Weekly status

Not a great week. On Tuesday I figured I was all healed up and I was itching for some speed.  After a warm up I did a mile at 8:00 which was tough but felt good. I took a recovery for .8 and noticed a very slight tightness in my upper right calf...a totally different spot than my previous strain...but it was pretty mild so I figured I'd just run it out.

I did a second fast mile..I felt really good for this mile, easier than the first mile. I clocked 7:36, which surprised me.

But after I got  done, I could tell my right calf was a bit sore but didn't seem too bad.

2012-08-14 Tue
Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	10:02	112.0	54.10	87.0	5.5	2.4	1.569
2	0.26	10:40	121.0	61.48	86.0	5.9	1.1	1.379
3	1.00	8:00	138.0	75.41	91.0	9.9	10.0	1.596
4	0.81	10:21	119.0	59.84	85.0	8.3	7.7	1.433
5	1.00	7:36	141.0	77.87	93.0	0.0	16.7	1.631
6	0.73	10:23	121.0	61.48	85.0	6.4	0.0	1.407
Sum	4.8	9:15	125.1	64.82	88.4	36.0	37.9	1.530

The next day, (Wed), I went out and felt the calf a bit...gradually as I ran it got more and more noticeable (a bad sign when discomfort gets worse during a run). and after 1.8 miles I called it quits and walked back...it was hurting. I did some icing and put my calf sleeve on it to keep the internal swelling down while sitting all day, and that helped a lot.

Date	Miles	Pace	BPM	WHR%	Cad	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
2012-08-14 Tue	4.8	9:15	125.1	64.82	88.4	36.0	37.9	1.530
2012-08-15 Wed	1.8	9:41	114.7	56.32	86.0	1.0	10.6	1.581
2012-08-19 Sun	2.4	10:13	107.1	50.06	86.0	16.0	13.0	1.614
Summary	8.9	9:35	117.9	58.95	87.3	53.1	61.5	1.562

In 20-20 hindsight it was way too soon to do that fast running on Tuesday after mildy straining my calf before...it takes time to recover from even a mild strain...I have been here before ....I know what to do...I just have to do it. 

I've kept active with cross training, which I don't mind, and have been doing a lot of weights and floor exercises...at this point I'm guy-shy I'll DNS my Ragnar or Berlin so I'm going to be very very careful. 

We've had several dropouts on our Ragnar team due to injuries (e.g. broken collarbone falling of a bike!) and work commitments...so I do NOT want to inflict more surprises on our beleaguered captain.  I also need to make it to Berlin of course!...It will be at a slow for me) pace but it's very important to be HEALTHY. So no more screwing around training to peak for the Ragnar...I'm in pretty good shape otherwise just need to be strain-free.

Today, (Sun), I did an exploratory 2.4 at a slow pace and felt pretty good. I'm going to give it another 3 days before another easy run. NO hard running at all for at least 2-3 weeks.

I've been here before and I just need to remember the drill: Let the muscle heal! When I do start running keep the stress (pace) low so healing weak points don't tear again.