My Achilles' Heel

As the fates would have it, my Achilles' heel is, in fact, my Achilles' heel tendon. For the purposes of this triathlon, then, my Achilles' heel has been the running. In other words, I haven't been doing it. Oops.

This is potentially a little tiny bit of a problem. I am competing--well, that's an overstatement; how about participating--in a triathlon in two and a half weeks (eeks!) and I have yet to run the full distance my training regimen suggests. The final leg of the triathlon is a 3.1-mile (5k) run. At this point in my training, I should be running about 40 minutes. The program I have definitely over-trains the trainee, so that you're absolutely for sure ready to go on race day; I'm hoping to complete the run in less than half an hour. I train at a 10-minute mile on the treadmill, but probably run closer to a 9-minute mile outside; and who knows how I'll be feeling on race day. Anyhow, I've still been calling it quits around 2.5 miles. Not cool.

To be honest, I really don't know what my hangup is. I've been running inside recently--the last two times I've had runs on the schedule, it's been raining or obscenely hot or something--so that might have something to do with it. But both times I also happened to be on a treadmill next to someone I knew, so we could chat it up during the run, which usually helps keep me motivated. Apparently "usually" in this instance means "not so much."

Anyhow, part of my struggle with running is my Achilles' tendon, as I mentioned before. It gets really tight when I run if I'm not careful. About a year and a half ago, it froze up to the point that I could hardly walk for a week. I took so much ibuprofen that I think it's still coursing through my veins, rested and iced constantly, and after a few days things settled down. I happened to mention it to my boss when I was getting an adjustment, and he started working on my calves to get them loosened up. It hurts something fierce, but it's helpful! I also him adjusting my feet, because something happens that he explained but I have forgotten--maybe it's called my metatarsal arch? Anyway, basically the ball of my foot goes bonkers from running and it hurts a lot but then he fixes it. I think I need to have my feet worked on this afternoon again, come to think of it. Maybe that will help me get motivated to get moving. We'll see.

I think I will try to hit the gym this evening for a run. I do need to go a few more times before the month is up, so that my insurance covers some of the membership costs. My training buddy is out of town for a few days, but we might try another lake swim on Sunday or early next week! I need to go for a few more long bike rides in the next few weeks, but then I'll be good to go for race day! I'm really appreciating the more relaxed approach to triathlon training. Maybe I'm just that lazy, but at least I'm enjoying myself!