I was scheduled for 16 miles this past weekend, and because of Saturday travel plans, I had to do it Friday before work. I carefully mapped out my course. I psyched myself up, and I hit the road. I was chugging along, and just after I hit the 13 mile mark, the muscles high in my right calf knotted up painfully. Ouch! I walked it out for a few blocks and then attempted to run on it. It seized up again (ouch for the second time), and I knew I was done for the day. The only problem? I was still three miles away from my car.
At this point I was very happy I use my iPhone for music when I run. I called two cab companies, both of which told me it would be an hour and a half before they could come get me (What?!?! This was at 1:00 on a Friday, for gods sake!), so call #3 went to my friend Henry, who was my knight in shining armor. He came and rescued me and dropped me off at my car. Thanks again, Henry!
I was pretty limpy for the rest of Friday, and stairs were not my favorite. It's since started to feel better, but I can definitely still notice it when I go down stairs or walk uphill. Tomorrow will be a true test. I'm scheduled for seven miles, but I think I'm just going to take it easy (read: very slow, and not pushing through pain) to test out how things are really feeling.
I also iced it this morning and this evening, but the pain point is so deep in the muscle, I don't know if I'm really even doing it any good. Frustrating!
This entire episode has made me very nervous. I'm just days away from attempting 18 miles (again on a Friday because of travel plans, but at least I don't have to work after), and 4 weeks and five days away from the whole shebang.
Like I said before, I'm sure this happens to a lot of runners, but I don't know how I can get prepared for 26.2 if my muscles don't feel like coming along with me for the entire journey. We'll see what happens! Hopefully I can't kick this stupid muscle pain soon. There's work to do!
Oh! And I have to say welcome to Scout! She is the cutest little 8 week old Airedale, and the newest member of the Allison clan. My parents picked her up this weekend, and I can't wait to meet her!
This week's Marathon Monday piece featured an awesome clinic at UVA that helps runners become better athletes. You can watch that here. And as always, my schedule for the week is posted below. It's a little different this time around, because I'm doing my long run on Friday. Have a great week, everyone!
Training schedule for the week of 03/04... designed by trainer Dan Bayliss.
Sunday- Off
Monday- Run 5 miles
Tuesday- Run 7 miles
Wednesday- Run 4 miles
Thursday- Off
Friday- Run 18 miles
Saturday- Off
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