race walking AMA

No headphones? What, are you some kind of commie?

That's so un American!

https://www.dunfeewalks.com/

While the mile may not always be the best visual representation of the event, getting eyes onto the event and it's athletes so that they are both exposed to the public is a necessity. Athletes can walk under 6 legally, but technique varies and indoor banked tracks make it harder because of the spring and angles. Also, it's important that athletes earlier in their maturity in the event get the exposure to racing shorter events at higher speeds to develop the technique necessary to carry that speed on to longer races. Even more so than running, as the dual use of fast & slow twitch muscles causes both systems to break down, which in turn leads to technique issues later in races. Until the motor system learns to deal with those stresses you get form breaks which lead to DQs and/or completely falling apart late in events.

What sort of injuries do you/others get as racewalkers?

I couldn't agree more! It's not race walking. I walked a 5:42 or something like that last year and yah, it's hard and anaerobic and it hurts... but we aren't anywhere close to legal. It is a good thing to do now and then as a training exercise but I honestly think it does our event a lot of damage. People have talked about how getting an exhibition race in the London diamond league was great exposure... in race walking, not all press is good press.

Now if we were to have this insole technology that could measure lifting... then yah, using that in a diamond league with like a big screen showing who is cheating, in real time... would be kinda cool. It would be way way slower, but kinda cool.

I think endurance sport needs to do a way better job using technology. I would love to do a race where I could broadcast my HR, cadence, breathing rate, skin temperature, core temperature, and O2 saturation all in real time. All of those things are now measurable with bluetooth technology to sync it... why can't we broadcast that to fans to get more info.

Imagine having a group of top marathons racing together. You pick up on a few little things, like who is grimacing etc... but really that isn't useful. If you had a screen on the side showing all their HRs and other metrics, and over time we would know what is normal for each individual, then we could be like, O crap X is looking comfortable and only working at 85% HRmax, whereas Y looks really good, but he's already at 90% HRmax and we know he can't sustain that, he's going to drop soon... That's the dream.

tristate wrote:

No headphones? What, are you some kind of commie?

That's so un American!

realtalk- I wear headphones quite a bit these days. Got some wireless Bose SoundSports, they're awesome. But it's a damn good line isn't it?

I do still go out for long walks without them though.

When I do wear them Im listening to The Dollop. It's an american history comedy podcast. I feel like you guys would like it. Check it out.

O and Taylor Swift, today I listened to Taylor Swift. Don't hate.

Mods won't let me post anymore...

What sort of injuries do you/others get as racewalkers?

Kind of answered this already, but similar injuries to runners but in slightly less frequency. I tore my right hamstring in February but it was very minor and I missed a week of training only. And then my left hamstring has been strained/ torn for about a year now but we can still train on it, and are just working on strengthening around it and getting my glut to fire more.

Luckily those have really been my only injuries that have caused me to miss time.

We spend a lot more time on our feet (ground contact time) so maybe a few more foot injuries?

Way less stress fractures because we are lower impact than running.

I made a mistake yesterday when talking about American walkers. I was only thinking of a male perspective when I was thinking of elite seniors (and then happened to be talking to Katie at the time)

but I need to mention that Americans do have some good competitive international women. Maria Mitcha and Miranda Melville have both competed Worlds and Olympics and both have the capacity to break that elusive 90min barrier in my mind.

They, along with so many walkers before them, get so caught up in their ways I fear. I would love for them to come to Australia and train with us because I think they'd see a breakthrough... Australia just has that effect, plus they'd have 5+ sub 90 girls to train with.

But they deserve to be in the conversation because they have pushed the event on the women's side and have competed quite well on the World stage!

Sorry for forgetting about you girls! Love you.

1-Who's the G.O.A.T? Korzeniowski? Jefferson Perez? Damilano?

2-We all know Patrick Sang, Canova Schumacher, Salazar, Rowland, Brother Colm, etc...tell me about Racewalk elite groups, well known coaches, etc.

3-Why Kenyans and Ethiopians aren't dominating the event? Because there are many racewalkers born in altitude (Andes Mountains, Mexican altitude and neighbors like Guatemala, etc)

Thanks in advance.

Many thanks for your comprehensive response regarding altitude training and how you fund your walking. Very interesting stuff. There must be times of the year when you can't move in Flagstaff without bumping into runners or race walkers!

Another question if you don't mind? ...

These days elite marathon runners and their coaches tend to be of the mind that they can run just 2 good marathons a year (though there are a few who are trying to challenge that notion). You've spoken of the lesser impact that race walking has on the legs so I was wondering if, among elite race walkers, there's a consensus about the maximum number of 50km races that it's wise to do each year? And, if so, have ideas about that "maximum number" changed over the years?

Am I your favorite poster?

https://animalcorner.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/llama-1-1024x879.jpg

Firstly well done on the fund raising. Fantastic work.

I have been around elite race walking circles for about 20 years. I have attended 4 Olympic Games and multiple world cups (non competitor).

I have the upmost respect for the athletes as I know how hard they train. In recent times following what I saw with my own eyes I have lost complete respect for the sport.

Reasons being:

International race walking has a pool of around 200 athletes I would say. Throw in the judges and your around 250 globally. That’s an incredibly small circle.

Racewalking is more open to cheating than any other Olympic sport. Hide in the pack, tactical fouling and lifting, it’s simply not a fair playing field.

