Just wanted to send good vibes out to my friend and racewalking coach, Dave Mc Govern who will be competing this weekend at the World Cup championships in Chihuahua Mexico. Dave will be doing the 50K race ….that’s 31 miles!

I was checking the local weather report for Chihuahua, and the temperature for the 50K at race time on Saturday morning is expected to be 70 degrees F, and heating up to 89 degrees later in the day. Yikes.. that’s pretty warm weather to be doing a 31 mile racewalk in, but if anyone can do it, Dave can. Luckily the relative humidity is supposed to below at 25%.

Ray Sharp (50K) , Dave McGovern (50K), Trevor Barron (10K Junior),DanSeriani(20K),JonathonMatthews(50K),MaryanneDaniel(MedicalStaff),AlexChavez(10K Junior), Solomiya Logan (20K),Tyler Sorensen (10K Junior), Patrick Stroupe (20K), Jolene Moore (Junior Coach), Philippe Gonzalez (Head Coach)

Good luck to all of our racewalkers !

More pics on Dave’s Tiburon Clinic Group page

(The 2010 Tiburon Racewalking Alumni)

This was my 4th World Class racewalking clinic in 3 years, and as always, I got to meet some really nice people , had a great workout, a great time, and I learned a lot.

I wanna thank our wonderful host, Liz Shepard, for organizing this whole thing. Also a special thank you to Jim and Sally Shepard for welcoming us into their beautiful home for the weekend. And of course a big thank you to Dave, for showing us all how it’s done. He’s an awesome coach and a world class athlete.

And speaking of World Class Athletes, by placing 5th and walking under 4:45 at the USATF 50k in Surprise AZ on February 7th, Dave qualified to compete in the 2012 Olympic Trials, and also earned a spot on Team USA’s 5-man team going to the World Cup of Racewalking on May 15 – 16 in Chihua, Mexico. He was already going as the manager for the team, but since they didn’t have a full team, he was convinced to step down as manager to compete in the 50k. Pretty cool eh?

(Dave, Ms Lizzy and her parents, Sally and Dr Jim Shepard)

(Liz, yours truly and Melody)

(Dave’s classroom charts ..aka Original Dave Art)

Part of what happens at one of these clinics, is that Dave does a lot of video analysis. He will take a raw “before” video of each racewalker individually as they racewalk on the track. He shoots the video from different angles so he can see how your feet, knees, hips and upper body are all moving. After pointing out any obvious problems, he’ll take an “after” video. Later on during the classroom sessions he critiques the videos and points out what you’re doing right and what you’re not doing right. He then makes specific recommendations for improvement.

Anyways, when it came to my turn to be critiqued, Dave immediately spotted a major flaw in the way I was propelling(or I should I say NOT propelling) my left foot forward, which was slowing me down, shortening my stride length and making me look clunky and slow. After the horrible way I looked during the Solana beach clinic, I thought to myself… I give up. No matter how many of these classes I attend or how hard I try, I just can’t get this right. BUT WAIT!, then he went on to say, that there were other elements of my technique that were on par with elite racewalkers! and that my overall form was very good! (phewwww)
Coming from someone who coaches Olympians, that meant a lot. The advanced racewalkers in the group were very kind in their words as well. Who knows? Maybe there’s hope for me yet .

Dave also noticed that I over-pronate quite a bit ( told you he was good) . So it looks like those nice ultra-lightweight green racing flats Ive been using for my marathon training will be shelved for the time being. Apparently I need a racewalking shoe that has a little more stability. On Monday I bought a pair of the Saucony Grid Fastwich IIIs online, which are what a lot of racewalkers are wearing nowadays. I hope to receive them and in time for next weekends 18 miler. I’m at that point in my marathon training where I only have a couple weeks left to break-in new shoes for the race.

After the video analysis, we headed back to the track where I went to work to correct that problem with my left leg. With just a few minutes of practice my form was already looking a lot better, and by the end of the first clinic day I was able to racewalk a 180 meters in near perfect form. I even managed to complete 2 legs of an 800 meter relay race that we did. I’m not very fast and that particular walk nearly killed me, but my team finished the race in 2nd place!

