after a nasty, debilitating shin splints flare up last week, things are looking good and i'm getting ready to head down to richmond, virginia for the US national duathlon championships. this has been a tapering week so workouts have been light, but my shins feel good and have been responding quickly to the various therapies i've been using. i have to send out a huge, huge, HUGE thank you to my friend suzanne. she read my last blog post and immediately got in touch with me and gave me loads of great tips for how to beat shin splints. all of her suggestions have made a huge difference and there's no way i could have made such huge improvements without her help. she's coached me through this thing and i'm grateful to have a good friend and training partner like her.
aside from the shin splints, things are feeling great. i've had a fantastic winter training season, i've bounced back from my injury last fall and i'm feeling stronger and more fit than ever, and this is the first time that i can honestly say that i feel ready to race. in the past i've always felt like i wasn't quite ready and felt like i should have been training harder than i had been, but that's not the case this time. i'm so amped up and ready to go and am glad that my first duathlon of the 2010 is as big of a race as it is.
and in addition to feeling strong and ready to race, i'm also feeling calm and relaxed and focused. my nerves are under control. normally for a big race like this i get nervous in the weeks leading up to it and lose sleep, but there's nothing for me to be anxious about because i have absolutely nothing riding on this race. i don't care where i finish in the field, i'm not trying to qualify for anything and there are no points on the line. this will be a great opportunity to see how i stack up against the best in the US and i intend to do the best that i can and bust my ass off, but more than anything else i'm heading down there to have fun. if i'm nervous about anything it's the weather. the forecast is calling for scattered thunderstorms on race day, but hopefully the race will go off without a hitch.
this is a huge race that's reached capacity at 1500 participants, easily the largest event i've ever been a part of. my bags are packed, i have a cooler full of race day fuel, and my bike looks super badass with its new racing wheels. all i have to do is get there, which is the only thing i'm not looking forward to. 11 hours of driving is never any fun.
