I was training at the AIS during January as part of the Project X2 heat study with 12 other racewalkers (Australian plus some international friends). It was about 38 degrees most days and we also used hot water immersion techniques to promote extra physiological adaptations to the heat, which were demonstrated by increased sweat rates, decreased core temps and decreased heart rates in the post-camp testing.
It was a great few weeks of training, with 14km hill sessions up Mt Stromlo, 25km long walks around Lake Burley Griffin and hot speed sessions on the AIS track. Having access to the fantastic facilities, coupled with a happy training environment where everyone was helping each other along made a huge difference for all of us in the final race.
When it came to the 10,000m on the final day, I’d done a VO2 Max test the day before which showed that my lactate levels were significantly lower than at the start of the camp and my coach gave me an indicative outcome for the race, saying that something in the 43s may be possible soon. It sounded far too good to be true especially after a big month, but on the day we had perfect overcast conditions, a huge talented field with plenty of packs to walk in and it was one of those rare and treasured races where there was no walls to hit, I felt happy and strong and trusted myself the entire way and honestly enjoyed each lap.
I had a nice pack to sit in led by Jared Tallent and 2 Colombians for the first 5km (22:06min) and then did a negative split of 21:53 to just get the 43:59. I had to really push down the front straight and even dip my head like a sprinter to get under that final second, which felt hilarious because you hardly ever have to do that in my event.
Yesterday has given me the confidence that I need going into our 20km national champs in Adelaide on the 10th of Feb, as I would love to break 90min and now knowing I can do 43:59, I’ll just need to find a way to do a couple of those back to back.
Big chunky PBs are rare, so it feels really exciting to propel myself upwards in the Australian all-time results and hopefully it’s alluding to an exciting 2019.
