My calves will never be the same

03/07/2010 - 03/13/2010

This was a week entirely dedicated to jogging in order to calm the horrible pain in my calves. Rather, I suppose the affliction was more localized to my R calf, which in and of itself is a sobering reminder to me regarding the weakness of the L foot. I did notice that it was harder to do a proper forefoot plant on that side while I was running, which would explain why that calf didn't really work as hard as the other one.

I was honestly really bowled over about being so completely vanquished by a tiny little 3 mile run. It really took the entirety of this week for this horrible sharp pain and general warm, inflamed feeling to dissipate from my calf. One could potentially argue that it was worsened by my lack of backing off of the mileage in the days immediately after the soreness was acquired, but that's neither here nor there at this point. I'm going to try for a shorter barefoot session sometime next week once I'm able to walk normally again... some day.


Sunday 03/07: AM: ~10.8 miles, 1:34:10 (~8:43 min/mile) Lot K to Cherry Canyon Gate
Yesterday's jog convinced me of the veracity of the theory that if you jog slowly for long enough, the pain will subside. So today, I set off on my extra long jog, eager to explore the new Arroyo trails again. Unfortunately, I got off to a bit of late start, so I was a little bit warmer and a little bit more dehydrated than I would have liked. Perhaps more unfortunately, my calves loosened up pretty nicely in the beginning, but started cramping and complaining loudly again after about 45 minutes, which made the remainder of the run relatively tough. Thankfully it was mostly manageable with a slow pace. Distance uncertain, but extrapolated based on pace for the Rose Bowl perimeter part.

PM: 45.7 miles, approx. 2:53:00 (15.8 mph) Peter's Short Long Loop
Rainy afternoon ride with Peter, started out with KB, Ian and Ben, but fell off the pace significantly once the non-downhill parts hit. Felt pretty awful by the end. Had some shot bloks a few miles into the lousy part and felt better for a little bit, but the exhaustion was more or less overpowering. Also not used to the shifting on Big Red, which made it a little bit harder. Man, I am out of biking shape... this ties my slowest ever Short Long Loop, which occurred on the day after Wrightwood. On the plus side, kept my heels down and got some nice calf stretching in.

Monday 03/08: Off, arghhhhh.... soooooo.... tired. Also, calves hurt significantly more than yesterday--crapppppppp!

Tuesday 03/09: 5.3 miles, 47:16 (8:55 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Felt tired and lousy still, but mostly the problem was that R calf was still bothering me. It just wouldn't loosen up, and felt crampy and weak the entire way. Jogged slowly and considered if I really just needed to take a few more days completely off to make it heal. The pain actually subsided in the hours after the run though, so I'll try one more day.

Wednesday 03/10: 5.3 miles, 45:58 (8:40 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
R calf still achey and weird feeling, but there is definite improvement from yesterday. I think the 5 mile jogs are manageable for the time being. It's kind of hard to get a good push off from each step though, which means that I'm traveling at a snail's pace either which way.

Thursday 03/11: 5.3 miles, 45:03 (8:30 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
A little more improvement, but there's still some intermittent cramping and weakness. Walking around during the day is okay now though, so that's a relief. R calf is still a bit warm and weird feeling to the touch though, which is sort of disturbing. Can't believe it's still not 100%!

Friday 03/12: Off, lazy, tired. I guess I decided that taking another day off wouldn't be so awful for my poor R calf either.

Saturday 03/13: 5.3 miles, 44:38 (8:25 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
First day that my calf basically felt normal. Was thinking about trying a bit longer run, but it worked out such that I didn't get up early enough and it was uncomfortably warm out. Decided that doing one more easy short day wouldn't hurt. Best to rest up for a big day tomorrow. Felt really good to run with a semi-normal stride again! Calf held up pretty well throughout the run and afterwards. Phew.

Week Total: 32 miles, I guess this down week was an investment in my future of continued ability to run.