Resting

About three years ago, I pulled my right calf muscle about 15 minutes into a scheduled ten-mile long run. The mistake I made was trying to 'catch up' to my training schedule as I prepped for a half marathon.

Last week, my training was continuing as planned, with my weekly total sitting at 17 at midweek. I tried doing 800 repeats at 7 am in August heat in Alabama. I got through the first three and part of a fourth, but had to cut the intervals off and concentrate on finishing the run, which I did.

Friday I had a three-miler scheduled, and the calf pain came back, unannounced and in the same location. This was completely unexpected. I felt as though I was ramping up my mileage safely, and at less that 10% per week.

As a result, my Saturday long run got shoved back a day, to Sunday before church. The calf pain was not completely gone, but if I'm getting up at an unholy hour, having coffee, fueling up, getting dressed and what not, I'm going for a run.

Unfortunately, the calf pain didn't go away, and I had to cut it short after 14 minutes. So I went home and watched the rest of White Men Can't Jump.

I've not run since that Sunday, and the pain is virtually gone. I'm glad for this, as my thought is that the pain is not too severe. But to be on the safe side, I'm giving it the rest of the week off, and will get back after it Monday. It's helpful to know I'm not training for anything specific, although there are a few races in the near future, on August 20 and 27.