March
has been a busy month
of training and traveling.
Most part of the month
we stayed in Flagstaff
for altitude training.
As always we enjoyed
being there, training
well and recovering
good! This time we were
very lucky with the
weather. As always we
had a lot of sun, but
this time it was also
nice and warm. More
than one week with over
20 degrees Celsius!!
Some days the temperature
came up to a new record
high for Flagstaff.
It was
also nice to be in a
training camp together
with Susana Feitor,
Ines Henriques and Sabine
Zimmer. We didn't always
train together, but
mostly we trained at
the same place. And
Jorge Miguel, coach
of Susana and Ines,
got to see Flagstaff
from its best side :-)
Susana,
Ines, Jorge Miguel,
Heiko Schulze and I
also took a short trip
to Mexico for the IAAF
Race walking Challenge
Race in Naucalpan (10.03.).
For me it was a successful
trip. I stuck to Stephan's
plan and followed his
instructions on what
heart rate level to
walk on the first 10-12km
and how to race!! As
"cheap" as
possible.... I was very
happy with the pace
Susana put on for the
group. We started the
first 4 laps at 9.18-9.20.
Just perfect to stay
under the IAAF A-standard
to get points for the
Challenge. I tried to
keep the tempo just
under 9.20 for the next
laps too, but Jane Saville
pushed the pace a little.
I felt good and put
on a little bit more
pressure to walk a little
bit faster. At 14km
I decided to push more
and then I walked alone
in the lead :-) Still
I was very careful,
because I had fresh
in mind how both my
races in Tijuana, Mexico,
in March 2003 and 2004
had ended: SLOW the
last 4km... Therefore
I tried to walk as smart
as possible and at 17km
I felt that my lead
was big enough to win.
From there I tried to
walk as "cheap"
as possible. To win
in 1.32:30 at altitude
in front of a lot of
friends from Mexico
was really nice, I even
had tears in my eyes
walking the last 100m
:-)
Back in
Flagstaff I took it
easy for three days
and then I was back
in to normal training.
I could finish the training
camp like we planned,
and we were very happy
with the altitude camp!
Due to
a cancelled flight from
Chicago to Copenhagen,
we had a long travel
back home. We had to
stay overnight in Chicago
and the next day we
flew with Air India
(!) to Frankfurt and
then further to Norway.
The trip took 50 hours..
The last
Sunday of March (24.03.)
we had a local race
in Søfteland.
It was the "Annual
ER-AN Season Opening
Race" both Erik
and I walked 10km. Erik
didn't have a good day
after altitude, but
still he walked 39:23!!
I felt good and just
walked faster and faster.
I walked 42:51 and was
surprised that I could
do it, this short after
altitude and with the
long travel back home.
We had
one week of sunny weather
at home, perfect for
good training!
