Gravel pond swim tonight.  Should feel nice since it's been so freaking hot here lately! Well, I did go swimming at Chatfield, but it was more along the lines of taking the boat out with Nate and some friends and jumping in the rez every once in a while to cool off.  So much for getting a workout in!  It's summer - gotta have some fun sometime, right?? :)

I've decided I'm going to ignore my doctor and try to do the Danskin on Sunday *IF* my foot feels a bit better by then - I figure 3 miles in one race can't do THAT much more damage than the 2 months I've been training on it.  For the past few months, the pain comes and goes, so I'm hoping that if I rest up this week it'll improve by Sunday.  I've been inhaling ibuprofen and icing the foot twice a day - I'm hoping that will help it feel good enough that I can do the 3 miles.  If that doesn't work, I'll skip the race and know I tried!

Damn.  Went to see my doctor this morning about the foot.  Diagnosis is that it's one of two things - a) extensor tendonitis  or b) stress fracture.  Based on some things she had me do with my foot, she thinks it's tendonitis.  If it's tendonitis, she would recommend 2 weeks rest (no walking, hiking, or running) with 3x per day anti-inflammatory and 2x per day ice.  If it's a stress fracture, it's 6 weeks of rest, so I'm obviously hoping it's just tendonitis.  Anyhow, so she'd like to treat it as tendonitis, and have me take the next two weeks off from running to try and get the inflammation under control so I can start running again.  I go back at the end of two weeks - if it still hurts she'll do a bone scan to see if there's fracture.  If there's no fracture, but it's still bothering me, she'll refer me to a podiatrist to work with me to get me running injury-free again.

The thing that bites is that I'm supposed to be racing this week!!  I know the Surf and Turf race is out no matter what, because I couldn't even run a mile last night.  But I still want to do the Danskin this weekend - I was really looking forward to getting out there and seeing how much I've improved since last year (my first tri).  Walking hurts just as much as running at this point, so I can't even say I'll go and walk it.  Argh.  I'm tempted to take the anti-inflammatories and ice it all week, then race on Sunday if it's feeling good enough.  But I don't want to make it worse.  I don't know what to do - argh....

Taper week for the Danskin.  Will swim at the gravel pond this afternoon, and possibly run if my foot feels OK.  Plan for the rest of the week is:  T- Bike,  W - Surf and Turf Race (750 m swim/5k run),  Th - REST,  F - Short Brick,  S- REST. 

Have a doctor's appt. tomorrow morning for my foot - hopefully I can find out what the deal is and start doing something to make it better!! 

Agh - totally frustrated!!! Woke up early thinking I'd go run down by the Yampa and watch the hot air balloons take off, but NO - woke up with my left foot throbbing and decided it would not be a good idea to run on it.  So I sat on the couch with ice on my foot while the guys made breakfast, and whined about how I would rather be running.  I LOVE running in the mountains, so I was cranky.  Anyhow, need to go to the doc this week and get it checked out.  Will also buy new shoes tomorrow when I get back to Denver - hopefully that will help because I have two races this week!!!

Spent much of the rest of the day at the hot springs - nice :) 

Bike ride after work today.  Heading up to Steamboat Springs later this afternoon - we're staying in a house for 2 nights with 14 friends.  Hope we don't all get on each other's nerves!!! Luckily, it's a BIG house :)

My left foot is a bit sore today for the first time in 3 weeks - it's so random when it hurts and when it doesn't.  I think I need to get new shoes - even though mine only have 250 miles on them, they seem to have lost a lot of their support. 

4-5 mile run tonight on the hills in my neighborhood.  Slept awful last night since Nate was out of town - once again feel like I'm about to crash at my desk.  Planning a longish ride tomorrow before leaving for Steamboat for the weekend (I know - AGAIN - we should just move up there).