Forced Break

Last week I had some stellar training underway. I felt like I had made the recovery from the GB-Half and I had the green light to start the push for my next race. I had planned a week of strength work and light speed secession with the usual long effort on the weekend. The week went great and on Saturday I ran my long run with Nic again and we started nice and early so we could tend to our own responsibilities after. The last half hour of the long run I had my right lateral calf muscle begin to tighten. With a mile and half to get home I had to stop and attempt to stretch my calf. I managed to run a bit more but quickly realized I could do some serious damage if I kept running on it so I stopped once again and made the rest of the journey a walk home. I am not too sure yet what the root of the problem is but I have my own theory. On my Thursday workout on the track I felt my lower leg get a little fatigued and at the end of my last interval it was a bit tight. My low back was tight as well. I never gave it much thought as that seems to be quite normal. The following easy day I was very fatigued but no soreness or pain to deal with. Then the Saturday long run came and the rest is history.

It is now the following Thursday and I have not run but once since last Saturday. I tried to jog on Tuesday and lasted a little over a mile and I was reduced to a walk again. It is feeling better and I can stretch it out a bit from my hip stretches I do. That is why I think it is referred pain from tight hips/glutes/low back. I am a bit taken back with this, since I don't truly know what the hell is going on and I hope to have it licked by the weekend. I'm just a bit worried about starting too soon and being back at square one. I have pushed all racing thoughts out of my mind until the Ragnar Relay in mid/late August. If things improve sooner I may jump in a local 5 or 10K just to test the waters. So that is my last two weeks. Here are the details.

Week 4th-10th

Monday: another easy hour just to shake things out a bit.

56:40 8 miles

Tuesday: Hills, 4 x hills at UMD with 30 second strider on top

56:56 7.8 miles

Wednesday: Easy loop through Kenwood area and Skyline.

54:21 7.4 miles

Thursday: Track session at UMD 4 X 1000 meters

3:14, 3:12, 3:08, 3:12

56:08 8.1 miles

Friday: Morley Park neighborhood run. Snively home

44:33 6.1 miles

Saturday: Started in downpour rain, out to Stebner, Morris Thomas, Piedmont, Skyline home.

2:00:25 16.5 miles (0.5 mile walk)

Sunday: OFF *calf issue

Weeks Total: 54 miles

Years Total: 1301.4 miles

So far this week I have attempted to jog a bit on Tuesday with failure. I felt decent to start and after the one mile mark I could feel the calf tightening very quickly so I immediately turned the jog into a walk and made my way home.

I have been doing a series of stretches and things are improving but I am still quite apprehensive to try running as I can still feel some tightness when walking stairs. I hope to get back at it by next week but right now it's day by day.