Part of the reason I have so many problems in trying to become a good racewalker, is that I simply can’t move my body fast enough and far enough for all the pieces to fit together smoothly. I have my lungs to thank for that. I think if it weren’t for my crappy lungs, I would be an awesome racewalker…possibly even one of the elites. Why I chose a sport I’ll never be good at, I’ll never know. Oh well, if I can walk “like” an elite racewalker , even if it’s only for a couple hundred meters, all the effort Ive put into this will be well worth it.

Now for a special treat. A sneak peak at Dave warming up (yes, he’s walking). This is what I want to look like when I grow up.

There’s only limited space left for this one, so reserve your spot today! Whether you’re a Newbie or a National champion of the sport, come and learn to racewalk from one of the best racewalking coaches in the world!

Join ME for an awesome weekend of racewalking fun in Tiburon, California. Dave rarely gets to SF bay area, so don’t miss this one. ( Bet you didn’t know racewalking was an Olympic sport? )

Pretty nice place for an early morning racewalking jaunt..eh?

Solana Beach, California;

The advanced clinic was awesome as I knew it would be. Dave always puts on a hell of a class and is one of the funniest guys you’ll ever meet. I don’t think Ive never been in the company of so many World Class racewalkers at one time. 3 time Olympian, Philip Dunn, was there along with a host of other National and International champions. Also attending the clinic was an up and coming young collegiate racewalker by the name of Jose Moncado . His coach is Chris Rael. Man o Man, can this kid walk fast! More like flying actually…

And speaking of Chris Rael, I finally got to meet him. Chris is the creator of Racewalk Planet TV. Ive been watching his racewalking videos for years (this is one of my favorites, though his son is actually the one who filmed it.). An accomplished racewalker and coach in his own right, Chris produces all kinds of racewalking media, including racewalking videos and podcasts. He wanted to interview me for one of his upcoming podcasts, but I had to skip out early on Sunday and missed the opportunity. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to hook up with him again.

Did I mention that I suck at racewalking? I don’t know what happened. I looked horrible on the video analysis. I was slow, clunky and actually looked worst than I did 2 years ago at the last clinic. I didn’t have that nice smooth roll- through that the good racewalkers usually have. My form was really off. I had what they call “soft knees”, meaning that my landing leg was bending prematurely through my stride. Ok for runners, but a violation for racewalkers. Despite my lackluster performance though, I’m very grateful I got to take part in the clinic. I’m humbled and learned a lot. As Dave pointed out , that’s why you attend clinics ….to get better! And really, how many people get the opportunity to have their racewalking skills analyzed and critiqued by Olympians and National Champions?

Another thing Dave told me, which made a lot of sense, is that training to “regular walk” too many marathons (which Ive obviously been doing the past 2 years), can actually make you a slower racewalker . When you train to walk a marathon you spend a lot of time doing fat- burning, long slower training walks to build your endurance(what they call LSD’s). You gain endurance , but you loose the fast twitch muscle response that you need to be a good racewalker over the shorter distances. He recommended doing more speed drills, making my feet more “active” in all phases of my stride, and stretching out my calves out so that I land on my heel better.

(here’s a shot of me where my form actually looks pretty good)

Anyways, now that I know what I’m doing wrong, I can work on making it better. Still, the biggest problem I face in trying to become proficient in a sport like this, is that I simply don’t have the lung capacity . You can practice on your technique till the cows come home, but if you don’t have good lungs , you really can’t put the whole thing together and you certainly can’t compete in races. For me though, it’s never been about competition. It’s about doing and learning as much as you can for something you have a passion for. If you’re going to walk for fitness, why not learn about the mechanics and science behind it. Why not hang out with people who love the sport as much as you do. I know I’ll never be great at racewalking, but I get out there anyway, because it makes me feel good about myself.

Advanced Clinic , Class of 2009
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Had to get Philip’s and Dave’s sponsor in the shot

Next Friday, Saturday and Sunday will hopefully, be a little more exciting and a little more normal for me. I’m supposed be going down to Solana beach ( near San Diego) for Dave’s advanced racewalking clinic. Ive been really run down lately from the steroid taper and its an awful long drive (450 mile each way), but I’m hoping that I’ll feel well enough by then to go.