I have been in multiple social situations where athletes will break off from a group conversation to have a quiet chat with a judge in the corner of a bar / niteclub, bye a judge a drink or shot and return to the group conversation and say “gotta keep that guy sweet” and have a laugh and joke about it.

A lot of the judges like the notion of athletes “falling at their feet” and “blowing smoke up their a@@es”. I’ve seen 1st hand favoritism during Olympic and world races as a result of judges being “buttered” and “tapped” up.

I have witnessed 1st hand judges receive generous gifts and even trips/flights/holidays.

At the top end it’s just a big boys club of power hungry vultures that will tie the line as they are instructed by different nations, training groups or coaches to make sure they are kept on the gravy train.

Thee is no other event in track or field that require judges of this nature.

In summary, the sport is completely open to cheating/corruption at the business end of the game and until judging/contact becomes fully electronic it will never be taken seriously as a sport in my eyes. (And these eyes have seen a lot more than the race walking world would care to be made public)

Any comment on the above and do you ever seen foul politics in the sport?

It's the big ass 90's athlete here, who was 6'-3" and 185 in my prime and towered over most of my competitors like Bernardo Segura at 5'-7", at the start of the 20km in Barcelona.

I love that Evan brought up technology. I follow Sports Innovation Labs and they are on the forefront of bridging the gulf between sports and technology - Smart Venues, Smart Athletes (realtime feedback and technology to make training smarter and more specific), Virtual Reality, and more to bring sports more inline with the next generation of fans and athletes. One of the key factors is athlete data, not only will you be able to train smarter, the Olympics to NFL football will be able to publish live athlete data that Evan talked about. The kicker, is that your personal data is your personal data. They are exploring the value of the data and the athletes should be compensated for data use. For instance, the IOC wants to publish athlete data to enhance the sporting event. Every athlete qualifying for the games now has a deliverable (data) that they should be compensated for as a participant. What's that worth? $5k, $10k, $50k??? The IOC has no shortage of funds here and in addition to prize money, athletes should be compensated.

On another issue - if I were recruiting athletes, I too would pick multisport athletes and those inclined toward 800m-1500m runners - the balance between fast twitch and endurance. At 54 last summer, I decided to jump in a couple of 800m runs once after walking a fast 5,000m (22:48) and a fast mile (7:08) at track meets. A 2:25 in my walking flats after the 5 and 2:21.17 after the mile and in spikes. I'm not into the Masters stuff yet, I'm just having fun, but I love running the 8!

Allen James

Hey Evan (and others now too), thanks a ton for doing this. I just happened to stumble across it at the right time.

I'm a former casual runner and I had to quit because of recurring achilles issues.

I was wondering if you know of achilles injuries being common in race walking, and if you know of any runners with achilles issues who transitioned to RW and what their experience was?

I'm terribly, embarrassingly out of shape right now and thinking of trying casual race walking (like as in, walking in road races with runners, not judged RW) to try to bring it back.

Just not sure if it will be safe for me or how to get started really.

Another thing how do you guys determine training and racing paces? Do you guys have an equivalent of vdot or McMillan? Or do these formulas work for walking?

Do you train by heart rate?

Do you know Mike Rohl?

My biggest issue with race walking, is "why"? You kinda addressed it earlier but I still feel like the event is just running with an arbitrary rule to make it harder. If the point of a race is to finish the first, why introduce the variable of "who can finish first....while keeping one foot on the ground (or get away with the most amount of cheating)?"

Race Walking is expensive? Explain me how the hell. You guys use special shoes loaded with springs too?

Love this AMA!

I got mad respect for race walkers. Don't know a whole lot about the sport, as my questions will illustrate. However, I respect the effort that race walkers put in. These cats have discipline and tenacity. A few queries...

1) Why don't they include race walking as part of marathons? That would bring major exposure, especially in the case of televised marathons. (And if it's because it would be a logistical nightmare/impossibility to judge, will the new shoe technology make it possible?)

2) Are there cross country race walking races?

3) Are there any inside jokes or jabs against runners that race walkers have?

Hey Wannabe racewalker, I used to have some Achilles issues a few years back. Most of my issues I got in winter training in Iowa and then in Rochester, NY. I had plantar fasciitis one year and Achilles bursitis another year. For me, I had to find shoes to race walk in (as well as run in) without hard heel cups (or no heel cups at all).

It’s easy in race walking to get your calf muscles overly worked (especially if you have a weak/nonfunctional core), so foam rolling and self massage for the glutes, calves, and feet are a must. Having tight calf muscles can cause some Achilles issues.

I also can’t have my shoes as mimimalist as some of the other walkers because it will tend to bother my feet. My favorite shoe all-time to race in was the New Balance 1500 V2. I finished my 50k in under 4 and a half hours and my feet didn’t hurt. That’s pretty significant. In fact, my joints rarely hurt after long walks even when I’m walking 8 minute miles. I feel tired, but as long as I hydrate I can come back the next day no problem. It takes time to get to this point though so don’t get discouraged early on. Race walking is second nature to me and feel more comfortable than running at times. I’m currently on my season break, but I’m sure when I start up again next week it’ll take me a few days to feel “normal” again.

Big thing: core strength. I don’t walk with my legs as much as I walk from my core. All of your abdominals, multitudinous, and your glute meds need to be strong and stable to avoid most walking injuries. Not so different from running. :)

-Katie Burnett