Triathlon Update
It's been a good couple of weeks. The Achilles tendon problem appears to be totally a thing of the past. Running just once in the month after the Napa Valley Marathon was a key factor, but regular swimming and cycling (on the trainer, not out in the rain) also helped a lot, I think. In any case, I'm ecstatic to be able to run again. I'm keeping the distances short for now, between five and seven miles at a time, but have been able to run as often as three days in a row without encountering pain or lingering soreness.

As I mentioned, the cycling has been mostly on the trainer. The trainer was a big part of my routine in my first couple of years of triathlon, especially during the winter and spring. I don't know why I moved away from it. I guess I didn't understand how much it did for me. But these past few weeks have shown me how wrong that thinking was. A solid hour on the trainer, nonstop, pushing the heart rate up to a level and holding it there, then backing off, then pushing it up again … that can be a great workout. Now I feel ready to do some long Saturday morning rides.

On the swim front, I've taken to swimming three or four consecutive days instead of spreading the week out. The benefit (I theorize) is that I can better build upon the progress I make in each workout. Also doing a lot more drills, including plenty of 50s and 100s. Remarkably, I am getting faster. Need to make sure to work in a straight long swim each week, and to lengthen that swim each week. Anyway, weekly yardage is between 6,000 and 8,000, still pretty wimpy.