Bummer!

After my calf gave me a scare on Tuesday during my latest set of intervals I've been babying it and things have improved, somewhat, but certainly not enough for me to call it 100%. Therefore, I've made the difficult decision (and am guilt-ridden as a result) to NOT run today.

FAAACK!

That's right, you heard me.

I HATE missing workouts. On Wednesday I missed my usual upper body weight training session because my right shoulder was acting up. It was not so bad mentally to do this because I replaced it with a solid, if not spectacular, 7km run on the treadmill. I kept it really easy and set the machine at 6.7mph, which translates to 5:33/km or 8:59/mile I think. The right calf was fine while running, but I definitely made an effort to not hurt it while running.

That night it tightened up again and I was hoping that a full day off on Thursday, my usual off day, would give it enough time to recover. But as I woke up to head out for my usual easy 5km run this morning I noticed that it was not in shape to run. Sure, I could have run on it and in a past life I would have. The thing probably would have loosened up while I was running and I would probably be buoyed by a false sense of confidence that the injury was nothing more than a mirage, only to find out later that I was still in the desert and that the "water" was in fact nothing but scorching hot sand.

This time, however, I thought about the big picture and the races that I want to complete as well as how my weekly, monthly, and yearly mileage would be affected should my muscle tear and force me to miss significant time.

I still held out hope that I could perhaps run on the treadmill at lunch or at least make up for that missed upper body session from Wednesday. Alas, my older son has came down with the flu while we were preparing to head out to school and work and I am staying home with him making my running/weight training plans impossible.

It's probably not a bad thing to get a full day of rest now and then.

But I don't have to like it.

Acting Conservatively, Feeling Guilty

I'd say it's fair to place me left of centre as far as most things go, liberal if you will. So it is not in my nature to play anything on the conservative side (except when it comes to money, where I am ultra risk averse). Last night I was all set to go for my planned 6k run, had the Garmin primed to go, shoes lined up, the whole bit. Then, at the last minute, I totally bailed on the run on account of the soreness in my foot and felt appropriately guilty for the rest of the evening. Earlier in the day I called my physio and now have an appointment to see her, but not until March 25th since she is away for three weeks (bummer!). I could have run since the pain is what I would describe as manageable, but I didn't because I was worried that if I did run then my planned 20k this weekend would have been jeopardized. I am determined to keep running, whatever it takes (and I think it will take slowing way down).

Naturally I am a little depressed by this whole thing and hope that this wonky appendage fixes itself in short order. It is curious that I am left leaning in most things and that all my issues seem to be localized to the right foot/ankle. Shouldn't it be my left ankle and foot that cause all the issues since I am "leaning" in that direction? Anyway, I didn't run and hate that like you wouldn't believe.

Today I decided that another pool running experiment was in order and I headed over at lunch for a half-hour of struggling up and down the lane. It was fun, I guess, but as I "ran" I thought to myself that there was no way in hell anything approaching a "runner's high" was likely to occur when performing this type of exercise. I just hope it helps me get back to running.

Tomorrow I am planning on running home from work again, but will definitely make it super slow. I think I've been going too fast for this foot recently, even though my pace is nothing to write home about. That's why I have to see the physio to see what can be done so that I can start running faster and not just longer.

Tonight I also did another strength routine. I think I have to up the reps on the sit ups and push ups, but the chin ups are still pretty hard. The squats are not difficult, but I am afraid of doing too much too soon given the whole wonky appendage issue(s).