast and 40 seconds recovery, followed by 800 meter repeats. Instead of taking lap times I set my new Polar RS800sd on "free" and let it gather data throughout the workout. It recorded the intervals along with the recovery--pretty much everything except the initial warm up. Here's a bunch of data from the workout:

Starting time: 7:29:23
Total distance:   2.99 km
Total workout:   26:24
Heart Rate
Max 180 93%
Min  98 51%
Average 158 82%
Most of the workout was in "sport zone" 4 followed by zones 5 and 2.
Zone 1 = 00:08 very light ( 50-60% HRmax)
Zone 2 = 04:32 light      ( 60-70% HRmax)
Zone 3 = 03:14 moderate   ( 70-80% HRmax)
Zone 4 = 12:48 hard       ( 80-90% HRmax)
Zone 5 = 05:42 maximum    (90-100% HRmax)
Pace min/km
Max     03:48
Average 08:50
Calories
297 kcal
Running Index 38
Cadence
Max    108
Average 60
Stride Length
Average 94 cm

So what does all this mean? For the most part it was a fairly hard workout and I reached a maximum speed of 3:48 min/km, that's 6:06 min/mile! My cadence got as high as 108, that's 216 steps per minute. Yes, this is very fast, but I can only hold it for those short 40 second intervals. The only way that I was able to do it was to walk with Pedro Santoni--I was able to keep up with him for 400 meters this time, that's an improvement over last week's 300 meters. I didn't time the 800 meter repeats this time, I just had fun and let the watch gather data.

Slow Walk with Rosie and a New Toy

Last night a new toy arrived--a Polar RS800sd. I haven't learned how to use it yet but wanted to try it this morning. I did the scheduled 3-mile walk with Rosie and was able to get some information out of the watch but I wasn't able to figure out how to get the average heart rate, cadence, stride length, etc. that it is capable of recording.

It looks like I'm going to have to install the software on a Windows computer in order to take full advantage of the system. Funny thing is, I don't have any Windows systems at home and I don't think I want to do all my data analysis at work--I do enough work at work!

Total Distance - 4.92 kilometers
Total Workout  - 49:28
Average Pace   - 10:03 min/km  (16:11 min/mile)

Yes, I set up the watch for kilometers so I'm in sync with the international racewalking distances. And yeah, we went really slow.

Windy Walk

The wind was very strong this morning and it has been blowing all day. I was planning on an easy day and the wind helped me make up my mind.

Mile 1 - 14:10                     (8:48 min/km)
Mile 2 - 12:41                     (7:53 min/km)
Mile 3 - 12:57                     (8:03 min/km)
Mile 4 - 13:06                     (8:08 min/km)
Mile 5 - 13:08                     (8:10 min/km)
Mile 6 - 12:55                     (8:02 min/km)
Total Workout   - 1:18:57
Average Pace    -   13:09 min/mile (8:11 min/km)

Since I recently increased my weekly distance I should keep it easy for a while to avoid injury. Of course I wasn't following my own advice yesterday. Tomorrow we'll see if I can take it easy two days in a row.