Sunday, October 24, 2010

Oct 18 - 24 (Aftermath)

So...  I spent the rest of the weekend recovering from my idiotic pacing during my 19 mile Saturday run.  I pulled something in the middle of my right calf, and spent the weekend wearing compression socks to (hopefully) aid recovery.  We drove to Austin to cheer on some friends in the Longhorn 1/2 Ironman, so I had plenty of time in the car to unobtrusively wear my silly looking socks (I don't have the sporty looking sleeves; mine look like knee-high black dress socks). 
Monday: HRTC Beerathlon (chug a beer, run a mile, chug a beer, run a mile, chug a beer)
Averaged 6:10 min/mi, even counting the beer chug in the middle
My right calf was hurting noticeably afterwards, so I decided to take Tuesday off.  Since I had a 1/2 marathon coming up on Sunday, I wanted to give myself some chance at recovery. 
Wednesday:
I missed the group ride at work on Tuesday (meeting/injury), so I went out for a ride on my own on Wednesday.  I took it relatively easy, but did manage a 15 minute effort at around threshold power.  (probably not clever)
Thursday:
Goal: 1mi wu, 6.5mi @ 6:45, 1mi cd.
I made it through about 3.5 mi of my tempo interval (6:48), and suddenly felt something give in my right calf.  It hurt.  It felt suspiciously less pleasant than the "good" sore-muscle hurt.  I slowed up, and the pain wasn't nearly as prominent.  I ran about a mile at a slower pace (8:25), then gutted out 1.5 miles at a moderate pace (7:08). 
I am now very, very concerned about the calf injury, because it is clear that it has the potential to completely derail my marathon training, which had been proceeding so well.  Aaagh!
Rode the bike at lunch with my Thursday group (didn't want to miss riding with friends).  I took the ride pretty easy, but still was faced with pretty much constant calf pain.

I spent the rest of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday being nice to my calf.  Stretching, compression socks at night, the works. 

Sunday: Houston 1/2 Marathon.  Goal: 6:50 pace and/or finish without season-ending injury.  I went into this race very concerned about how my calf would hold up, and concerned that I would run through any issues that did arise, eliminating my chances of training well in the upcoming weeks.
Result:  It was hot and humid (78 deg, 90% humidity), and I started out on pace, but my speed quickly tapered off, and I found myself running consistently above 7 minute pace.  At mile 8 I developed a mean side stitch, that dropped my speed dramatically (I averaged 8:25 over a mile, pushing through it).  It took a significant emotional toll, as I felt my hopes for a great run completely shattered.  Eventually the stitch eased, and I finished out the last 3-4 miles at a 7:26 pace.  Result: ~1:36, 7:23 pace avg.

This actually was a PR for me, since I've only run one other half, and I ran it injured.  The real bright spot in an otherwise miserable race is that I finished with my legs feeling healthy.  This bodes well for the upcoming week of training, and I can't help but feel fortunate to have made it through the race without aggravating the calf injury or injuring something else.  I'll take being healthy over having a kick-ass race in this case.

1 comment:

  1. Way to be smart, Josh. Stay healthy for CIM. It looks like you're on track for a great run.

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