Looking back at these last few weeks I have had a number of ups and downs.
In the middle of August I realized that my right lower shin was hurting, at this time it was very mild and I didn’t think much about it. However, as I carried on training it continued to get worse causing increased pain each run session. I decided to see someone about it and went to Michael Nitschke in Barefoot podiatry. After he examined my leg and running technique, it was found that my shin splints were in stage 3 out of 4, which means the discomfort gets worse during a specific activity which in my case was running. He found that my style was slightly too ‘tip-toed’ and this was maybe one cause of the shin splints. I was given great advice such as warming up properly and applying ice after training as well as exercises and a reduced run training routine to help my recovery which consisted of 40minutes on grass only 3 times a week for 2-3 weeks. The pace given was calculated as my easy pace meaning I ran every 1km in 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t compete in the last Victoria Park Duathlon due to my injury but this made me more determined for the Barossa State Championships!
The Barossa State Champs were on the 14th September, when we arrived after getting up at 4:45am the weather was perfect there was no wind and the sun was out, this made me more excited and eager to begin the race. I registered my name and put my bike in transition making sure I knew exactly where it was. After I warmed up, I felt prepared for this race both physically and mentally. I knew my race plan and goals and knew exactly what I had to do to achieve them.
The race began and I got a good fast start, I tried not to go out too hard (which as a previous middle distance runner I tend to do) due to the 5k distance! A boy I train with was a good pacer during the first lap and I stuck with him for as long as I could which worked well. When I could see transition I wanted to make it fast and clean to get out of there as quick as I could. Fortunately, I found my bike straight away and transitioned onto it well. The course had inclines and parts of them were hard however, whilst riding I made small goals for myself:- for example, if I could see someone in front, my goal would be to catch them, then over take. This distracted me from the inclines and enabled me to ride faster. I used my new Felt time trial bike from Megabike and used the pedaling advice provided by Claude which helped me improve my pace during the bike leg significantly as I caught more people than I had expected and not as many people caught me as I’d previously thought.
Once I was off the bike I had a 2.5km run to finish the race, at this time I was first in the females but knew that I couldn’t slow down, although my legs were slightly lactic I pushed through and belived I could run home hard. When I saw the finish shoot I tried sprinting (to try and look like I wasn’t in too much pain)! It was a great feeling to hear my name as I finished the race, I was so pleased as I had won my age group and I was first out of all the females in the event. I was also pleased with my time as it compares well Nationally. I loved representing ATC in our new uniforms they looked fantastic and at least six people commented on how amazing my new rain jacket looked!
The National Duathlon Championships takes place on the 19th October in Adelaide which isn’t very long now! I’ve been training pretty hard in preperation for this race, especially in the bike discipline. The course looks amazing and I can’t wait to race!
See you all out there!