My Physical State

As the countdown to race day continues, I took inventory of my entire body and any nagging little injuries. Here's a rundown of my physical state:

> Left Foot. For the past couple weeks, the ball of my left foot has been sore and the middle toe seems sprained; full heal-to-toe walking is a little painful, but I'm not too worried, since once the blood and adrenaline start flowing when I run, the pain subsides.

> Right Knee. My right knee suffers from ITBS (Iliotibial Band Syndrome), an issue that has haunted me for the past several years. To cope, I've been warming up, stretching, and wearing a strap on my knee when I run. Thankfully, this has kept the injury at bay and has allowed me to continue my training, although occasionally I get a sore feeling on the outside of my knee.

> Left Hamstring. The last of the lower body issues, my left hamstring has felt a bit tight at times, this one is a bit more concerning, especially having to run off the bike. It may be a limiter of my run speed, we'll see.

> Left Shoulder. Finally, my one upper body injury is with my left shoulder. I think this one has been as a result of holding an aerodynamic position on my bike. This is actually the most painful one of all of these, and I've been actively massaging the left shoulder/back area to try and knead out the sore spots ahead of time.

Other than the above, my body feels really good and ready to race! Clearly, training for such a race takes a toll on the body, so I'm content that I made it through some tough training and am still in position to have a very solid race.

More tomorrow from the race site...