 James' Content Links
 James' Calendar
No Calendar Entries Found.
|
 |
Since 3/10/2009
 James Olson
I converted to race walking in Oct 2006. I ran cross country and track all 4 years of college, and continued to run for exercise and fun for the next 15 years or so after college. As I approached the big 4-0, my knees started giving me more and more pain. Turns out I had torn the meniscus in both of them. Athroscopy helped take away the pain, but when I tried to return to running, the pain would come back. So here I am doing the funny walk. You may laugh at those of us who do this, but race walking is a lot harder than it looks, and it's harder than running. In addition to the physical demands, it takes a lot of concentration to maintain legal race walking form. It actually gives me a better workout than running ever did, and it doesn't bother my knees. I feel great now that I can compete again. I love passing all the slow joggers in a race full of thousands, and getting those comments like "jeez, you're going faster than me running" and "how the heck do you walk so fast?"
 |
WD YDT (What did you do today?) |
|
There are no messages on this wall yet.
 |
Newest Content Additions |
7 Entries |
Deleting ...
Added a Profile Updates.
I converted to race walking in Oct 2006. I ran cross country and track all 4 years of college, and continued to run for exercise and fun for the next 15 years or so after college. As I approached the big 4-0, my knees started giving me more and more pain. ...
Deleting ...
Added a Mini Report.
 |
Sunday, 10/12/2008 — Long Beach, CA
This was a "B" Race for me.
I rated my performance a 3 out of 5.
Race Notes: This was another race walk. I was right on pace at 10:30 per mile unitl about mile 8, then things went downhill fast. As always in the half, my hips and thighs started to lock up about mile 9. But this time each mile after 8 was about 20 seconds slower than the last, causing me to finish about 5 min slower than my goal for that day. I was taking in plenty of water and energy gels, so I can't figure out why I had so much trouble.
|
Deleting ...
Added a Mini Report.
|
Sunday, 10/14/2007 — Long Beach, CA
This was a "B" Race for me.
I rated my performance a 3 out of 5.
Race Notes: I entered this as a race walker, one of only a handful. There were only 2 judges situated throughout the course, so there wasn't too much worry about getting disqualified for not maintaining perfect legal form. Pretty sure I had "soft knees" most of the race, but the judges weren't very critical of that - they were looking for people who were jogging, but had entered as race walkers. I was pretty happy with the time. Good weather. Cramped up in the last 4 miles even though I used 1/2 gel pack every other mile or so after 6 miles. But I still won (in the race walk category)!!
|
Deleting ...
Added a Mini Report.
 |
Sunday, 01/28/2007 — Chula Vista, CA
This was a "C" Race for me.
I rated my performance a 4 out of 5.
Race Notes: My 1st official judged race walk. I managed to stay legal throughout the race, even though my form is not perfect. The time was about 2 min faster than the 1st 10K I did as a race walker as well, so I was VERY happy with the results.
|
Deleting ...
Added a Mini Report.
|
Sunday, 01/21/2007 — Carlsbad, CA
This was a "C" Race for me.
I rated my performance a 4 out of 5.
Race Notes: My very first 1/2 marathon, and only my 2nd race as a race walker. No judges, so I didn't have to worry about maintaining legal race walk form. Last 4 miles were the hardest, but I managed to finish without breaking form too badly. Very proud of the time, given that it was my first race this length!
|
Deleting ...
Added a Mini Report.
|
Sunday, 01/20/2008 — Carlsbad, CA
This was a "C" Race for me.
I rated my performance a 4 out of 5.
Race Notes: Race walk. This time I felt good throughout the entire race. I had my coach walking with me for the first 9 miles, which helped keep me on pace. After 9 miles I started to cramp up a bit, but I was stil able to stay close to my goal pace and finished pretty strong. My best time yet!
|
Deleting ...
Added a Mini Report.
|
Sunday, 08/19/2007 — san diego, CA
This was a "B" Race for me.
I rated my performance a 2 out of 5.
Race Notes: Another race walk. This day was pretty hot, even for San Diego. Last 4 miles were killer because it really started to heat up. Last mile or so is uphill to boot.
|
|
|
 Groups James Manages
James' Friends
 James'Expo Picks James hasn't joined the Expo yet.
|