If I do go, it will be mainly to hang out with other racewalkers and to meet some of the super stars of the sport. Three time Olympian, Philip Dun and two time Olympian Tim Seaman just to name a few, will be there coaching. Of course Dave Mc Govern , who’s a legend himself, will be running the whole show. My lungs are way too messed up to participate in much of the actual training, but sometimes just watching the elite walkers walk, and/or having my own racewalking form critiqued by them, provides me an adequate level of learning. Most of all though, I go to these weekend clinics because I have a passion for the sport and for the crazy people who engage in it.

In the coming weeks I have a ton of the usual medical appointments, but also a referral to a brand new service called “Symptom Management”. This new clinic is an off-chute of the Palliative care program over at UCSF. I’m going primarily, to see if there are any new therapies or strategies out there that can help me with my worsening dyspnea. To my knowledge, I’ll be the first asthmatic to receive treatment at this new clinic. I’ll be blogging more about the topic of palliative care in a future post.

Sunday was the Nike Womens Marathon. The last few miles of the marathon course passes by my old neighborhood at Ocean Beach in the outer Sunset. I know several people who are doing this years race. I hope they all had a great time!

Sorry, this race report is a little late in coming, but I didn’t want my little prison stint to over shadow all the good things about this race.

First let me say what a pleasure it was to finally meet the famous Miss Dizzy Lizzy and some of the other Mc Govern alumni who trekked in from all over the country to do this race. Talk about a ball of energy, Liz has enough enthusiasm for 100 racewalkers!

Liz and a friend of hers, Elizabeth and myself, all met up at the race Expo on Friday. Inside the Expo building they had this huge banner that actually had Lizzy’s photo on it, that they had captured at this very same Rock&Roll race 2 years ago. Naturally she had to take a picture of herself standing in front of the image of herself…..pretty cool.

We did a once through of the Expo, I didn’t buy anything, but Liz bought a pair of her favorite shoes .After that we all headed over to the hotel coffee shop and chit-chatted for a couple hours. It was great hearing everyones race stories.

On the morning of the race I managed to get to San Jose a little before 6:30 am. I parked over at the HP pavillion arena where there were already hundreds of people beginning to fill the parking lot. Good thing I got there an hour and a half early. From the parking lot, it was a full mile walk to the starting area of race.

This was a much bigger event than I thought it would be. They had something like 12,500 participants doing this race and the streets were filling fast. They had 13 starting corrals extending out about 4 blocks from the actual start line.One thing I noticed right off the bat, was how many Porta potties they had set up. I kid you not, there were hundreds of them lined up side by side , on both sides of the main street and dozens more on the side streets. This is the first event of this size Ive been too , where there were NO lines to use the johns! . At an event this size , you can usually expect to wait 30 minutes to use the toilets. In fact, thats one of the reasons I wanted to get here early. Hats off to the promoters for that one.

At about 15 minutes before the start , Liz called me and we all somehow managed to find each other in this massive crowd. Liz made it easier by wearing her famous “Ears”. After some quick photo taking, we all went over to our respective corrals ( which they packed like sardines) and waited for this huge sea of people to start moving. Once the gun went off, it took about 10 minutes for the runners in the 12th corral to make it across the starting line.

And were OFF….. As always ,I waited till the pack thinned out , which happened pretty fast, and then I pulled over to the left side of the road. I didn’t really have a chance to stretch before the race, so for the first mile or so, my shins were killing me. I knew though, that as I warmed up, the pain would diminish. The next couple of miles would be my warm up mode. This is usually the part of a race where I try to find a comfortable pace and the easiest position on the road itself to walk, usually the center or the crest of the road where its more even. If theres a yellow or white dividing line on the road , I’ll usually hug that line and racewalk right down the middle of it. ( it’s a good way to practice your technique too).

The course itself had a very suburban feel. It was basically flat and meandered in and out of various neighborhoods, most of them tree lined , upscale and very beautiful….Lots of mansions too. I can see now why people pay so much to live here.

