Sunday, March 25, 2018

The dodgy calf strikes again

Tuesday will mark three weeks since I did something (a tear most likely) to my left calf. Annoyingly it was a predictable injury, more or less self inflicted. I've been somewhat gung-ho with my training in recent months — running 'doubles' 2 or 3 days a week to reach my mileage target of around 80 kilometres per week. On Tuesday 6 March I ran a double of 8k and 7k after doing a double on the Monday. The second run on the Tuesday was a race — The Boathouse 5k and my calf felt a little tight warming up. It was uncomfortable in the early stages of the race (I should have stopped!) but at 3.8k it suddenly cramped and I was forced to walk slowly to the finish.

This is exactly the same injury I suffered in March of 2016, ironically towards the finish of the ACT Masters' 5000m Championships. My calf 'went' with 2 laps to go but I managed to run painfully to the finish. My mistake in the aftermath of the injury was not giving it enough time to heal before resuming a gradual return to running. I gave it a day, then a week, then another week, then two weeks etc. Never enough time. Eventually I took six weeks off, which was enough for full recovery.

After three weeks off the calf feels pretty good, although it was a little tender on Friday following a test run/walk on the grass track on Thursday. I'm hopeful of resuming running soon. Unfortunately I missed the ACT Masters' 5000m Championships race that I was targeting. I think I could have run around 23 minutes. Ann (2 minutes ahead of me in the 10k) ran 22:15, Helen 22:58, Roger 23:01 and Kathy 23:16. It would have been good to have been in a race with the latter three. That would have been fun. Now it's back to the drawing board, which will be a plan based on volume of around 55 km per week of running — better in terms of scheduling recovery days.

A cool evening for the Masters' 5000m Championships

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a real shame. In particular it was frustrating to miss the 5000m masters championship. 23 min was definitely on the cards. It is good to hear that you are on the mend. I am sure that you will continue to be cautious.

TokyoRacer said...

Those dreaded words: I should have stopped!
Well, don't start in again until you're sure it's healed. Hope it's not too long.

Ewen said...

I will be cautious Canute. We have some 'High Noon' track meets during the off season and I'm looking forward to racing a 3000m and possibly a 1500m at those.

Bob, I didn't stop because I'd become overconfident after enjoying an injury-free 2017. Think I'll be back in a week or two.

Janene said...

Get well soon ET. We need to see who gets sub 23 the quickest 😉

Thomas said...

Oh man, that sucks. Sorry to hear this. Remember the lessons from last time and make sure you're healed properly before starting again (that's so much easier to say than to implement yourself, I know!)

Ewen said...

Indeed Janene, indeed. I'm curious too!

Thanks Thomas. You seem to bounce back from injuries fairly quickly although you probably run through more niggles than I would. As we get older it take longer to recover from the same injuries. Something to remember.

Lize Brittin said...

I hope the healing is coming along nicely.

Ewen said...

Thanks Lize. Yes, started with some short runs a couple of days ago. Feels good. I have some strategies for preventing a relapse, fingers crossed.