Training for the Nation's Triathlon

I'm participating in the Nation's Triathlon in September. Note I said "participating," as opposed to "competing" as my goal is to make it out alive. This is an olympic distance tri, which means a .9 mile swim (in the Potomac), nearly 25 mile bike ride and a 6.2 mile run.

My training hasn't had too much method to it, due to all the travel I've been doing, but I'm trying to alternate interval training for speed with long distance runs and swims.

Today I ran the competition length for the first time, 6.2 miles. My time sucked, but I felt good about completing it without stopping. It's the furthest I've run off a treadmill in some time.

In my 30s I used to jog regularly untill knee and foot pain made me stop. I started running again (mostly on treadmills) about a year ago and have so far avoided any knee and injury pain. My problem has been my hamstrings, particularly on my right leg. It gets so tight during the run and then hurts for a day or so after. And the pain radiates up and down my leg and into my more personal areas. I saw my doctor about it, and he thought I may have the problem backward -- maybe I had a hernia and the pain was shooting from there. Well, saw the surgeon this past week, and no hernia. Which is great news, but doesn't solve the pain. No amount of stretching seems to help.

I can deal with the pain, but the tightness in my leg slows me down. And takes some of the enjoyment out of the run.

But I did enjoy the run. It got me outdoor time, through Rock Creek Park. Even though it was raining I enjoyed the experience. I felt very alive.