July 28: Time To Kick It in High Gear

I headed out to Kensington this morning for the group bike/run practice. My shin splint is still preventing me to run, but I finally took my own advice last night and decided to sleep with a magnet on my shin. I feel SO much better today. I'm still not 100% recovered though, so I was only able to bike.

I've never been to Kensington before, and heard about the bigger hills out there, which is why I decided to train with the West team today. I don't get a lot of hill practice, or so I thought.

We rode 20 miles today, and Kensington does offer up some good hills. I'm happy to report, though, that the East side practice has had me face some similar hills. Now I don't feel like I'm missing out as much!

The practice overall was very good for me, much better than my swim practice on Wednesday. I've changed sports drinks (from Gaterade to Accelerade) and I believe that has made a significant difference in my performance. My body seemed to agree with it a lot better too, since I didn't find myself burping like a sailor like I normally do when I work out with Gaterade!

Accelerade is interesting, because it's one of newer sports drinks that has protien as well as electrolytes and carbs. Who on earth makes up this stuff? Whoever it is, I'm sure they are very, very wealthy.

If you have been following my progress this week, you'll know I've been very discouraged because of this shin splint issue. I'm quickly learning, though, how common of a problem this is, even with the best of athletes. As a matter of fact, one of the traithletes I train with, Carly (who is lighting fast), was complaining of her shins after running. I decided to loan her my last wrap and magnet (teammate Brian has the other one and it has worked wonders for him), so hopefully that will help her recover faster too!

One final note: West bike/run coach Brian got on me a bit today to work harder in my cycling. I should be out of breath and not be able to talk on those big hills, he said. I'm glad he's challenging me, I need that extra push. He also said that it's time for me to buckle down on my training and really follow the schedule that was given to me. (I've fallen off that schedule in the last couple of weeks.) This is a critical time to condition, so I really need to focus on just working my tail off so that I can be my best on September 29!

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Check out my fundraising progress at:
http://www.active.com/donate/tntmi/DunCAN

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