Tri again...

" I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank piña coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. *That* was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get *that* day over, and over, and over... "
- Phil (Bill Murray) "Groundhog Day"

Weight: 157 (Yay! Hit a goal!)

Hitting a weight goal as un-agressive as I set for this weekend isn't really a huge accomplishment... except I did it simply with diet. Eat less, eat better, drink water, blah blah blah. But I'm going to celebrate a little, because it might be the ony 'victory' of the weekend.

Because my Achilles... well... it's like being in the movie "Groundhog Day". Every Day I wake up, I get out of bed, and my ankles will barely move. My Achilles scream in pain at me. They are stiff, they are weak. If I walk around for a while, they loosen up, but they remain weak. And if I try to do anything 'harder' than a walk (run, jog, take two steps at once, etc) it is very painful. And if I sti still or lie down for more than 30 minutes straight, everything tightens up again.

The next morning... it starts all over again.

This is a new thing for me. I've had many injuries in my life, everything from cuts and bruises to strains and sprains, to minor dislocations and knee cartiledge damage. (Knock on wood, I've never broken a bone). but all those things, even the ones that took a long time to heal, at least showed some progress as time went on. These Achilles don't seem to make any change.

With other injuries, taking a week or two off might not make it 'all better', but I could at least say "it's not as bad as it was". I think my Achilles are just as bad as they were 2 months ago... zero improvement.

So that is going to make tomorrow's triathlon a bit tough. It's a 600m swim (will be both my longest swim and my first in a wetsuit, breaking the rule of 'don't try anything new on race day'), followed by a 22 mile bike (longer than I've ever biked before), and a 4 mile run which is sure to be extremely painful. finishing in 2 hours would be joyous. 2:15 will be acceptable. Anything slower will be a disappointment.

The thing with 'knowing it's going to hurt'... back in the day, this was not a big deal. I didn't care if I was laid up for a few days at home after a race, or if I was sore and walking funny at school or work. But now, with a family, and lots of summertime plans, I have to remain 'functional'. A good time at a race isn't worth it if I can't play with my daughter for a week afterward. It's all more of the constant dilemma.