Maybe I will make it after all?

Went running today, very slowly, with Michelle, for over 30 minutes. While on a normal day for a normal person this might not be so impressive, I am very happy that I was able to run for that long. In the last couple of weeks, each running session has ended prematurely with one of my calf muscles painfully snapping like an over-tightened guitar string. So today is the first day that I've actually hoped to believe that I might actually be able to finish this half-ironman triathlon that I have tentatively signed on for this fall. Last Wednesday at track practice, TNT coach Tom suggested that I was not getting enough water and electrolytes in my diet, and both of these get depleted pretty severely, as witnessed by those salty crusties that show up on my bike helmet straps after a moderate to hard ride. So since then I've completely cut out the diet cokes, and have been trying my best to ingest the burst-inducing 8x8 ounces of water each day, which is about 64 ounces more than I am used to drinking normally. I'm happy with the results today, though at this point it's tough to distinguish between correlative and causative relationships between fluid intake and running output. The lack of caffeine, along with the cat getting up promptly at 5am each morning, begging for breakfast, has made me fairly sleepy in the last few days.

Swimming is going OK. I feel fairly comfortable with all of the swimming drills we've been working on, though I am still painfully s-l-o-w. Don't know what it's going to take to get faster. I'm supposed to be swimming 1500 yards in each swim session this week - I don't think I have done even close to half of that thus far, but I'll give it a try on Tuesday.

Biking is fine - went for about 42 sunny and flat miles yesterday, and worked on pulling up from the hip. This felt a bit awkward, but I was beginning to imagine some possible speed increases, so I'll keep on trying that out. Now I just have to make my mind up to write that fundraising letter. It's going to be tough asking for money, but it's a very good cause.