90% Decided on the Olympic Distance Tri

It's been a week since I resumed my workout routine, and I'm already sore. I'm also almost done convincing myself to commit to an Olympic-distance triathlon, which is double the distance I usually race.  Considering my bad knees, it would be a huge accomplishment for me.

Here's my reasoning: I've already done an aquabike (Olympic distance swim and bike) and just need to nail down the 6-mile run. That's it! I can do a 5k (3.1 miles) now, but here's the catch: I have great days and really sucky days. Some days I'm flying and feel great afterward; other days, I have to stop 10 min. into it b/c of the pain. And if I do get solid run in, the recovery is iffy, too: sometimes I'm totally fine and can do a heavy lower-body workout again after a day of rest without problems. Other times, I might be able to continue to work out but will have significant knee pain for several days -- or a week -- after.

That's where I'm at after this past weekend. Because of my Olympic distance dreams, I jumped back into working out by incorporating a run into my week, so I can see how it feels to regularly jog (the past two seasons I basically winged it on race days). I've figured out that I'm much more successful and pain-free if I run when my legs are well-warmed up, either after biking or swimming or at the end of the day, so that's what I did on Sunday. (Icing, taking Aleve and massaging/stretching my muscles well is a given.) But lo and behold, pain. I squeaked out 3.2 miles in 32 min., which I'm really appreciative of being able to do, but I was in pain and basically kept going until the adrenaline covered up the pain. That's how I got to where I'm at now, so it's not a practice I want to keep up. (For the concerned friends out there, just know that if the pain doesn't go away, I do stop. It ain't worth ruining my knees entirely).

So that's where I'm at: the test-phase. Perhaps I should see a running or tri coach...

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By the way, being back at the gym is great. I really like seeing the people I've come to look forward to in the mornings, and it feels good to slowly build up to where I was at the end of August. That said, I'm not breaking any records. I swam much more slowly today, barely getting up to 70 percent of my heart rate, and really tried to focus on my stroke. I did a few laps of the breast stroke and backstroke -- I stick to freestyle normally -- to shake things up and didn't worry about my calories (300 burned during the same time I'd normally do 400). I'll kick it into higher gear in November or maybe the coming weeks, but for now, this is good.