Somewhere around the mile and a half mark , I passed Elizabeth. I was going to walk with her for a while, but decided that I needed to bank some time while I still had my lung power. I told her that she would probably pass me up in the last miles of the race. Some how that never happened, and I didn’t see her again until after the race.

It was about mile 2 where we hit the first watering station and thats when it really hits me, of just how long a 13 mile race really is. I would have to pass 6 more of these aid stations before finishing the race. It was also about this time, that I got in the mood to racewalk more and more. With my headphones and music cranked up, I was pretty much oblivious to what was happening around me. The diversion of music also gives me the courage to racewalk in huge crowds without getting too embarrassed. One runner lady who did pass me, tapped me on my shoulder and told me what a nice butt I had , and how she had been been watching my hips for the last 1/2 miles. I just laughed and continued to racewalk. I had seen lots of other walkers on the course swinging there arms, power walking or speed walking (which is not real racewalking), so I felt totally comfortable doing my thing. Mind you, I might not be the best racewalker, but I am a real racewalker. I follow all the rules.

The next 10 miles were actually pretty boring. To break up the monotony I decided I would racewalk the rest of the race. I racewalked on and off as much as I could and even when I would slow to a snails pace to catch my breath, I would try my best to stay in legal form (that’s racewalking lingo for, maintaining technique…ie forward knee locked and one foot on the ground at all times).

Miles 10 through 13 were the toughest. It was starting to get really warm , the sun was shining right in my face and I could actually feel myself overheating. I forced myself to drink both the electrolyte and plain water that was offered at each aid station, but I could still feel my calf muscles and left IT band wanting to spasm and lock up. I was also starting to breath pretty heavily, which is not a good thing for me, because it means that Im gonna be trapping a lot of air in my lungs. The problem with breathing fast, is that I cant exhale fast enough to make room for the next incoming breath. The longer this goes on, the more air that gets trapped in the smaller airways of my lung .Eventually my lungs will blowup like a balloon.
For most of the race I was averaging an inhaler hit about once every half mile, but that increased to about 2 hits every half mile the further into the race I got. In total, I used my puffer about 20 times. It sounds like a lot ..I know, but not unusual for me.

There was nothing really special about the finish line, except that I was very happy to see it. I tried to pace myself through the last 1/10th mile of the race , so that I could racewalk through the finish chute and look good on camera, but I ran out of steam just a few feet short of the finish mat and ended up just walking across it. Oh…well, they didn’t take my finish line photo anyway.

I walked into the finish area, a little disoriented and trying to catch my breath. I got my medal and made my way to the Family reunion area where I spotted Lizzy’s Mouse ears poking up in the distance. She had finished about 10 minutes ahead of me and looked as fresh as she did before the race. I, on the other hand, looked like crap! Anyway, we rested a little and waited for the others to arrive. Elizabeth came in about 15 minutes after I did and looked good as well. Both Lizz’s and the rest of the gang walked with me to pick up my gear bag, we took one last picture as a group, said our goodbyes..and that was it. My 9th half marathon…completed!

Due to a glitch in the electronic timing system, my actually finish time has to be manually verified , which will take a few more days, but I think I finished somewhere between 3:00-3:10, which is much faster than I anticipated. Not a PR for me, not even close, but considering everything, I think it a respectable finish time. I performed well in this race and I’m proud of myself.

Some after thoughts While it’s obvious that pushing myself too hard during this race may have contributed to my asthma exacerbation and hospitalization that followed, I’d like to point out to the naysayers ( the people who criticize my involvement as an asthmatic in these types of events) that out of the 14 races Ive done in 3 years ( 5 of those being full marathons), Ive only gotten sick 2 times as a result of them. Id also like to that say, that even “healthy” people get sick after doing marathons and MANY of them end up in a hospital! I train very hard for every race I do, and if I get sick now and then from over- doing it… big deal. I’m not going to stop doing what I love and what keeps me alive.

Sadly, 2 young runners died during this half marathon. Both collapsed close to the finish line.