Back to Training….

Well, the ankle injury has been left by the roadside, where it belongs, and I’ve resumed training! YEAH!!!!!

I’m just about 2 weeks back into it and things are going well, though I did have an interesting long run yesterday.

I was scheduled to do 10 miles on Sunday. I got up, and was in no mood to run actually. My right calf has been pretty tight the last few days, and takes quite a bit of effort to get it stretched out. But I was committed to run, so I forced myself out the door at 7:30. I got to the park where I start, near the San Francisco Bay, and it was incredibly foggy! But the temperature was perfect, and there was no wind. I started with a lot of stretching, especially on the right calf. and finally I was off.

Off for the worst 3 miles of my life…. I was suffering from tightness in BOTH calves… not an injury kind of pain, but just really tight calves… I pushed on, but I was slow and suffering, unable to run on the paved path, as that seemed to “hurt” so I kept to the dirt path along side the trail. After 3.somthing miles I started to notice the relaxing of my calves, and decided I wouldn’t need to turn back and walk. I was thinking to turn at 2 miles, and write off a 4 mile failure… but then felt a bit better and thought turn at four and make it an 8 miler. I got to 4 miles and noticed something interesting - it was so humid and foggy that the hairs on the back of my hands had condensation on them… it wasn’t sweat, but more like dew from the humidity and swinging my arms through it. I noticed something else, I was feeling good! Found the typical 4-mile relaxation setting in, and runner’s high starting to kick in. I decided then that I was going to turn my 10 miler into an 11 miler! And I did! I think it may have had to do with the calming effect of the fog rolling over the still bay water, or the fact that there were a lot of runners on the far end of my run, but I decided it was the right thing to do - and my pace actually picked up the second half. I was still a bit slower than usual, but feeling pretty good. Finished the 11+ miles in just under 1:50.

And the good news: My legs feel great today! No pain or stiffness at all - I think the long, easy run actually did my body good! Anyone ever have this happen, a run that is supposed to make things slightly worse in the shortrun actually help in the shortrun?

Running on fresh legs,

Jamie, The Diabetic Runner

P.S. Dead battery on kit I use to transfer BG data, so I’m a week behind on the BG data, but will get a new battery and update it ASAP.