Race walkers stride onto Crete

American 50 km race walkers Curt Clausen (36, Chula Vista, Calif.), Philip Dunn (33, San Diego, Calif.) and 20 km race walker John Nunn (26, Chula Vista, Calif.) are at Team USA training camp on the Greek Island of Crete. The trio, who train together at the ARCO Olympic TrainingCenter in Chula Vista, are completing final preparations for the Olympic Games. They spoke with the press on Saturday. Below are excerpts of the conversation. For full athlete bios, visit www.usatf.org

Q: How did the group in Chula Vista form?

DUNN: In January of 1999, there was a group of three of us that started training together at Chula Vista. The idea was we'd work together so everyone would improve. By 1999, we had seven or eight people who were there, full-time. Everyone in the group improved tremendously and had personal bests. In 1999 I was able to win a bronze medal at the Pan Am Games, and later that fall, Curt got the bronze medal at the World Championships.

Q: How tight knit is this group?

CLAUSEN: We're out there every day. I see Philip more than I see any member of my family, girlfriend, anything. We are like any family, in a way. Dysfunctional at times but we're out there pounding in training every day.

Q: What kind of person takes up the sport of race walking?

NUNN: As someone who sees an amount of success early on, you get caught up in it. Then you realize there's a bit of a jump to get the Olympic level. To realize you can do it is pretty great.

CLAUSEN: I tried everything before I came to walking. I found out I was pretty decent at distance running, and this happened to be another event that had the same physiological component as distance running. Unlike Philip, I finished last in my first race. The technical component makes it more demanding than running.

Q: What is average training week, and is there a difference between training for the 20 km and 50 km?

NUNN: During the season, it's not that much different. It fluctuates by about 10-20 km.

DUNN: I'll do between 120-150 kilometers in a week. John will get up to 120-130, which is 80 miles or so. We are full-time training for 11 months. After a major championship, we take two weeks off, then have another two weeks of active rest, doing swimming, hiking, biking .... as long as you're getting your heart rate up.

Q: When you watch it, race walking seems so difficult.

DUNN: You have to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and your leg must be straight when your foot hits the ground. The hip action also helps you take a longer stride, which becomes an efficiency issue. You can take a longer stride with the same amount of energy.

Q: How do you view yourselves compared to your international competition?

CLAUSEN: If everything's 100 percent, I'm able to compete with the top 10 in the world. Right now I'm at 90 percent, so I'm hoping in the next three weeks, I'll be able to tweak a few things to get up to 100 percent.

DUNN: In 2001 and 2002, I finished in the top 15 in the world. That's where I expect to be.

Q: What is the hardest part of race walking?

DUNN: I think the mental part is the toughest with preparations. On race day, everything has to fire the way it has to fire. The 20K is grueling in its own right. The 50K, you have to maintain that focus for four hours and ignore all those signals your body is giving you, "slow down."

Q: How did you cope with fellow race walker Al Heppner's death in February, following the 50 km Olympic Trials? Was it hard to keep on course with your training?

NUNN: Training brought normalcy back into our lives. The one thing we definitely knew was how to do was train and walk. You might as well show up to do that. For the first couple days for me, you'd figure Al would show up, but you figure out quickly that's not the case.

DUNN: We surprised ourselves by how quickly we were able to return to the regular training routine. I think that's a tribute to the fact we were all together and we had each other to lean on a little bit. We really worked through a lot in the first two to three days. A couple months later, at Mt. SAC, an official came up to us, hugged each of us and started crying. We had all gone through that immediately after his death. This guy wanted to be as supportive as we had been with each other for the last two months. That sense of community and family - it was an incredible loss. Those of us who saw each other every day put it in perspective a lot more quickly than those who didn't have the chance to have that interaction.

Q: How often do you think about Al?

CLAUSEN: Every day. It's little things that make you think, "Al would have done this, thought this, said this."

Q: Why are you in this sport?

CLAUSEN: To see how far you can take your athletic talent. None of us are in it for the money.

NUNN: I think it's a thrill to push your body as far as it can go.

Q: Describe the physical fatigue of racing.

DUNN: For the 50 kilometer race, it's more of a muscular fatigue. Your muscles are literally resisting the movement you're training to put them through. Your range of motion is limited. But a lot of that is psychological rather than physical. You body says slow down, and you say, "no, not today."

CLAUSEN: By slowing down, it just takes it longer to get there. I always feel better when I speed it up. Lactic acid you can walk off 30-40 minutes later.

NUNN: The problem with 20K is the race is too short. You can't pull back. When I hit that [Olympic] A standard, I had been talking to Curt about when you're hurting in a race where you're trying to hit the standard, you realize if you slow down you'll have to go out and try to race at that level again. That feeling of your body telling you to slow down came to me at 12K and I was still well on pace. I thought, this is really hurting and I don't want to do this [try for the standard] again. So I just picked it up.

Q: Race walkers aren't the most high-profile athletes at the Olympics.

NUNN: I find it humorous. For example, triple jump to me is such an odd sport. I can't jump three times like that, and I don't take anything away from it, but it just seems so odd to me - race walking is no more odd than triple jump or some of the other Olympic sports out there.

CC: If a race walker wins a medal, it's only one of 100 medals the USOC is hoping to win. I won eight gold medals, I wouldn't expect to be known in the U.S. I'm not doing this sport for that.

DUNN: I think one of the best things about the Olympics is there is no distinction. We're all Olympians. Even when you're at the Olympic Village, it doesn't matter what country you're from, what your event is. You're all Olympians, and everyone is treated as equals. I think that's the way it should be. Everyone should be able to walk into Opening Ceremonies as equals. Sure, someone's going to be a better athlete at the end of the day, with a medal, but we're all equals.