My three weeks in Flagstaff, Arizona have come to an end and I am temporarily back home in Richmond, enjoying training in our oxygen-rich, sea level air.
The three-week camp was full of ups and downs, but I certainly came out of it feeling much stronger and fitter.
The first week was very ordinary, easy walking to adjust to the altitude for the first few days before my first speed session. Not having done a speed workout since my race in Japan, I felt surprisingly good.
I did an 11 x 500 metre, plus a 2 x 1 km with one minute rest between each for a total of 7.5 km, a perfect start to the camp.
Week two had a lot more easy afternoon sessions to get the mileage up, which at home is quite easy, but at 2,100 metres it became much more challenging. I really struggled to keep my heart rate and effort in a low enough zone and I think I paid the price for that with a lack of recovery time between harder sessions.
Early in the week I embarked on what was supposed to be an 8 km tempo at 20 km race pace effort but I completely overreached myself and was spent by 4 km, dropping out after 5 km of the session. I tried to make up for that by zealously pushing the pace in the next day’s 30 km walk. I ended up walking a time that would have been a good moderate walk at sea-level, let alone at altitude.
Undeterred by the hard 30 km, I kept rolling through the week and Friday was a shot at redemption in the speed department. The task was a 5 x 2 km with a two minute rest between each rep.
I hit the ground running (not literally…) and by the end of the fifth rep each was still getting faster, so I decided to push for a sixth and made it the quickest still!
Sunday was a 40 km where I again pushed the pace a little too hard. I walked 3:18 with the second half being 10 minutes quicker than the first half.
Week two was hard fought with very few easy sessions, but all told, a happy and productive week.
Unfortunately, I might have burned my biscuits before the third week. Another 8 km tempo was first up, but again I blew a gasket by 4 km and dropped out at 6 km.
Friday, I struggled through the 6 x 2 km again, but this time the first was the quickest and overall I was about three minutes slower. All other sessions were slow and felt harder than they should have.
In the last week I only managed 100 km and I was wrecked.
Coming home was an immediate mental and physical pick-me-up. My first few days of training have been much better. More importantly, I learned that my hemoglobin (the oxygen carrying part of blood that is tightly correlated to endurance performance) increased by 2.5 per cent over the three-week camp. In elite sport this is a huge increase (a 2.5 per cent difference in time at the last Olympics was the difference between first and 12th).
This won’t relate directly to that big an increase in my overall performance, but knowing my hemoglobin is the highest it has ever been is a huge confidence boost. And one week before a major race, confidence is key!
That race is the World Team Race Walking Championships and we will be racing in Rome on May 8.
Keep up to date with my twitter (@evandunfee) for links if you’re interested in watching me and team Canada go for gold in the team competition.
